Exercise Exorcism

One of the things that makes working out more complicated is that we are not simply bodies.  We’re also great big bags of emotion and thought and experience.  All that mind stuff can either help or hinder our workouts.  The good news is that we can use various techniques to ensure that things go in the “help” direction.

 

This last week, one of my clients (who actually suggested this blog post, so I’m not violating privacy here) showed up to her workout just after a pretty major disagreement with someone.  That meant that she had tons of adrenaline and energy flowing through her, but that her ability to focus was somewhat impaired by anger and frustration and hurt.  We dealt with the demons by performing exorcism by plyojacks.  (I have not tried to exorcise any actual demons and I don’t recommend trying that at home, with plyojacks or any other exercises.  Consult a professional in case of actual demon possession.  That is well out of the scope of my practice.)

 

In other words, we channeled all that (negative) nervous energy into cardio.  It took about a minute.  Her heart rate got up, which made her breathe heavy instead of the shallow breathing of stress.  The air and floor took the pounding without damage.  The work was just hard enough that there wasn’t room in her brain for all the icky thoughts.  And, as I keep saying over and over, cardio is a proven mood-improver.  We broke the cycle of Bad Stuff and were able to get on with the rest of the workout.  At the end, she had accomplished a lot with her body and her mind was in a calmer state.

 

Sometimes, I need to take a client in a different direction.  A person shows up with the low energy of sadness.  We can go gently, then, adding in some breath-focused exercises from the Pilates repertoire that help soothe and then energize.  We focus on exercises that are familiar.  We don’t go for the big challenge, but for success.

 

To be clear:  I am not a therapist, doctor, psychologist, psychiatrist, or mental health professional of any kind.  I am a personal trainer and Pilates instructor.  Nothing I do is a substitute for professional help with mental health issues.  Exercise, according to science, can help with some mental health issues, but please talk to the appropriate folks to get the real help you need.  My purpose here is to suggest complementary behaviors, not to treat or correct any conditions.

 

When in doubt, just keep breathing.

Monday Workout: Lunges

One of the easiest ways to make an exercise more challenging is to add a jump to it.  Lunges (even though I hate them) are good for us because they are a compound exercise that requires core recruitment for balance and a lot of coordination to ensure we use our knees well.  Jump lunges do all that while getting our heart rate up.  Note:  if jumping is not appropriate in your body, don’t do it.  Plain lunges are, as I just said, still awesome.  Three rounds.

 

step ups	30
squats	20
1 leg squats	10
woodchoppers	30
deadlifts	20
lateral raises	10
(jump) lunges	30
rows	20
pretty princesses	10

 

Six for the haters

Here’s a list of things to try depending on what we hate most about exercise.

 

1.     Sweat-haters can try swimming.

2.     Boredom-haters can do Tabata or HIIT because they’re efficient and change often.

3.     Weight-room haters can take their body weight routines outside.

4.     Cardio-machine-haters can run or bike or swim or row in the real world.

5.     Cardio-haters can try yoga or Pilates, which also have beneficial effects on heart health.

6.     Class-haters can go it alone and self-motivation-haters can find a workout buddy.

 

Just keep trying! 

Love it.

People, when they know what I do for a living, feel compelled to tell me about their exercise habits; I’m good with that because I love what I do.  Some people are enthusiastic, some carry around bags of guilt, and some come out and say that they just hate exercise.  It’s all fine.  The enthusiasts are squared away, so I just stamp their validation card for the great gradebook in the sky (no, there isn’t really a great gradebook in the sky).  I reassure the guilt-feelers that they’ll make the changes they are considering when they’re ready.

 

The haters are the interesting group, actually.  A small portion of them do, in fact, hate exercise, but it’s a very small portion.  The rest just need to broaden their perspectives a little.  Maybe they hated P.E., which is entirely understandable.  Maybe they carry the scars from that Little League coach who yelled all the time, or that aerobics instructor who made fun of them.  Maybe they would rather have a heart attack than spend another minute on the treadmill.  All that may be true and valid, but it may not mean that they really hate exercise.  People who hate weight lifting may love swimming or hiking.  People who would rather have dental surgery than take a HIIT class may find that yoga is the key to feeling really awesome.  There are so many kinds of exercise that it really is possible to find something to enjoy for nearly everyone.

 

The key thing is to be motivated by love.  I love my bike.  It is not hard to go for a bike ride because I start pedaling and I am suddenly a carefree nine-year-old.  Some people feel the same way about hiking and swimming and gymnastics and even weight training.  If it’s hard to find an activity that is loveable in itself, we can move on to love at one reserve:  love of how we feel afterwards.  Maybe we don’t love exercise, but we love being able to chase the kids and catch them on the playground, or we love how our clothes fit better, or we love having more energy.

 

We can choose to let go of our traumatic P.E. memories and the bad coaches and the mean instructors and the boring workouts.  We can shed the guilt and the negativity.  Then we can go play because we love it. 

Enough is enough

Culturally, we believe that more is better.  Would you like to Supersize that?  How about a jumbo-pack of toilet paper?  Buy one, get one free!  There are a lot of problems with this mindset, but I’m just going to focus on the ones that relate to fitness.

 

Possibly the most obvious problem with more-is-better and fitness is when it comes to food.  Roughly two thirds of us are overweight.  I’m not into body-shaming, at all, not even a little, but a large proportion of us eat more than we need to be healthy and happy in terms of calories (maybe not so much in terms of the micronutrients we need).  Overeating is so pervasive that a lot of us don’t even recognize when we are satisfied and only stop eating when we are truly uncomfortably full.  The solution, of course, is to unplug from the mindless eating of more more more.  It’s not an easy solution, but it works.  When we pay attention to what we are eating and how it makes us feel, we learn to make better choices.

 

The other big problem with more-is-better and fitness is in workouts.  We do not need to be gym rats to be healthy.  Workouts do not have to last forever.  This one does not have to go to eleven.  We want about half an hour of cardio on most days, a little stretching, and one or two weight workouts a week.  That’s less time than most of us spend surfing the web, or than we used to spend in traffic back when we worked in offices.

 

Eat enough.  Do enough.  And then go do the rest of life.

Monday Workout: Strong and Tired

This week we’re going for the compound exercises again.  I love them because they make us strong and tired.  Three rounds.

 

jacks	30
rows	20
kickbacks	10
squat to leg lift	30
flies	20
Arnold press	10
suitcase swings	30
lunge twists	20
quadruped	10

Seven Stress-Busters

Continuing with yesterday’s theme of coping mechanisms, here are seven (non-food-based!) things to do to help reduce stress:

 

1.     Breathe.  I wrote about this yesterday, but focusing in on the breath is a good way to relax the body and mind.  Even five deep breaths can make a significant difference.

2.     Breathe hard.  I am a big fan of cardio for reducing stress.  It burns calories, improves mood, uses up nervous energy, and, for bonus points, it’s good for us!

3.     Breathe slow.  Restorative yoga is a gentler way to calm the body and mind if cardio seems like too much work.

4.     Breathe loud.  All right, I mean snore.  Getting enough sleep is crucial to health.  Tired people are stressed people.  Naps are good for you.

5.     Blow bubbles.  By which I mean, put the body in water.  Maybe it’s a pool, maybe it’s a spa, maybe it’s the bathtub, but the gentle embrace of water is great for absorbing our tension.

6.     Drink some water.  It’s good on the inside, too!  Hydrated people are nicer and have more energy to cope with whatever comes along.

7.     Hug people.  Human contact is as much a need as food.  Hugging (vaccinated) people is also a Good Deed—they get to feel good, too!

 

Go play.