All Wet

I don’t love drinking water.  If I let myself, I can drink soda all day long, but I find water more challenging.  I’m getting better, but I figure other folks might need some tactics, too.  Here are a few:

• Know why.  I know we make irrational decisions all the time, but it is useful to have some logic behind our decisions so that we can use our grown-up voice on ourselves when we would rather have another cup of coffee, a Big Gulp, or another shot of whiskey instead.  Hydration helps our bodies function better.  It makes us nicer and smarter (really!  I didn’t make it up!).  It has no calories and no weird chemicals in it, so it is guilt-free.

• Add ice, or heat.  Some of us prefer our water really cold.  Others find that a little too nasty and prefer room temperature or even hot water.  Do whatever makes your body feel best.

• Make it fancy.  Whether we go for fizzy water in bottles or with a snazzy device, it’s great if it gets the water into our systems.  Ditto for mint, cucumber, berries, lemons, or any other infusions.  For bonus points, we can pretend it’s a cocktail.

• Get a great cup, bottle, or glass.  I had a favorite cup and now I have an even more favorite insulated travel cup that keeps my water cold pretty much indefinitely, even in a hot car.

• Track and reward.  If we’re still struggling, some of us can benefit from logging how much we drink and giving ourselves small incentives to keep going.  I have been amazed more than once at how much people will do for a gold star sticker.

• Whatever else works.  We’re all creative and I’m sure other folks have better ideas than I do.  Bottom line:  do it!

Plans, Meet Reality...

Of course, I plan workouts.  I even share the weekly workout on Mondays, or at least its outline.  Here’s the thing:  the workout on the paper might not resemble what we actually do.

I can plan the Very Best Workout Ever and then a client shows up with knee pain, or shoulder pain, or even the worst work stress in the universe.  We have to adapt.  Sometimes that means a gentler version of an exercise.  Other times, my clients have taken leaps forward and need something more challenging.  Still other times, it’s clear that lots of stretching and rolling would really help more than anything else, or that a brief detour on to the Pilates equipment will enhance the rest of the workout.

We have to stay present when we’re working.  We need to check that what we are doing is actually good for us, right now (this does not mean that it is always fun, although I try my best to make even the worst exercises less horrible than they could be…).

We are not robots.  Sometimes we are achy, hungry, stressed, tired humans.  My goal is always that we leave our workouts better than when we started.

Fitness for Superheroes (That's YOU!)

A lot of us are very tired and discouraged right now.  The metaphorical weight of the world is bearing down on us in an almost-literal way.  I’m a personal trainer and Pilates instructor, which is not the same as a superhero; I cannot fix the world.  However, my small part in the work the world needs is this:  I help with self-care.

At base, the purpose of fitness is to take care of ourselves.  We need cardio to keep our brains sharp and our moods positive.  We need weight training because we all need all the strength we can get.  We need flexibility both figuratively and literally to navigate the challenges in front of us.  We need mind/body work so that we can tune into the important stuff.  And we need to balance all that hard work with rest.

What do we need most today?  That’s today’s workout, whether it’s a power nap or power lifting.  Let’s grab some uplifting tunes and get this done.