This week we’re taking our squats up a notch by adding the jump. If your knees don’t like jumping, just use weights and do regular squats, or do squats to side leg lifts. Three rounds.
jump squats | 30 |
bench press | 20 |
round lunges | 10 |
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overhead high knees | 30 |
flies | 20 |
pushups | 10 |
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jacks | 30 |
deadlifts | 20 |
Russian twist | 10 |
Most of us could use a little help choosing wisely when it comes to food. Here are four questions to ask ourselves about food.
1. Have I had enough water today? (Hint: the answer is probably no. Most of us don’t drink nearly enough water.) If we aren’t going to the bathroom every hour or so, we need to drink more. And yes, water is the best choice, but I’m not going to get between anybody and their morning coffee or tea.
2. When was the last time I had a vegetable or fruit? Most of us would do well to focus a bit more on the produce and a bit less on the meats and starches. We all get plenty of protein and fat; what we need are vitamins, minerals, and fiber, which come, in many cases, from colorful fruits and veggies.
3. Am I actually hungry? We eat for lots of reasons besides hunger. We eat for comfort. We eat when we are bored. We eat because other people are eating. We eat because Mom made dinner.
4. How much food do I want? Sometimes we decide based on the size of the plate, or the portion someone dished out to us rather than the amount that we need or want.
Choose wisely!
Let’s talk about maps. When we’re looking at maps on the neighborhood level, we realize that there are lots of ways to get where we are going. Zoomed out, though, if we want to get from, say, California to New York, we want those ways to tend in an easterly direction. Both of these views are useful as metaphors for how we approach fitness.
The local angle means that we have a lot of options for what we do today. We can get to the store on the freeway or on the back streets. Some ways will be more fun than others, some will be quicker, but we will still end up at the store. Which is to say: we want some cardio fitness? We can work out at a low intensity for a long time, or a high intensity for a short time. We can dance, ski, bike, swim, run, kayak, or whatever makes our hearts go pitter-pat (literally!). All the things will work.
The wider angle means that we want our workouts to tend to improve what we’d like more of in our lives. Dancers dance. Marathon runners run. The strength and flexibility work those two kinds of athletes do are all in service of their larger goals. They still have lots of options, but they all veer toward the distant goal.
(If you have a destination in mind, you can ask me and we can make a map together!)
Go play!
I am not one of those people who is going to say that attitude is everything. That workout that we complained the whole way through? It still worked. And maybe all that whining and groaning made the difference between doing it and not doing it.
That said, we will be happier if we bring some kinds of attitude to our thinking about our workouts. If, before and after the work, we devalue what we do or did, we discourage ourselves from doing it at all. If we evaluate our selves rather than our work, we are not likely to feel all that good, because not one of us is perfect—there is always someone out there stronger or younger or thinner or more whatever than we are.
The attitude I like best (even if I don’t always achieve it) is one of loving curiosity. I look at my week’s worth of workouts and I try to see why it went well or why it didn’t without passing judgment on myself. Maybe I missed a workout. Maybe that was because I stayed up too late the night before watching tv. I might decide that was not worth it, but if I was up too late laughing and playing games with my family, I might decide that my health needs that, too. And I might also figure out that just because I usually work out in the morning, it doesn’t mean that I have to do it then if I need a little more sleep first.
Or let’s say I tried something new, some different yoga routine. At the end of the week, I can see what my body feels like and decide if I like what this particular batch of exercises does. If I do, great! I know what I want to do in the new week. If not, I can think about what I want to try instead. It all goes better if I don’t say, “You know, I really suck at this and I’m never going to get better at it and I don’t know why I even try. And by the way, I’m ugly and stupid and useless and worthless and who picked out those clothes? I did? UGH!” (Other people’s inner monologues might be nicer and more creative than mine, but I do know how to make myself feel small…)
The point here is: we can bitch all we want while we work, but we need to save some kindness for the evaluation and planning bits.
Go play.
This week we continue to work balance, coordination, and strength. As always, adjust to what works in your body. Three rounds.
mountain climbers | 30 |
1 leg squat | 20 |
Arnold press | 10 |
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kb swings | 30 |
kb twists | 20 |
kb 8s | 10 |
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suitcase swings | 30 |
lunge to curl | 20 |
brains | 10 |
Yesterday I talked about starting small. Here are five small changes to try:
1. Stretch before getting out of bed. In the morning, our muscles need to wake up, too. Our fascia gets all gummed up to our muscles, too, and needs to loosen up a bit. A whole body stretch and maybe a spinal twist or two will improve our day.
2. Put back one scoop. Portion control is one of the keys to avoiding weight gain or promoting weight loss. Try scooping out one less spoonful of casserole and see if it helps.
3. Go to bed on time. “On time” can mean different things to each of us, but aim for a time that allows for enough healthy sleep. No, I am not sorry if this means we have to wait another day to finish binging that series.
4. Meditate for five minutes. We don’t have to get fancy. Just sit and breathe quietly for five minutes. The brain needs a break, too.
5. Go for a walk. Even if we just go to the end of the block. Outside is good for us.
Go play.
Change is hard. When we contemplate changing, even for the better, we face obstacles.
One of the most common obstacles is fear of failure. We want to take better care of ourselves, but in the back of our minds, we remember all those other times we said, “This time it’s going to work.” And it didn’t. This is why I am in favor of ridiculously easy first steps. We don’t start with a marathon. We start with a few stretches and a short walk.
The sneakier obstacle is fear of success. If it turns out that we can, in fact, get stronger and healthier, what ELSE might we be capable of doing? Will our loved ones still recognize and love us? Will our friends get annoyed or jealous? It’s pretty scary when we find out that we are, in fact, pretty awesome. Still, we start small, which gives both ourselves and those around us time to get used to the whole idea.
We CAN make changes. We are strong. And I am always here if anybody needs me.
