The one characteristic

If I had to pick one characteristic of a successful workout, it would be… FUN.  Why?  Because we don’t need a lot of encouragement to keep having more fun.

 

Workouts work because we do them, not because they’re the most perfect one ever.  I can design a workout that ensures that every muscle group gets the optimum amount of work.  It might take three hours to complete and a whole gym’s worth of equipment.  A few souls might try it, once, but once would be enough.

 

Now I’m not saying that I habitually design workouts with gaps in them or that none of us should ever do any exercise that isn’t fun (looking at you, burpees!)—I do try to balance the exercises I give to my clients and we all have to do a few burpees—but that we have to work out more than once for it to make real changes.  And to make that happen, the workouts had better be fun.

 

Fun-adjacent workouts also work, once we’re really into the fun bit.  People who love, say, biking, are willing to do some lifting if it means that they can bike better or longer or faster or with less pain.

 

Short version:  start with what you love doing and go from there.

Gloom

So pardon me if I’m a little gloomy here.  I’ve been thinking about death because of family things going on.  And I have some bad news:  there is no fitness routine that will keep us from dying.

 

But it’s not all gloom.  Our workouts make a big difference in the quality of our life as we get older.

 

Left to themselves, aging bodies will lose muscle mass, which means that we get weaker if we don’t exercise.  We also tip our body fat percentage in the wrong direction when we lose muscle, even if our weight doesn’t change.

 

Strong muscles help us have strong bones.  Those same muscles also help protect our bones by keeping us from falling, stabilizing us through life’s many uncertainties.

 

Cardio exercise keeps us happy and keeps our brains sharp.  It’s also often something we can do with friends to keep our connections thriving.

 

We are still going to die, but let’s enjoy every minute up until then.

Monday Workout: Twist!

I love working in various planes (not the flying kind!).  Going sideways and twisting as well as working forward and backward is good for our coordination, our balance, and our core control.  Three rounds.

 

kb swings	30
kb twists	20
kb 8s or over yets	10
squat to leg lift	30
bench press	20
lateral raise	10
woodchoppers	30
flies	20
pretty princesses	10

 

Gimme a reason (or five)

Sometimes we just need a reason to work out.  Here are five to choose from today:

 

1.     Because I told you to.  I’m an expert.  I know you should.  Now get to it.

2.     Because you’ll feel better afterwards.  Really.  The endorphins will move in your body and you’ll have a sense of accomplishment.

3.     Because it’s fun.  Fine, you’ll have to pick a workout you actually like.  Go biking, go dancing, play dodgeball with the kids.  Just get sweaty and breathless.

4.     Because you can have a treat afterwards.  (Be careful with this one, because it is hard to out-exercise a whole cake.)

5.     Because you look cute when you work out.  Really.  You do.

 

Go play.

No Little Minds

One of my favorite quotes from Emerson is this one:  “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”  This comforts me when I say one thing on one day and something seemingly opposite the next.  Keep this in mind as we proceed.

Yesterday I said that I like baby steps.  This is true.  But sometimes some of us do better making a big commitment.  We need the burn-the-bridges kind of system to propel us into change.

 

What does that look like in fitness?  It looks like showing up to the gym every day.  It looks like cleaning out the pantry and parting with the secret emergency stash of M&Ms.  It looks like telling a dear friend that no, we can’t meet for pastries, but we’d be happy to gossip and walk.

 

The advantage of the Big Change is that it is really noticeable.  Our dear ones might not treat our five minute daily walk with the respect it deserves and they might try to negotiate us out of it for any number of reasons.  They still might try to convince us not to hit the gym for our killer elliptical session followed by heavy lifting, but they can’t minimize it out of existence, either.

 

A big change works for those of us who enjoy a challenge.  It can motivate fighters who like an external enemy (even if it is fictitious or abstract!).  It helps if we like the spotlight, if we expect lots of opposition or lots of support from our friends and family (as opposed to a casual “you do you” approach), and if we actually mean it.

 

That last part is the kicker.  If we decide to do the Big Change, we have to follow through or we lose our credibility with ourselves and with others.

 

Here to help, whether it’s with big stuff or baby steps.

Don't Panic

When we first decide it’s time to work out, we can get overwhelmed really quickly.  Our well-meaning friends and family members may suggest everything from crossfit to yoga to Zumba.  We’ll see gadgets galore on the internet and we’ll get intimidated by the array of weird-looking machines at the gym.

 

Don’t panic.

 

This is why I am in favor of baby steps.

 

In general, the first thing that most people need as they transition from couch to activity is just to do something.  I tend to advise walking because unless something is drastically wrong with us, we can all do it.  Start with five minutes.  Yes, that is really easy.  That is the point.

 

Starting with something easy is important.  When we are faced with what seems like an impossible task, we tend to get flooded with emotional reactions, brain chemicals, and negative self-talk.  We want to curl up into a ball.  Doing something, anything, shifts our mindset.  We remember that we have at least a small measure of control.  This is the first step toward taking back our power.

 

That first tiny success encourages us.  We can take the next tiny step.  Eventually, we will feel ready for slightly bigger steps and we’ll take them.  If we have setbacks, we will remember that we can take tiny steps until we recover.

 

We can do this.

Monday Workout: Lots of Fun

We’re doing all kinds of fun things this week.  We have twisting, lateral movement, jumping, balance work!  Hooray!  Three rounds.

 

reverse lunge twist	30
rows	20
pushups	10
squat raise	30
deadlifts	20
(Kb) hammer curl	10
lateral bounds	30
1 leg squat	20
v sit press	10