Gradual

When things go well with our workouts, sometimes we get tempted to do more of everything.  We often end up with more ice and ibuprofen.

We do, in fact, want to push ourselves.  We just need to use our good judgment about how much.  If, say, we know we’re going to be doing a big run or ride or swim in a particular week, that’s not the right time to bump up all the weights on our strength day.  Or say we want to run both faster and longer.  We need to work on one at a time, perhaps increasing our running time (about 10% per week is a good rubric) for a few weeks and then upping the pace via intervals.

Most of us, even fresh off months on the couch, can manage a 30-minute walk five days a week.  That’s a great place to start.  When that begins to feel easier, it’s time to toss in a strength workout or two.

When we go gradually, we actually get farther faster.

Monday Workout: Toys!

This week’s workout features two of my favorite toys:  kettle bells and the BOSU.  If you don’t have access to either, do the kettle bell exercises with a dumbbell and the BOSU exercises on the ground; they’ll still work!  Three rounds.

mountain climbers	30
deadlifts	20
dips	10
kb swings	30
kb 1 leg pass	20
kb 8s	10
Bosu/TRX squats	30
Bosu curls	20
Bosu pushups	10

Friday Book Report: Somatics

Mindful movement is something I believe in.  Thomas Hanna’s book, Somatics: Reawakening the Mind’s Control of Movement, Flexibility, and Health, explores the impact of mindful movement on aging.  Hanna, in fact, contends that aging as we understand it is actually the result of unconscious patterns we build up in response to the stresses of life and that mindful movement can restore our bodies to full function.

His somatic exercises build on and complement Feldenkrais exercises.  They are simple and non-time-consuming (I was going to say “quick,” but the goal is to move slowly and mindfully.).  Whether or not the exercises are as transformative as he claims, I cannot say, but they do seem both safe and useful.