Fitness Archives - Page 2 of 21 - Fran's Fitness Over 50

Grateful for everything

Does anyone understand how time works? One minute I’m not making resolutions for the New Year, and the next we’re roasting the Thanksgiving turkey. How does that happen? Anyway. It’s that time of year when everyone shares with the people around the table what they’re grateful for. I’m grateful for everything.

Gratitude brings resilience

This year has been tough, but we’ve proven that we’re tougher. We’ve shown resilience in the face of numerous obstacles, and grown stronger as a result. We’ve shown the world that even when things don’t go our way, we can still hold our heads high and be grateful that we’ll have another opportunity to show our stuff. We can be grateful for everything we’ve got, even when that’s not much.

What I’m grateful for

My old dogs are still around. The 15-year-old wanders around and messes in the house more, but he’s still mostly healthy (knock on wood). Booker (pictured) is 12, and he’s very special too. I’m grateful for having the ability to move my body pretty much how I want when I want. I’m grateful to be able to get up from the floor. I’m also grateful for my senses. I can experience all the wonders around me.

What does being grateful for everything bring?

Okay. enough about me. Showing gratitude every day brings optimism and joy, essential for your healthy aging. And expressing it will make you feel even better. You would think that it would work the other way – that the person who you’re expressing gratitude to would feel the joy, but it’s you. When you express your thanks, you’re acknowledging that someone else thought about you. Someone wanted to make things a little easier for you. And knowing that will give you what I call the “warm fuzzies.” That feeling will last for far longer than the moment it takes you to express your gratitude.

You don’t have to express your thanks out loud. A note will work. And if it’s not a person you’re grateful to, writing in a Gratitude Journal works, too. It’s also a wonder to look back on and rediscover the feelings.

I have a lot of people to thank. I’ll get started now.

Time or Money: The price of a holiday

I’ve said “Everything in moderation” frequently. And it’s the watchword I live by. I never say “No” to dessert. If I want potatoes, I’ll plop a spoonful on my plate. Having lost a lot of weight years ago and kept it off, I always watch what I eat and try to eat a nutritious diet every day. Except for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the one day all the eating rules fly out the window. Thanksgiving is the day when more is better. As long as it’s really good food. But, what’s the price of all that really good food? What is the price of a holiday?

What’s being counted?

The price depends on what we’re counting. If it’s calories, to me Thanksgiving is worth it. It’s the one day a year we celebrate what we have. If I want to celebrate with chocolate pecan pie, I’m making it! Or we could be counting the cost of the meal. Again, to me, Thanksgiving is not the day to be pinching pennies. And then time might be an issue. It takes a while to prepare all that yummy goodness. As my sister and I enjoy cooking together and don’t usually have other guests on Thanksgiving, we’re making the most of our time.

Time is more than the cost for some

But not everybody has the luxury of being with family and guests while cooking. It’s no fun being away in the kitchen while everyone else is sharing stories and experiences in another room. In fact, in an article I read, one dietitian opts for a store-bought Thanksgiving dinner instead of preparing it herself. This is despite the added calories, sugar and salt she knows the prepared dinner has.

But, are you concerned about eating healthy?

On yet another hand, if, for health reasons, the holiday is less important than sticking with your meal plan, then you may choose to forego the traditional dinner and choose a healthier option. There’s certainly nothing wrong with a delicious roasted chicken or turkey with fresh vegetables for side dishes rather than stuffing and mashed potatoes.

Thanksgiving is about trade-offs. What’s important to you may not be the thing that’s most important to someone else. I enjoy preparing the meal, perhaps it’s because I’m with the important people in my life. To others, the meal is less important than the company. So the food may not be as high in quality as it might be if it were home-made. But being with good company boosts our resilience.

So, prioritize the things that are important to you. Be with your friends and family. Be healthy. Or enjoy the process and then the meal itself. The price of a holiday is what you put on it, in the end.

Try the Winter Arc challenge for focus on health and well-being

Days are really getting short now. I wake up in the dark, and it’s dark again by suppertime. It’s easy to say, “Why bother?” and go eat that lasagna. The whole pan of lasagna. It’s the lull before the holiday storm, when candy goes on sale but before the big Thanksgiving push is on when all the recipes you see are for “healthy sides.” If this sounds all too familiar, you can join me in hopping on the newest trend – the “Winter Arc” challenge. Use these cold, dark months to refocus on health and well-being.

Focus on health and well-being

I know I need the Winter Arc challenge. My sister and I are transitioning our website to a more modern ecommerce platform. We got our domain name 20 – yes, twenty! – years ago and it’s not transferring smoothly. The company we purchased the name from was acquired and merged several times, and settings changed without our permission or knowledge and it, just, not good. So I need to refocus on my well-being.

What’s needed for calm?

First, I have to figure out exactly what I need to do to feel calmer and more centered. I’m not missing too many workout sessions, so that’s good. My nutrition is the same as always. My diet is completely boring. I eat the same things almost every day, with some variations for dinner. Don’t follow my lead on that, because you don’t want to be boring. For me, it’s easy. It tastes good and is nutritious. But I completely advocate adding variety.

Meditation for mindset

So, what’s left? Mindset. I said a few months ago that I was going to add more meditation breaks to my day. And did I? No, sadly. So to refocus on health and well-being, I’m committing to more meditation. I’m getting out my Get It Done worksheet, creating my goal and scheduling meditation breaks on my calendar. And this will be one of my non-negotiable tasks each day. My meditation breaks won’t be long – no more than 5 minutes at a time.

A positive mindset, which is impossible when you’re under stressed, has been shown to improve health on its own. And positivity and optimism adds to our resilience.

So I’ll schedule my meditation breaks – mostly I’ll close my eyes and listen to a short guided meditation. And in a couple of weeks, I’ll reassess and figure out if this has helped to refocus health and well-being.

Feel more energized even when there’s more to do

How to feel more energized through the day

Many days I’m working away on a project and at some point in the afternoon, it feels like I hit a wall. Do you feel that way? If you do,we’re not alone! Many people run out of juice at some point in the afternoon. Even if we start strong, we’re exposed to many stressors during the day that take a toll. And even though your motivation is strong to continue the work, if you feel like you have to curl up and take a nap, the work is not going to be your best. But, don’t feel like you have to go on feeling drained and out of sorts. And not by grabbing a candy bar at 3:00, either. Here are some ways to feel more energized throughout your day.

Eat more balanced meals

If you’re a grab-on-the-go type of person, it may be time to rethink your eating routine. When you combine protein, carbs and healthy fats for all three meals during your day, you’re set for optimum energy. Dawn Jackson Blatner, RDN, says, “The key to an energizing diet is getting the right ‘fuel mix’ at each meal.” One quarter of your plate should be whole grains, another quarter protein and the rest colorful produce, topped with a healthy fat. That way your body has the nutrients it needs to be energized all day, avoiding spikes and crashes in your blood sugar. So your energy will be stable through the day.

Take breaks

Sometimes I can work on a project for hours at a time without looking up. That’s great for the work, but when I do finally get up, I feel stiff and groggy, and my eyes have trouble focusing. When I know I’ll be in the groove I have to set a timer to make sure I take a break. The alarm on my phone works great for this. That break can be just a few minutes, but when I get back I definitely feel more energized. Even if that break is just going to the washroom or taking the dogs outside.

Move!

As I’ve written before, it seems counter-intuitive that exercise will give you energy, but even Harvard Medical School says it’s true. Your muscles produce mitochondria when you exercise, which allows your body to use the food you’ve eaten as fuel. So, more mitochondria means more fuel and more energy. A couple of days a week I exercise in the late afternoon, when my energy level is at the lowest point. After my workout on those days I actually do feel more energetic. Strange but true.

Those are just a few ways to feel more energized. On days when I have to keep working in the late afternoon, I also like to have a little snack of a few almonds or peanut butter on celery. It keeps me going until dinnertime.

Do it for your future self

This is for whatever it is you don’t want to do today. Don’t want to exercise? You don’t want to eat nutritious food? Or you don’t want to work on that project you’ve been putting off? I get it. Some days it’s all too tempting to stay under the covers, eat chocolate and chips and binge Emily in Paris or whatever show you’re into. But think about how you’ll feel tomorrow. And all the tomorrows after that if you don’t show up for yourself. It’s easier to not do the things. But those things will stay the way they are. You’re not going to get the benefits from exercise. Your body will not get the vitamins and minerals from the healthy food. And you’ll still have that project hanging over your head. Do it for your future self.

How your future self will feel

Think about how you want to feel in the future. For me, I want to feel no pain, or at least less pain. Also, to be able to stand tall and not hunched or with rounded shoulders will be good. I’d like my legs to be able to hold me up, and my core to be strong and stable to share the load. I want to breathe freely and not get winded when I walk. Does this sound good to you? For our healthy aging, this doesn’t seem to be an outrageous goal.

The food we eat is reflected on the outside

What goes into our bodies should be good for the outside as well. The food we consume has an affect on our bodies – inside and out. Our skin reflects the good nutrition that goes in. We feel better when we eat nutritious food. Of course, I’m not going to say no to a piece of good chocolate, but on the whole I try to maintain a healthy diet.

Working toward a goal keeps us resilient

When we work toward a goal, even just for a little bit every day, we’re being optimistic for the future. We’re happy when we have an objective. And creating achievable goals keeps us focused on that future. We want something to have happened to make a better future for ourselves. That’s what goal-making is about. And if you’ve set goals in the past but not achieved them, then download the Get It Done G u ide. It’ll help. Seriously.

So keep on working toward goals. Exercise regularly. And eat good food. It will show in your future self.

Get uncomfortable to get motivated

Discomfort is only uncomfortable until it becomes comfortable. Get uncomfortable.

Get uncomfortable to achieve your goals

And that’s another way of saying that you should get uncomfortable so that you can achieve your goals. Discomfort happens when you reach for something that’s beyond your grasp now. Like running. When you start running, even after warming up with some stretches and walking, it feels odd and uncomfortable. But when you keep on doing it, even during the same session, running becomes more comfortable. You get used to the motion. The first few times the motion may not seem completely natural (for me, it’s still not natural), but it’s not as uncomfortable any longer.

Embrace discomfort to grow

Some athletes embrace the pain they feel when training, so that they can move past it and improve. I don’t relish pain of any sort. The most I want to feel in my workout is discomfort, and even that is a stretch. But the idea is the same. In order to grow in any endeavor, many feel that it’s necessary to challenge yourself. The challenge can then lead to increased motivation to succeed. In fact, Stanford professor Carol Dweck in her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, reveals that students with a growth mindset, that is the belief that they can grow and develop, outperformed their peers with a fixed mindset.

Challenge yourself and succeed

It’s not just in learning more that we succeed by challenging ourselves. In the running example, we can grow – that is, run faster and longer – by pushing ourselves a little more each time we run. That is, get uncomfortable a little more. At the end of a few sessions, that little push becomes more comfortable, almost natural, and then we can push even more. Challenge ourselves a little more. This starts with a single push of the up button. When I’m at the maximum speed I did last time and it doesn’t feel too bad, I just push the increase speed button one time. Increase my speed by just one tenth of a mile per hour. Not too bad. Not even too noticeable, in fact. And I don’t sustain that for long – just a minute, maybe less.

I’ll keep the same maximum speed for a few days until the increase is indiscernible. And then I’ll do it again. It does help to journal my workout – my average speed, maximum speed, how it felt, when I feel I can push it again. If you just want the bare bones of a workout tracker, download the Basic Workout Tracker today. If you want more, check out the Fitness Journal and Tracker which has pages for nutrition and, my favorite, goal planning and tracking!

Challenge yourself more to achieve more

So, get uncomfortable. And soon the concept of pushing beyond boundaries becomes the norm. Then you can push more. Challenge yourself more. You’ll be amazed at what you can achieve. It doesn’t happen overnight. But it will happen. You’ll become more resilient. When things in your life go sideways, you’ll think, I’ve achieved so much, I can push through this. And your resilience will make you more optimistic and ultimately happier, which means good things for your healthy aging.

Get uncomfortable. And you’ll go far.

Dive deep into the cause behind your lack of motivation.

We’ve all been there. “Just not feeling it.” It seems like your lack of motivation is chronic. You wake up thinking, “Today’s the day! I’ll work out. And I’ll eat right! It’ll be great!” And then you sit down and … nothing. Or you promise yourself that today’s the day you start writing. You know you have a book in you and it’s going to start emerging today. But from one day to the next your motivation seems to be nonexistent. You have no energy for the goal you thought you wanted. You’re doubting your ability to do it. And you ask yourself, “Why? Why can’t I get it done?” It’s time to dive deeper into the cause behind your lack of motivation. Try to figure out what’s causing you to lose motivation.

Bored? Stressed? Overwhelmed?

According to Betterhelp.com, “boredom, stress, burnout, feeling overwhelmed, and a lack of clear goals can lead many people to a lack of motivation. Setting small, achievable goals, practicing self-care, changing your environment, and turning to others for inspiration can be helpful in regaining motivation.”

So, if you’re bored and stuck in a routine that no longer inspires you, it may be time to do something a little different. Shake up your routine and start your day differently. For example, if you’re like me and eat the same thing for breakfast every day (OJ, coffee, chopped tomato and hard boiled egg), have something different. (Today I had cottage cheese instead of an egg. Yay for me!) Just a little change can affect you in a big way.

Give yourself a break

If you’re feeling burned out, it’s understandable. These days we’re all feeling overwhelmed and stressed by politics, the economy, and in some places the weather. Take a step back and do something good for yourself. Turn off your screens for a while and give yourself a break. Read a few chapters in a book – and not on an ereader. Go exercise.

Can’t focus? Maybe you need clarity

If you can’t seem to focus, or what you actually do is underwhelming and uninspired, it could be that your goal is unfocused. Assess your goal. Make sure that it’s specific enough. That you can quantify the end result. Go back to your goal creation worksheet in your Get It Done Guide and follow the steps precisely. You’ll end up with a goal that’s achievable. (Download this worksheet today if you don’t already have it and get started on planning your goals.)

And when you have an achievable goal, your lack of motivation will disappear. You will wake up energized and ready to work on your goal. You’ll have created actionable steps that are easy for you to follow and you’ll see results.

Making plans is for the strong

It occurred to me the other day as I was planning out a series of posts that the future was going to happen. It takes a certain kind of strength to plan for the future. Strength of will, and strength of being. You trust that some things will happen, and other things might. That requires a great deal of resilience – trusting that you’ll get through whatever life throws at you. Making plans is for the strong.

It’s not necessarily about strength training

I’m not talking about increasing your poundage for strength training when you exercise, although that’s a worthwhile goal as well. The fact that we plan at all means that we are optimistic that we’ll have a future. That we’ll be capable of performing the tasks in that plan. And we’ll actually want to see that plan to its completion.

Planning is resilience

That’s resilience at its core. Making plans and following through on them also requires strength of will. For example, say you want to move to a bigger house in eight months. That’s your goal. What’s needed for that to happen? And here’s where your planning skills take over. You’ll need to put aside a sufficient down payment. The house you’re living in must be sold, unless you’re renting. So any repairs and upgrades need to get done, unless you go sell your house as-is. And you need to find your new house. You’ll put intermediate steps and dates on all that, and put your plan into motion.

That’s a big plan. You think you’re not strong? The fact that you know that you can accomplish all of that means that you know you’re capable, you have the resources to figure things out when they go a little sideways and still come out on top.

Making plans is for the strong. You make plans so you’re optimistic for the future and you’ll be healthier going forward. Your resilience makes it possible for you to smile through adversity, essential for your healthy aging.

How to Not Stagnate

I love to read. No surprise there, right? I was a bookworm growing up (in fact my favorite bookmark is a pink plastic worm that clips over the page!). If you needed me, just look in my room and I’d be reading a book. And now, there’s nothing I love more than setting aside a few minutes (okay, an hour) and delving into the current book on my nightstand. And that’s fine – to take a little while for your favorite hobby for a break. It’s sure tempting to read good books all day long, but that’s not how you get things done. That’s not growing, it’s standing still. Here’s how to not stagnate.

Ground your emotions every day

When you want to be your most productive self, the last thing you want is for your thougths to wander in a million directions. It’s easy for that to happen, with today’s focus on screens and newsfeeds. But to be productive and not stagnate, you need a clear mind in order to focus. My mind has a tendency to wander, so I just close my eyes and pull my thoughts in. I focus on a single thought. I take time when I get up in the morning to wash, take the dogs out, and give all of us breakfast before I turn on a single screen or check any email account. And, yes, I do read a few pages in my book at breakfast.

Daily discipline

Clinical psychologist Tricia Wolanin, PsyD, agrees that a daily discipline can help you focus for the rest of the day. She also recommends starting your day with intention, asking how you want to feel and what you want to accomplish that day. Setting that intention will also keep you going – and growing.

Set one small goal for the day

When I get to work, I make my list for the day, and at the top is one small thing I want to get done today, like check for orders on the site, or file the invoices from last week. I focus on that one thing, do it and feel accomplished. Then I’m ready to tackle some more meaty tasks. I recently wrote that we should write what we want to do. I take something from that list, and the steps that I think I can accomplish today, and write that on today’s list. And that keeps you going, and growing, and also helps you to not stagnate. Just because we’re getting older does not mean that we should cultivate moss on us. We’re growing, we’re resilient, and we’re all in for our healthy aging, too.

What is core stability?

What is core stability and why is it important?

In almost every post I make about balance, I emphasize that a strong and stable core is essential. A strong core, I get. I understand strength. But what is core stability? Why do I care?

Core stability means that your core helps your spine maintain control when you move in different directions. For example, if you raise your arm, your oblique muscles in your abdomen are engaged. When we rotate our shoulders, a stable core holds us upright.

Everything inside us is connected. I want a stable spine so that I can sit and stand upright, and not to mention, breathe. When our spine is straight, it’s much easier for us to take a breath. You can try it yourself. Breathe when you’re hunched over, like you do at your desk. Now straighten your spine and breathe. Better, isn’t it?

So a stable core means a stable spine.

A strong core helps my back pain. I suppose that having a stable core helps with that as well, because when I’m bending over, I have to stabilize in order to stand up again. And that strong core, holding tight, means that I’m less likely to tweak my lower back.

I don’t think there’s any pain worse than lower back pain. I have sciatica and bursitis in both hips. When my sciatica flared up and wrapped around the bursitis, I couldn’t move. Or, rather, it was like I was moving through something the consistency of ice cream. I was moving, painfully, and extremely slowly. Because it hurt. Heat didn’t help a lot, and neither did ice. I lived with it, and apologized for being so slow. When your back hurts, you can’t do many things that you want to. It’s agony getting in the car so traveling is out of the question. Even mundane tasks like grocery shopping can be an ordeal.

When I did my research on balance a number of years ago after the fall that triggered the bursitis, I also learned that having a strong core could ease back pain. You can bet that as soon as I could move, I focused on core strength.

So, how can you improve your core stability?

Nothing in the studies I’ve read has indicated that there are separate exercises for core stability. Work the core strength exercises, and the stability part gets thrown in. Bonus.