The Amazing Stickie is always excited to discover a new way to work her abdominals. Today she is trying out V legs.
She begins lying on her back with her legs straight up in the air. Then, with control, she slowly opens them into a V shape and closes them again.
She finds a set of ten to work well.
People often want to know: what’s the best workout?
I have the answer right here: the one we do.
The absolutely perfect workout might be out there somewhere (along with the perfect planner that is going to transform my life if only I can find it), but I think we’ll do better in the long run picking a workout we’ll actually do. Over time, as we progress, we might refine that workout a bit, or add another kind of workout to our mix, or get enthused about another sport or class.
Not everything has to be optimal. Also, we often leave fun out of our definitions of what is optimal, so the whole concept becomes questionable. Life is short, people! Have fun!
Go play.
I just had a lightbulb moment about goals. It may only be a five-Watt bulb, but I’m going to share it anyway because even a little light is better than darkness, at least when it comes to avoiding tripping over things.
(The digressions have already gotten out of hand and I’m not even started yet!)
OK. Concentrating.
A lot of the literature about goal setting focuses on finite goals. “I am going to do this thing by this date.” Those are perfectly wonderful goals to have. The thing is, I pretty much like the kind of goals that don’t have end dates. I like goals that are more like, “I’m going to explore moving my body in ways that feel good to me and that make me feel good every day for the rest of my life.” Or “I’m going to eat food that is good for my body habitually.”
Over time, those open-ended goals might change. I might need more cardio sometimes, or more weight training. I might discover a new sport I love. Heck, the seasons might change and suddenly I’m doing a bunch more swimming where I used to be skiing.
There is no Great Gradebook in the Sky. We can make any kind of goals we like and change them as often as we want to. Let’s choose what works for us.
Our end-of-month variety workout is boxing based this month. Do three or four rounds depending on time/energy.
straight punch left | 50 |
squats | 30 |
hooks left | 25 |
hooks right | 25 |
pushups | 10 |
straight punch right | 50 |
butterfly crunch | 20 |
uppercut left | 25 |
uppercut right | 25 |
plank | |
The Amazing Stickie is nothing if not efficient. She loves working her lower body and getting a cardio bonus from it at the same time. Today she’s doing tap backs.
She begins in a squat position with her feet directly under her hips. Then she quickly extends one leg behind her, tapping that foot on the floor and then bringing it back to the starting position. She repeats the same sequence with the other leg. Alternating quickly, she does a set of thirty.
Let’s talk about the 600-pound gorilla in the middle of the room. (I looked it up and that is the high end of gorilla weight.) In this case, it’s a metaphorical gorilla. (If there is a real gorilla in the middle of the room, please stop reading and go somewhere safer.) The metaphorical gorilla stands for weight.
Weight is a weighty topic in fitness. We hear a lot, culturally, about the obesity epidemic. Our doctors may cluck about our BMI. It is probably impossible to pick up any women’s magazine without finding some kind of diet or other scheme designed to help us lose weight. Additionally, there are some newish drugs out there that do promote weight loss.
There is not a lot of conclusive evidence that body weight alone is a factor in health. People of all sizes can be strong and fit and healthy. People who “look” healthy in terms of weight can still have heart disease, COPD, high cholesterol, and other diseases that we have been taught to associate with weight.
As a personal trainer and Pilates instructor, I don’t focus on weight unless it is a major priority for my clients. I think there are much better ways to approach fitness than through the lens of weight loss (although I do, in fact, have a certification in the process). I prefer to look on fitness as a process of feeling better in our bodies, of building capability. Many of us, as we become stronger and more active, do naturally get slimmer, but some of us, due to various factors including diet and genetics, don’t. This does not mean that working out is a waste of time.
I’m not here to judge anyone. If someone is motivated by a smaller number on the scale, I support that. But I also want that same person to know that they are so much more than a number.
Go play.
My Wristy Overlord (also known as an Apple Watch) comes in handy for lots of things. It keeps track of my exercise minutes, my calories burned during activities, and the number of different hours in which I stand up during the day. That’s all pretty useful information.
But what I want to talk about today is what it tells me when I don’t work out. Like everyone, I have sick days or days when I fail to prioritize workouts or travel days or days when I just don’t want to do it. My Wristy Overlord does not care about why I did or did not do something. It just tracks.
It turns out that my daily life, when I don’t work out, involves about 11 minutes of exercise-level activity. Similarly, I burn about 350 active calories going about what the physical therapists call activities of daily living. Standing up in twelve different hours of the day is no problem unless I’m so sick that I’m asleep for most of the day.
The other thing the Wristy Overlord does not track is how I feel. Some days when I do Pilates and yoga and play a couple of hours of pickleball and go to tai chi, I feel energized and great. Other times, not so much. The reverse is also true: some days when I don’t work out, I feel tired and others I feel fabulous.
Why am I going into so much detail about this? Who cares? Well, I am not the only one with a Wristy Overlord. I’m the closest example that I can use! The takeaway from my experience that I hope applies to others is this: data is helpful, but not necessarily comprehensive.
Our goal, I hope, is not just to obey our Wristy Overlords, but to be be healthy, happy humans. We are more than our data.
Let’s live.
