Monday Workout: Ring My Bell...

I like kettle bells.  A lot.  So this week, it’s all kettle bells, all the time.  Three rounds.

kb swings	30
kb twists	20
kb 8s	10
kb one arm clean/press	30
kb goblet squat	20
kb overyets	10
kb overhead high knees	30
kb overhead triceps	20
kb pushups	10

This list has five things on it: what's missing?

I wrote yesterday about how to tell if a workout was hard enough and mentioned in passing that if we’re not making progress it could be because of what we’re eating.  Working out is only one part of what it takes to have good health.  Here are the things I think we need to consider when we are figuring out how to be our best healthy selves.

Exercise.  Duh.  I have built my career on the premise that exercise is good for us.  I believe it.  We need cardio, strength, and flexibility exercise to be optimally physically functional.

Nutrition.  Healthy bodies need healthy fuel.  We can do zillions of crunches, but we’re not going to have beautiful abdominals if we are chowing down on sugar cereal and donuts all day.  When we eat our veggies and drink our water, we are helping our bodies work at their peak.

Sleep.  Workouts only work if we rest in between them.  Our muscles need time to repair themselves, to come back stronger than before.  If we’re not sleeping, our bodies can’t heal.  Also, our brains get nutty.

Connection.  We can’t do it all alone.  We need other humans to love us and pet us and listen to us.

Challenge.  We need the right amount of this one.  Too much and we become hair-pulling stress monsters.  Too little and we turn into boneless couch critters.  Ideally, we find our bodies and minds tired but not totally worn out at the end of the day.

What else should be on the list?

How to tell...

If I did not believe that working out was good, I would not be a personal trainer and Pilates instructor.  However, I do not believe that more working out is always better.  We want to do the right amount of work.  How much is that?  Here are some ways to tell:

We feel tired afterwards.  Not flat-out exhausted.  Not suffering intense pain.  But not like we could do it all over again, no problem.

We get sore, but not too sore.  Soreness usually comes on some time after the workout is over.  We might notice it the next morning.  Some of us hit peak soreness two days after the workout.  If we’re still really hurting after three days, we did too much and should back off a bit.

We make progress.  If, in general, we are getting stronger or faster or leaner, we’re doing it right.  We have to be careful not to obsess over this part, though.  All of us have off days when we are tired or slow or puffy or whatever.  Sometimes we hit a plateau and have to change something up to get past it.  The trend, however, should be positive.  If it’s not, we’re probably not doing enough of the right things.  (Note:  sometimes diet is the culprit here.  We may have a terrific workout plan and a terrible eating plan.)

We don’t hate every second of our workouts.  It’s okay to hate some parts (looking at you, burpees…).  It’s okay to prefer some workout days to others.  But if we spend the whole time miserable, it’s time to explore other options.  There are many, many ways to work out; nearly everyone can find at least a couple that are mostly fun.

We can do this.