It's a stretch

 

Sometimes we need a checklist.  Today I offer some essential stretches:

 

1.     Neck.  Tilt the head toward one shoulder.  This can be made more intense by pressing down on the head with a hand.  Repeat other side.  Some people need to be careful making neck circles, so try half circles.

2.     Shoulders.  Circle them forward and back.

3.     Chest.  Stand in a doorway.  Grab the frame with both hands and lean forward until you feel a stretch across the chest.  This can also be done one side at a time.

4.     Sides.  Stand up straight.  Reach one arm as high as possible into the air and then lean toward the opposite side of the body.  Repeat other side.

5.     Back.  Do the Olympic Salute, arms up in the shape of a Y, chest lifted toward the ceiling, abs engaged.

6.     Waist.  Lie on your back on the floor.  Bend your knees toward your chest.  Let them fall first to one side of the body and then the other.

7.     Quads.  Roll to one side.  Keep your thighs in line with each other.  Bend the top knee so that you can reach back and grab your ankle.

8.     Hamstrings.  Sit up.  Extend your legs out straight in front of you.  Reach for your toes (If you have osteoporosis, keep your back flat while doing this).  Both flat back and rounded back versions feel good.

9.     Ankles.  Circle them in both directions and then point and flex feet.

10.  Whole body.  Stand up.  Reach for the sky.  Shake it all out.

 

Feel better?

Not into pain

A lot of people, when they hear what I do, assume I am some kind of sadist.  They joke about the tortures I inflict (or maybe they’re not joking???).  This is a complete misunderstanding of what I do.

 

Yes, people do pay me to get them to do what they don’t want to do.  Yes, sometimes the things they need to do are uncomfortable.  But no, I do not want people to hurt.  Not even a little bit.

 

Pain, in my profession, is often glorified.  We see or hear “inspiring” stories about Suzy the Amazing Athlete who finished the ultra double extra horrible long race of ordealness with two broken legs, a concussion, and cancer.  I do not recommend aspiring to this kind of achievement (no offense, Suzy…).  I do not want my clients to work until they are injured.  I want them to stop when they have worked all they can in a safe way.

 

Pain’s purpose is to get our attention.  When we try to lift a weight that is too heavy, our bodies signal us with a big fat OW so we stop, not so we pretend to be all super extra macho and keep on going.  Pain alerts us to places where we need to adjust our form.

 

Now, let’s go back to that discomfort thing.  I do believe that not all workout activities that are good for us are always easy and fun.  We will get sore and tired.  Discomfort is like pain’s early warning system—we stop before we get from discomfort to actual pain.  So yes, if a person works out with me and has to do, say, hamstring curls, that person will probably not be comfortable during the process.  But this is just how hamstrings express their indignation that they are having to do more than the usual amount of work.  They’ll get over it.  And they’ll get stronger.

 

We deal with pain by seeing our medical professionals, discomfort with our friends rest, ice, and ibuprofen, and we work out to strengthen our minds and bodies.

 

Short version:  pain is bad, discomfort is all right, and I believe in doctors, ice, rest, and ibuprofen.

Adapting is a challenge...

It’s a new month.  A lot of folks I know are using the opportunity to start new projects, begin or reboot work on some goals, and generally turn over a new leaf.  I love that!  It’s all exciting and new and wonderful.  We dive in to our new workout or sport or activity with fresh enthusiasm.

 

And then, on day two, we are tired and sore.

 

We’re using muscles we may not know we had, or the usual ones in different ways.  Our bodies, like the stubborn toddlers they are, throw tantrums:  THIS IS NOT THE SAME!!!!

 

This is important:  do not spank your inner toddler (or your outer one, if you have one…).  It won’t help.  It will not encourage that change-resistant being to accept that we are doing something new that will probably turn out to be fun.  Right now, the toddler just knows that this is not the usual breakfast/blankie/routine.

 

We need to be patient with ourselves.  We need to talk nicely to ourselves.  Unlike toddlers, we can be reasoned with.  Also, we have access to a lot more resources.  We remind ourselves about why we are changing things up (because we want more energy or smaller jeans or open jars or a view of our toes) and we reward ourselves for good behavior (hot bath anyone?) and we take care of ourselves (yes, I’d love some ibuprofen…).

 

New growth can be painful at first.  But it is so worth it!  We can do this.

Monday Workout: Medicine Balls!

This week I feel like having a ball.  So we’ll use medicine balls in our workout.  (Sorry about the pun… ok, I’m not actually sorry.)  If there are no medicine balls available, no worries!  Substitute something like flies for the rescues and jacks or burpees or jump lunges for the ball slams.  The rest of the exercises can be done with dumbbells.  Do three rounds.

 

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

 

Number 5 in the photo!

 

Today I present:  10 things that are better than junk food:

 

1.     Hugs.

2.     Baths.

3.     Good books.

4.     Dogs/cats/other critters.

5.     Flowers.

6.     Crisp apples, which are now in season.

7.     Walks.

8.     Sex.  (Maybe this should have been higher on the list?)

9.     Blue skies.

10.  Comfy clothes.

Joe knows...

Uncle Joe (Pilates) was an interesting fellow.  He had some unusual ideas about cleanliness and sleep and a few other things.  But he also was good at noticing the subtle little things that make big differences.  Pilates exercise instructions all include breath.  How and when we breathe can promote or inhibit our movement.

 

Now, when we are first learning an exercise, we might have plenty to think about with all our too many body parts to consider our breath.  This is fine.  As long as we do continue to breathe, we’re going to be all right.  However, once we’ve sorted out where our knees go and we’ve figured out that ears and shoulders are not the same thing, we can begin to notice our breath, too.

 

Our inhalations help us when we want to control the “easy” part of an exercise (the “eccentric contraction” in fancy trainer-speak, or the part where we lower a weight or work with gravity rather than against it).  They help us when we want to extend our spines, as we do when we bend backwards.  Inhalations help us find length in our bodies and space.

 

Exhalations help us on the “hard” parts, the pushing parts.  We exhale to contract our cores for chest lifts, roll-ups, and the like.  Those exhalations help us flex our spines, bending forward.

 

If you don’t believe me, try it out!  There are a few folks out there whose bodies don’t follow the general rules and you might be one of them.  But most of us will find that Joe has a point.  No matter what:  keep breathing!

Love is first...

A lot of people I talk to lately have weight loss on their minds.  Maybe it is because the weather is starting to change and we’re all putting on clothes we haven’t worn in a while.  Before I talk about weight loss, I need to get one thing out of the way:  YOU ARE FABULOUS JUST THE WAY YOU ARE.  You will not be a better person or more loveable or more intelligent or more capable if you lose weight; you will just be less weighty.  Pardon me for the yelling, but the fitness industrial complex and our capitalist overlords are very loud on the subject of thinness equating to virtue, spice, and everything nice, and they are not right.

 

Now, fabulous people, if any of us in our fabulousness want to lose weight, we need to approach the process with love.  I am not here to take away anyone’s cookies or to chase anyone around a track with a whip.  Shame and humiliation do not work to motivate people.  Deprivation is not a way of life.  So, how do we do it?

 

First, we give our bodies good food.  This might take some experimenting and we might have to remember some stuff about the long term when our short term brain is screaming for Twinkies.  (I don’t happen to like Twinkies, but we all have cravings for things that pretend to be food, like Twinkies, Jack-in-the-Box tacos, movie popcorn…)  Good food does taste good, but it also makes us feel good, not sluggish or hung over.  After a whole chunk of time spent studying fitness nutrition, I will only say with certainty that we should all eat our veggies and drink lots of water.  The rest of our consumption really depends on personal chemistry and preferences.

 

Then we give our bodies good movement.  Good movement means we burn some calories with cardio and we change our body composition with weights.  We toss in some flexibility, some core and balance stuff, and a touch of relaxation, and we call it a day.  Unless we are professional athletes, we should be able to get our movement done in an hour or less a day, on average.  Good movement will sometimes leave us a little sore, but we will know it is good movement because we will find our energy levels rising, our brains working better, and our bodies working better.

 

I will not lie:  weight loss is hard.  Our bodies have to work against centuries of evolution plus the pressures of agribusiness, modern life, and pandemic bonuses.  It can be done, but it is best done slowly and with love.