Five things to measure!

We’re close to the start of a new month, so now would be a good time to check in with ourselves.  Here are some things we might want to measure and how often:

 

1.     Weight (daily or weekly).  We are certainly more than a number on a scale, but it is a useful metric to track when we are evaluating our fitness journey.  Maybe today’s number is a starting point; maybe it is a waypoint on a longer journey; maybe it’s a long-awaited and worked-for achievement.  Write it down and then ignore it until the next time.

2.     Circumferences (monthly).  I like to measure chest (at the nipple line), waist (at the belly button), hips, upper arm, thigh, and calf.  This gives a fuller picture of what our workouts are accomplishing because often these numbers change even if the scale doesn’t show progress.

3.     Workout days (weekly).  How often are we really working out?  What days seem to be the toughest for us?  How can we organize things for success?

4.     Food (daily).  Tracking what we eat helps us make good choices.  I like apps for this because it takes a lot of the work out of it.

5.     HRV (daily).  This is a new one I’ve started tracking for myself.  It requires a wearable fitness device (I have an Apple Watch, but other kinds also measure it).  It stands for Heart Rate Variability.  It’s a highly individual measurement, but in general, higher numbers are better.  Once we have our baseline (average a week’s measurements), we can use it to decide how hard to work out on a given day.  If the number is below average, we want to dial the work back a bit, but we can really go for it if the number is above average.

 

None of these things is essential, but all are helpful.

Demons totally optional

I would really like it if I could work out once and poof!  There I am, strong, flexible, and fit!  I am pretty sure I am not the only one who would like this, but unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.

 

The good news is that even though we have to keep working out, it doesn’t have to be a terrible struggle every time.  We can reach our goals without working out for hours and hours, drenched in sweat, whipped by demons, and groaning the whole time (unless you want to; I’m not going to judge you.).

 

We want to get our hearts pumping for about 30 minutes, five days a week.  Ideally, we throw in a couple of half-hour weight lifting sessions some time during the week and a few minutes of stretching every day.  That’s it.  We’ve met the basic needs for cardio, strength, and flexibility.  We waste more time than that during the week watching silly cat videos or searching for our kids’ shoes.

 

A lot of people tell me they hate exercise.  It might be true for a few of them, but nearly everyone has had a good time walking in a pretty place, or playing in the water, or chasing around on the playground at some point in life.  If we pick an exercise that we like anyway, that time becomes play rather than work.  This is why I so often end my blog posts the same way:  Go play.

Skip away...

We all have times when we really don’t want to work out.  We are really good at thinking of reasons why we should skip a workout or two or three—I’m tired and stressed and it takes too long and maybe my knee would feel better with a rest and what if the baby cries and how will I get my chores done and now work is texting me…

 

Fine.  Skip one.  We are not going to lose the great gold medal in the sky for skipping one workout.

 

What’s the catch?  Well, we only get to skip one (unless we are truly sick or injured, in which case we wait until our doctor and/or physical therapist clears us to work out again, because that’s just smart.).

 

When we give ourselves permission to skip one and only one, we have to pause and think about things.  Is this the busiest day of my week, or is it only going to get worse?  Am I going to feel better or worse once I get started?  If I do my minimum workout, does it really take that long?  How much more effective will I be when my mind is clearer from my workout?  Isn’t it time that work respected my boundaries?

 

There are definitely times when the right answer is not to work out.  Resting is a valid and useful thing.  But it is also good to think through our decisions.

 

Go play.  Or not.  It’s up to each of us to choose.

Monday Workout: First

I am on vacation this week.  However, anybody who feels like working out without me can lace up their shoes and get moving.  This workout is the one I do with all new clients when they see me for the first time because it is a good indicator of how someone moves and where they are in their fitness journey.  Three rounds!

 

step ups	30
squats	20
curls	10
woodchoppers	30
rows	20
pushups	10
mountain climbers	30
overhead press	20
lunges	10

Do I Really Need to Tell You Number 5?

Need some motivation?  Here are five good reasons to lift some weights:

 

1.     It improves your metabolism.  Muscle tissue burns more calories than fatty tissue.  Building muscle means that our bodies use more calories.

2.     It improves your shape.  Muscle tissue is also denser than fatty tissue.  This means that even if we do not lose any weight, our bodies will be smaller.

3.     It can get your heart rate up.  Weight lifting is not the same as endurance cardio exercise, but as those weights get heavier, the heart gets going!

4.     It improves our bone density.  Falls and broken bones are big risks as we age.  Weight lifting builds our resilience to those dangers.

5.     It makes us strong.  (Of course it does!)  We can impress our friends with our ability to move furniture, open jars, and hoist heavy children.

 

Go play. 

Weight!

I think most of us, when we think of exercise, think of cardio or of sports.  It takes a while to get around to remembering weight training and sometimes even longer to get around to doing any.

 

Sometimes all those weights in the gym can look intimidating.  So can some of the people using them.  I have a news flash:  those weights are for everyone and those other people need to share nicely.  Often, people start with the weight machines.  That’s a good place to begin because the machines have some built-in safety and stability things and there are directions, right there, in words and pictures.  Working with the machines offers a way to get comfortable in the gym, look around, see what else is going on.  And then, after a while, we realize that the machines are pretty boring for both our bodies and our minds.

 

Free weights open up lots of possibilities.  When we use them, we are not artificially stabilized by the tracks of machines.  We have to use our own core to do that.  We have to pay attention because free weights don’t have something protecting us from dropping them on our own feet.  It can be a lot more rewarding and challenging.  It is all right, and even encouraged, that we start small and build from there.  It’s worth the trouble.

Why I Post Workouts Free and Why People Pay Me Anyway

Every week, I post a workout to the blog on Mondays.  Anybody who wants it can use it.  This is also the workout I use for my clients during the week.  So what do they pay me for?

 

For one thing, it is not exactly the workout that my clients do because I tailor it to what each client needs.  The workout I publish on Mondays is the base model.  What my clients do is the custom version that takes into account that one person has knee issues, or another person needs to work on shoulder mobility, or yet another person just doesn’t like jumping moves.  My clients know that I know their bodies and that I will make sure that what they are doing is safe and effective for each of them, personally.

 

I also watch them do the work.  This sounds like a silly thing to pay someone for, but it isn’t.  Some of it is that Mom Look I have that gets people to do things they don’t much feel like doing (works on everything but getting my kid to turn in reading logs, it turns out; I am thankful those days are behind us!).  This is not a small thing, given how many of us want to work out but somehow don’t manage to do it on our own.

 

My watching, Mom Look notwithstanding, is not like everybody else’s watching, either.  I am watching form, to keep clients safe and to make their workouts effective.  I am watching energy level to adjust the intensity of the work in the moment.  I am tracking progress, whether that means increasing weight, increasing coordination, or just better performance.

 

I am happy to offer the workout to anybody who feels like doing it.  I am also here to help if it turns out that folks need more than just a list of exercises.