Let’s play with the TRX today. Do one or two rounds. (If you don’t have a TRX, that’s all right—all of these exercises work just fine on the ground.)
TRX | |
squat row (mid) | 20 |
mountain climber (mid calf) | 20 |
| |
clock press (long) | 20 |
overhead squat (long) | 20 |
| |
crossing balance lunge (mid) | 20 |
plank (mid calf) | 30 sec |
| |
low row (mid) | 20 |
burpee (mid calf) | 10 |
| |
crunch | 10 |
hamstring curl | 10 |
I think the least useful fitness phrase ever is “No pain, no gain.” I’m a believer in “No pain, no pain.” (This does not mean that fitness is never uncomfortable. There are always exercises that challenge our character as well as our bodies, but less sucking it up is better, on the whole.)
However, if we are doing enough in our workouts, we will end up sore from time to time. This is a good thing and helps us get stronger. We do need to have a few coping techniques. Notice that I am NOT talking about injury protocol. If we get injured, we need to seek medical attention and do what our doctors tell us.
Here are a few soreness-fighters, including the classics that all trainers recommend.
1. Rest. We already build this into our workout plans (I hope) by choosing not to work the same muscle groups two days in a row in our strength workouts. This also means that if we worked some muscle particularly hard, we give it time to recover before we work it a bunch more. If we are still really sore on the third day after a workout, we know that we need to dial it back a bit next time.
2. Ice. Ice reduces swelling. If we have an actual injury with swelling, ice is an excellent friend.
3. Heat. Heat does not help swelling, but it is soothing. If muscles feel like they are clenched beyond repair, a heating pad, microwavable pad, or hot bath or shower can help the muscles unfold a bit.
4. Ibuprofen. Unless there is an allergy or other reason not to take it. OTC medications help and we are not weaker humans for taking them.
5. Massage. Admittedly, in a pandemic, this is not an easy option to take unless we planned ahead and got quarantined with a talented provider. However, exploiting our spouses, partners, and/or children to help rub sore spots can be a viable thing, especially if we are willing to reciprocate.
6. Self-myofascial release. This works less well than good massage, but a whole lot better than nothing. Quality time with a foam roller or set of tune-up balls can make the world seem like a friendlier place.
Again, we work out to feel better, not worse. Fight the soreness and then do the next workout.
I’m getting ready to move. I own approximately 75 gazillion books along with all the usual stuff people have in their houses. This seems like a good time to talk about what kind of activities that are not traditionally fitness-related count as workouts. (And yes, I am counting packing and schlepping all those books as a workout.)
I COULD make a list, but that would be silly. Instead, I’m going to outline the principles so we can all figure it out in the moment.
If we end up sweating, it’s probably a workout. I qualify the statement with that “probably” because if it happens to be a hot day and we’re sitting on our behinds in the yard leisurely picking a weed or two, we are likely to be sweating, we are technically gardening, but we’re probably not getting a workout. If we’re lopping branches and hauling them, or raking and sweeping vigorously, or turning over soil, we are gardening and working out at once.
If we are sore the next day, it’s probably a workout. This one doesn’t help so much in the moment, but it’s still useful. It helps us distinguish between the kind of housework where we move all the furniture and really get in and scrub the floors or walls or whatever and the kind where we just wave a duster over things and call it a day.
If we get breathless, it’s probably a workout. We all have those days, particularly if we have a house with stairs, when it seems like we are up and down them all the time bringing something to where it is supposed to be. I call this the tidying version of interval training.
There are benefits to getting our workouts in a non-gym setting. The fancy name for it is “functional fitness” and there are plenty of gym workouts that try to mimic the effects of this kind of activity. We learn a lot about the practical application of physics and about how many heavy objects in normal life would be easier to move if they were only shaped like dumbbells and barbells. That said, all those gym workouts make things like moving less of a struggle.
We can do this.
We human organisms adapt. This allows us both to build habits and to change those habits to accommodate different circumstances. So far, facts.
Now for the interpretation part: there is good news and other news in this. The good news is that we can ride the upward spiral of our habits. An example? My body now pretty much demands yoga every morning. I don’t have to think about it or force myself to schedule it—I just start.
The first part of the other news is that even our good habits need to adapt. We need to recognize that our bodies are getting stronger and increase the load on our muscles, or that our lungs and heart are working more efficiently and give them more challenge in our cardio workouts, or that our growing flexibility has made other poses more accessible to us. We may not have to expend brain energy to get ourselves to show up anymore, but we do have to use our brains to sort out how to challenge ourselves enough.
The other part of the other news involves the direction of our spiral. As much as we can build good habits, we can also build bad ones. We need to remember that we don’t really WANT to spend the rest of our lives eating M&Ms on the couch watching cooking shows (well, maybe some of us do, but I find that stuff is better in small doses.).
The take-away here is that starting is the hard part. One of the yoga mantras that speaks to me sums this up: to begin is the victory. Once we start, we can build fabulous things.
Let’s do this.
This week, I am providing even more choices than usual. This is everyone’s chance to build a workout to order! I’ll provide the framework, and then everyone can choose.
The basic format is our trusty 30-20-10. We do three sets of three exercises, doing 30 reps of the first exercise, 20 of the second one, and 10 of the final one. Then we repeat the whole thing three times. (If you have been reading my blog or working out with me, this should look familiar. If not, don’t worry; there will not be a test.)
Choice Workout: Choose three from each column | ||
| ||
30 | 20 | 10 |
woodchoppers | squats | med ball rescues |
mountain climbers | lunges | round lunges |
jacks | deadlifts | lateral raise |
plank jacks | bench press | skullcrushers |
jump squats | fly | YTA |
jump lunges | row | pushups |
ball slams | kickback | burpees |
overhead high knees | curls | |
opposite knees | reverse fly | |
clean and press | ||
1 arm clean and press | | Russian twist |
| pretty princesses | |
| brains | |
| femur arcs | |
quadruped | ||
| | roll out abs |
Using the chart above, choose three from each column. When I design workouts for clients, the final exercise of the round is always abs, helpfully located after the space in the 10 column. Choose based on what you have on hand in terms of weights, what you like, and what you need. Have fun with it!
Go play.
Sometimes we get all bogged down in the soup of unhappiness that surrounds us. It seems wrong somehow to be happy in the face of all the ick. Except it isn’t. We can spread a little happiness around if we get some. (If you need permission to be happy, I’m here to give it to you. Go forth and laugh!) Three (fitness) things to increase happiness today:
1. Do something you love. Or as close to it as you can. Maybe I can’t go skiing right now, but since one of the things I love about skiing is going fast, I can hop on my bike and see how fast I can go.
2. Do something new. Curiosity and exploration wake up our brains and awake brains tend to be happy brains. Try a new route. Take a different class. Do the workout backward. Even if it goes wrong, it will give us a chance to laugh at ourselves.
3. Do something that makes your heart pound. In a good way. Which is to say, some cardio. It makes us happier and smarter. Really. Science says so.
Go play!
I called my business Recess on purpose. While it is true that one way to describe my work is that people pay me to make them do things they don’t want to do, that’s not the whole story. I do my best to help people like doing stuff that is good for them. I try to bring a sense of play to fitness because we tend to do more of what brings us joy.
It is absolutely true that some things are joyful in themselves and others are joyful at one remove. We need both. What do I mean? Take dancing. Dancing is fun. Every human culture that I can think of has had some kind of dancing (or else a need to frown upon dancing, which proves my point in a different way). Kids do it spontaneously. It plays a part in celebrations, religious ceremonies, and high school rituals. No one needs to make us dance, at least before we get all self-conscious. It’s just joyful.
Burpees, on the other hand, don’t make very many people joyful in and of themselves. They are joyful at a remove (no, not because we rejoice when they’re not part of the workout). We get joy from burpees because of what we get from having done burpees—more energy, strength, stamina for the things that make us happy. Maybe burpees give us joy by way of chasing our kids around for hours or by helping us find the perfect outfit to knock someone special’s socks off. We have to wait a little for the burpee kind of joy.
So when I design workouts or when I talk about what we all need to do for fitness, I try to include both kinds of joy. The first kind is easy: we pick stuff we like to do, like dancing or biking or curling or whatever. The second kind requires a two-pronged approach. We keep in mind the secondary kinds of joy we want to achieve by doing the less joyful exercise, and we employ coping techniques.
Some of my favorite coping techniques are: friends, loud music, bribery, and speed. Other people like classes, fancy workout clothes, or special tools. Whatever works.
Let’s play.
