Time, part 2

That relationship to time that I was writing about yesterday is about the future, too. 

Most of the time, when we work out, we want to be in the present moment.  That’s the one we have influence on.  That’s where change happens.  If we’re working with a trainer, our trainer will help us stay focused on what we’re doing in the moment.

 

But.  We also need to have a little bit of consciousness of the future.  That’s where motivation comes from.

 

Say, for example, that I’m doing burpees.  I don’t like burpees.  Almost nobody likes burpees.  They’re hard and uncomfortable and we get sweaty and all that.  If we are too much in the present moment while doing burpees, those of us who are sane are going to say enough of this and stop.  But if we remember that our goal is to have enough stamina for a marathon or for a marathon game of tag with our kids or grandkids, we will keep going.  We use our future goal to fuel our present work.

 

Some goals are better than others, but I can’t say definitively which ones because the best goals are the ones that motivate each of us.  Mine are not yours.  It’s worth spending a bit of time visualizing your future awesome self doing whatever it is that inspires you.  That will get you through the burpees.

Time, part 1

It helps to have some perspective on time when we want to create a healthy relationship with fitness.

When we get started on a program, we need to think a bit about the past.  A good trainer will ask about what we’ve done before, what we liked, what we didn’t like, what injuries we’ve had, and a bunch more stuff about what has already happened with us.  This data helps a trainer keep us safe and also to create a program for us that suits our needs and desires.

 

Once that’s done, our job is to forget about the past.  We also have to keep forgetting it on a daily basis.

 

What do I mean?

 

We’re working out today.  The only relevant body is the one we’re in right now.  It doesn’t matter if we used to weigh 700 pounds.  It doesn’t matter if we used to be the world champion.  We are who we are today.  We need to work with the limitations and capabilities of this moment.  Focusing on where we used to be just distracts us from what we’re working on right now.

 

Some days go better than others.  Some days we can do All The Things and other days not so much.  The only thing that matters in each workout is that we do the best with what we’re working with this time.

 

Go play.

Monday Workout: Choose Wisely!

I’m still thinking about balance.  Today everybody gets to choose whether they’d rather do single leg squats or single leg deadlifts.  Three rounds.

 

kb swings	30
kb twist	20
kb 8x	10
db circles	30
1 leg squat or dead	20
plank up down	10
step ups	30
skullcrushers	20
Russian twist	10

 

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