To the rescue!

Winter is the season of sitting.  The couch seems particularly appealing when the weather is nasty.  We have Christmas specials or Hallmark movies to catch up on.  We end up spending chunks of time in the car fruitlessly hunting for parking near stores or crawling through traffic to visit family or friends.  Maybe we even sit on a plane for vacation or obligation.  The point is:  too much butt time.

Pilates to the rescue!  If we ever needed the lengthening influence of Pilates, it is right now when pretty much everything encourages us to hunch up.  A full Pilates session is ideal, but even if we manage to squeeze in a few bridges in the morning or before bed, we are doing a favor for our bodies.  Less than a minute spent on pelvic tilts can help us remember proper spine alignment as we move through the rest of the day.  It doesn’t take a huge investment to make a big difference in how we feel.

We can do this.

Practically the best thing

I am not the boss of the weather.  It is not my fault that we are having rain and cold and darkness.  However, it would be on me if I didn’t offer my number one strategy for dealing with rain/cold/darkness and the low spirits that can accompany these conditions:  do cardio.

Maybe I should rephrase that.  It’s my number one practical strategy.  Most of us don’t have the opportunity to scurry off to the equatorial region or the southern hemisphere to enjoy a second round of summer.  Those of us who like having a place to live and food to eat probably can’t get away with hiding under the covers for days on end.

So, in the absence of independent wealth and unlimited travel, we have cardio.  This may be small consolation compared to the lifestyle of the rich and famous, but the good news is that it really works.  When we get our heart rates up, we get our brain chemicals in whack.  We improve our mood and our energy level.  Our minds work better.  I firmly believe in doing things that make us feel good and cardio is one of those things.

What are we going to do today to get breathless?

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