Synergy!

Because I do both personal training and Pilates instruction, people ask me which is better.  The answer, of course, is “It depends.”

Some people like one or the other better.  And yes, this is a perfectly valid reason to choose one or the other.  One person’s hip hop is another person’s car alarm, and someone else’s symphony is another’s idea of nightmare.

Weight training, especially the way I prefer to do it, incorporating intervals, generally gets the heart rate up more.  It focuses more on building muscle mass and usually involves more sweat.

Pilates allows more time for focus on the quality of movement, on alignment, and on flexibility.  At the end of a session, most people feel longer and more supple.  It is great for relaxing the mind, improving posture, and training balance.  I also find it useful as a bridge back into weight training for those who have been injured since it teaches good form.

“Both” is also a great choice.  Combining weight training and Pilates can create a synergy in the body, making us strong, lean, and flexible.

Spare Change?

Speaking for myself, I hate change.  I like knowing what to expect.  I like routine.  However, change is going to happen no matter how I feel about it.  The good news is that bodies thrive on change.

That’s one reason I post a new workout every week.  Our muscles respond to novelty by growing and changing.  We build new pathways by trying different movements.  Also, none of us wants to get stuck doing burpees every week.

Even if we have a particular workout we love, we need to make sure we are mixing it up a little, bumping up the weight or adding a cardio interval.  Yes, it means we have to think about what we are doing, but that just means we get to train the brain with the body.  All good.

Try it.  Try one new thing next workout.  It might be fabulous.  And if it’s awful, try something else the next time around.

This is Number Sixteen Bazillion and One

There are approximately sixteen bazillion articles out there on stress and how to reduce it.  What this means is that no one has actually found the One True Way.  (Personally, every time I find a list compiled by experts to address any problem and it includes “Drink plenty of water,” I conclude that no one really knows what to do; drinking water isn’t going to hurt, but if that’s the best advice available, we’re all screwed.)  (That said, dehydration is bad for stressed people, so we all probably should be drinking more water.)  (I like parentheses.)

Here is the thing:  a great many of those articles list techniques for dealing with symptoms.  Let me suggest:  deal with the real problems.

Yes, this is the Hard Way.  It might mean figuring out how to leave that abusive job/partner/habit.  It might mean a temporary increase in stress as we figure out how to fit taking care of our health or finances or aging parent or obstreperous child in with all the other stuff we already have to do.  But finding the good and healthy solutions, in the long term, is the best way to deal with the stress for good.

If one of those stressors is health-based, it really is worth it to get sweaty and eat the vegetables and heft the weights.  I’m here to help.