Adaptation

One good reason to experiment with different kinds of exercise lies buried in the fact that stuff sometimes happens.

When it’s a question of bad stuff, like poor air quality, injury, depression, sleep interruption, traffic, or hair-related problems, we have to find something that will keep us moving without making us feel worse.  If, for example, we have a knee issue, it might be time to do all upper body.  If the air outside makes us cough, it might be time to hit the gym or the mall for walking.  If we have trouble with weight-bearing, we can try swimming.

Even good stuff can require us to adapt.  Maybe we have been blessed with a new partner or baby or puppy.  Those new beings take a lot of time and energy and we might have to find ways to be extra efficient in our workouts (or invite them along) in order to make it work.

What we do doesn’t matter that much.  But we do have to do it.  Go play.

Monday Workout: On the Ropes

What is the point of having toys that we don’t play with?  It’s battle rope week!  Three rounds.

rope double slam	30
squats	20
lateral raise	10
rope alternating slam	30
bench press	20
curls	10
rope circles	30
flies	20
lunges	10

This dinosaur has spent years at university, but I don't think it is helping the thought process

As I mentioned a month ago, when I am not finished with the current book in time to write about it for Friday, I intend to write about some other kind of mind issue.  Finishing the book might be faster than deciding on a topic, but I will try.

In my reading over the last while, I have noticed that books about mind tend to fall into three categories:  physical, philosophical, and, well, woo-woo (Not that I have anything against woo-woo.  I lived in Berkeley for a long time, own several tie-died items of clothing, and sometimes believe my printer is possessed by evil spirits.).  As is often the case, the most interesting stuff seems to happen at the intersections.

The book I’m halfway through and intend to write about when I’m done is an introduction to physical anthropology that I stole fair and square from my kid after he took a course in it a few semesters ago.  It reminds me of much of my college experience because the authors often lay out several alternative and interesting theories with various evidence and then posit that some kind of synthesis is probably most accurate.

For the most part, the synthesis between the physical, philosophical, and woo-woo needs to be home-made.  The physical experts are great on the how of it all.  The philosophers tend to discuss deep content and meta-content.  The woo-woo add the je ne sais quois that occasionally makes sense on some other plane entirely.  So, for example, when I read about Hox genes and the way they develop body patterns and then I go to yoga where we move in ways inspired by those patterns from our animal history while focusing on our breathing, I find connections that improve body, mind, and spirit.