Move

Unlike most people, I have a job that doesn’t require a lot of sitting.  When I do run into circumstances when I have to sit for long periods, I become even more thankful that I don’t do it regularly.  I’m not going to go off on sitting as the new smoking or anything like that, but I would like to suggest that we all try to find more ways of standing and moving throughout the day.

Standing desks can be awesome for some of us.  Adjustable desks might be even better, so we can choose to stand sometimes and sit sometimes.  I have a chair at my desk in my office, but I also have a stability ball handy for those times when a different kind of sitting would make my body happier.

I personally detest meetings, but when they can’t be avoided, we can try to have walking meetings.  The change of scene and the movement can get our brains working better.  Standing meetings in the office tend to be shorter and more efficient if walking is not an option.

We use alarms for all kinds of things in our lives.  Setting one every hour to remind ourselves to move around can help.  If that seems too rigid, we can just drink lots and lots of water and our bladders will do the reminding for us.

We are not meant to be still.  Let’s get happy by moving around a bit whenever we can.

All!

I like both Pilates and weight training.  I particularly like them in combination because they create synergies.

The inherent strength we get from weight training allows us to use the Pilates exercises to explore form.  When we have basic strength, more of the Pilates exercises become possible for us.

Pilates, on the other hand, tunes us in to deeper levels of movement.  When I have clients with old injuries or movement compensations, I love to throw in a few Pilates exercises to correct and train new patterns.

We need it all!

Not the boss

I am not the boss of everything.  One way to know that this is true is that we experience setbacks in our workouts.  There are times when we are injured or exhausted or stressed out and we just can’t do as much.

Worse, there are days when, even though we have been doing All The Right Things, somehow we can’t lift as much or go as far or as fast as we’d like.  Unfortunately, this is normal variation.  We have to accept it and move on.

There are some coping techniques for setbacks.  We can try:

• Doing what we can.  Maybe shoulder exercises are out, but those legs still work.  Bike or squat or run or dance until swimming, tennis, and overhead presses are back on the list.

• Whining.  Swearing also works.  It reduces stress.  A positive attitude is a great thing, but sometimes we all need a little negativity to clear out the system.

• Resting.  Pushing past an injury is, frankly, stupid.  Most of life is not a race; we can take the time to heal properly.  Sleep deprivation is rampant in our society, so an excuse to catch up a little is welcome.

• Being kind.  Under most circumstances, whatever it is that is keeping us from doing as much as we’d like is not our fault.  We do not heal faster or improve more when we yell at ourselves or call ourselves bad names.  The world is not going to end because we did not deadlift a new record weight or we finished last in our age group at the run.  We already won by showing up.  We all do better with encouragement than blame.

We can do this.