Steps and Dance

In Pilates, a lot of value is placed on the interaction between stiffness and flexibility, the useful tension that allows motion to occur.  We need both structure and motion, both a skeleton and muscle.

This is true metaphorically as well.  Routines can enable our fitness.  Planning can encourage us to eat right and move enough.  And yet, there are times when that very routine, that very plan stifles us.  We need to use the routine for structure, but remember that our mindful presence is what makes life.  We need both steps and dance.

We can use the autopilot mode to get the unpleasant stuff done and then we can fly freely the rest of the time, reveling in the open air and the wide sky.

Structure for change

There is never a bad time to begin, really.  I know a lot of people like beginning things at the New Year, or on a Monday.  Because of all those years of school, I think of September as the real “new year.”  And there is nothing wrong with starting on a Tuesday, or a Thursday, or a Sunday night.

At this time of year, when the leaves begin to die away and the branches emerge, we can see structure.  We can prune for next year’s growth.  We can envision the tree we want from the tree we have.

How do we want to grow in the next season?  What should we remove?  What sort of fertilizer do we need to add to our roots?  How much water?

I am a terrible gardener, but a good behavior change specialist.  I am here to help if goals need to be made!

Monday Workout: Challenge!

This week we are back to challenging our core and working compound exercises.  Four rounds, using weights just heavy enough that we can barely complete the set.

1 min cardio
heavy squats	10
bench barbell press	10
step ups	20
tricep kickbacks	20
lunge with overhead	20
barbell twist	10

Friday Book Report: Eat Dirt

Sometimes the right books come to you at the right time.  After a recent spate of blood tests, my doc thinks I have leaky gut.  Dr. Josh Axe’s book Eat Dirt should help me address that problem.

Usual caveats about diet books:  I do not expect a miracle.  I do not enjoy the success stories.  I think that personal testing is the only way to find out if a way of eating works for any given individual and I have not yet tested this one on myself.  This book is written by a person who is a certified nutrition specialist and recommends the eating of actual foods, so it starts out ahead from my perspective.

The title is a bit of click-bait.  Axe suggests that our issues spring from an imbalance of bacteria in our guts.  We, societally, have gone on such an antibiotic rampage that we have mowed down our bacterial friends as well as enemies.  Restoring the balance internally should promote better health.  Actual eating of dirt is optional, although Axe does recommend several kinds if anyone does want to try it.

Mostly the book suggests, like many of its type, weaning ourselves from the Standard American Diet and eating whole, organic foods.  We don’t need to scarf down the amounts of processed foods, the trans fats, the sugars, and so on that are so readily available to us.  Nothing scary here.

I found it refreshing that Axe admits that some of the foods he advocates take some adjustment.  I’m not ready to read yet another panegyric about kale or natto or kefir.  I like being treated like an adult.

Worth the read and I’ll be testing out the recipes over the next while.

Unlisted

I love lists.  I hate them, too.  What I have to remember about them is that they are there to serve me, not for me to serve them.  When the list starts to act like the boss, I set the list aside and try to tune in to what is truly necessary.  Surprisingly enough, whatever that is often isn’t on the list at all.

Here is a list of unlisteds, so to speak:

Breathe.

Snuggle.

Stare out the window.

Go outside.

Wiggle toes.

Share a joke.

Cool drink.

Bubbles.

Cartwheel.

Work your heart to use your heart

Sometimes we need to ask the big questions.  You know, like why we are here, how it all happened, and who left only coffee ice cream in the freezer.  Some of those, anyway.

The big questions help us figure out the little stuff, even if we never come to a real conclusion on the cosmic purpose of it all.  Most of us probably don’t think that we are here to work 9 to 5 making widgets, or to do the laundry, or to take out the trash, or to solve for x.  Maybe those things are necessary, but they are not the point.

Fitness, for most of us, is not the point.  Fitness is just a way to give us more resources to do the things that are the point, whether that is cuddling up with the family on Saturday mornings or taking the dogs to the park or helping Grandma sort old photos.  We do fitness efficiently so we have time for other stuff.

Let’s keep it simple.  Do some cardio.  Lift some weights.  Stretch.  Meditate a few minutes.  Then get on with the good stuff.

The photo reminds me of the Queen of Hearts, whose Rule 42 is also important

As I have mentioned before, I have three basic rules for living*.  Today I want to talk about Rule 2 as it applies to fitness.  Rule 2 is “Use Your Good Judgment.”

The last days have been hot.  An appropriate application of Rule 2 in these circumstances might include drinking extra water, choosing to exercise in an air-conditioned space, perhaps opting for swimming.  Watching for signs of heat exhaustion could also be useful.

Even when we are not in the middle of a heat wave, Rule 2 has fitness usefulness.  Rule 2 is what helps us decide if we are merely uncomfortable because we are challenging ourselves or actually experiencing pain that could damage us.  Rule 2 weighs our fatigue and stress from work against the elation of a completed workout.  Rule 2 considers how we will feel about all that ice cream tomorrow.

We are in charge.  We get to decide.  Rule 2 helps us do that well.

* Rule 1 is “Don’t Be a Jerk,” or, as my daughter-in-law rephrased it more positively, “Be Kind.”  Rule 3 is “No Sangria Ever, Under Any Circumstances.” It was created because apparently the first two rules were not as comprehensive as I had hoped.