Month of Gratitude: Parasympathetic Nervous System

November is a month of gratitude.

Today I am grateful for the parasympathetic nervous system.  (Now that’s a sentence I never expected to write!)  The world out there likes to encourage me to be best buddies with my sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for stress reactions like the fight-or-flight response.  But my parasympathetic nervous system offers a respite from that.

 

Tapping into deep breathing allows me to relax and heal, to rest, to repair the results of the day’s stresses, even if those stresses are good things like a hard workout, a challenging situation well-resolved, or a novel experience.

 

What’s your favorite way to find relaxation?

Monday Workout: Ramp

We’ve got lots going on today with compound exercises.  Ramp up that metabolism, baby!  Three rounds.

 

tap backs	30
farmer carry	20
renegade row	10
woodchoppers	30
good mornings	20
lateral raise	10
suitcase swing	30
side lunges	20
side banana	10

 

The Amazing Stickie and Plyo Pushups from Knees

The Amazing Stickie knows that a great way to power up her workouts is to add plyometrics.  Today she’s doing plyometric pushups from her knees.  (It is also ok to do these from regular pushup position, but it’s harder!)

She begins in modified pushup position, a straight line from her knees to the top of her head.  She bends her elbows as she would for a regular pushup, but then explodes upward so that her hands leave the floor at the top of the pushup.  That’s one rep.  Sets of ten are good.

Month of Gratitude: Body

November is gratitude month!

Today I am grateful for my body.  I mean, without a body, where would I be?

 

My body takes care of all kinds of stuff without me even noticing.  I don’t have to remember to breathe (although sometimes it helps!).  I don’t have to figure out how to digest my food or keep my internal temperature at a healthy level.  When I get a scrape on my knee, my body just fixes it!  Blood moves all by itself.  Even my lymph system does whatever it is it does without any interference from my conscious mind.  And that’s just the maintenance portion of the show.

 

When I want to go somewhere, my body gets me there.  When I want to move things, my body coordinates all the bones and muscles to get it done.  I have my own personal meat monster to do my bidding!

 

Then there is the joy my body provides.  I get to feel the sun on my face.  I rejoice in flowers (obviously!).  Tasting food, listening to music, smelling herbs or petrichor, all the pleasures of the world are brought to me through my body.

 

Thanks, body!

Month of Gratitude: Cardio

November is a month of gratitude.  There is plenty of research out there that suggests that practicing gratitude is good for our health.  For Reasons (OK, because gratitude practice tends to backfire when my personal Depression Monster is in residence:  how can I be dealing with the DM when I have so much to be grateful for?  And we spiral from there…), I am not a Gratitude Journal kind of person, but that does not mean that it doesn’t work in the general sense; it just doesn’t work for me.  That said, I am going to practice some gratitude here this whole month.

So:  what am I grateful for today?  Cardio exercise.  When I am crabby and cranky, odds are good that some quality time on my spin bike will do the trick to fix my mood.  A walk outside has a similar effect, plus no one will hear me grumbling.

 

Even if I’m not feeling like grousing, cardio is something wonderful for me.  It makes my brain work better, increases my available energy, and burns calories.

 

Anybody else grateful for a pumping heart?

Monday Workout: They're Baaaaaack

This week, burpees are back.  Sorry/not sorry.  Three rounds.

 

mountain climbers	30
bench press	20
burpees	10
kb alt arm swing	30
kb hammer curl	20
kb halo	10
squat raise	30
flies	20
Russian twist	10

The Amazing Stickie and Medicine Ball Rotational Toss

The Amazing Stickie knows how important it is to work in all planes, even though she herself is two-dimensional.  Today she is doing a medicine ball rotational toss.

To begin, she kneels in the proposal position, holding a medicine ball next to her back hip with both hands (i.e., twisting toward the back leg).  From there, she tosses the ball across her body.  (It is helpful if she has a partner to fetch the ball back for her between reps.)  When she has done a set on one side, she repeats on the other side.