Joy

We’re getting toward the end of December, y’all, which means it is time to start thinking about goals for next year.  (We all have tons of spare time with the holidays, right?  Oceans of hours in which to reflect…)  This is the first of two posts on setting goals.

The only rule for right now is that we have to tell the truth.  This is not about the goals we should have.  I don’t care what our moms think we should do, or our spouses or our kids or our favorite magazines.  It’s about the ones we actually want.  I don’t care if it is silly or vain or unrealistic.  It just has to be real.

 

This might be harder than we think.  We have so many messages around us telling us how to be.  I’m pretty sure all of us have a knee-jerk answer about how much weight we’re supposed to lose.  I have a news flash:  happiness is not to be found in the number of lost pounds.

 

So.  Let’s spend a minute or two picturing or describing or feeling into the life we want to have in the new year.  Maybe we do want to look better than we do right this minute, but I bet we care more about feeling good and happy and full of energy.  Those of us who feel tired all the time might want to feel rested.  Those of us who get out of breath getting off the couch might want to change that.  Maybe we want to meet new friends playing a new sport or doing a new activity and we need to build a bit of strength to do that.

 

What we want to be able to do and to feel helps us to shape our goals.  We’ll discover that we want to be faster or stronger, that we want more stamina or energy, that we need more connection and more joy.

 

Find the feelings that lead to joy.  Then hold that thought for tomorrow.

Monday Workout: A Game!

For Christmas, we’re doing a workout game.  The only equipment required is a deck of cards, although it is handy to have an exercise ball or a yoga block for the pretty princesses and those of you who want to make things harder on yourselves may want some light weights to hold for the squats and punches.

This game can be played alone or with a friend.

 

One turn involves turning over a card and doing the exercise that matches the suit (see chart below) the number of times that is on the card.  So, for example, turning over the three of clubs would mean doing three pretty princesses.  Face cards can either be counted as ten, or jacks can be 11, queens 12, and kings 13.

 

Continue as long as time and energy allow!

 

(This is a good way to wear out any kids you happen to have lying around!)

 

Cardio Poker
Suit	Exercise
Hearts	squats/jump squats
Diamonds	lunge punches
Clubs	pretty princesses
Spades	pushups

 

The Amazing Stickie and Swimming

Today the Amazing Stickie is working on all kinds of good things, including spinal extension, core strength, and shoulder mobility.  She is doing all this by doing the Pilates mat exercise Swimming.

She begins lying on her belly on the floor.  Then she extends her arms and legs away from her until they lift up off the floor.  She makes sure that she doesn’t just use her lower back to curve her spine, but also involves her middle back in the work.  From there, she pulses her arms and legs up and down as if she were kicking while swimming and whacking the water with her arms.  As she does this, she pulses her breath as well, breathing out for four counts and in for four.  Eight cycles is enough.

 

She lowers herself back to the floor and takes a rest.

Gotta do it.

As we get into the darker months and the months with more variable weather, it can be a challenge to go outside.  Personally, I think that I was intended to be a bear who slept through the winter.  Since I have yet to find a job opening in the hibernation industry, I’ll just keep on doing what I do.

Outside can be cold or dark or rainy or windy or even all of those things at once.  Unfortunately, going outside is still good for us.  We need daylight, however feeble it might be, and fresh air and trees.

 

Maybe we have to bundle up or grab an umbrella or bribe ourselves with tea afterwards, but let’s do it.  We’ll feel better and we’ll sleep better.

Them Bones

The prophet Ezekiel did not know anything about Pilates when he saw the vision of the valley of dried bones.  But, he did grasp one of the essential underlying themes of Pilates as he watched the bones knit together again:  it’s all connected.  (Sorry about the earworm about the foot bone connecting to the leg bone and all…)

This connection is good news.  It means that when we work on any part of our body, the whole body feels the effects.  Sometimes it means that it’s better to work on a part that is not the part that hurts because what’s causing the pain is not what is happening right there.  We are a holistic system.

 

That said, we often get best results when we begin with the spine.  As we get good alignment along this central part of our body, the extremities can fall into place.  If they don’t, we can work on them more afterward.

 

Go play.

Monday Workout: 12 Days of Christmas

Yes, I know that next Monday is actual Christmas, but I’m not working then.  So we’re doing the 12 days of Christmas workout this week. 

For those of you who have not yet tried it out, here is how it works.  We begin doing one push press.  Day one is over!  Then, we start day two, on which we do two goblet squats and one push press.  We continue on until we have completed all twelve days.

 

It is ok to rest as needed, but we try to rest between the days rather than stopping in the middle.

 

Yes, I know that this adds up to 42 burpees by the time we are done.  I am not your true love after all.

 

Merry Christmas.

 

1 push press

2 goblet squats

3 Overhead press

4 1 leg squats each leg

5 deadlifts

6 burpees

7 pushups

8 renegade rows

9 mountain climbers

10 jump lunges

11 kb swings

12 plyojacks

 

The Amazing Stickie and Single Leg Kick

The Amazing Stickie likes to ensure that she has strong glutes, mobile hamstrings, and healthy knees.  One way she does this is by doing Single Leg Kick when she goes to Pilates.

She begins lying on her belly with her torso propped up on her elbows and her hands pointing straight in front of her.  She bends one knee, flexing that foot, and pulses it toward her behind as if she were trying to kick herself in the butt two times.  Then she points her toe and stretches her leg out long to return to the starting position.

 

Stickie does about five repetitions on each leg.