Existential Questions and What Is Truth (Not Really!)

When I meet with clients for the first time, I ask them why they are here.  (Not in the existential sense; that is way beyond the scope of my practice!)  People tell me about things they want to be able to do, events they have coming up, dire warnings from their doctors, all kinds of things.  This is important, because it helps me know how to program for their different goals and what motivates them.

 

The thing is, sometimes we (yes, me, too!) think that some reasons for exercising are better or more acceptable than others.  We’re willing to admit that it would be nice to get to the top of the stairs without being out of breath, but maybe less willing to say that what we really want is to buy smaller jeans, or to blow away that old flame at the 85^th reunion, or to feel more comfortable in a bathing suit.

 

Eventually, the truth comes out.  And you know what?  I don’t judge.  My job is to help my clients reach THEIR goals, not some ideal set of goals approved by the surgeon general or their moms or the latest research into longevity.  I am here for my clients, whatever their goals.

Plane Speaking

When we describe how we move in fitness, we divide the body into three planes.  One imaginary plane splits us into right and left halves, one splits us into front and back halves, and one splits us into top and bottom halves, as if we were the hapless assistant in a magician’s show.  The three planes are called, respectively, the sagittal, the frontal, and the transverse.

 

When we swing a leg back and forth in the hip socket or raise an arm in front of us in a “Halt!” kind of way, we are moving parallel to the sagittal plane.  This is the plane that most of us feel most comfortable in because that’s how we walk and run and so on.

 

The frontal plane, confusingly, is the plane we are moving parallel to when we shuffle side to side or do jumping jacks.  Practicing this kind of movement helps with sports like basketball and tennis and with everyday actions like getting in and out of cars.  Work in the frontal plane can also help us practice motions that keep us from spraining our ankles as we strengthen the muscles on the inside and outside of our legs.

 

The transverse plane is for twisting.  Think about golf swings and racquet sports, salsa dancing, and getting out of bed in the morning.  We sometimes don’t like working with transverse plane exercises because they tend to require a little more balance control and thus more core work.

 

Working in all three planes, separately or together, is what helps us prepare for whatever life throws at us.

Monday Workout: Compounding It

This week I’m focusing, again, on compound exercises for the very good reason that the things we do in our regular life are usually complex movements involving multiple muscle groups.  Also, we get more calorie burn in the moment and we boost our metabolisms.  Three rounds.

 

kb swings	30
kb twists	20
kb 8s or overyets	10
squat to leg lift	30
lunge to curl to overhead press	20
lateral raise	10
woodchoppers	30
row to kickback	20
pretty princesses	10

  

Five Ways to ZZZZZs

We may have come to terms with the idea that we need to get some sleep, but how?  Here are five suggestions:

 

1.     Ditch the caffeine.  Before y’all get out your pitchforks, let me suggest that at least reducing the intake can help.  Please note that for some of us the process of weaning ourselves off of caffeine can be long and challenging and even painful, but it can definitely be worth it.

2.     About that alcohol… If the pitchforks are out, might as well use them.  Alcohol affects different people differently, but in general it tends to make it easy to go to sleep and hard to stay there.  At least observe the effects and see.

3.     Get some exercise.  Cardio during the day seems to help folks sleep at night.  Some people like evening exercise because there is a natural energy dip a few hours after a workout and that can coincide with bedtime.

4.     Keep it cool.  Most of us sleep better in a cool room.

5.     Keep it dark.  Our inner beasts are programmed to wake in the light, so we need to give them plenty of dark time.

 

What are your favorite sleep aids?

Snoozing IS the Job

Sleep is one of the most overlooked parts of fitness.  Culturally, we frown on sleep.  Sleep is for lazy people, or children, or boring people who don’t have anything better to do.  Sure it is, but the rest of us should be getting more sleep, too.

 

Sleep gives our bodies a chance to repair the wear and tear of our days.  It helps our brains reset.  It solidifies learning.

 

If that’s not enough motivation for those of us who want to maximize our workout time, let me offer this:  people with adequate sleep make more progress than people without it.  We work out better and harder and stronger on a good night of sleep and we are a lot less likely to get injured when we are not sleep-deprived.

 

Work then rest.

Raw or refined?

One of the shared challenges for people new to exercise and people who have been exercising for a long time is that when we try something different we feel it.  It can be hard to tell if that discomfort we are feeling is just our bodies adapting to a novel experience or if we are doing something wrong.

 

The short version is that our muscles are a bunch of whiners who don’t like having their routines changed, even for their own good.  When we first start swimming after a lifetime on land, different muscles have to work and our usual favorite muscles have to work differently.  So they complain.  They feel sore.  They ache.  This is normal.  This is why we have ice and ibuprofen.

 

However, sometimes the muscles have a point.  When we are just learning something, we may not understand how the form works.  We may not be giving our muscles the best chance for a peaceful existence.  If our pain persists for more than a day or two, we probably want to stop and reflect.  We may want to do some reading or talk to an expert about what’s going on to see if we can refine the movements and avoid the suffering.  Most of the time, when we manage to move with good mechanics, our soreness decreases.

 

Bottom line:  a little soreness is okay; a lot requires some work to resolve.

Monday Workout: Core

This week we’re focusing on core exercises.  The Russian twist is obviously a core exercise, but so are the YTAs, the mountain climbers, the renegade rows, and the pushups because we need our core muscles to stabilize us while we do them.  If we do our bench press and flies on a stability ball, we’re doing some good core recruitment there, too.  Not that our cores don’t work while we do our step ups and jacks—they just don’t work quite as noticeably.  Three rounds.

 

step ups	30
bench press	20
YTA	10
mountain climbers	30
renegade rows	20
pushups	10
jacks	30
flies	20
Russian twist	10