Tag: exercise

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Are You Moving Enough?

Well folks, we’ve been participating in the national hermitage movement for a while now (has it been 4 weeks already?). I feel like so far it’s been one of those, this is only temporary kinds of things.  But now that hermitage has been extended until mid-May, we may need to start thinking about how to adopt a more sustainable routine. No matter what, I find that everything is better if I’m moving my body. How about you, are you moving enough?

One thing that has been cramping my style here is that it has been raining.  That makes it very easy for me to blow off any notion that I may have about going outside for a walk.  But regardless of whether I’m out there getting my steps, I still feel like I need a bit more movement in my days and I’ve come to terms with the fact that I need to workout at home.

There are so many options for home workouts these days. I bet we all still have a few workout DVDs laying around (I even found my old favorite, Callanetics on VHS in the garage a while ago – too bad we don’t have a VHS player anymore). I’ve seen a lot of paid content on offer – zoom yoga classes and stuff, but there is also so much free stuff out there, it seems crazy not to take advantage of some of it.

I started just doing yoga on my own a few weeks ago. It’s been good. I have a little routine that I put together for myself. I get to spend more time on poses that focus on my problem areas, I get to move at my own pace, and I get to include poses that aren’t that fashionable these days (like plow and fish). The little series that I have been practicing takes me between 30-40 minutes and afterwards I feel great – taller and aligned and ready for my day.

Not my current yoga situation

But the other morning I just WAS NOT IN THE MOOD. I knew that I need to move but I wasn’t feeling the yoga vibe. So, I dug out my Pilates notebook from college and had my own little mat Pilates session. About 15 minutes later, I was a new woman.

Then I was feeling motivated, so I did something that I have been contemplating for quite a while: I took a ballet class! I searched on YouTube and there were a bunch of options. Sure, my barre was my dining table, but it was a real ballet class with an accompanist, and I wore ballet slippers, so it totally counts.

  • My home ballet studio, complete with feline supervision
  • I can still manage first position

Ever since San Francisco Ballet had to cancel their season, I’ve been seeing their clips of the dancers taking company class at home. If they can do it, I probably can too.

I was so delighted to find this ballet barre class from the Dutch National Ballet that was classic and straightforward enough that I could attempt to replicate the combinations.

My goodness, it sure was fun!  Ernst (the instructor) would demonstrate and then do the first side with you.  For the second side, you were all alone with Rex (the accompanist).  My brain thought that I totally got it, but my body was not so sure (especially my feet).

Somehow, I survived.  And somewhere deep, down, that little ballerina who lives inside of me woke up a little bit. She is excited at the prospect of inhabiting this body of mine again (I am too). Fortunately, there are no mirrors in my dining room to make either of us aware of how far away we are from the body that she used to inhabit.  It’ll be ok, we will just continue to show up for class with Ernst and Rex every other day or so and maybe eventually we will get my feet to start working again.

So that is my story about finding ways to move more at home.  How about you?  What are you doing?  Are you trying something new?  Something old?

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Happy Bar-versary Bar Method Long Beach!

This November marks the eight-year anniversary (or, as I like to call it bar-versary) of the Bar Method Long Beach (BMLB).  Coincidentally, the studio’s anniversary happens right around the same time as the owner, Joanna West’s birthday. So, today’s post is dedicated to celebrating both BMLB and Jo.  Who doesn’t love a two-for-one celebration?

There are those times when I just feel a little squirmy about my workout. I need to get moving, but I don’t want to do the usual things. When I get that feeling, the best thing for me to do is head to BMLB. The week of the studio’s anniversary coincided with that squirmy feeling convincing me that I needed to “get back to the bar” as they say and subsequently having my butt kicked by Jo in her Monday morning, take-no-prisoners Bar Move class.

There is something about a bar method workout.  I’ve said before how civilized it is – the lovely studio, the smooth and controlled movements, the calm-yet-authoritative manner of the instructor – it all combines to put you in a very serene and centered frame of mind, even while your thighs are quivering uncontrollably and your buns are on fire. I come out of those classes standing taller and feeling more confident in myself every time.  It is just a great experience.

Jo, the owner, is a lovely spirit; she is sweet, and kind, and generous, and tough. I always laugh at myself when I take Jo’s class because I’m always surprised at how extra hard it is.  Her classes are surprisingly tough because she is so sweet and has such a nice way about her that when you’re dying you are surprised to realize that she is kicking your butt with her soft voice and friendly smile.

She has brought the same sweetness and toughness to her business. She is a hard-working businesswoman in a highly competitive niche. What she has done that sets her studio apart from the competition is foster a sense of community. Jo makes a point of supporting other women, as clients, as employees, and as fellow businesswomen. When a regular recently launched a handbag line, Jo hosted a trunk show for her.  She’s been similarly generous to so many of us.

Jo knows what it means to be a successful woman – it means that you support other women and celebrate their successes. She sets an example for everyone at the studio to be supportive, kind, and generous to each other. Everyone celebrates each other’s triumphs (a new job, a new baby, a new haircut) and has each other’s back when times are hard (a lost job, a bad breakup, an injury). I’m not a regular anymore, but every time I’m there, I get to catch up with old friends.  Some of my bar friends are my soul sisters and I’m so thankful that BMLB brought us together.

I’m so proud of Jo for all of the hard work that she puts in to creating such a special place for women in Long Beach to come together in a very quietly understated, yet powerful way.  Thank you, Jo!

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Who do you listen to, your body or your mind?

Recently, I have been working out less.  I listened to my body and noticed that it wanted a break.  I didn’t quit going to the gym all together, but instead of five or six days a week, it was more like two or three.  I would still set my alarm for all the usual days, but when I got out of bed (I made myself actually get out of bed before the decision was made), I would listen to my body if it told me that it didn’t want to exercise that day.  The trick is to actually get out of bed before deciding to tap out. Otherwise, I couldn’t tell if my body really wanted a break or my brain was trying to trick me.  I find my brain lies to me a lot.

Aside from the get out of bed test, the reason that I could tell that I was listening to my body and not my brain is that I was still feeling good even though I wasn’t exercising as much.  I tend to get really antsy when I don’t get enough exercise, sometimes I feel like I want to crawl out of my skin. I was able to focus and be productive and I was still moving enough to keep my back from getting too angry with me, so it was clear that my body was still getting what it needed.

Now this is no way to achieve one’s fitness goals, but it is a good strategy to keep things copacetic if you are of a certain age.  I am still listening to my body and I am starting to feel like I need to ramp back up to my higher activity level.  I can feel it in my arms a lot right now. 

Thinking about how I need to listen to my body instead of my brain when it comes to exercise led to contemplating other areas of my life in which my brain likes to lie to me. No surprise, food is the next biggie.  When I listen to my body, I tend to eat more fruits and veggies.  I don’t get as hungry and I don’t get tummy aches.  When I eat what my brain wants, it tends to be more white food – things with a lot of sugar, things that are processed … things like French fries.  My brain always tries to convince me that I want to eat fried food.

It’s funny to think that I shouldn’t listen to my brain.  Isn’t that where my smart is supposed to be after all?  It can be more challenging to hear what my body has to say to me, especially when my brain is shouting and jumping up and down. But when I am quiet and listen, it never steers me wrong.

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Indoor Cycling, Summer Edition

I have recently made some changes to my indoor cycling schedule. I’ve traded in my Saturday morning class for Sunday.  I know, I’m surprised at myself too!

I’m happy that I am managing to still get in at least two classes a week, even without having an overwhelming amount of grrrr to get out on a daily basis like I used to.  But every time I go to the gym on Sunday morning, I crack myself up.  Here’s the thing:

Yesterday was a beautiful summer day in southern California.  Around 9am I got in my car, drove one mile to the gym, and spent 45 minutes in a dark room taking an indoor cycling class.  There is nothing about doing that which isn’t at least a little ridiculous. It felt like I was living in a scene from LA Story.

First, it’s barely a mile.  And I don’t think that it is too much to expect that I can comfortably and safely walk there during daylight hours (I give myself a pass to drive when it is still dark out).   Also, after 8am parking enforcement is in full effect.  Either drive around for 10-15 minutes looking for a spot or pay to use the metered parking.  If you’re going to spend 10-15 minutes driving around looking for a free parking spot (like I did), you may as well have walked. 

Second, it was a beautiful day but here I was choosing to do my exercising inside.  Not just inside, but in a dark room.  I really can’t get over my own ridiculousness.  If I had decided to go to the 8:30 class instead, I wouldn’t give myself such a hard time because that still counts as first thing in the morning on a Sunday.  By 9:30, you should have already started your day (unless you had a big Saturday night, which I did not).

One important component for getting habits to stick is to make them automatic.  There aren’t options, it is just what you do.  I don’t spend any time thinking about how I’m going to get to the gym on any other day.  But on Sundays I keep considering all the options.  I should walk…maybe I could take my bike…then I have to dig it out of the garage…do I need air in my tires?  And by the time I’ve run through the whole monologue, it’s late.  I need to either decide ahead of time that I’m going to bike and make sure that everything is ready, or I need to take that option off of the table and just know that I’m going to walk.

The bottom line is that I still make it to indoor cycling at least twice a week and that is what really matters.  But I can’t help but laugh at myself about how I get there. 

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Flabdominals Follow-up

Flabdominals (noun): flabby abdominals, particularly the kind that jiggle when participating in high-impact exercises and/or solicit congratulations on a person’s non-existent pregnancy.

A month ago, I wrote about my quest to vanquish my flabdominals. My daily exercise plan was not overly ambitious but potentially effective.  I’m sure that you are on pins and needles for a flabdominals follow-up. So, how did I do?

I have a six-pack of course!

Or not.  Sigh.

The blame doesn’t lie with the plan or the exercises.  It falls squarely on the execution.

What?  Am I telling you that I didn’t go from never doing ab work outside of exercise classes to doing it on my own, at home, on a daily basis?

Yes, that is exactly what I am telling you.  Sad, but true.

Things started off well.  The series that I had prescribed for myself was challenging but not overly strenuous.  It was quick but I felt like I had accomplished something when I was done.  All good things. 

One bonus benefit that I hadn’t expected was that it required more articulation in my spine than I was in the habit of doing.  Of course I had to engage my abs to do that.

The first five days were a piece of cake!  I was going to be un-flabdominal-ified in no time.  I was adding reps an feeling the exercises more deeply.  I felt like I was standing taller.  My shoulders were more relaxed because my core was more solid and they could relax on top of that.  This was going to be great!

And then…

I don’t know.

The bottom line is that I didn’t accomplish my goal.  All told, out of 28 days, I’m going to say that I did eleven days of abs.  Not even half. 

What now?  I could decide to tell myself that I’m a failure and give up on my quest to vanquish my flabdominals.  Why even bother?  I didn’t do it perfectly the first time.

Or, I could give myself credit for trying and acknowledge the difference that I noticed from just doing a little bit.  Something is not everything but it is more than nothing after all.  I didn’t do everything that I wanted to, but I did something and I noticed the difference.

This next month, I’m going to see if I can double that number.  I know that eleven days of ab exercises make a difference, let’s see what happens.

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Restorative Yoga

As I get older, I gain more and more appreciation for restorative yoga.

When I was younger it felt like a waste of time.  Why would I want to spend time relaxing in comfortable postures when I could be sweating?  I usually found myself spending those last few moments of class in shavasana (corpse pose, the traditional last posture of yoga class) thinking about what I was going to eat after I left.

In my previous post about yoga, I mentioned that I am more interested in doing less strenuous yoga these days.  I still like my regular yoga practice to include a good sweat and at least a few moments of “yikes!”  But I also have an appreciation for the occasional restorative yoga class.

My neighbor around the corner goes to the same gym as I do and one day we were chatting about our various workouts and the different yoga classes that our gym offers.  He mentioned that sometimes he likes to take this one restorative yoga class that uses lots of bolsters and blankets – it was like having nap time.  I admitted that I have fallen asleep in restorative yoga classes before.  One time I am pretty sure that I was snoring!

Usually restorative yoga classes will move through a few postures in a slow and gentle manner, then transition into an extended shavasana (or, as I seem to think of it, nap time).   Substituting a quick nap for your workout is not the point though.  The ultimate purpose of any style of yoga is to prepare you for meditation.  Restorative yoga just chooses to go about this in a different way than more active, physically strenuous styles.

Props

A restorative yoga class will tend to make extensive use of props such as blocks, bolsters and straps.  As someone who was once young, aggressive and extremely flexible in yoga class, I have only recently developed an appreciation for using these kinds of props.  Using props in various postures as a sort-of bridge to connect your body and to the ground isn’t about making something “easier.”  The connection enables the body to release tension and you can experience a posture more fully, if not more deeply. 

Yin Yoga

One restorative yoga class that I would take from time to time was a yin yoga class.  In yin yoga, you hold each posture for at least two minutes.  Fortunately, the postures are not balances or inversions, but mostly seated and laying-down positions.  It is a really interesting practice because you when you spend so much time in a posture, you really have the opportunity to look into all the dark corners that are easy to ignore when you aren’t holding the position for as long.  I discovered things that I didn’t like about postures that had been my favorites like baddha konasana (aka bound angle pose, or butterfly stretch).  Even holding child’s pose for two minutes can be intense.

When I don’t fall asleep in shavasana, I do still find my mind wandering.  But another advantage to restorative yoga for me is that it doesn’t have to be done on an empty stomach, so I can often coax myself out of obsessing about food for at least a few minutes.

Wisdom, kindness, and love. Namaste.

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Flabdominals

Flabdominals (noun): flabby abdominals, particularly the kind that jiggle when participating in high-impact exercises and/or solicit congratulations on a person’s non-existent pregnancy. Also, a word that Cynthia made up.

I have lovingly referred to my tummy region as my flabdominals for several years now.  I’m not sure when it happened, but at some point, my daily abdominal exercise habit evaporated and the era of flabdominals began.  Up to that point, I had been used to having a toned middle; it was not one of my problem areas that I needed to dress around.  Quickly, I had to learn to dress around the fluff that had invaded my middle.

Currently, I am feeling that I may be at a point with my fitness that I can conquer the flabdominals and reclaim an at-least moderately toned middle region.

And so, I am going to issue a challenge to myself to do 10 minutes of abdominal exercises everyday (in addition to anything that happens in any workout class at the gym) for 30 days.  I don’t want to turn it into a big thing that is going to become another block of time to schedule; I think that I can fit 10 minutes in either in the morning when I get back from the gym or as part of my bedtime routine.  I know that I will see some difference, I’m interested to see how much.  Also, I’m curious to know if it will stick, if I can get my daily ab exercise habit back.

One of my barriers to re-forming a daily ab habit (cough *lame excuse* cough, cough) was deciding what exercises to do.  So, this time, I’m going to set a series that will be my daily go-to.  Afterall, I do like to eliminate that whole having to think business whenever possible.

I think I’m going to go back to good old-fashioned Pilates mat series.  These are the exercises that I kept up for years after college.  Yes, I took Pilates as a class in college, that’s what dance majors do.  It was two units, we had a text book and tests and everything (of course I got an “A”).  The full series takes more than 10 minutes, I’m going to start with just a few.

The Pilates Method of Physical and Mental Conditioning by Friedman and Eisen
Pilates text book from college

10 (ish) Minute Ab Series

  • Heel lowers (10 reps)
  • Pilates 100s
  • Roll Up (3-5 reps)
  • Roll Over (3-5 reps)
  • The Vacation Special (10 of each):
    • Single Leg Stretch
    • Grand Battement
    • Double Leg Stretch
    • Cross Over (Bicycles)
    • Leg Lowers

Do you already have a daily ab habit?  What are some of your go-to ab exercises?  The one you love and/or the one you hate so much but you know it works.

If you don’t have a daily ab habit, do you want to play flabdominal boot camp with me this month?  We can do a check-in at the end of the month (no measurements!) just to see how we did with doing the work, if we noticed any difference, if we are going to keep doing/do more/do better/do less.

Let me know if you want to play along at home!

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Pinnacle Peak

Remember how I’ve been working on my walking?  Not walking, but getting my steps in.  Well, it’s a good thing! I was just in Arizona to visit my beautiful and talented friend K who recently relocated there.  Among the many fun shenanigans that we got up to, she took me for a hike at Pinnacle Peak Park in Scottsdale.  Since I’m barely a walker, you can imagine that I’m not much of a hiker at all.

Of course, K happens to be an elite marathoner, so walking (even up and down hills on a rocky trail) is a piece of cake for her.  Let’s just say that it’s a good thing that she is so kind and sweet-hearted because I was certainly not anywhere near being able to keep up with her natural pace.  My accomplishment was that I didn’t hold her back too much for at least part of the trek.

It was an incredible experience.  Shortly after we began our hike, we saw a couple of Blue Angels fly overhead.  Since it was a cool day the beauty of the dessert landscape was easier for me to appreciate.  The trail had great signage identifying the different plants along it.  We took a break to admire this in-between things tree.  It was certainly thriving in the gaps.

There were also fantastic views of gigantic Scottsdale golf course homes.  This one has a bridge to the guest home!  A guest home that is probably at least twice, probably three times the size of my little bungalow.

Once I got home, I looked up Pinnacle Peak Park. I was guessing that we hiked around three miles.  The trail is 1 ¾ miles one way (so 3 ½ miles round trip) which is a do-able walk.  It was all of the up and down hills that got me, especially the last third of the trail (where the “strenuous past this point” sign was) which became a long, steep uphill coming back.  Turns out that the 1,300 feet of elevation change is something that I don’t get in my ambles around town.

It was such a fun excursion.  Even though it was strenuous and pretty challenging for me, I can’t wait to try it again.  We’re already planning my next visit and that will give me a training goal to make sure that at a minimum, I’m getting my steps in every day.

Are you a hiker?  Where do you like to go?

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100 Cycle Classes with Rachel in 2018

On Saturday, November 17, I completed my 100th cycle class with my instructor, Rachel.  Not only that, I was the first person to complete the challenge that she set out for us in January.  I don’t know how that happened, but I am basking in a sense of accomplishment over it.

I had only become a Rachel groupie a few months earlier.  There is just something about when she is yelling, “yes, you can!” at you that makes you believe it.

Rachel teaches twice a week, Wednesdays at 5:45am and Saturdays at 8am.  No one goes to spin class at those hours for just for kicks, those are serious, get the grrrr out people. But 100 classes is still a formidable challenge.  I love getting activity credit, checking things off, and discrete goals so I signed up right away.

At first blush, it seemed nearly impossible: Rachel teaches twice a week and there are 52 weeks in a year, so you can only miss four.  All year. Yikes. If she was subbing for another instructor, that would count; also, you could count up to ten classes with other instructors toward your 100 (so really you only need to take 90 Rachel classes). If someone was subbing for her, that counted toward your ten.  Ok, still challenging, but potentially moderately do-able.

I wound up using nine of my ten freebies, so I’ve decided to dedicate the rest of the year to making those up.  My new-improved goal is to have 100% Rachel classes before Christmas.  I’m not a perfectionist, but I do like to go back and fine-tune things when time allows.

Did I mention that there were prizes?  How fun is that?

At 25 classes, you got a certificate.  To me, this is a prized possession.  For so many years a big part of my job was creating and producing recognition certificates and awards but this was the first one that I had received since I was in school.  It makes me so happy to see it on my refrigerator every day.

Best certificate ever

At 50 classes, you got a granola bar.  I somehow neglected photographic evidence of this award, but let me tell you, it was delicious.

At 75 classes, you got a water bottle. A fancy, Lulu Lemon squeezy-style water bottle.  It says, “Your GOALS are showing.”  This treasure spent a few weeks on my desk (aka dinning table) as a trophy before I deigned to put it into action.

Anabel practicing her trophy pose

I had to show up to class number 101 to claim my final prize.  It is  starting to feel like winter in So Cal and as I walked out to my car at 5:30am that morning, I remember thinking that I really should spring for one of those cozy Lulu Lemon snappy scarf things.  Long story short, that was my prize!

Manifesting dreams

Sally and Anabel thought that my accomplishment was great and sure, that was a nice gift, but they really thought that the gift bag was the real prize.

Kitten priorities

I am very grateful to Rachel for all the time and energy and resources that she put into this challenge because she loves her spin tribe.  And I am so honored to have found and been granted membership into this group.

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Step It Up

Ok, let’s face it, walking really is that good for you.  It’s easy, you don’t need any special equipment, and it is super effective.

Some of the benefits of walking (according to me):

  • Slimming for your thighs
  • Toning for your calves
  • Strengthening for your back/core
  • Good for your posture
  • Easy on your joints
  • Fat-burning cardio – moderately elevated heartrate
  • Fresh air is good for your mood
  • If you can find a walking buddy, it’s a great time to catch up

It’s a no brainer, right? But somehow, I manage to not get enough steps in anyway.  What is enough step and how do I know?  Well, I use an app on my phone of course!  My app tells me that my target should be 6,000 steps or 60 minutes per day.  That is way less than that 10k number that everyone tries to hit so it shouldn’t be that hard, right?  And yet, I still manage to not make my target most days.

Caveat: I don’t count my gym workouts as part of my step goal.

Plus-or-minus a few minutes depending on how fast/slow I’m going 6,000 steps is right around one hour of walking.  How hard would it be for me to just get up and go for a one-hour walk?  Just bang it all out at once and not have to worry about trying to count trips out back to the laundry room or whatever other puttering around the house I’m doing.  The answer is not very hard.  But somehow it can turn into a mental hurdle really easily.

I’ve tried breaking my walking up into quick 10-minute laps around the block.  I don’t bother with sneakers, I just head out in my flip flops. It becomes a little treat – finish one hour of writing and then I get a break. I can sometimes swing two or three mini walks.  This tactic is not going to get me to 6,000 steps on its own.

Some days I walk to the gym which is right around 20 minutes each way.  It’s a good warm-up for Mondays with Adam and the walk home helps everything from tightening up.  Even on those days I still can manage to not hit my target if I don’t pay attention.

Sure, I could invest in a Fitbit (the new Versa is pretty cute) or some other wearable that would track ALL my steps without my having to worry about carrying my phone around everywhere.  If I did that, I feel like I would have no excuse not to set a 10k target. Since I know that I’m not getting enough steps as it is, counting all the little bits of walking (back and forth from the couch to the refrigerator) doesn’t seem like a real solution.  I need to create some sort of gimmick for myself to make my step target a natural part of my day.  I’m not sure what that is…

Last week I managed to hit my step goal on four days (I missed one day by under 100 steps!).  This week I will shoot for five days and see if I can’t work my way up to seven days and maintain it until the end of the year.  Its probably do-able, don’t you think?

So, my questions for you are:

  • What is your daily step goal?
  • What tricks or tips do you use to help you get your steps in every day?