Not all at once

The quote has been attributed to various people, and, really, attaching it to someone particularly brainy doesn’t make it any more or less valid; I don’t care who said something like time exists to keep everything from happening at once, but I agree with the idea.  Agreeing with it does not mean that I always like it.

I, like many people, have enthusiasms.  I get inspired and I want to do All The Things.  I want to do them all Right Now.  That this is not possible does not stop me from trying.

When we have a fitness goal, many of us start by overdoing it.  Sometimes this leads to injury.  More often, it leads to exhaustion.  Then we feel sore and discouraged.  Maybe we give up and rekindle our romance with the couch.

Fitness is not an exam that we can cram for at the last minute.  It is, like it or not, one of those things that we have to do, more or less faithfully, most days.  As time passes, we get better.  We can do it.

Monday Workout: Make it as hard as you like

This week’s workout is pretty typical.  We can make it harder by using heavier weights or moving faster.  Three rounds.

kb swings	30
kb twists	20
kb overyets or 8s	10
Bosu step ups	30
flies	20
reverse flies	10
plyojacks	30
rows	20
pretty princesses	10

Friday Reading Report: Water

Pretty much all nutrition advice includes the concept that we should drink more water, since most of us don’t get enough.  Want to know why we need so much?  Here are five things that water does in the body:

1.     Helps us resist environmental extremes.  Water has a high heat capacity, which means that it takes a lot of energy to increase its temperature.  Since we are 45 to 70 percent water (depending on how lean we are, our hydration status, etc.), we get water’s help with homeostasis.

2.     Helps us cool down when we do get hot.  Yep.  This is where the sweat comes in.  We can’t sweat if we’re out of water.  Then the sweat can’t evaporate and keep us from melting.

3.     Helps with pretty much all the chemistry.  Almost all of our metabolic reactions involve water.  It dissolves some things, reacts with others, and is the product of yet more reactions.

4.     Helps maintain our pH balance.  If our internal balance gets too acidic or alkaline, we die.  Water, being neutral, helps keep us neutral, too.  It also helps out with various reactions that produce acids or alkalis as needed to restore the balance when it tips too far one way or the other.

5.     Helps make up (all right, IS) all the bodily fluids.  We’re not getting far without blood, synovial fluid, spit, tears, and the like.  All those fluids have other ingredients, but water comes first.

So go drink some.