We’re working in a couple of planes and in different orientations to gravity today. That’s a fancy way of saying we’ve got a little of everything going on here, even burpees. Three rounds.
step touch | 30 |
bench press | 20 |
YTA | 10 |
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plank jacks | 30 |
flies | 20 |
burpees | 10 |
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tap backs | 30 |
deadlift/good morning | 20 |
V sit press | 10 |
Since I’ve been talking about range of motion this week, here are some of my favorite stretches:
1. Calf stretch: Stand on a stair (or curb or sturdy box). Hold on to something if necessary for balance. Place your feet so that the balls of your feet are on the edge and the heels hang over. Lower one heel down below the level of the stair until you feel a stretch in your calf. Gently raise and lower at a slowish tempo or just hold for about thirty seconds. You can also do both heels at once if that feels better to you.
2. Hip flexor stretch: Lie on the floor on your side, legs out long. Bend the top knee back as if you were going to kick yourself in the behind. Reach your arm back and grab your foot or ankle (or use a strap if you can’t reach). If you feel a stretch, great! Hang out there. If you need a little more, you can push your hips forward a bit until you do.
3. Chest stretch, two ways: My favorite way requires a long-ish foam roller, one that allows you to lie on it long ways with both your behind and your head supported. Then you just open your arms out to the side at shoulder level. If possible, lower your hands to the floor. To increase the stretch on one side or the other, leave your hands on the floor and roll slightly to one side. The side you are rolling away from will stretch a bit more. If you don’t have a roller, you can do the same thing standing in a doorway. Put your arms on either side of the door frame and lean through it until you feel a stretch.
4. Static thoracic extension: This one also uses a roller, but a firm bolster will also work. This time, put the roller across the back just above where a bra strap would go (use your imagination, people who don’t wear bras!). Then lean back over the roller, arms overhead. I like to do this with my legs out long, but if you feel like your lower back is compressing, you can bend your knees and put your feet flat on the floor. If you don’t like the feeling on your neck, you can support your head with your hands or with a yoga block.
Yesterday I mentioned the connections between all our body parts and talked a little about how they interact. Today I’ll give another reason to work on range of motion in all the different parts. It’s physics.
Don’t worry: there is no math in what follows.
The physical principle that we care about in this instance is that distribution of motion allows distribution of force. That means that when we have an amount of force, we can put a lot of force in a few places, or a little bit in a lot of places. That second option is usually better in our bodies.
Take, for example, our knees. There they are, sandwiched between our hips and ankles, trying to mind their own business. That’s fine as long as the hips and ankles do their part. However, if our hips get stiff and restricted from too much sitting or our ankles get too used to wearing heels, they can’t move as much. That makes the forces we generate when we walk land on our knees. Over time, that force wears our poor knees out.
The good news is that we can loosen up the tight places and give our knees a break. Pilates is fabulous for this, but stretching, SMR, and massage also help.
Want to try Pilates? You know how to find me!
In the old song, the ankle bone’s connected to the knee bone and the knee bone’s connected to the thigh bone and so on. The anatomy might be a little questionable, but the overarching theory is correct: our bodies connect.
This is not just a bulletin from Captain Obvious, as much as I like those. The fact that the different parts of our bodies connect has implications for how we move. If, for example, we have an ankle that doesn’t have much range of motion, that changes how our knees work. How our knees work, in turn, impacts how our hips work. We may feel pain in our lower backs while the problem might be somewhere else in the body entirely.
As a result of this connection, I try to ensure that every workout involves as much of the body as possible. When we work all the parts, they tend to work together more smoothly.
Go play.
I’ve been thinking about hips and how they contribute to balance and posture. Strong and mobile hips help all kinds of things, including lower back pain. So we’re working on that this week. Three rounds.
suitcase swings | 30 |
rows | 20 |
db thrust | 10 |
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1 arm clean and press | 30 |
Arnold press | 20 |
hip rotations | 10 |
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skater jump | 30 |
kickbacks | 20 |
side banana | 10 |
We all have times when things… do not go well. While falling into the ice cream is a coping technique, it might not be the healthiest one. Here are some other choices:
1. Meditating
2. Connecting with others
3. Reaching out for support
4. Journaling
5. Reading
6. Resting/napping
7. Music
8. Exercise
9. Time outside in nature
I have my own personal list. What’s on yours?
Emotional well-being comes from lots of places and practices. We face a variety of challenges in our present lives and there are useful techniques we can use to deal, either as preparation or as recovery.
If, for example, we struggle with stress (who doesn’t?), we can prepare for stressful situations with a technique called conscious breath control. This is exactly what it sounds like. We pay attention to our breath and we choose to slow it down to stimulate our parasympathetic nervous system. If we’ve been stressed, we can choose any of a variety of meditation techniques to chill ourselves back out.
When our emotions are all over the place, or if we think they’re going to be, we have other options. To prepare, we can use positive affirmations. Recovery from emotional chaos is helped by mindfulness, simply acknowledging our present state and letting it be what it is without glomming on to it.
When we face difficult decisions, we can prepare by brainstorming. In the aftermath, we can recover by allowing ourselves to daydream about other possible outcomes we might want.
What works best for you?
