Step away from the fridge...

I admit:  I’m a stress eater.  I know I’m not the only one.  Add the fact that I like to cook and that I’m protecting my clients by not working with them in person right now, and I could be in trouble.  I am not the only one.  Stress and boredom are both triggers for a lot of people to eat.

One thing that helps combat both stress and boredom is exercise.  I know we can’t (and shouldn’t) exercise all the time, but even a short walk or stretch session can improve mood and at least interrupt our M&M consumption.

We can also pay attention to what we eat.  Sure, candy is extremely sweet and soothing.  But we can experiment to see if we can find other snacks that have fewer calories or more nutritive value or both while still helping us feel full.

Finally, we need to remember that our primary health goal right now is preventing the spread of disease and keeping our most vulnerable people from dying.  If it takes a few extra Snickers bars, totally worth it.

Here to help

As we are all still staying home to protect the health of our communities, some of us are feeling unduly tempted to overdo things, in many directions.  Messages around us suggest that if we’re not lovingly creating a gourmet dinner out of whatever the heck is in the back of the cabinets or teaching our children and ourselves four languages in addition to our normal schoolwork and work or finally mastering the most difficult yoga poses, we are doing it wrong.  Nope.  Not at all.  If we and our family remain alive during this time, we win.  The stress we are all feeling does not need to be augmented by induced feelings of failure.

Some of us find that exercise helps us cope with stress.  We may be tempted to work out really hard for lots of hours every single day.  This is not good for us.  When we lift weights or do weight training exercises with our body weight, we need to take a rest day between workouts to allow the muscles to recover.  We don’t get stronger while we are lifting weights, but in the recovery period after we are done—that’s what that soreness is about, rebuilding stronger.

We can do cardio every day, but we should make a point of making some days easier than others.  (If, say, we are doing weight workouts three times a week, we can do light cardio on weight days.)

It is also entirely all right to have some days when we do no exercise at all.  In stressful times, we often need more rest than usual.  The workouts will be there when we are ready.

If you need help figuring out what to do, or how much, or how many, text or call or email me.  I’m here to help.

Monday Workout: Cardio Poker!

My dear friend Mary Matlack passed this idea along to me.  I have adapted it a bit, but it is a great way to do some exercise during this time we are stuck at home.  There is only one catch:  we need to find a deck of cards.  The game works better with two people, but I’ll discuss how to play alone below if we need to.

Here’s how it works:  Divide the deck (evenly) in half and place in two locations a reasonable distance apart, like on opposite sides of the yard or living room.  Make sure there is a clear path between the two spots and that there is enough space for a body to work at each spot.  (A mat might be nice to have and a good way to ensure there is enough space, but hey, we’re getting sweaty anyway.)

For two people:  each person starts at one of the two spots.  Each runs (or moves quickly-but-safely) to the other spot and turns over the top card.  Using the chart below (or another chart adapted from it with exercises that fit the equipment and needs of players), each player does the exercise that matches the card suit for the number of times shown on the card (e.g., Ace of Spades is one pushup; Queen of Hearts is 10 jump squats).  Repeat until both players have a full “hand” of cards or more or wear out entirely and run out of cards.  For bragging rights, the player able to make the best poker hand from her or his cards, “wins,” but really, everyone who plays automatically wins.

If you are playing alone, go as many rounds as you like and compare one day's "hand" to the next.

Cardio Poker
Suit	Exercise
Hearts	squats/jump squats
Diamonds	lunge punches
Clubs	pretty princesses
Spades	pushups

Bonus tip: make stuff

Real self-care is particularly important these days.  Here are four free things to do that keep us safe, improve our fitness, and boost mood:

1.     Walk, at a safe distance from anyone we don’t live with already.  I like walking because it offers the opportunity to notice the world around us more than running or even biking, but those are good, too.

2.     Stretch.  All this tension is not good for us.  Even if all we do is raise our arms overhead or tilt our heads from side to side to release neck tension, we are ahead.

3.     Drink that water.  Dehydration causes crabbiness.  Crabbiness plus tight quarters causes arguments.  Arguments cause stress.  Easiest reduction of family friction ever!

4.     Talk to people.  Again, maintain safe distance, but we die when we don’t connect, even the introverts among us.

All the secrets, revealed!

I have been holding out on everyone.  Here is the perfect diet and exercise program for all of us.

All this emphasis on whole foods, water, and vegetables is killing us.  What we really need to be eating is processed food because how else are we going to live forever?  We need all those preservatives!  And we don’t want our bodies to have to do all the work of breaking down whole grains when we have the food industrial complex to do it for us.  Organics are also highly overrated—I personally don’t want to be infested with pests, so bring on the chemical pesticides.

As far as exercise is concerned, what we really need to do is limit it as much as possible.  What makes us tired?  Working out, that’s what!  If we want to feel younger and more energetic, we need to lie on the couch all day watching cartoons like we did when we were kids on Saturday mornings.  Have we ever felt better?  I don’t think so.  What more evidence do we need?

Oh, maybe walk to the calendar and check the date.

It will certainly help...

In uncertain times, I resort to two kinds of fitness:  cardio and Pilates.  Cardio exercise is my go-to mood enhancer.  And it isn’t just some weird quirk of my personality—science indicates that cardio exercise can work better than antidepressants to improve mood (DO NOT stop taking antidepressants without talking to a doctor; consider adding exercise as well.).  It also suggests that cardio improves general brain function and I certainly feel less depressed when my brain works.

Pilates, on the other hand, along with its cousins yoga and stretching, helps with the tension and anxiety parts.  All those mindbody disciplines ground us back into our breath.  We move stuck parts and stretch contracted muscles.  We breathe.  We remember how to be flexible while staying strong.  We rediscover the rhythms of our movements and the cooperation of muscle and bone.

Cardio exercise, thankfully, is easily available to all of us.  We can all walk or run or dance in even limited space.  Some of us may have clothes storage devices hiding in our rooms that secretly used to be exercise bikes or treadmills or the like—this would be a great time to lift the spell and return them to their original form.

Pilates with equipment may be harder to come by, but we can all sit and focus on our breathing and do a few simple stretches to remind our bodies that they don’t have to be clenched all the time.

If even that seems too hard, just keep breathing.

Monday Workout: No Equipment? No problem!

More tools for home workouts… without tools!  This workout doesn’t require anything but a body.  If you have a bench or a strong chair, you can use it for cardio or to modify your pushups, but it isn’t needed.  Do as many rounds as seem good to you, but three seems like a good number.

cardio warm up	1-2 minutes
e.g.  jacks, step ups,
mountain climbers
burpees (heh)
jump rope
squats	20
1 leg squats	10
lunges	20
pushups	10
punches	20
pretty princesses	10
brains	10