Thursday List: 5

One of the keys to a good routine is a good checklist.  We use it until we internalize it and it all happens on autopilot.  Here’s an example of a morning checklist:

 

1.     Brush and floss.  (People who floss their teeth are generally healthier.  It’s unclear if it’s the flossing or just that people who floss their teeth are more tuned into taking care of their health.  It doesn’t take long.)

2.     Eat a healthy breakfast that includes some protein.

3.     Do a workout.

4.     Take a few minutes for mindfulness.

5.     Get on with the day.

Novelty!

(Yesterday I talked about the power of routine.  Today I’m moving on to the value of novelty.)

So:  there we are with our healthy routines in place.  Monday we lift weights.  Tuesday we do Pilates.  And so on.  Nothing we’re doing is bad, but it’s all a little… dull.

 

Novelty to the rescue!  Our brains and our bodies like shiny new stuff.  We can add a fresh tweak to our routines and suddenly we’re not bored anymore.

 

There are lots of ways to do this.  We can throw a new exercise into our weight session or change up the tempo.  We can go work outside if we’re normally gym rats or the other way around.  We can experiment with a new class or sport or piece of equipment.  The point is that we give our brains and bodies some kind of different challenge to wake them up and help them grow.

 

What should we try next?

Routine!

My brain thrives on two opposing things:  routine and novelty.  I am probably not alone in this, so I’m going to talk about how those two forces affect our workouts, routine today and novelty tomorrow.

Routine is, well, routine.  It has the reputation of being boring, but that’s also its power.  Routine doesn’t require a lot of thought or energy once it’s established.  We can just float along with the flow we’ve established.  Oh, it’s Monday—I lift weights on Mondays.  I don’t have to get up in the morning and figure out when and how I’m going to work out.  I just go.

 

The trick is to build a routine that is good for us.  Weights on Mondays would be an example of a positive routine.  A post workout meal of French fries and ice cream might be a less positive routine.

 

When we build healthy routines, we are doing our future selves a solid.  Our potentially tired self doesn’t have to think too much and maybe even before we’re fully awake, we’re at the gym and getting going.

 

Try it!

Monday Workout: Planes and Gravity

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
plank jacks	30
flies	20
burpees	10
tap backs	30
deadlift/good morning	20
V sit press	10

Thursday List: 4

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.

Physics!

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!

Dry Bones

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.