This week we’re doing our due diligence and visiting the burpees again. They’re not super fun, I know, but they are good for us and we get better at them when we practice. Three rounds.
step ups or high knees | 30 |
flies | 20 |
burpees or pushups | 10 |
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woodchoppers | 30 |
rows | 20 |
Arnold press | 10 |
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jacks | 30 |
bench press | 20 |
roll out abs or chest lifts | 10 |
Since we’re (still) living through a pandemic, I thought it might make sense to talk about micronutrients that help boost immunity. The evidence suggests that supplementing may or may not help, but ensuring that we have adequate amounts of these vitamins and minerals is a good idea.
1. Vitamin D.
2. Zinc.
3. Vitamin C.
So: go outside, have some fish, and eat an orange or two.
I hear a lot about people feeling stiff (No, not like that. Get your mind out of the gutter!). There are at least two things going on there, and we often have some confusion about a couple of common terms. I’m going to explain.
Flexibility is about muscles. When our muscles feel stiff, we need to stretch them. This happens when we are stuck in a chair for too long or we do a bunch of exercise and don’t stretch afterwards to help our muscles recover from all that contracting. Flexibility is a learnable skill, although there will always be folks who are more flexible than others.
Mobility, on the other hand, is about bones and joints. As we get older, mobility can be affected by things like osteoarthritis. We want to preserve as much mobility as we can and the way we do that is to take our joints through their full range of motion pretty much daily. Mobility is a lot more structural, but we still can help it along by working on our flexibility and by continuing to move.
Bottom line: moving is still good. Go play.
Let’s talk about mental health for a minute or two. Mental health treatment is out of my scope of practice (I am not a doctor or a therapist; I don’t even play one on tv.). That said, actual researchers have gathered data on the links between exercise and mental health. Here’s what they have to say:
Cardio exercise improves mood. Those of us who suffer from depression and anxiety can benefit from getting moving. In some studies, cardio was as effective or more effective than antidepressants (please note: do NOT stop taking medication without talking to a doctor.). It is a helpful adjunct to whatever our healthcare providers suggest we do for our mental health.
Exercise also helps relieve stress. Different kinds of exercise relieve it in different ways, in my experience. Those of us who need to practice chilling out might want to go to Pilates or yoga. Those with some aggression to burn might prefer cardio or weights.
Finally, that whole Juvenal (yes, I looked it up) healthy mind in a healthy body turns out to be true. When our bodies are healthy, our minds feel better, too.
Go play.
This week we’re working with the transverse plane (that is, twisting!). This is good practice for the twists and turns of real life! Three rounds.
overhead curtseys | 30 |
deadlifts or 1 leg deadlifts | 20 |
kickbacks | 10 |
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kb swings | 30 |
kb twists | 20 |
kb 8s | 10 |
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suitcase swings | 30 |
lunge twists | 20 |
pretty princesses | 10 |
We all have different reasons for working out, and they’re all valid as long as they are really ours (other people don’t get to have reasons for OUR workouts; they can do their own). Here are five we might find motivating.
1. We want to live longer. Exercise helps us avoid a huge long list of things that can kill us, including heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, glucose management, and more.
2. We want to live better. None of us particularly want to live to be 215 if the last half is all about wheelchairs, diapers, and drool. Active people tend to have a better quality of life as they age.
3. We want to look cute. For some of us, this is all about muscle tone. Others of us would just like to fit into cuter clothes.
4. We want to do something else that requires our fitness. Maybe we want to do a hiking trip through Europe. Maybe we want to check out 57 books from the library at once and get them all to the car. Maybe we want to play tag with our puppy or child or grandchild. Fitness is useful for all of those things and more.
5. We want better sex. Do I need to explain this one? I didn’t think so.
Go play.
There is a strong trend or pressure or theme in our society about having a positive attitude. You read about people who feel that they beat cancer by thinking positive or visualized their way to great wealth and happiness or whatever. I am not going to opine about whether those stories are true or not, but I am going to say that it is not all that important to have a positive attitude during a workout.
Workouts are challenging. They’re supposed to be. We are, on purpose, pushing our bodies to do more than they’d choose to do on their own (bodies are really really good at finding the easiest way to do something). We do not need to project our inner ballerina while we work out; we are not performing for an audience. It is all right to sweat and swear and whine about how hard things are. Smiles are not essential to the process. We do not have to put pressure on ourselves to do the hard thing and project enjoyment the whole time—workouts are for bodies, not for character development.
That said, it is definitely all right to celebrate that record lift or new fastest time. It is all right to make silly jokes and to take ourselves lightly while we lift heavy.
The important bit in all of it is that we show up and do the work.
