X Marks the Variable

If changing our approach to our workouts (see yesterday’s post) doesn’t work to break up the boredom, we can address other elements of the experience.  Basically, if there is a variable, we can adjust it.

 

Consider, for example, pace.  Some of us are the kind of people who do everything deliberately.  We lift and lower slowly.  We like endurance cardio.  When that gets dull, we can mix it up with some sprints in cardio and some power moves in weightlifting.  The speed demons among us can do the opposite and exercise patience along with our muscles.

 

Then there is time.  Sometimes throwing in a longer workout is exactly what we need to wake up our body and brain.  Conversely, maybe we want to work harder for a shorter time and call it a day.  Or we can get crazy and break up our workout into smaller segments at different times of day.

 

What about location?  Being stuck in the gym forever is not a recipe for happiness, so maybe take that run outside.  Already working out outdoors?  We can try a different route, add some hills.

 

Company can help.  We can piggyback on a friend’s workout, see what they do that is different, or invite them to join us.  This works best with friends who have roughly our same level of fitness or with a friend who is a lot more fit who is willing to take a rest-ish day with us.

 

How about order?  We can try doing the workout backwards.  We may realize that we do it in the usual order for a reason, or we may discover that backwards is better; either way, we’ve done something different and we’ve learned something.

 

In short, we break up boredom by trying things, lots of things.  Some of them will be fun and some less so, but at the very least we will not be staying the same.

Two approaches

Sometimes we get stuck in fitness ruts.  We don’t want to do our workouts.  We’re bored.  We’re tired.  I have two suggestions that go in totally opposite directions.

 

One:  phone it in.  This is for those days when we really are tired, but not so tired that what we ought to do is take a rest day.  It is all right, once in a while, to give significantly less than 100% to our workout.  Choose a lower incline on the treadmill.  Do two sets instead of three on the weights.  This works because what we are showing ourselves is that we can keep showing up even when it is hard and boring and we don’t want to be there.  Sometimes we take the C and move along.  NOTE:  it is not all right to do this all the time.  If we find that we want to phone it in all week, we need to try something else, like maybe getting some real rest.

 

Two:  kick it up to 11.  Yes, this is the exact opposite of what I just said.  This technique works if what is tired is our brain, not our body.  It is hard to stay bored when we are breathless from doing some high intensity intervals or from choosing weights that push our boundaries.  When we focus in on doing the most we possibly can do, we wake ourselves up a little.  We may discover that we can do more than we thought.  NOTE, AGAIN:  it is not a good idea to do this all the time, either.  Intense workouts require more rest afterward.  Making one workout a week more difficult is about right.

 

Tomorrow:  more boredom busters.

Monday Workout: Compound

I am getting more excited about compound exercises lately.  More joints moving means more calories burned in less time!  Hooray!  Today’s workout takes our usual bent-over rows and adds a tricep kickback at the end of the movement; use the weight for the kickback, which will feel light-ish for the row.  The squat press is exactly what it sounds like:  we squat down with some weights held at our shoulders and as we stand up, we press those weights overhead.  The spiderman pushup works like this:  we lower our body as for a normal pushup and then pull one knee toward the same side’s elbow.  Then we return to start and do the other side.  This is a shorter circuit, so do four rounds.

 

step ups	30
row & kickback	20
squat press	20
woodchoppers	20
(spiderman) pushup	10
pretty princesses	10

 

Four Things to Do

So I wrote about two different kinds of exercise earlier this week.  Just to round out the picture, here is a more complete list of categories we want to cover in our workouts:

 

1.     Cardio.  Get breathless for about 30 minutes on most days of the week.

2.     Weights.  One to three weight workouts per week (start with one!) will help with body composition, weight loss, and metabolism-building.

3.     Stretching.  Strong muscles that don’t move aren’t very useful.  Stretching and flexibility practices (Pilates, yoga) help us maintain or improve our range of motion, reduce our chances of injury, and feel good.

4.     Balance and core.  This is another place where Pilates and yoga can help us.  Working our abdominals is certainly part of core and balance work, but coordination is important, too.  Developing good posture and increasing our proprioception helps us to respond appropriately to unstable environments (like pretty much all of life!).

 

Go do stuff!

Gotta get breathless

Yesterday I wrote about why we want to lift weights.  Today I’m going to dive into why we want to do cardio, too.

 

As a fitness professional, I’m supposed to say we need to do cardio because it’s good for us.  It is.  It keeps our hearts and lungs healthy.  Without those, we’re kind of dead, so yeah, that’s important.

 

But personally, the more immediately obvious benefits of cardio are more compelling when it’s a question of sleeping in versus getting up and getting to it.  Of course I’m glad that cardio burns calories and keeps my arteries from clogging and increases my sensitivity to insulin, but that doesn’t get me on the bike.  Here’s what does:

 

Cardio boosts mood.  Studies have shown that cardio can be as or more effective than antidepressants for mild depression.  Even without the scientific evidence, I think most of us know that a brisk walk or a bike ride or a swim can make us much more cheerful.

 

Cardio makes our brains work better.  Those of us with desk jobs or who are students should take note.  That morning run or afternoon recess helps cognitive function.  Bonus points for doing it outside.

 

Cardio increases our energy.  Not at first.  At first, we may feel more tired because we’re working out.  Eventually, as we acclimate to the increased activity, we find that we have more resources to draw on in other areas of our lives.  Some of this comes from the fact that cardio helps us sleep better at night, but even independent of that, we get energy (paradoxically) from spending some getting breathless.

 

My reasons for doing cardio may not apply.  We all have to find our own motivations.  But we can do this.

Lift

My focus with my personal training clients is on weight training (and yes, I sneak a little Pilates in there, just like I sneak a few weight exercises in with my Pilates clients).  It’s not that I don’t love cardio; it’s just that cardio is something most of us can and often will do on our own.

 

Weight training can seem mysterious to those of us who are just now thinking about getting off the couch.  There are so many weird contraptions and sometimes the lifters make grunting noises and it’s not like we want to compete in some Mx. Universe thing, so why would we even bother?

 

I’ll grant that some of the gym rats are a little odd and possibly unwelcoming to the new lifter.  But gyms are really for everyone and anyone who gets their nose out of joint about sharing the space and equipment needs a quick review of the kindergarten curriculum.  We all deserve to be healthy and we are allowed to take up room and use resources.

 

Now, on to the bizarre-looking gizmos.  I have a simple solution to dealing with most gym machines:  skip them.  The machines are designed to work muscles in isolation.  That can be great if we are, for example, rehabbing from a hamstring injury.  Most of the time, however, we do better using free weights because our muscles, in real life, work together.  When we use free weights, we have to recruit our stabilizing muscles more, which improves our balance.  We also get to experience the differences in strength between the sides of our bodies; the machine is not there to smooth out the discrepancy between the left and right sides.

 

As to why we even want to bother with lifting at all, I will limit myself to three reasons, even though there are lots.

 

First, lifting weights is an efficient way to lose weight while changing body composition.  It burns calories and builds muscle.  The greater the proportion of muscle tissue to fatty tissue, the smaller and tighter our bodies look.

 

Second, lifting weights keeps our bones strong.  Not one of us is getting younger.  Weight training helps us build and maintain strong bones, which in turn prevents us from having fractures in our old age.  Fractures are a major contributing factor to losing the ability to live independently and also to general mortality in older people.

 

Third, it’s empowering.  (My dad was convinced I was going to starve to death when I moved out because how would I open jars?)  Not only can we do more, we get metaphorically stronger as well as we tackle the challenges of lifting heavy objects.

 

Go play. 

Monday Workout: New Stuff!

I’m into finding new exercises or rediscovering old ones I’ve forgotten right now, so there are three in today’s workout.  The first one is the Hindu pushup, which works like this:  begin in plank position with feet wider than hips’ distance apart.  Walk your hands back toward your feet a bit so that your body is shaped like a V (downward dog, for you yogis and yoginis).  From there, lead with your chest and bend your elbows.  Your body will curve down toward the ground and then the back will arch (like an upward dog in yoga).  Return to the V position to complete the rep.

 

The second one is the donkey kick.  This one targets the glutes.  You start on your hands and knees.  One leg kicks up toward the ceiling with the knee still bent at 90 degrees (like you are poking the ceiling with your heel) and then returns to start.  Alternate legs until the set is complete.

 

Finally, we are doing the seated knee tuck.  We begin in what Pilates calls the teaser position, but other folks might know it as a V-sit.  You sit just behind the sitting bones, torso long and leaned back, legs lifted, so that the body is shaped like a V (a theme!).  You can stabilize with your hands behind you if necessary, or hold them out in front of you for more challenge.  From this starting position, bend your knees in toward your chest and then straighten them out again.

 

As always, if these exercises are not appropriate for your body, modify them or substitute others.  Three rounds.

 

1 arm clean and press	30
rows	20
pushup or Hindu pushup	10
squat to leg lift	30
flies	20
donkey kick	10
(lunge) punches	30
Arnold press	20
seated knee tuck	10