More on Spring Cleaning

Yesterday I talked a little about spring cleaning.  Today I’m going to add some stuff we might want to pitch:

Perfectionism.  The best workout is the one we actually do.  Doing something is always better than doing nothing.

 

Negativity.  It doesn’t help to focus on what we can’t do, on what is going wrong, and the like.  Let that stuff go.

 

Other people’s opinions.  Our fitness is our business.  We need to work out in the ways that feel best to us.  Anyone who wants to criticize our current fitness level, our choice in clothing, or our dance styles can just get lost.

 

Punishment.  Workouts are not punitive.  We don’t have to do them because we ate cake.  We don’t do them to become worthy of something.  We are worthy.  We work out because we are valuable humans who deserve to be healthy and happy.

 

Go play.

Spring Cleaning

We’re getting to real spring now, which means it’s time for… spring cleaning!

In the fitness sense, this means we get to stop and take a look at what we’ve been doing and see what needs to shift.  Bodies like change because change promotes growth.  Here are some questions we might want to consider for our spring fitness:

 

Is my stuff in good order?  What needs some maintenance?  Does the bike chain need some lube?  Are our shoes wearing out?  Do we have the right kind of layers for our outside workouts?  Where did we hide our bathing suit?

 

Am I getting the results I want from what I’m doing?  Do I feel good?  Do I look good?  Am I meeting my fitness goals?  If not, it’s definitely time to change stuff up.

 

What would it be fun to learn?  Now that it’s less cold, maybe we want to try outside workouts.  Maybe we’ve always secretly wanted to take karate.  Maybe now is the time to sample a different yoga class or even to try out some other kind of cardio machine.

 

What would make my workouts seem fresh?  Maybe we just need a cool workout shirt.  Maybe we need to do our workout backward from how we usually do.  Maybe we just need to bring a different gym buddy with us or change up the music.

 

Let me repeat:  change promotes growth.  Where do we want to grow this season?

Monday Workout: Weight Bearing

There are a couple of weight bearing exercises on the arms this week, just for fun.  Three rounds.

 

 

kb swings	30
kb twists	20
kb 8s or overyets	10
squat raises	30
bench press	20
spiderman pushup	10
skier jumps	30
flies	20
pretty princesses	10

 

The Amazing Stickie and Pilates Twist

The Amazing Stickie knows that many of us don’t do enough work on rotation.  Uncle Joe Pilates to the rescue!  Today she is doing his Twist exercise.

 

Stickie begins in a side plank position, the upper arm raised and her top foot in front of her other foot.  From there, she lifts her hips and pokes her non-weight-bearing arm through the arch she has created with her body.  Then she returns to the start position.

 

She likes to do about five reps on each side. 

Curious!

One thing I want my clients to know is that I am not the boss of them.  Sometimes they are glad to be reminded of this, but sometimes not.  If I am not the boss, then it means that they are actually responsible for their own results.

This is not to say that I don’t have useful knowledge and expertise.  I have studied and observed and tried a bunch of stuff.  The thing is, I have never lived in their bodies.  They are the ultimate experts on what works for them, what feels good, what makes a positive difference in their lives.

 

What I like best is when my clients adopt an attitude of curiosity.  We can try things and see how they work.  We can experiment, keep the good stuff, and tweak the less good stuff.

 

I’m always curious to see how things turn out!

Travel!

Fitness while traveling can be a challenge.  We’re out of our normal routines, we’re away from our gym or our instructor or our equipment.  We may have to deal with jet lag.

This is where our adaptability comes in.

 

If we’re traveling for work, we can maintain some of our normal frameworks and habits.  We can seek out places to stay that include some way to work out, whether that’s a hotel gym or a pool or just a neighborhood where we can walk or run.

 

Pleasure travel is a different animal.  We’re going to relax or to experience new things or both.  We want to see what there is to see, do what there is to do, and try all the fabulous foods.  I find that I generally get in a lot more steps when I travel than I do at home and I do a whole lot less weight lifting, even if there is a gym in my hotel.  It is absolutely all right to have vacations as vacation.  I do notice, however, that as we get more fit, we tend to choose more active kinds of vacation.  We’re inclined to walk through the cities we visit or we seek out the scenic hike or we decide to swim in a different ocean than our usual.

 

As always, we need to use our good judgment about how much we move and how much we eat.  And, if we blow it and eat our way through our trip, we need to accept the consequences, return to our healthy habits, and avoid punishing ourselves.

Monday Workout: Challenges

There are a couple of challenges built into this one.  Obviously, burpees are back.  But we’re also adding jumping (if appropriate!) to our squats and recruiting our muscles a little differently with star plank.  Three rounds.

 

woodchoppers	30
rows	20
burpees	10
suitcase swings	30
skullcrushers	20
1 leg deadlift	10
(jump) squats	30
lateral raise	20
star plank	10