One of the most beautiful aspects of leading a fitness-oriented life is noticing how your body can change and become more capable over time. My body has amazed me over and over throughout the past few years, and today was no exception.
I started my morning with a long slow round of the T'ai Chi solo form. The style I practice can take several months to learn and a lifetime to master. After six years of practice, I just now am starting to regularly make it through the form without a choregraphical error, but my mind still wanders and my balance still falters. I have so far to go on that journey.
Afterwards, I took the dog on a six mile jog to a nearby park. Two and a half years ago, six miles was the longest distance I could run, let alone with a dog in tow. A month ago I had the joy of setting a personal record on my 10K time (6.2 miles), taking nearly two minutes off my prior PR. That morning I had tears in my eyes as I sprinted through the finishing chute, knowing my body had bested itself. The feeling was overwhelming: I am now better at something than I was a year ago.
My workout ended with a yoga class at the local big-box gym. A year and a half ago, yoga surprised me with its difficulty. I used to look down on it, that it was an "easy" workout for people who did not want to put in the time and sweat that fitness requires. Was I ever wrong. It's not unusual for me to sweat during yoga, nor is it unusual for my legs to be shakey in some of the poses or triceps on fire after a handful of chatrangas (a slow lowering motion from a push-up position, either to the floor or a hover at elbow height).
As I was standing in tree pose, I realized my ankle wasn't swerving back and forth like a branches on a windy day. My core was tight, my breath deep yet easy. Something clicked for the first time. My body again amazed me: I am better at something than I was a week ago.
No matter what your activity of choice is, I hope you have had the pleasure of feeling surprised by your body. Our bodies are so capable and so amazing, that with correct and consistent training every one can and will improve. We all respond at different rates depending on our current fitness levels, activity of choice, genetics, and consistency; but I promise any reader wishing to find out how amazing her or his body can be that you will feel it. And when you do, feeling is amongst the most incredible our internal chemistries are able to do.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Running Beyond Fitness
Yesterday morning, I was due for an 80-minute training run in preparation for a long race I have coming up at the end of September. I was "up north" on a whirlwind wedding planning visit with a close friend, and in our efforts to accomplish much in little time, I had to have the workout over by 8 a.m. This meant facing the long run very early in the morning, and breakfast at 5 for adequate fueling. I was not thrilled by the idea, but in my determination to maintain the training schedule I groggily got up and went through the motions.
Armed with my water bottle, phone, jelly belly sport beans, and the pepper spray my mother insisted I take in case of dog or bear, I headed out into the foggy chill of 6:30 a.m. I hadn't run in weather that melancholy since early spring, and had to try very hard to simply stay focused on one foot in front of the other. It was going to be a looong 80 minutes!
Within the first mile, I saw a white-tailed doe and a couple of fawns. They were startled to see me, and ran back into the woods. Despite their skittishness, they helped me feel less secluded on the country road. By mile three, I was on a dirt road flanked with cattle grazing fields and barbed wire, a place where I was feeling glad it was cloudy because I know how hot the sun can feel on such a road. A few paces later, I heard a rooster calling, a sound I never hear in the city. It called over and over before I even realized what it was, and when I did I had one of those glorious runner moments when I felt at one with the world around me: the rooster, the night crawlers on the dirt road, the cows in the fields, the skittish deer. The moment stretched on, and before I knew it the long run was half over, my breath working in perfect consort with strides hitting the ground with comfortable precision. It was a moment where running felt how running should feel, the moment all runners are running for even though we experience phases where those moments are far and few between, eluding us like skittish deer loping through the woods.
The moment reminded me that fitness is not the only reason to run. Often, fitness is the driver, the goal that gets us off the couch and into the gym or onto the trail. But once out there, we find golden gems in our workouts having nothing to do with physical fitness. To lose oneself completely in an activity, to feel so connected with the rest of the world, is a sensation beyond fitness and one well worth seeking. I was grateful for the moment yesterday morning. Its wonder made even chilly fog beautiful.
Armed with my water bottle, phone, jelly belly sport beans, and the pepper spray my mother insisted I take in case of dog or bear, I headed out into the foggy chill of 6:30 a.m. I hadn't run in weather that melancholy since early spring, and had to try very hard to simply stay focused on one foot in front of the other. It was going to be a looong 80 minutes!
Within the first mile, I saw a white-tailed doe and a couple of fawns. They were startled to see me, and ran back into the woods. Despite their skittishness, they helped me feel less secluded on the country road. By mile three, I was on a dirt road flanked with cattle grazing fields and barbed wire, a place where I was feeling glad it was cloudy because I know how hot the sun can feel on such a road. A few paces later, I heard a rooster calling, a sound I never hear in the city. It called over and over before I even realized what it was, and when I did I had one of those glorious runner moments when I felt at one with the world around me: the rooster, the night crawlers on the dirt road, the cows in the fields, the skittish deer. The moment stretched on, and before I knew it the long run was half over, my breath working in perfect consort with strides hitting the ground with comfortable precision. It was a moment where running felt how running should feel, the moment all runners are running for even though we experience phases where those moments are far and few between, eluding us like skittish deer loping through the woods.
The moment reminded me that fitness is not the only reason to run. Often, fitness is the driver, the goal that gets us off the couch and into the gym or onto the trail. But once out there, we find golden gems in our workouts having nothing to do with physical fitness. To lose oneself completely in an activity, to feel so connected with the rest of the world, is a sensation beyond fitness and one well worth seeking. I was grateful for the moment yesterday morning. Its wonder made even chilly fog beautiful.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Enjoying Exercise
One key element to beginning a fitness journey is to find an exercise you enjoy. I have spoken with many people who find exercise to be a chore, "one more thing" to work into their day. But it is possible to make exercise a part of your day without loving the barbell and the elliptical machine if you are willing to explore and make a commitment to activity.
Tip #1: Find ways to accomplish every day things and burn more calories. Easy things to do include parking far from the door at the shopping mall or grocery store, and "bicep curl" a bag from Target or Wal-Mart while walking back to the car. Make sure to do both arms! Around the house, you can double time your trip up and down the stairs, sneak a set of modified lat rows with a laundry basket, or watch television from a stability ball.
Tip #2: Don't be afraid to experiment! When you are in the gym, try something new. Pop into a group fitness class, or try a cardio machine you haven't used before. The new experience will surprise your muscles and your mind, and you might find you enjoy something you never thought you would (I had this experience with a step aerobics class). If you don't like it, you can always go back to your previous activities, but you may be pleasantly surprised.
Tip #3: Your body is transportation. If you need to do a short errand, such as a gallon of milk from the corner store, walk to the store rather than drive. If you have a bike, ride it to work or to the summer afternoon BBQ. Your buns will thank you!
So if you are wrestling with a dislike for the gym, or just aren't sure how to be more active (and therefore more healthy), commit to daily activity. Even if it seems like a minor amount, a little bit every day will lead to greater change over time.
Tip #1: Find ways to accomplish every day things and burn more calories. Easy things to do include parking far from the door at the shopping mall or grocery store, and "bicep curl" a bag from Target or Wal-Mart while walking back to the car. Make sure to do both arms! Around the house, you can double time your trip up and down the stairs, sneak a set of modified lat rows with a laundry basket, or watch television from a stability ball.
Tip #2: Don't be afraid to experiment! When you are in the gym, try something new. Pop into a group fitness class, or try a cardio machine you haven't used before. The new experience will surprise your muscles and your mind, and you might find you enjoy something you never thought you would (I had this experience with a step aerobics class). If you don't like it, you can always go back to your previous activities, but you may be pleasantly surprised.
Tip #3: Your body is transportation. If you need to do a short errand, such as a gallon of milk from the corner store, walk to the store rather than drive. If you have a bike, ride it to work or to the summer afternoon BBQ. Your buns will thank you!
So if you are wrestling with a dislike for the gym, or just aren't sure how to be more active (and therefore more healthy), commit to daily activity. Even if it seems like a minor amount, a little bit every day will lead to greater change over time.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Conquering the Cookies
Today I was presented with a common challenge: the large platter full of large cookies at the center of a conference table. There were sugar cookies. M & M cookies. Chocolate-on-chocolate. Macaroon. Seemed any type of cookie a bakery could offer was on this platter. Each and every cookie spoke to me: if it wasn't demanding I pick it up and eat it then and there, it was asking me to discreetly package it in a napkin and wisk it back to my cubicle where the two us may enjoy each other in semi-privacy.
Unfortunately, this was a lunch meeting, and seeing as I am in the meagerest point of the month my lunch consisted of a PB & J, a sandwich variety normally reserved for school children. My appetite was no where near satisfied, and the murmur of "eat me" whispers coming from the cookies soon became a resounding choir of culinary Sirens, singing me to my diet doom. I tried to distract myself with the discussion of the meeting, but the voices of others were lost mid-way across the table, creating chaotic noise in my head. From my deepest depths, I tried to shout back at the cookies:
"No! I don't need you and your refined sugar!"
But the more stand-offish I was with them, the more tempting they became to me. And finally, I gave in. A perfectly round, light tan colored cookie flecked with M & Ms found its way into my eager hands.
"I shouldn't eat you," I thought, as I raised the first bite to my mouth. So soft, so scrumptous!
"This will make my stomach hurt," continued the thought, as I continued eating, now trying to break off dainty little pieces rather than chowing the whole thing down in three, ravenous bites. But I still ate the same amount: the whole cookie. I sat staring at the grease stains it left on the napkin, wrestling down the feelings of guilt and regret over the slip-up.
I spent the next hour and a half (the rest of the meeting) pondering my lost negotiation with the cookie. I know eating this one cookie will not sabotage me forever, and it is nothing more than my human nature rearing its head. It was time to conquer the cookies, to ignore them as though they were a puppy begging for attention. I decided not to allow one little (or insanely large) cookie destroy any amount of pride I have from all the accomplishments and hard work I have put in on my fitness journey. Once the decision was made not to listen to the temptations, they silenced and one would have thought cookies couldn't talk at all.
On any pursuit of better health, there will be temptations. Sometimes the temptations are weak blips barely noticed, other times they are loud bull horns demanding our attention. Which ever is the case, we must take them one at a time, and not get hung up when we succumb to ___________ (fill in the blank). It does not mean the journey is over, or the journey thus far was pointless, but that it must continue, one foot in front of the other.
Unfortunately, this was a lunch meeting, and seeing as I am in the meagerest point of the month my lunch consisted of a PB & J, a sandwich variety normally reserved for school children. My appetite was no where near satisfied, and the murmur of "eat me" whispers coming from the cookies soon became a resounding choir of culinary Sirens, singing me to my diet doom. I tried to distract myself with the discussion of the meeting, but the voices of others were lost mid-way across the table, creating chaotic noise in my head. From my deepest depths, I tried to shout back at the cookies:
"No! I don't need you and your refined sugar!"
But the more stand-offish I was with them, the more tempting they became to me. And finally, I gave in. A perfectly round, light tan colored cookie flecked with M & Ms found its way into my eager hands.
"I shouldn't eat you," I thought, as I raised the first bite to my mouth. So soft, so scrumptous!
"This will make my stomach hurt," continued the thought, as I continued eating, now trying to break off dainty little pieces rather than chowing the whole thing down in three, ravenous bites. But I still ate the same amount: the whole cookie. I sat staring at the grease stains it left on the napkin, wrestling down the feelings of guilt and regret over the slip-up.
I spent the next hour and a half (the rest of the meeting) pondering my lost negotiation with the cookie. I know eating this one cookie will not sabotage me forever, and it is nothing more than my human nature rearing its head. It was time to conquer the cookies, to ignore them as though they were a puppy begging for attention. I decided not to allow one little (or insanely large) cookie destroy any amount of pride I have from all the accomplishments and hard work I have put in on my fitness journey. Once the decision was made not to listen to the temptations, they silenced and one would have thought cookies couldn't talk at all.
On any pursuit of better health, there will be temptations. Sometimes the temptations are weak blips barely noticed, other times they are loud bull horns demanding our attention. Which ever is the case, we must take them one at a time, and not get hung up when we succumb to ___________ (fill in the blank). It does not mean the journey is over, or the journey thus far was pointless, but that it must continue, one foot in front of the other.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Taking the First Step
Anytime we make a decision to do a thing, whether it's as small as purchasing groceries or as large as moving to a new country, there is always a first action that must be done before any other action can take place. Often, we say the first stope is the most difficultit is more difficult. But when embarking on a journey for better health, sometimes the first step is the easiest.
When beginning a fitness journey, the first step can be as easy as hiring a qualified trainer, joining a gym, or simply purchasing a fitness DVD. However, one cannot miss appointments (or blow off "trainer homework"), never enter a gym farther than the membership desk, or do nothing but allow a DVD to remain encased in its cellophane if the wish is to achieve better health and a fit body. There is an infinite number of additional steps which, in most cases, continue for an entire lifetime. The destination of fitness is, for most of us, a moving target which ebbs and flows as external circumstances and day-to-day decisions push us in different directions which can lead closer to or farther away from our desired goal.
The trick to meeting this moving target goal is to not give up. When it seems as though the goal has gotten further away, we must re-align ourselves toward the goal and continue moving. There will be times when this is seemingly impossible, and there will be times when it is so easy we wonder how we strayed from the path in the first place. In either case, remember it doesn't usually matter if we stray from the path; what matters is our ability to pick up and get back on it.
When beginning a fitness journey, the first step can be as easy as hiring a qualified trainer, joining a gym, or simply purchasing a fitness DVD. However, one cannot miss appointments (or blow off "trainer homework"), never enter a gym farther than the membership desk, or do nothing but allow a DVD to remain encased in its cellophane if the wish is to achieve better health and a fit body. There is an infinite number of additional steps which, in most cases, continue for an entire lifetime. The destination of fitness is, for most of us, a moving target which ebbs and flows as external circumstances and day-to-day decisions push us in different directions which can lead closer to or farther away from our desired goal.
The trick to meeting this moving target goal is to not give up. When it seems as though the goal has gotten further away, we must re-align ourselves toward the goal and continue moving. There will be times when this is seemingly impossible, and there will be times when it is so easy we wonder how we strayed from the path in the first place. In either case, remember it doesn't usually matter if we stray from the path; what matters is our ability to pick up and get back on it.
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