Monday Workout: Benchmark

It’s the last week of the year and I’m taking time off.  So it’s a great time for a benchmark workout.  Grab a friend because for this one you want somebody with you in person.

Basically, what we’re doing this time is taking some of our basic exercises and seeing how far we can go.  Start each of the first seven exercises with ten reps at a weight that is easy.  Then increase the weight until you can only do one good-looking rep.  It is really good to have a buddy to spot you for safety when you are going for your one-rep max.  I mean it.

 

For the pushups, pretty princesses, and brains, you do as many as you can.

 

There are lots of ways to organize this, but personally, I am impatient, so I choose to superset an upper body and a lower body exercise to reduce the time I’m just standing around.  It’s also perfectly acceptable to take one exercise and do it to the end with appropriate rest periods (at least a couple minutes between the heavy sets!) before moving on to the next exercise.  You do you.

 

Then save the results so you can compare them with next year’s!

 

	start	end
squats
deadlifts
bench press
fly
row
kickback
pushups to fail
pretty princesses
brains

 

Thursday List: 12

What better day than this to have a list of recovery gifts we can give ourselves?

 

1.     Nap.  For best results, keep naps to about half an hour.

2.     Massage.

3.     Bath.  Bonus points for Epsom salts and whatever else makes it relaxing.

4.     Foam rolling.  Cheaper than massage and we can do it any time!

5.     Yoga/Pilates/stretching.  This is the kind of movement that is restorative.

6.     Meditation.  Reduces stress and improves focus and sleep.

7.     Water.  Yep.  We need lots.

8.     Snacks.  Ideally a protein snack, like maybe some nuts.

9.     Walk around the block.  Nothing too intense.  Just a little outside time with gentle movement.

10.  Hugs.  Human contact is good for us.

11.  Make something.  Creativity restores our brains.

12.  Your favorite thing.

Reflect: Sleep and Recovery 2

Sleep and recovery are a little different than the skills we’ve been working on so far.  For one thing, they’re inherently pleasant.  You’d think that would make them easier to prioritize, but no.

Here is your takeaway:  you, you wonderful human you, deserve to rest when you are tired, to sleep when you are sleepy, and to recover as needed.  Some people, some forces in our culture, will try to deny this, but they are wrong.  Fight the power:  go take a (short) nap.

 

To improve our sleep, we might have to admit that our moms were right.  We need a bedtime.  When we are consistent about when we go to bed and when we get up, our bodies adapt and we fall asleep more quickly.  Please note:  the bedtime and the wake up time need to be at least seven hours apart.  Planning to be underslept is not good planning.

 

Setting that bedtime and wake up time can make us feel really efficient because look:  we just implemented a recovery technique!  Two things at once and we accomplish them in bed?  Sign me up.  However, our bodies do need more than sleep.  We might need to think about what kind of food would help our bodies recover, or whether we’ve had enough water recently, or if massage might help.

 

It can feel overwhelming when we take stock of how much recovery we could use.  Baby steps.  Treating ourselves with love takes practice.

Reflect: Sleep and Recovery 1

So:  we’ve spent three weeks talking about and maybe working on various aspects of fitness.  We might be tired.  Time to talk about sleep and recovery.

The two are related.  Sleep is a great recovery strategy.  A whole lot of us don’t get enough sleep and we don’t get good sleep.  How to tell?  Do you wake up rested?  QED.

 

Recovery is a broader concept.  It’s all the things we do to help our bodies feel better after we work them.  It includes things like nutrition and massage, foam rolling, and, a concept I would really like to introduce to my Wristy Overlord (aka Apple Watch):  rest days.

 

We will know if we are recovering enough if we are not constantly sore.

Monday Workout: Endure

We’ve got a bunch of compound exercises today so we’ll be working endurance and coordination along with everything else.  Three rounds.

 

db circles	30
squats	20
1 leg deadlift	10
woodchoppers	30
rows	20
pushups	10
squat to leg lift	30
flies	20
windscreen wipers	10

Thursday List: 7

Here are some good starting exercises for weight training:

 

1.     squats

2.     deadlifts

3.     bench press

4.     flies

5.     rows

6.     kickbacks

7.     chest lifts (some folks know these as crunches, but the Pilates way is better!)

Reflect: Strength 2

Those of us who would like to gain some strength will perhaps not be surprised to learn that, like all the other skills we’ve been talking about this month, habit and routine help.

When we’re first starting out, we might want to commit to one weight workout a week.  We’ll see more progress when we increase to two non-consecutive days a week.  Most of us don’t really need more than three weight workouts a week, but that will depend on our goals and on how we structure our workouts.

 

In general, we don’t want to work the same muscle groups two days in a row.  The way strength training works is that we do damage to our muscles when we work them and they heal stronger.  (That’s an oversimplification, but it gets the point across.)  People who want to work out on consecutive days do things like alternate between upper body days and lower body days.

 

The specifics of our workouts will be dictated by our goals (remember:  endurance, hypertrophy, max strength, power), but the mechanics will work similarly.  We will do a number of reps of an exercise at a weight.  We’ll increase the reps until we’ve hit the target for the kind of goal we have, then we’ll increase the weight, reducing the reps back to our starting number.  In short, we’ll alternate increasing reps and weight.

 

A trainer can help plan and track all that data.  You know how to find me!