Self Care Part 1

I see all kinds of folks at my club. Folks who sincerely want to improve their health and fitness as well as folks who have been told to improve their health and fitness by health care professionals and/or family members. They start working out, they evaluate their food/alcohol intake, they stop smoking, they get more sleep, they reduce the stress in their life. In short, they decide that in order to feel better, they have to make positive changes in their lives, that is, they have to do, think and be different.

Then there are the folks who do the same fitness routine they had since they were 16. They continue to make bad food choices, drink regularly and/or excessively, smoke, don't get enough sleep and often are under great stress from their daily lives. These folks wonder why they feel like crap and are always tired, lethargic and unhappy. Instead of looking at the current circumstances of their lives and deciding to make necessary changes, they become further entrenched in patterns which haven't worked in years.

You know these folks: in the gym, they have a set routine, done in the same way at the same tempo usually at the same time of day. They're hard to miss-you can find them on the treadmill. Usually they're either walking at a fast speed and think flat is only thing the machine can do (wrong) or they've cranked up the incline to the highest level and are hanging on to the treadmill for dear life. On the elliptical, these folks often look like they're taking a walk in the park, promenading here and there or worse, reading a newspaper, magazine or book. Do you ever see these people breaking a sweat or huffing and puffing?

Their weight training routines are even scarier: a 100 bench presses, 500 bicep curls, leg presses with 10 plates on each side, 700 push-ups, and a 1,000 crazy full body sit-ups. I'm only exaggerating a little. Do they only train the front of their bodies: chest, biceps, abs, quads because that's what they can see in the mirror? Scary, very scary. "Pumping" iron is a mild term-they sound and look like they're pushing 100 tons of steel with every repetition. Their ab work consists solely of full body sit-ups where they wrench themselves to their knees by wildly flinging their backs up to the ceiling. Momentum is their favorite word for lifting in addition to fast (the same in my book). There's no precision, no attention to detail, no thoughtfulness or presence to what they're doing. It's up, down, up, down, up, down, grunt, groan, moan, complain, whine. Add water, repeat.

They don't stretch (that's for sissies and besides they've "never had an injury and don't need to stretch"), they don't use props like physio balls, BOSU's or medicine balls (that's for girly girls), they would never, ever entertain the idea of a class (goodness, class? that's a dirty word). As for hiring a trainer? Are you joking? Heaven forbid, a trainer just might evaluate their program or horrors of horrors, a trainer might give them new exercises and/or change their routine. In short, these people want to continue to do the same thing over and over but magically get different results. There's a name for that. It's called:

INSANITY.

Do you see yourself in any of this? If you do, it's ok, we've all been there in some form or other. The important thing is that if you do see yourself, you identify your patterns and move through them.

How? Fair question.

I've been advocating change for the last couple of posts. I gave you all a challenge for August: change your exercise routine. I gave you some ideas on how to do that, such as mixing up cardio routines, switching machines, changing your weight training, adding a class, hiring a trainer.

I shared my own ideas for myself with you: I've been to two yoga classes, went swimming and took a "Stiletto Camp" class (don't ask) in the last week. I'm swimming again tomorrow as well as taking another class with a different instructor.

Here's another idea for you: I suggest that you evaluate each of your work-out components separately. What are you doing for your cardio? How is what you're doing today different that what you've been doing for the last 3 months?

I asked a client that very question today. Her reply was beautiful: "well, I got a stationary bike from my parents' house 3 weeks ago and I've been riding it a couple times a week". I was ecstatic! Good job! This is EXACTLY what I'm talking about. 10 brownie points for her.

What new class could you try? If you haven't tried yoga, give it a go. Likewise for Pilates or for bootcamp or for kickboxing or for step class or for any number of other possibilities. Of course, do this within reason. If you have a leg injury, now is not the time to start running on concrete or hopping around like a jack rabbit (that's jack rabbit, not the OTHER kind of animal which starts with jack). If you haven't been to an exercise class in awhile, don't try 5 new ones in a week. Read my lips: bad idea. And if you do that, no complaining to me when you can't sit down for a month.

How do you change your weight training? You can get ideas from the Web, look at magazines or buy a book on weight training. Lest you think that you'll be training some new exotic muscles that you never knew you had, the premise to changing up your weight training is to train THE SAME MUSCLES IN DIFFERENT WAYS. Different can mean a whole host of things-introducing an unstable surface like Swiss ball, BOSU, balance board or using a different machine to train such as swapping out dumbbell exercises for cable ones or using bodyweight exercises instead of machines. Choices abound! Kind of like a great buffet: food is still food but oh the variety! mmmmm........ oops, I digress, a little distracted with all the possibilities of changing your weight training. Ha, and you thought I was distracted by the idea of a great buffet. Nah...

Here's another obvious answer: hire a personal trainer.

Yes, yes, I'm prejudiced and I have an agenda. I know. After all, I am a personal trainer! Let's get that right out on the table. But listen, when you hire a personal trainer, he/she is responsible for creating your program. And you get their eyes and brain trained on YOU! You do the exercises and your trainer watches you and helps you perform the exercises correctly. They may say things like "hey you just raised your right shoulder" or "I think that weight can be heavier, looks kind of easy for you" or "watch your back, pull your abs in and drop your weight into your legs by bending your knees slightly" or even better "do you know how fantasic your muscles look?" Gotta love that one!

A good trainer is worth their weight in gold. (this is my very biased opinion-full disclosure, remember?) The definition of good varies. Basically you get to define what good means for you. Tips for choosing a trainer is another post, which I'm happy to write if you're interested. What I will say here is that the nature of the relationship between trainer and client is very intimate (in a professional sense) so choose wisely. Know yourself and go with your gut. The best trainer/client relationships are based on trust, safety and communication much like the best relationships in life.

You don't have to hire a trainer to have an effective exercise routine, however, having a second pair of eyes and another brain can help enormously. It's your body, your life, your choice.

And by the way, you wear your choices. Anyone with half a brain can see what internal decisions you make because your outer/external self is a manifestation of those internal decisions. Therefore, if you abuse yourself, people can see those choices in you; if you care for yourself well, those decisions are equally reflected in every aspect of your spirit, mind and body.

So what's it going to be? What kind of folk are you? In denial and in an exercise rut or actively making new, different, positive choices to move towards your health and fitness goals?

In health and off to "Butt Lift and Tummy Tuck" class soon (where do they come up with these names?????),

Laura