Play is the work of...

When I learn new things, I like to remember that it’s a process.  Those of you who have been reading along for a while know that my most recent continuing education effort was about flexibility and stretching.  I passed the course (of course!), but now that the academic part is done, I’m exploring the practical applications.

One way I do that is by… practicing.  I try techniques on myself.  I try stuff on my family members (they don’t mind; they’re used to me by now).  As I get more of a feel for how different things work, I throw one or two new things into my workouts with my clients.  Not surprisingly, some things work better for some people than others.  Whether the specific exercises I try work the way I want them to or not, I learn.

 

I know I say this a lot, but it is really worth repeating:  experimenting is the way to go.  Our culture is super hyper focused on successful results and that inhibits our ability to play, to be curious, to find out.  Trial and error is not trial and error if there is no error.  Learning what doesn’t work is often as useful as learning what does.

 

Go play.  It might be fun.  It might not be.  But odds are that we’ll learn something either way.

Monday Workout: Whole

I am enjoying the shorter circuits right now.  This one should get the whole body working!.  Four rounds.

 

1 min cardio
step ups or high knees	30
renegade rows	10
flies	20
kb alternate arm swing	30
Arnold press	10
oblique crunch	10

 

The Amazing Stickie and Spine Twist

The Amazing Stickie likes to ensure that she works in all planes of motion to keep herself supple and mobile.  Today she is doing Spine Twist to work in the transverse plane.

She begins sitting on the floor with her legs out in front of her at an angle that is about the width of a yoga mat.  Her arms are raised at shoulder height out to the sides, palms facing forward and elbows soft.  She inhales to lengthen her spine toward the ceiling.  As she exhales, she twists her body to one side, making sure that her arms stay in the same relationship to her torso.  It is as if she is a doll with no moveable joints in her upper body; only her waist can twist.  Then she returns to the start position and repeats on the other side.

 

Stickie does about five reps on each side.

A Moment With Uncle Joe

Today’s post is brought to you by Uncle Joe Pilates:  it’s time to take a deep breath.

We’re going to start our deep breath by standing up.  We’re going to use our good posture, because if we’re all slumped forward, we have a hard time making space in our bodies for the breath.  This means, ideally, that our ears are over our shoulders, which are over our hips, which are over our knees, which are over our ankles.  For most of us, this means we need to pull our heads back a bit, roll our shoulders down and back, tuck our pelvis under a little, and soften our knees.

 

Now we start.  As we take our deep breath in, we can notice that our breastbone lifts, our spine arches just a little, and our ribcage and abdomen expand.  A lot of us think that our breath just expands us to the front, but really the breath opens up the sides and the back of the body, too.

 

As we exhale, the breastbone sinks a little, the spine curves back, and everything else deflates a little.

 

If we do this nice and slowly a few times, we will tap into our parasympathetic nervous system, which helps us relax and rest and recover.

 

Carry on!

Free the Tupperware!

So we’ve done the holiday thing and we’re probably more or less tidied up by now.  All that’s left is… leftovers.  What I like about leftovers is that they’re easy.  No decisions needed!  Throw stuff in the microwave and there we go!

Metaphorically, though, we have leftovers, too.  We may feel a little yucky still from too much pie, or too much gravy, or too much of Uncle Stanley.  Maybe we hardly moved all weekend and we feel stiff.  Or maybe we spent the whole time running around doing things and we feel sore.  It’s easy to sink into those leftovers, too.  We might tart them up with a dollop of guilt or a smidgen of shame or even a little rage, but we’re still feeding ourselves the same metaphorical stuff.

 

Y’all can do what you want with that last bit of stuffing, but I have my bossy pants on and I’m going to tell you that it’s time to pitch those metaphorical leftovers because they’re stinking up the joint.  Whatever happened over the holiday happened.  And now we’re done with it.  We start fresh from right here and right now.

 

We can choose healthy foods.  We can move.  We can even rest if that’s what we need.  We can do this.

Monday Workout: Core and Balance

We have a few things that work laterally today, some changes of direction, and some one-sided work, all of which adds up to a bunch of work on core and balance.  Three rounds.

 

squat to leg lift	30
flies	20
1 leg deadlift	10
lateral bound/side lunge	30
bench press	20
reverse fly	10
jacks	30
curls	20
V sit press	10

 

The Amazing Stickie and Rollover

Having worked on spinal extension for the last two weeks, this week the Amazing Stickie decided to do some spinal flexion.  This exercise is not suitable for anyone with osteoporosis or osteopenia.  The Amazing Stickie wants everyone to work within their own personal safe range of motion and to stop if anything feels wrong.

To begin, Stickie lies on her back with her hands at her sides.  She inhales and raises her legs until they are perpendicular to the floor.  Then, as she exhales, she rolls her spine up, bringing her legs over her face until they are parallel with the floor.  She inhales and separates her legs so they make a narrow V shape.  On the exhale, she rolls her spine down, circling her legs as she returns to the position with her legs perpendicular to the floor.

 

Three reps are usually enough.