In order!

When we approach fitness for the first time, it is easy to get overwhelmed.  There are so many things to do—try Zumba, eat kale, buy a shake weight, figure out if water aerobics is a thing that anyone can do—that we don’t know what to do first.  (No, none of us need to buy a shake weight; it won’t hurt, but it probably won’t help either.)  Most of us do best not trying to change everything at once, so here is the order I suggest for working toward fitness.

1.     Cardio.  The main reason to start with cardio is that we all have built-in equipment in the form of feet.  If we haven’t been off the couch in years, we want to start with walking.  Our first goal is to get in half an hour three times a week, and all thirty minutes don’t have to happen at once.  From there, we build up to five days a week at a pace that leaves us able to talk, but barely.  We’ll get mood benefits and burn calories.

2.     Water.  This is the first dietary change I suggest because most of us don’t drink nearly enough water.  Plain water (or water with bubbles or a slice of lemon) has no calories and helps us feel full longer, which can help us lose weight if we have a habit of drinking a lot of soda or juice or sweetened coffee or tea.  Staying hydrated helps us maintain a good mood.

3.     Weight training.  Once those two habits are truly habitual, we can bump it up a notch.  Weight training is what really starts to change the body once we have our cardio base.  It slims us down and shapes us up.  Start with one session a week and build up to two or three with rest days in between sessions.  (People who lift every day need to make sure to avoid working the same muscle groups two days in a row for best results.)

4.     Get out the junk.  Now it’s time to ditch those French fries, mostly.  (I believe that the occasional treat is important, but it has to be worth it!!!)

5.     Add a mindfulness practice.  Pilates, yoga, and/or meditation can help tune us in to our best selves.  We can change the quality of our movement, lengthen our muscles, and weed out the stress that gets in the way of our good habits.

That should get us moving in the right direction!!!

All the fancy words

Today’s fancy word is synergy.  I like it almost as much as I like efficiency.  Synergy is, of course, when two or more things work together to have more benefit than we expect.  The particular synergy I am interested in today is the one between weight training and Pilates.

Weight training, obviously, makes us stronger.  It also makes us sore and tired.  When we don’t have ideal form, we can end up overusing some muscle groups or even getting injured.  This is where Pilates can help.

Pilates, by itself, improves our proprioception (another excellent fancy word meaning our sense of where our bodies are in space), balance, and core control.  It builds flexibility and mobility.  It does build some strength, but much more gradually than weight training.

Together, Pilates and weight training build strong, flexible bodies that use good form to continue to improve.  We can get more powerful by lifting weight and then refine the movements by tuning in to our Pilates exercises.

There are certainly people who love one or the other.  All of us have limited resources and may have to choose a focus.  But if we can, combining the two can have amazing results.

We can do this!

Why weight?

Most people can be convinced to do cardio exercise.  It can be done without a lot of equipment or preparation, lends itself fairly well to hanging out with friends, and sometimes can even be done while watching television.  And, once the initial endurance gets built, it makes us all feel good.

Weights, on the other hand, are often a tougher sell.  Sure, we can listen to loud music, but we’re pretty much hanging out counting.  With heavy objects.  And a bunch of sweat.  And we feel sore afterwards.  That’s the down side.

The up side is considerable.  Weight training builds muscle mass, which improves both metabolism and body shape.  It also maintains strong bones, which is crucial for those of us who do not want to end our lives in a nursing home.  On a fuzzier level, weight training gives us a task at which we can see our progress in actual numbers very easily—not that many things we have to do in our lives are as clear as progressing from lifting five to ten pounds, or 105 to 110 pounds; it is a good feeling!

Go play!