More Mixing...

Workouts can get boring.  We find ourselves doing the same things over and over.  It’s easier, but any time we find ourselves settling for what is easy, we might be in trouble.  Our bodies make progress when they are challenged, and challenge comes from change.  Some ideas to mix things up:

• Change venue.  If we usually work out in the gym, we can take it outside and vice versa.  We can run a new route, or even the same loop the other way around.  We can add hills to our bike workout, or maybe a few sets of bleacher stairs when we’re at the track.

• Take a class.  No, not that one we go to every week.  Some other class.  Even if it’s still yoga, the teacher will have a different perspective.  Or maybe we could try the one we’ve never heard of before.

• Make it heavy.  A lot of us like the variety of doing a bunch of different exercises in a workout.  If we plan the occasional heavy workout, we might not get through more than one or two different exercises if we keep going to our single rep maximum.

• Go with a buddy.  See what she or he does regularly.  It’s probably different than our usual.

Monday Workout: Mix!

I like to use the same medicine ball sets.  Every once in a while, it occurs to me that I can split the exercises up!  No more ruts!  Three rounds…

(lunge) punches	30
bench press	20
kickbacks	10
ball slams	30
bosu squats	20
pushups	10
woodchoppers	30
rows	20
plank	10

Friday Reading Report: Cholesterol

Like most people I know, I often remember that I read something, but rarely where I read it or how trustworthy the source was.  As I was doing my homework this week, I had this vague feeling that there was an article somewhere about how dietary cholesterol didn’t have that much correlation with blood cholesterol levels.  I went looking.  That didn’t work, so I called in the expert:  my kid the librarian, who can find anything.  (I got some tips on how he searched at the same time to try to get more independent…)

Here’s the deal:  the reliable sources say that there is, in fact, a strong correlation between dietary cholesterol and blood levels.  You can check it out here and in the resources listed here.  Different people react differently to cholesterol in the diet, but there is no easy way to tell whether an individual is a hyperreactor or a hyporeactor.  Bottom line is that, in this case, the recommendation to keep cholesterol intake under 300 mg per day is a good one.

Fun fact:  we make more cholesterol in our own bodies than most people ingest because it is an essential part of the lenses of our eyes, our brains, and our cell membranes.