Monday Workout: Yes, It Is Burpee Week

I know I’m not going to be popular this week.  I am okay with that.  The only way to make peace with burpees (I’m not going to go as far as liking them) is to get better at them and we get better by practicing.  They, like the squats, renegade rows, and lunges are great exercises for building metabolism and burning lots of calories.  Also:  we end up stronger!  This workout has some options in it because folks with knee problems probably don’t want to be doing too many jump squats or lunges; regular squats in a comfortable range of motion or with support from a TRX or stability ball on the wall and high-knee marching with a weight overhead will also do the trick of getting heart rate up and joints moving.  As always, if it hurts, don’t do it.  We need to use our good judgment and adapt workouts to the body we are working with today.  Three rounds.

Xiser	30
flies	20
burpees	10
(jump) squats	30
kickbacks	20
renegade rows	10
overhead lunges/high knees	30
bench press	20
pretty princesses	10

Pursuit of Happiness

Today, being Independence Day, I offer this list of things we can declare our independence from:

• Cultural pressure about looks.  Happy, healthy people are attractive, no matter what size or shape they happen to have.  Tell the fitness/beauty industrial complex that we don’t need their negativity.

• Processed food.  This may require something akin to a war because that processed food stuff is sneaky.  It infiltrates our guts and addicts us.  But fresh, whole foods make us feel so much better once we get through the process of weaning ourselves off the sugar/fat/chemical stuff.

• Stress.  All right, maybe that’s not entirely possible.  But we need to at least send a beautifully written manifesto to the stress king to let him know we are not going to keep serving him with no good return on our investment.  We’re allowed to take time to run and play and swim and read and sleep and breathe and love.

• Excess.  We can let go of some of the stuff holding us down.  Maybe that’s those guilt-filled boxes in the basement or that extra five pounds of cheat-day weight.  Let’s lighten up a bit!

Go play!  It’s a holiday!

Safe, not easy

My studio is intended to be a safe space. 

Of course, I mean it is a physically safe space.  I will make every effort not to drop heavy objects on anyone who comes in.  A large part of my job is choosing exercises that are appropriate for the bodies in front of me and watching those same bodies to ensure that they’re moving with correct form to prevent injury.  This is common sense.

It also should be common sense that studios and gyms should be safe spaces for our whole selves.  I do not hold with the insult-laden yelling sort of training associated with evil drill sergeants and orc captains.  Among other things, that kind of shaming can lead to exercise anxiety and total avoidance of anything physical.

My studio has some mirrors and we sometimes use them.  Other times we don’t.  Some people are more comfortable working without thinking about what they look like every five seconds.  When we need mirror feedback to build our sense of where our bodies are in space, we look, but I tend to focus on what good form feels like.

Language matters.  Sometimes I blow it, but I try not to describe anything my clients are doing as wrong—I speak instead about how we can make what they are doing better, safer, more effective.  When we learn new exercises, there is no rush to nail the movement.  We can take our time to figure it out in our bodies, deciding whether we need a better description, another demonstration, a tactile cue, or just more practice.

This is not to say that I will go easy on anyone.  When I approach my work and my clients with love, I have no choice but to encourage my clients to be their best and to do their best.  And I will be right there, next to them, working it through with them.