Don't Kid Yourself

Hump, Spinal, and Lunge - What They Have in Common.

Yep, it's all about stretching and the three stretches you should do every day, according to Women's Health magazine. Check it out.

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/best-stretches

Fitness Classes in Brunswick Forest

Fitness Reporter – September 2011

Let’s Take Some Classes!

By Bruce Brown

Independent Beachbody Coach, www.BrucetheCoach.com

As I’ve written before, we’re fortunate in Brunswick Forest to have plentiful exercise and workout choices. My personal workout favorite is P90X™, which I do in my garage, but during the first two weeks of August I took a recommended two-week break between cycles of P90X and sampled three different classes at the Brunswick Forest Fitness & Wellness Center.

I attended Zumba™, Pilates, and Stretch & Relaxation classes. Zumba is my favorite, because I like to dance, but the three different classes, each offered mid morning weekdays, together give you a varied program that includes cardio, core strength building and balance, and flexibility work.

“Zumba is a Latin-inspired dance fitness program created by dancer and choreographer Alberto "Beto" Perez in Colombia during the 1990s. Zumba involves dance and aerobic elements. Unlike a typical dance class where counts are used, Zumba involves following the music with repetitive movements. Zumba's choreography incorporates hip-hop, samba, salsa, merengue, mambo, martial arts, and some Bollywood and belly dance moves. Squats and lunges are also included.” - Wikipedia

A typical Zumba class burns 500-1,000 calories, according to www.ZumbaCalories.com.

Lorrie Gregory, the Brunswick Forest Fitness & Wellness Zumba instructor, brings a wealth of experience in dance, gymnastics, and fitness. The 60-minute class is a lot of fun. The class capacity is 25 and the three times I’ve taken it so far it’s been about full. You can wear sneakers but most people seem to wear special Zumba shoes. I’ve done it with cross-trainers and barefoot and prefer the latter. There was only one other guy in the classes I attended so far, Lorrie’s husband Steve, who also tends the music.

If you like to dance and want an enjoyable cardio experience, zoom over to the Zumba class. You don’t need to be expert, btw, so don’t let that hold you back. None of the individual Zumba moves are difficult and Lorrie and the rest of the class are cheerfully supportive.

“Pilates is a physical fitness system developed in the early 20th century by Joseph Pilates. Pilates called his method Contrology because he believed that his method uses the mind to control the muscles. Pilates is a body conditioning routine that helps to not only build flexibility, but also strength, endurance, and coordination in the legs, abdominals, arms and back.” – Wikipedia

While Pilates isn’t a weight loss program, per se, according to this article, http://thinkpilates.com/pilates-exercise-and-weight-loss/ a calculator on Self.com shows a typical burn of 240-420 calories depending on the intensity of the program.

Mary Wooten is the Pilates instructor with whom I took the 60-minute classes at the Fitness & Wellness Center. Mary has loads of experience in many forms of group fitness training. As of this writing I’ve taken two classes with her that have been very different, one using a small ‘squishy’ ball during most of the exercises and one with a large exercise ball.

Mary shows plenty of modifications for different exercises and, because Pilates can be tough for beginners, she’s very attentive to and helpful with people who need it (as I did) - even after completing a full cycle of P90X I found myself referring to my “Killer Pilates” class. Most people don’t wear shoes during the class and loose clothing is also probably a good idea.

The Fitness & Wellness Center Director Brooke McCarthy teaches a 45-minute Stretch & Relaxation class once a week. A Certified Health Fitness Specialist, Brooke’s class also varied the two times I attended so far. The first time we just used mats and the second time we also used large exercise balls and bands for stretching.

Against a background of relaxing music, Brooke gently leads you through a series of full body stretches and finishes with relaxation exercises. Stretching and flexibility are important components to overall fitness and Brooke’s very pleasant class helps with both.  This is another class most people do barefoot. Also, as with the Pilates class, some folks bring their own mats, but there are plenty of mats for student use in the equipment closet so you don’t need any equipment. So don’t let shoes or gear hold you back. Anyone can do this class.

There are many other classes at the Fitness & Wellness Center, but for me, this weekly combination of two Zumba classes, two Pilates classes, and one Stretch & Relaxation class was great during my break. In fact, I liked them so much that I’m going to continue taking the classes even while I do another P90X cycle.

Should I Work Out Every Day? Yes. Should You?

My commitment to myself and my health is that I will work out every day.

It may sound odd that I speak of myself and my health as two entities because indeed my health is inextricably part of who I am. However, I can ignore my health, I can abuse it, I can maintain it, and I can improve it. Because the sense of each of those states is one entity doing something that effects the other, it works for me to consider them separate entities.

Having established that duality, it's more clear for me to see how I have responsibility for my health. Health isn't something that just happens. Like happiness or success, my health is directly affected by my actions, my thoughts, and my state of being.

I'm highly conscious that my mind can, will, and in the past has worked against my overall good, and that includes my health. It's easy for me to use my mind to justify having a second piece of pie, or not trying something new, or skipping something I know is good for me.

I don't go through life all tightly wrapped and controlled (at least I don't experience myself that way), but I am aware that I can slide into behavior patterns that, if observed objectively, are clear signs that I'm not being a good steward of my personal health. For example, skipping exercise two days in a row easily slides into weeks off, having extra helpings at dinner or two desserts for lunch one time can become every day practices - I can even trick myself into a twisted sense of "living in the now" to justify each instance of neglect or overindulgence.

So, for me, working out everyday is the  best course. I don't need to do the same type of workout every day (in fact, of course, that's not good for you either). So some days I'll work on strength training, other days cardio, some times flexibility with stretching or Yoga, I'll do plyometrics, or pilates, or Zumba or ride my bike, or whatever. The point is, not to skip.

Because here's what I've learned about how my mind will work against me. If I take a day off from exercise, then  automatically my subconscious learns, "Ok, a day off is part of Bruce's exercise routine."

Can you see the trap I set for myself? Since my subconscious (just like yours if you're human) is trying to protect me and tends to resist change or effort or struggle or pain, if I give it permission to consider days of no exercise as good for me (i.e., part of my exercise routine), then my subconscious, I've figured out, will continuously try to influence my conscious mind to take a day off because working out is work and it can be hard and it does take me away from other cool, fun, or necessary stuff I could be doing, but since days off are part of my exercise routine anyway (see how devious my mind works? .... as does yours), then I'll suddenly realize that I've gone four days, or two weeks, or three months, or even years without working out. And that I know is not good for me.

Sometimes the only way to break that pattern is for something bad to happen. Like a doctor telling me I need to lose weight, or some bad blood test results, or seeing myself in the mirror and thinking, "Huh? How did I let myself get like that?"

Granted, often the wake up call that moves me back to good habits is somewhat (or all) related to vanity and self-esteem, but in that case I'm served well if I'll re-establish a good habit.

So that's why I work out every day. Your minds (conscious and subconscious) may work differently, but I've learned I need to take charge of my actions and my conscious mind or otherwise my subconscious mind will work against my health and well-being.

I am fascinated  to hear your thoughts on this. Has anyone else reached the same conclusions about working out daily or more generally about keeping up good habits not only for your own good but also to harness the potential self-destructiveness of your subsconcious?