Monday Workout: True Love????

Just to make sure we don’t miss it this year, we’re doing the dreaded 12 Days of Christmas workout this week.  The dread is somewhat misplaced; it is not as hard as it used to be for those of us who have kept up with our workouts.  Also, it is always an option to substitute out inappropriate exercises if a person’s body doesn’t do jumping, or has knee issues or a shoulder injury.

Here’s how it works:  on “day one,” we do one push press.  Then we move to “day two” and do two goblet squats and one push press.  “Day three” brings three overhead presses, two goblet squats, and one push press.  Most people find that they need to rest for the first time after “day five” and after every “day” after that.  Of course, we can rest any time we need to, but we try to make it between the days.

Yes, I do realize that we end up doing 42 burpees before we are done.  We will survive.  The good news is that when we finish the twelfth day, we are actually entirely finished with the workout and can head out to find a new true love.

1 push press

2 goblet squats

3 Overhead press

4 1 leg squats each leg

5 deadlifts

6 burpees

7 pushups

8 renegade rows

9 mountain climbers

10 jump lunges

11 kb swings

12 plyojacks

Gifts!

Here we are, approaching several major gift-giving holidays.  Of course, we are all such organized humans that we have already dealt with all the things we need to get and wrap for the other humans and critters we love, right?  Here is a yearly reminder:  never give anyone else any exercise-related gifts that were not specifically requested—it’s not helpful or kind or useful.  However, if any of us want to give ourselves a fitness gift, here are some ideas:

• Time.  The number one reason people cite for why they don’t work out is that they don’t have time.  For some of us, this may be true.  I’m not suggesting that anyone steal workout time from an already limited pool of sleep time, but I’m guessing that if we tried really hard we could figure out that we waste at least fifteen minutes somewhere in the course of the day that we could put to fitness use.  Anyway, the gift part:  let’s give ourselves enough time to work out at least a few times during the week.  We’ll feel better, really.

• A break.  Not the resting kind, although that’s fine, too, since rest is important to our fitness.  I mean the kind where we stop beating ourselves up.  If being mean to ourselves actually worked for fitness or weight loss, we’d all be Olympic caliber.  Tell the critical voice to go yell at somebody else—we’re busy loving ourselves with sweat over here.  We can cheer ourselves on instead.

• Joy.  Hate the treadmill?  Stop doing it!  Go dance instead, or swim, or roller-skate.  If you have time, go ski.  Play that music that makes you laugh or sing along.  Wear the crazy workout pants if that helps.

• Fuel.  We need to feed our bodies what they need and what tastes good.  We need to give ourselves the right amount so that we feel energized and not stuffed.

Best news:  none of this stuff costs extra.  We can use the resources we already have to make things better!

What Uncle Joe brought to the potluck...

Last week I spent a lot of time on my feet.  I don’t have a desk job, but I certainly was standing more than usual.  And, for bonus points, my new grand-dog came to visit and he has LOTS of energy.  What saved my butt (and my tired back!)????  Pilates.

In the short-term sense, Pilates helped me stretch out the stiff places and get some movement back into the stuck and sore spots.  Pilates is the right kind of movement for when we don’t much feel like moving because it really does make us feel better when we get started.

More importantly, Pilates helps me in the long-term sense.  I recognize it when my posture gets wonky.  I feel it when my spine needs to lengthen or my core control slips.  Even better, Pilates lets me fix those things, whether I drag my reluctant body out to the studio and the equipment or just take a second or two to realign right where I am.

Thanks, Uncle Joe!