Coping with Fear

Sometimes in fitness we do things that scare us.  The first workout back after an injury, for example, can be anxiety-provoking for many reasons, including the fear that we will reinjure ourselves or that we have lost too much ground while we’ve been recovering or that we’ll never be the same again.

Or maybe we are going along happily doing our skiing or climbing or boxing and a Bad Thing happens, whether that’s a fall or an injury or a crash or a blow or something else.  We have to deal with the thing itself, but also with the wave of emotion that comes with it.

Or maybe we’ve never tried a particular class or activity before and we just don’t know how it is going to work for us.  Maybe we won’t be good at it or the instructor could be mean or the regulars won’t make space for us.

Whatever it is, there are ways to cope.  The most basic is to focus on breathing.  As long as we keep doing that, it’s going to be all right.  We can also collect information ahead of time about warm-ups or preparatory drills or stretches, about the instructor, about what kind of moves are potentially risky for whatever condition we are dealing with and deploy that knowledge to keep ourselves safe.  We can recruit a team or a buddy to go with us, whether that’s a coach or a therapist or a trainer or just a willing friend who will support us when the going gets tough.

Fitness is about getting more powerful, but not always in the ways we expect.

Monday Workout: Multi-Joint!

This week we are getting our heart rate up, up, up!  The emphasis is on lower body and/or multi-joint exercises to make that happen.  Hooray for metabolism!  Three rounds.

suitcase swings	30
lunges	20
lateral raise	10
woodchoppers	30
ball slams	20
rescues	10
plyojacks/jacks/mod jacks	30
squats	20
brains	10

Friday Book Report: How to Use Yoga

Mira Mehta’s book How to Use Yoga is a good introductory yoga text.  After some basic background information, it goes through 41 poses in detail with variations and lots of photos.  Some information about pranayama is also included.  Then it all comes together in a ten-week program in which all the poses are deployed in sequences.  Of particular interest are the additional sequences for headaches, tight hips, and the like (a quibble:  menstruation is not exactly a “problem” in the same way backache or tight shoulders can be; perhaps “special cases” would have been a less misogynistic phrasing…).

Because the book is rooted in the Iyengar tradition, there are lots of props, so the poses are more accessible for those of us who are not currently flexible.  This is a good resource for pretty much anyone, although not all poses are appropriate for all people.  Use good judgment and/or check in with a doctor before getting too enthused!