Captain Obvious Says...

Captain Obvious here:  not all our fitness comes from actual workouts.  Here are some things that count toward fitness:

Moving.  It’s a little extreme to decide to go live somewhere else just for the fitness benefits, but all that packing and schlepping of boxes does in fact make us stronger.  This item is here to alleviate any guilt anyone might have for missing workouts during a move:  you are doing enough.

 

Gardening.  OK, not the kind where you sit in the shade and pull a weed every once in a while and you drink a lot of lemonade (although it does sound fun).  The kind where you need to mix a bunch of compost and vermiculite into your garden beds, rake up a bunch of debris, or lug a bunch of 5-gallon plants to their new locations.

 

Housework.  Again, not the light swishes of a feather duster.  More the heave-the-vacuum-up-the-stairs sort of housework, or the kind where all of a sudden there are fifty seven things in the wrong place and you need to run all over the place putting them where they belong because company is coming and God forbid they see you make messes sometimes.

 

Shopping.  That twenty pound bag of dog food counts as weight lifting.  Ditto the bulk rice, the cases of fizzy water, and the twenty cans of on-sale soup.  Depending on where you’re shopping, you may also have to walk miles and miles (looking at you, Costco).

 

Pro tip:  if you get sweaty and/or breathless, it counts as exercise.

 

Go play.

Monday Workout: Balance and Burpees

This week we’re doing asymmetric work and balance work.  And burpees because it’s time.  Three rounds.

 

leg kicks	30
Arnold press	20
burpees	10
split squat pulldown	30
1 leg deadlift	20
1 leg squat	10
oblique knee-ups	30
(lunge to) twist	20
femur arcs	10

The Amazing Stickie and Depth Jumps

The Amazing Stickie loves plyometric exercises.  (Those of us who have knee issues may not.  If this hurts, don’t do it.)  Today she is practicing depth jumps.  There are multiple ways of doing this exercise, but this time Stickie is focusing on a simple version.

She begins standing on a sturdy step, box, or bench.  She steps down to the ground and immediately jumps up into the air as high as she can.  Then she gets back up on the box and does it again.  She likes to do sets of thirty, but we can choose how many we want to try.

 

Go play.

A Beautiful Thing

One reason I love working with new people is that it makes everything fresh again.  (It’s not just that new people haven’t gotten entirely fed up with my jokes yet.)  I get to see my exercise repertoire through their new eyes and in the context of a unique body. 

In our workouts, we want a balance between what we are used to (our own bodies and their lovable or deplorable quirks, our tolerances and preferences, our comfortable sense of where we are in space) and what is new (a different exercise!  Hey!  I’m stronger now!  What do you mean I need to improve my alignment now that I have a clue what I’m doing?).

 

We work from what we know to what we don’t know.  We use the endurance we build to try harder things.  We use the strength we create to move more efficiently.  We use the character we develop to tackle workout (or life) challenges.

 

I learn when my clients learn.  It’s a beautiful thing. 

Getting High

Last month I took a couple of trips to a higher altitude, one to go skiing and one to visit my son and daughter in law.  I’m noticing that as I get older, the altitude affects me more.  Here’s how to deal with it while working out:

Slow down.  The upside of feeling the altitude is that our heart rates increase all by themselves.  This means we don’t need to work out as hard to get cardio benefits.  The downside is that we may have to take more breaks or longer rests to get our heart rates back down.

 

Hydrate.  This is always a good idea, but at altitude it’s particularly important because it can help alleviate the headaches that come along with height.

 

Remember to breathe.  Again, this is always essential, but more so at altitude.  It’s good to do breathwork before going to altitude so that we already know how to focus on the breath, but even a few conscious, deep breaths can make a difference.

 

Go play.

Monday Workout: Different KB Set!

I always choose the same kettlebell set, because I love it, but this week we are changing things up.  The kettlebell pushup adds an element of asymmetry to the pushup experience:  put one hand on the kettlebell and one on the ground and then proceed as usual; you can split the set five and five on each side, or overachievers can do ten each way.  Overall, do three rounds.

 

alternating arm kb swings	30
kb hammer curls	20
kb pushup	10
mountain climbers	30
flies	20
reverse flies	10
step ups	30
skullcrushers	20
Russian twist	10

The Amazing Stickie and Lateral Bounds

The Amazing Stickie, being smart as well as fit, knows that she can’t just work in the sagittal plane (things that go forwards and backwards) because life sometimes goes sideways.  To prepare, she practices lateral bounds.

Stickie begins in a small squat, then jumps sideways, landing again in a small squat, as if she were leaping over a puddle or a small box.  Then she jumps back the other way.

 

It is important, when jumping, to try to land softly.  Soft landings occur when we let the toe or ball of our foot impact the ground first, followed by the heel, ensuring that our knees are bent to absorb the ground forces.  It can help to point our toes down at the ground when we push up into the jump in the first place because then our feet, like Stickie’s, are in the right position for a good landing.

 

Sets of thirty jumps are good.