Experiment!

I end up in a lot of conversations about fitness.  It’s an occupational hazard, or it would be if I didn’t actually enjoy it.  As it is, I learn things about how people view the whole fitness process.

 

Recently, I have been having a lot of chats with people who think they should be doing more exercise.  They say it like a lot of people talk about how they probably should get a colonoscopy.  I am sure that there are people somewhere for whom there is not one single form of exercise that is the least bit fun, but nearly everyone can find something to do that is both enjoyable and beneficial to the body.

 

It might take more than one try to figure out what that activity might be.  People who like to be outside are probably not going to bond with hot yoga, but skiing might be exactly the right sport for them.  Carpal tunnel syndrome and rock climbing are not a match made in heaven, but a more leg-intensive activity like roller-blading might be just the thing.  Someone might imagine that getting sweaty is the very worst thing about exercise until they hit that club with the awesome music and dance all night long.

 

We do not have to commit to that one true exercise for life.  In fact, that’s almost always a bad idea because it causes us to overuse some parts of our bodies and underuse other parts.  We might want to consider commitment to experimentation instead—it can be a lot of fun.

Cardio is our friend

Perhaps I am repetitive.  I am okay with that because we often need to hear something a whole bunch of times before it sinks in and makes sense.

 

If we have only a limited attention span or time allotment for exercise, the very first thing we should choose is to do cardio.  This is especially true when things are stressful and it seems like we should not be wasting our time with something as frivolous as exercise.

 

Cardio is pretty much the best stress-buster I know.  It gives us a positive outlet for nervous energy.  It boosts our mood.  It burns calories, improves our lipid profile, helps us sleep better, and helps us concentrate when we’re done.  Also, there are a lot of ways to get cardio in and a whole bunch of them are free.

 

Consider yourself invited to walk, run, dance, swim, bike, rollerblade, skip, or climb stairs.  Chase the dog or the kid.  Anything that gets the heart rate up and makes us breathe heavy counts (if you choose an NC-17 activity, please make sure you get consent and you take appropriate precautions).

 

Go play.  It’s a good thing.

Monday Workout: More body weight

Since we are still not at the part where gyms get to reopen, we get a body weight circuit again this week.  Do three or four rounds…

 

mountain climbers	30
lunges	30
plank jacks	10
windmills	30
1 leg deadlifts	10
side lunges	20
quadruped	10
V sit	hold 30 sec

Why yes, I do know lots of ways to do it wrong...

So yesterday I wrote about reasonable goals in a somewhat quantitative way.  Today’s list is qualitative stuff that can sabotage us and what to do about it.

1.     We missed a day, so this was clearly a bad idea and we suck.  Nope.  We missed one day.  That means we have thirty other days we can show up and do stuff.  We aren’t striving for perfection, just improvement.

2.     But really, we suck.  Nope.  Still not true.  If being mean to ourselves was a good way to succeed, we’d all be done with all of our goals by now.  Trying counts.  Showing up counts.  Being nice really counts.

3.     We set this goal because everyone else thinks we should.  Really?  No.  We need to tell the truth about what we actually want.  If other people think it’s weird, that’s their problem.

4.     We set this goal because we really think our spouse/kid/friend should do it, too.  Nope.  We only get to do our own work. 

Now go do stuff.

A new leaf for July!

Welcome to July!  It’s a new month and who knows what it will hold?  There are certainly plenty of things we can’t control, but we can set some reasonable fitness goals.  Please note that I said “reasonable.”  We are not going to lose 100 pounds this month or go from couch to marathon.  Here are some examples of how to determine reasonable fitness goals for various aspirations.

“I want to lose weight.”  A reasonable goal for a month is five to ten pounds.  Losing more than that in a month requires some unhealthy behaviors that at best are not sustainable and at worst put the rest of our wellbeing at risk.

“I want to exercise more.”  If we have been lying around for the last long time, we start small so we can crush the goal and use the success to spur us on.  It is almost always best to begin with cardio because cardio gives us the tools to adapt to weight training.  I like to encourage people to do just a little cardio every day because then it is a habit.  We start with a half hour of walking and even that can be broken in half or in thirds.  By the end of the month, we should be able to do that half hour a day.  If we are already doing cardio, we can add time or intensity (go longer or faster), or we can branch out into weight training once or twice a week, which should be habitual by August.

“I want to eat healthy.”  There are several ways to approach this one.  One I like is to remove the crap.  We all have a kryptonite food that tends to sabotage our best efforts.  It is time to end that relationship for good, dear ones.  That is one abusive partner, baby.  Dump sugar’s butt (or toss the chips to the curb, or kiss the margaritas good bye, or whatever else we need to do).  The other approach I like is to make sure we add the good stuff.  There are approximately ten gazillion different diets out there, but I can tell you for sure that science supports at least these two things:  eat veggies and drink lots of water.  By the end of the month, we should have established new and better patterns, either by adding or subtracting.

If you would like more specific goals tailored to your very own unique self, give me a poke and we’ll talk.

Dirt is ok

I admit there is not much to like about living in a pandemic.  However, one bright spot is that we are all realizing the magic of outside.

I’ve been pushing myself to go outside for years.  (I had to overcome a family culture that did not believe in dirt, among other things…)  When I could do distance biking, it was an easy sell because I loved it.  After that became less available to my body, it took a while to find something else, but now I love going hiking with my kid.

When we were out last week, we saw dog-walkers, trail runners, and mountain bikers.  In the past we have come across kids investigating pretty much every leaf and rock and stump and lichen and bug and their mostly-patient parents.  The very air is different under trees or near water or both.

We are blessed to live so close to so many beautiful places.  Pop on those shoes and go… it’ll be fun!

Monday Workout: All Balls

I like this workout because medicine balls are fun and my particular ones are colorful, so it is a pretty workout, too.  Rescues and slams are hard without a medicine ball, but feel free to substitute other exercises in their place if you are using dumbbells instead.  Three rounds.

All Medicine Ball
woodchoppers	30
twists	20
rescues	10
ball slams	30
curls	20
pushups	10
overhead high knees	30
skullcrushers	20
Russian twist	10