Go With The Flow

Sometimes in life you just go to go with the flow! I know I keep talking about setting goals, keeping an exercise journal, proceeding in small increments as we challenge and improve our fitness levels. This then begs the question “When do you go with the flow”? The answer is when you have NO CHOICE.

Relaxing on waterfront boardwalk

A week ago Saturday I injured my shoulder. I knew by the unrelenting pain I had made a mistake. Typically “too much, too fast” causes injuries. Here is my four point plan for turning injuries around.

1) Seek Help – For me it was a visit to my son the chiropractor who after several tests determined the muscles strained and their extent of damage. “First stop all training, ice every hour then in 3 days we will re-evaluate and begin ultrasound.”

2) Participate in the recovery – It is not enough to go to the doc for some pills, stopping training and expect someone else to fix everything as you sit on your fanny and get fat. Follow instructions to the letter.

3) Reduce your diet – There is a cost for every mistake and that includes fitness, health, finances, everything in life! You will have a cost to bear for your mistakes so you do not make the situation worse. For me I did more cooking of low cal fish dishes, plenty of water and a purpose to eat less at every meal.

4) Keep busy – Activity is therapeutic in itself. Sitting on the couch feeling sorry or angry at yourself will not help heal you either emotionally or physically. Early morning walks with my wife and evening waterfront walks with Murphy my Chesapeake Bay Retriever provided the physical & mental activity needed to recharge on all levels.

10 Days with no training

In 2010 I had 3 surgeries. (Jan, May, October) They side lined my workouts for 10, 6 & 4 weeks respectively. My year’s gain in lean muscle mass, strength as well as endurance was the most significant since I had kept a log for over a decade now. What I am saying is that the body works in cycles, up and down. So to have a down period, if managed correctly, is actually a benefit in the long term.

This is no different that life’s experience so apply this 4 point plan to any of the many mistakes we make in life.

1) Seek help
2) Participate in recovery
3) Pay the cost (reduce diet)
4) Keep busy

Here’s wishing you a turnaround for every down time in your life. Keep fit, keep positive!

Energy Management

Lack of energy seems to be our standard excuse for not doing things. These are things we like to do, want to do, enjoy doing! This is no way to live one’s life. We need to manage our energy so as to increase it and apportion it to every aspect of our busy, sometimes exhaustive, life styles.

#1 Sleep – “Lots of it” This is most important as a first step. Adding another half hour to our usual nights sleep would be an average requirement since most people are somewhat sleep deprived. Late nights and early mornings are a bad combination for draining our energy. Start a bed time ritual at least an hour before actually retiring. This prepares the mind and body for sleep. Turn off the television, put on the voice mail and do not deal with any new pressing problems that can assuredly wait for the light of day.

#2 Water – “3 bottles a day” When most people are tested for their bodies water content they are dehydrated. Coffee, wine, soups and soft drinks do not count as water intake. As a matter of fact some of these act as a diuretic draining our bodies of precious water. I start my morning with a full glass of water. It has been 8 hours since I had any water so mornings are a key time to start hydrating our bodies. Then comes my work out with a full bottle of water. After an hour or less it is another bottle of water with my protein powder. Before noon hour I would have drank 3 bottles of water. The benefits to your skin quality, muscle tone and bowel function is dramatic. No constipation with a consistent hydration policy. I go nowhere without a couple of bottles of water.

Hydrated Back

#3 Food Choices “Balanced & Nutritious” There are many comfort foods we love and crave. They make us feel full, content and sleepy. These should NOT comprise the bulk of our diet. We all know the amount and the types of foods that are nutritious. Eat what you feel would do your body good and fuel your next 2 hours of activity. A meal should replenish you, not drain you. Second helpings can be had in an hour or two not at one sitting. Typically at a restaurant I cut the food portion in half, eating one half and bringing the other half home for a snack (in about a hour and a half) This is better than chips or cookies!

#4 Exercise “Equals More Energy” Sleep, water and good food choices make for a great health combo. Without exercise the train does not leave the station. We need to keep moving, challenging heart, lungs and muscles. Working at the 85% of maximum for at least 3 days a week is minimum with five days a week being better. I exercise daily, only taking a day off because of travel or business obligations that invariably want to steal my workout time. Showering, brushing your teeth, combing your hair are all part of your daily routine and so should exercise.

#5 Variety “Deadly Boredom Trap” Every regiment eventually succumbs to a boring routine. Even an exciting, passionate activity like sex can slip into the “same old, same old.” Keeping an exercise journal allows one to change up or tweak your workouts. Even a slight variation will challenge us to see if we can beat our previous workout goals. I love my pull ups so I have a doorway bar upstairs, downstairs, one on the ceiling and of course one in the shop were they are made. My travel trailer has a custom pull up bar that I can use camping as well as a travel bar that breaks down without tools for my suitcase. Engaging your mind before and during your workouts will add some variety but maintain the consistency needed for growth or fat loss if that is your goal.

#6 E-Triggers “Personal” People are different and respond in their own way from outside stimuli. My wife for example loves people and every gathering is a party. More than on one occasion would she chat with family and friends over a bond fire til the sun came up. One the other hand put in a DVD for the evening and its snooze time in a half hour or less. She needs and enjoys people so her morning walks are with me and the dog. The health club she goes to (for ladies only) is always teaming with people. People give her energy. They are her E-Trigger. Mine is goal accomplishment. The satisfaction of one more rep or putting another workout in the bank is all I need and thrive on. Belonging to a group or sharing your fitness goals with a confidant may be your thing that triggers excitement for fitness.

Eye Candy or E-Trigger?

#7 Nap time (20 minutes only) This is such a great way to relax your mind and body preparing it for the 2nd half of your day. I am talking about a short power nap before 1pm not a hour or two mid afternoon snooze that leaves you groggy for hours. Not everyone has this opportunity to lay down on the job. If this is the case find a quiet place were your mind can wander to pleasant places as you breath deeply relaxing your whole body. I find those moments that I can drift to my one palm tree island in the Caribbean so relaxing. Knowing it is just a vision in my head and soon my body must spring to the daily grind, I am refreshed.

Catching a snooze

Manage your energy well! It is your most valuable renewable resource.

Feel Good

Some people do things that defy conventional logic. You have probably met some people who are devoted to a cause or program that they sacrifice their time and expend energy for something that gives them no monetary reward or even acknowledgement. People like third world missionaries, hospital volunteers, soup kitchen workers or Sunday school teachers. If you ask them why they are doing it they would most assuredly say that it makes them feel good! What that means is that they feel good about themselves, their contribution to a better world. The actual work they perform does not feel good but rather the opposite. The results of their activity makes them feel good.

EJ in Spiderman cap

Exercise is just like that. It is an activity that requires discipline, dedication, and work that in itself may be difficult or unpleasant. The results of a consistent workout regiment makes you feel good! Your energy level will be up, your self esteem will soar and your confidence will at an all time high. Exercise you say to make me feel good? You may prefer the feel of the couch, a twelve pack of beer and gorging yourself on a variety of foods that are of no nutritional value except to clog your arteries. The activity at the time may feel good but the results are all negative.

EJ in Superman shorts

This is the fundamental crossroad we come to throughout our life time. It is either instant gratification with long term consequences or a disciplined approach that is sustainable and will only get better. Buy now, pay later, sounds so inviting. Floating on the ocean of life like a jelly fish is effortless. Swimming up stream like the migrating salmon requires effort.

I think if we had our choice of the above two, the well muscled, functionally fit, energetic salmon would be our choice!

Why do I exercise daily? I do it because it makes me feel good about myself, my body, my capability and my life! I wear my feel good Spiderman cap and Superman shorts, add some upbeat music for an endorphin (feel good hormones) producing, muscle pumping workout.

Invest some time and effort for yourself with exercise. It may very well be what you need to feel good. What makes you feel good?

EJ on motorcycle