Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! 

Celebration is good for us.  Humans, to be healthy, need other humans.  So today is a good day to love the folks you love and to enjoy whatever good things are around.

 

Go play.

Squeeze!

For those of us who celebrate, it’s Christmas Eve.  That can be both joyful and chaotic.  We may find that we have way too much to do.  We may be traveling or have guests.  We may have been living on egg nog and Christmas cookies for weeks now.

May I suggest:  squeeze in a workout.

 

It doesn’t have to be a big workout.  It doesn’t have to take long.  A quick walk around the block, weather permitting, can do the trick.  Five minutes of stretching before we get out of bed might be what we can manage.

 

When things are hectic, we need to get back into our bodies, just for a little while.

Monday Workout: Sneaky

This workout is a little sneaky about the core.  We’re going to be using it for pretty much everything.  Bonus points!  Three rounds.

 

leg kicks	30
Arnold press	20
truck driver	10
squat raise	30
rows	20
kickbacks	10
mountain climbers	30
hammer curls	20
windscreen wipers	10

The Amazing Stickie and Reverse Burpees

Variation, the Amazing Stickie knows, is good for the soul.  She is doing Reverse Burpees today to experience this.

She begins lying on her back on the floor with her arms over her head.  From there, she rocks herself forward to a squatting position and then jumps up in the air.  She reverses the process, going  back through the squat to lying down.

 

Ten is a great number of reps.

Captain Obvious would not say no to a kayak, though...

It is time for a bulletin from Captain Obvious.  The captain would like to remind everyone that, in this season of giving, we do NOT give fitness gifts to other people unless they specifically request them.  Even if we have the very best intentions, this is not helpful, useful, or kind.  Do not do it.

Minding our own business is a pretty good principle generally and it is essential when it comes to fitness.  We can only do our own work.  Frankly, most of us have plenty of our own work to do, so we really should not be looking around at what everyone else is doing or not doing.

 

Committing to fitness is not always an easy process.  It is not going to happen from the outside.  We have to want it ourselves.  It is certainly helpful to have supportive family and friends, but the big desire has to come from within.

 

Breathe

Want to improve your HRV and your cognitive function?  Try breathing.

I know it sounds like a joke.  In fact, it is a joke my kids’ grandma used to tell my kids (How do you avoid dying?  Keep breathing!)  (They might be genetically inclined to dark humor.)

 

However, The People Who Do Research say it works, at least in this study.

 

The takeaway from the study, in my opinion, is that it would probably be good for us if we spent some time breathing at a rate of about six breaths per minute.  There are tons of breathing apps out there that can measure that for us.  In the study, the participants spent 20 minutes doing it in the morning before caffeine.  (I know that last bit might be a deal-breaker for some of us, but maybe it’s worth a try?)

 

Worst case?  We have relaxed for a bit.  No down side.

Monday Workout: The 12 Days of Christmas

It’s that time again!  (Yes, we’re doing it a little on the early side.  I am taking a couple weeks off and want to get it in with the clients before I go.)  (Don’t worry:  I’ll still post workouts while I’m off.)

The 12 Days of Christmas workout works like this.  On the first “day,” we do one push press.  Then we go on to day two, with two goblet squats and one push press.  Most of us can keep going without a break until after day five.  Then we want a rest to gear up for day six:  six burpees, five deadlifts, four single leg squats on each leg, three overhead presses, two goblet squats, and one push press.  After that, rest as needed until all the days are done!  At the end, you will have done 42 burpees and you will be absolutely convinced that I am not, in fact, your true love.

 

1 push press

2 goblet squats

3 Overhead press

4 1 leg squats each leg

5 deadlifts

6 burpees

7 pushups

8 renegade rows

9 mountain climbers

10 jump lunges

11 kb swings

12 plyojacks