Time for Workouts

One of the most commonly cited reasons people give for not working out is lack of time.  I get it.  We all have way too much to do and working out seems like one thing too many.

 

For most of us, it is worth finding the time to do it.  (Exceptions:  we are sick or in the middle of an emergency.)  It might feel like a paradox, but working out will actually give us more time. 

 

All right:  it doesn’t literally give us more time.  What working out does do is give us tools that help us use our time better.  One of the most important of those tools is additional energy.  As we build our fitness, our energy levels increase.  We find that we’re not as easily tired out.  For a lot of us, this translates into less time zoned-out on the couch, which is almost always a time-waster.

 

Another time-enhancing gift of working out is improved mood.  When we manage our stress and get those happy brain chemicals moving with our workouts, we don’t lose time because we have to cope with so many negative emotions.  Further, as we get stronger, we increase our sense of personal efficacy, so all those other things we have to do seem more manageable.

 

Give it a try.

Monday Workout: New Stuff!

I spent some of my time off reading (big surprise!) and learned some new exercises, so this workout has a bunch of new fun stuff in it!  Here’s how to do the new stuff:

 

Lateral bound:  It’s pretty much exactly what it sounds like.  We start standing with our feet together.  We leap to the right, landing on our right foot.  We bring our left foot over to meet the right.  Then we do the same thing to the left.

 

Kettle bell bottom up press:  Stand with feet about hip-distance apart.  Bend one arm so that the elbow is more or less at the side of the body and the hand is at shoulder height (in other words, in a position to do a single arm overhead press).  Instead of using a dumbbell, we use a kettle bell with the handle pointing down toward the floor and the ball of the kettle bell toward the sky.  It’s challenging!

 

Kettle bell hammer curl:  This works like a regular curl, except that again, we hold a kettle bell instead of a dumbbell.  As in a regular hammer curl, the palm faces toward the midline of the body, not toward the ceiling.

 

Skier jumps:  Begin in plank position.  Jump both feet together to the left and then to the right.

 

As usual, modify as needed.  I suggest three rounds, but you do you.

 

lateral bound	30
kb bottom up press	20
kb hammer curl	10
skier jumps	30
renegade rows	20
pushups	10
step or jump ups	30
1 leg squat	20
pretty princesses	10

 

Monday Workout: No Excuses

While I am on vacation, here is a no-excuses body weight workout.  Use a medicine ball and an outside wall if available for the ball wall toss, or a soft ball inside.  Four rounds.

 

jump lunges	30
1 leg squats	30
pushup to side plank	10
jump squats	30
transverse punches	30
1 leg ball wall toss	10
plank	hold
superman	hold

See you in September

I am off from now until after Labor Day.  Time away from the blog will, I hope, give me a chance to find some fresh ideas and some new inspirations.  I will post workouts on the Mondays, so that everyone can work out without me, but otherwise, see you in September!

Second Thoughts

At the risk of sounding too woo-woo (it happens to me; I lived in Berkeley for twenty years), let me suggest that sometimes we choose our workouts by listening to our bodies.

 

This is not as far-out as it sounds.  A way to quantify it would be to consider heart rate variability (HRV).  If we have a smart watch or other device, we can track HRV and work out harder on days it is above our average and less strenuously when it is below.

 

However, relying on a device to tell us how we are does not build our ability to figure out what we need ourselves.  The listening I am thinking about does build that ability.  We wake up in the morning, check in with the body, and decide what we need, whether that is cardio to boost our mood or stretching to recover from a previous workout or weight-lifting to improve our strength.  One note:  most of us, upon waking up, will have the first thought that what our bodies really want is to go back to sleep; we need to wait for the second thought before we decide.

 

Go play.

Perfect Practice

We get better at what we practice.  (I hope this is not some big revelation to everyone!)  From this premise, I have two points I would like to make.

 

First, practice does not mean just showing up and going through the motions of our workouts.  That just makes us better at doing a half-assed job.

 

The second point is related to the first.  Good form is crucial, because when we are practicing, we are learning form along with improving our fitness.  We don’t want to imprint bad form in our minds and in our muscle memory if we can help it.  A second set of eyes on us, especially a trained set of eyes, can help us know if we are practicing good form.  That said, our form doesn’t have to be perfect from day one; we can refine it as we get stronger/more flexible/more fit/more knowledgeable.

 

Go play.

Monday Workout: Core

We are working on our asymmetric exercises this week, which helps improve our balance and our core strength.  Three rounds.

 

kb swings	30
kb twist	20
kb 8s/overyets	10
1 arm clean and press	30
(lunge to) curl	20
pushups	10
woodchoppers	30
rows	20
pretty princesses	10