Monday Workout: Mix!

I like to use the same medicine ball sets.  Every once in a while, it occurs to me that I can split the exercises up!  No more ruts!  Three rounds…

(lunge) punches	30
bench press	20
kickbacks	10
ball slams	30
bosu squats	20
pushups	10
woodchoppers	30
rows	20
plank	10

Friday Reading Report: Cholesterol

Like most people I know, I often remember that I read something, but rarely where I read it or how trustworthy the source was.  As I was doing my homework this week, I had this vague feeling that there was an article somewhere about how dietary cholesterol didn’t have that much correlation with blood cholesterol levels.  I went looking.  That didn’t work, so I called in the expert:  my kid the librarian, who can find anything.  (I got some tips on how he searched at the same time to try to get more independent…)

Here’s the deal:  the reliable sources say that there is, in fact, a strong correlation between dietary cholesterol and blood levels.  You can check it out here and in the resources listed here.  Different people react differently to cholesterol in the diet, but there is no easy way to tell whether an individual is a hyperreactor or a hyporeactor.  Bottom line is that, in this case, the recommendation to keep cholesterol intake under 300 mg per day is a good one.

Fun fact:  we make more cholesterol in our own bodies than most people ingest because it is an essential part of the lenses of our eyes, our brains, and our cell membranes.

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I have neighbors with small children.  I like small children in general; I used to have some myself.  One of the kids who lives nearby, however, deals with pretty much everything in life by screaming.  Life, for her, is one long insult/catastrophe/struggle.  On one hand, I have to admire her persistence.  She is not going to take the insult/catastrophe/struggle lying down.  She is going to protest.

On the other, maybe she could think about other ways to cope.  (Or, you know, maybe someone could help her find other ways that involve less volume…)

She, unbeknownst to her, is a metaphor for all of us.  When we are faced with Hard Things, we certainly can scream our heads off.  Sometimes that is even the appropriate response, particularly if it results in positive change in our circumstances.  So yes, when working out it is entirely fine to swear at the lunges/burpees/personal-least-favorite-exercise.  It may release our tension.  It may spur us to find another way to work the same muscle groups that is less horrible or to get enough better at the exercise in question that we come to peace with it.

We can also accept that sometimes life and workouts have Hard Things in them.  Hard Things come to us all, inevitably.  We can choose our coping mechanisms.