I have never made any secret of the fact that I hate yoga. Mostly because I have spent a lifetime doing sports that compact all my muscles and here comes this ancient exercise or meditation or whatever you want to call it that pulls everything out and forces me to stretch parts of me that don’t want to stretch and twist things that shouldn’t twist and have me assume positions that are just not natural. So when I recently saw an article in the New York Times saying that yoga might be bad for people my initial thought was “yeah, I was right all along.” The article said all that twisting and bending can be bad for you, it can strain muscles, rip tendons, pull your back out of shape.

But then I thought

Why am I doing this?

Wait a minute, any exercise can do that to you. If you haven’t played soccer in years then you can hurt yourself doing that. If you used to love ping pong as a kid and took it up again as an adult you can hurt yourself. And maybe yoga is a slightly exaggerated form of any exercise because it really works every single part of your body, but the basic premise is the same. If you do it properly and carefully and with good guidance it can be safe and really beneficial.

That’s not to mean I like it any more, but it does mean that it isn’t dangerous just because you do it wrong or have a crappy teacher who teaches you bad form or you try to get into a full lotus when you have spent the previous ten hours sitting in front of a computer screen and wonder why your tendons just don’t want to go there.

The point is, exercise in any form can be bad for you if you haven’t done it before – or for a long time – and you do it badly. You need to know what you are doing or work with someone who knows what they are doing and knows how to show you how to do it.

Good form is essential

The other day, the other month actually, I pulled the heck out of my calf muscle playing squash. I wasn’t doing anything I hadn’t done a thousand times before. I wasn’t moving in a way I hadn’t done a thousand times before. And yet this time, for whatever reason, my calf went kablooey. Maybe I was just pushing it too hard, or my form was bad. All I know is that as soon as I hit a great cross court shot and was moving back into position in case my opponent – damn you Austin – got it back, my calf went bang and that was that. I’ve been slowly getting back in shape since then. But it takes time. And patience.

And that’s why when I read that article about yoga being bad for you, much as I wanted to jump on the blog and say “see, the NY Times agrees with me” my own experience taught me otherwise. Yes, of course yoga can be bad for you. Playing tiddlywinks can be bad for you if one of them jumps up and hits you in the eye. Anything, done badly, can be bad for you. But that’s no reason to dismiss the enormous potential health benefits of yoga.

Downward facing “you dawg you”

Don't try this at home folks

I once met an 83 year old man who had become a devotee of Bikram yoga. That’s the kind where they heat the room to 110 degrees so you sweat like crazy. It’s meant to warm up the muscles and tendons in your body so that they are more flexible. It’s also meant to replicate the conditions in India where yoga first was practiced. This gentleman had only taken up yoga when he was 80 and swore by Bikram, saying it gave him more energy, made him feel healthier and happier.

Frankly I think he just liked watching lots of young, cute women bend into positions that in his youth would have been unthinkable.

I still don’t like yoga. But I would never tell other people not to do it. For my 83 year old friend it’s the highlight of his day. And that’s reason enough to do any exercise isn’t it.

Jack LaLanne was an inspiration to many and if you ever met him he filled the air with vitality and excited anticipation about life!  We’re going to miss that wonderful enthusiasm!  He had a wonderful life and a great family.  They all paid him beautiful tributes on how he touched their lives!

So I’d like to say so long to Jack LaLanne and thank him for being so right!  He had the secret!  Just check this out!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEboAJf9UVc

I was just a little girl when I started to workout with Jack LaLanne! My mom would turn on the TV around 12 o’clock everyday and work out with Jack and since I was too young to go to school I would join in the workouts. There was the chair workout and the leg lifts, and there were all kinds of stretches and repetitions and they were all done to the accompaniment of organ music. I remember when we would finish a sequence of moves, Jack would tell us to take a big breath, he would spread his arms wide and bend forward bringing his arms together and take a deep breath and the organ would make the sound of an upscale followed by a downscale as Jack stood up again to let his breath out. He made it seem so easy, even fun. But recently I found out a secret that Jack Lalanne kept from us.

He hates to work out! No, really, he does, I read about it in the New York Times.

Jack is 95, and he still does a 90 minute workout everyday, with push-ups! In the article he says  it’s not something he enjoys. “I hate it,’’ he said of working out. “But I like the results. Exercise is something you’ve got to do the rest of your life.’’ Man, can you believe that! Jack Lalane hates to work out! So that made me think, “Who the heck am I to whine about working out if Jack LaLanne who is 95 and still does 90 minutes everyday hates it and still does it.

Think about it. Jack is the man who almost single handedly “invented” the TV exercise show. He preached to millions of Americans the virtues of being healthy and in shape. He gave people ideas about how to exercise, where to exercise, what bits of the body to exercise. He served as cheerleader and cajoler all in one, advocating the benefits of workouts. Yet it turns out that he hates it.

Maybe he should have shared that news with us. Think about it, that one piece of advice could actually have helped people! Most of us slog away in the gym wondering why we are doing what we are doing, why we aren’t enjoying it, why even after years and years of doing it we still have to talk ourselves into going most of the time.

Now, if you look at Jack you can see the obvious benefits. He’s in incredible shape. Trim, muscular, vital. He’s living, walking proof of how regular exercise can keep your body and your brain in great shape. It might have been reassuring to know that he really doesn’t get a kick out of going to the gym, anymore than most of the rest of us do. It might help people understand there is nothing wrong with how they feel, in fact, their attitude is perfectly normal and healthy. Knowing that even avid exercisers hate the routine might also help motivate people to stick with it.

The key is ultimately not what you do, it’s the fact that you do it and the way you look and feel as a result. Jack LaLanne has made a living out of preaching the benefits of exercise. And he’s lived what he preaches, getting out there everyday and working out even though he doesn’t like it. I think most of us would agree, that’s a small price to pay for a long, healthy life. And long may he continue to enjoy the benefits. Go Jack!

And thank you Jack LaLanne, so long!

Shirley and I went for a walk the other day. It was a lovely cool, sunny day and we had gone out for a cup of coffee early in the morning and we just kept going. We ended up walking from San Francisco over the Golden Gate bridge to Sausalito. It was a beautiful walk, probably ten miles in all, and even though we didn’t carry anything with us other than a purse and a couple of magazines, somehow, we didn’t die of dehydration!

A miracle.

Wet idea

Well, it felt like it because all the way along the way we saw teeming hoardes of runners passing us and most of them seemed to be carrying bottles or water or had several smaller bottles of water on belts around their waist.

Now, it wasn’t a hot day and most of these runners weren’t setting what you might call a fast pace, yet they all seemed to feel the need for regular hydration.

The best Shirley and I managed was to stop at a cafe along the way and get another cup of coffee. Yet new research shows this may have been all we really needed.

A most refreshing beverage

The research, published in the journal Food Technology, says that when it comes to recovering from a tough workout or ensuring you are properly hydrated you can skip the fancy sports drinks and enhanced waters that are now all the rage, instead all you need are some old school beverages, tea and coffee!

That’s right. Tea and coffee. They’ve been around for hundreds of years and are probably the most widely studied drinks in the world and most of that research points to them both having big health benefits.

Tea is packed with anti-oxidants and other compounds that can have a beneficial impact on the immune system. Studies have shown that regular tea drinking can reduce your risk of diabetes and cancer.

Coffee has a similar pedigree, helping reduce your cholesterol and risk of gall stones and may even be able to help reduce the risk of you developing Parkinson’s disease.

The cup that cheers

Nice cup of tea

Of course, there’s no giant marketing campaign to position a nice cuppa tea as the best way to bounce back from a punishing game of tennis, or a coffee as a restorative beverage after a vigorous yoga workout, so I’m sure people will continue to spend billions of dollars every year on vitamin-water or some other new gimmicky drink and ignore the fact that the healthiest of drinks have been around for hundreds (in the case of tea for thousands) of years.

But it’s given me an idea for a whole new line of sports drinks. Instead of  having a belt with water bottles attached I want to create one that has a pot of tea on one side, a cup, milk and sugar on the other so that you can stop and make yourself a nice cuppa along the way. It may not improve your speed but it will certainly help you look more elegant as you sip while you jog.

Resolving not to make resolutions!

Normally I’m not one to make New Year’s Resolutions. I’ve done it in the past and haven’t been very good at keeping them – such as trying to learn Spanish or any foreign language, or even just trying to speak English more better – or I’ve made such easy ones that they really weren’t of any real significance.

I already go to the gym regularly and try to keep my weight under control so bang go those old standbys. I try to eat a healthy, balanced diet so that’s done. But this year I decided I was going to make a resolution, one that doesn’t limit me to any one issue or topic, but instead is expansive and can fit any and everything I do.

This year I’m going to try to be better.

Better at what? Everything. A better husband, friend, uncle, cousin, work colleague. A better writer. Better at staying in touch. Better at being more thoughtful. Better squash player (not hard really), better musician (really easy as I don’t play anything right now), just a better person.

There’s lots of room for improvement. Just ask anyone who knows me!

Deep thinker

My friend Dr. Bill Stewart in his fine book, ‘Deep Medicine’, says that every decision we make is about health. If we choose to eat a bag of Dorritos super cheesy chips rather than an apple we’re making a bad decision; if we choose to go for a walk rather than spending the day on the couch in front of the TV that’s a good decision. In the same way everything we do, every decision we make is about health, so everything we do or think or say has the potential to make us better people if we want it to.

That doesn’t mean I will always make the right decision or do the best thing or decide to act in a way that elevates my character. There may be days when I just think, “sod it, I can’t be bothered.” And that might be the right decision for me at the time. After all, I’m a firm believer in moderation in all things. Including moderation.

But I hope that overall I will stop before acting, and consider what I’m doing, consider how I’m thinking about something or someone and decide on an action or course of action that will make me a better person in the long run.

I know it’s kind of vague. OK, it’s really vague. But that’s the strength of it not its weakness. With specific resolutions where there is a definite goal – say wanting to lose weight (the number one resolution among Americans) or give up smoking (number two in the US) – you focus on one aspect of your life and direct all your energies towards that. It’s great if you lose the weight or kick the habit but if you don’t what happens? You end up feeling like crap and telling yourself you are rubbish and can’t stick to diets or exercise plans or you lack willpower  etc. With mine, I don’t end up in December saying “hey, I was 23% better/worse this year than last” but I do end up with a sense that throughout the year I have, hopefully, tried to do a better job or be better at everything I’ve attempted. If I have failed in some aspects the chances are I will have succeeded in others. And because the goal of being better is an open ended one, I can always carry on in 2012 and beyond.

First steps

Not a fashion statement

The first step, as always, is to be aware. to make a conscious decision to try and think things through before doing anything. Or at least to consider the options.

For example, in the past I’ve been rather judgmental about people who wear baggy cotton sweat pants and flip flops. It always says to me that this is a person who is just too lazy to make even the simplest effort to make themselves look, not even presentable, just halfway decent. In essence it says “I’m a slob and I don’t care.”

In future when I see someone dressed like that I will try not to pass judgment on them. I’ll try to see them as a whole and not just a pair of baggy sack-like trousers. They’ll still be slobs, but I will leave it to others to make that judgment because I’m better than that.

See, it’s working already.

There is a moment right after you have crossed the finish line of a Dragon Boat race – you are drained physically and emotionally, your throat is raw from yelling, your arms and back and legs are burning from the effort of paddling the 300 meter course – and then you look around you to see how you did and you realize that not only did you not win but that you finished fourth. Or fifth. In a field of six. It’s tough.

It’s tough not just because you lost but also because it makes you wonder about all the effort you put in training for weeks before the race; getting up early on a Saturday morning to inflict pain on your body, getting covered in slimy lake water, and ending up with aches in places you didn’t even know you had worked out. For that one moment you wonder what was the point. All that for nothing. That’s when the hand on your back reminds you why you are there.

That sinking feeling

This weekend 24 of us competed in the CPMC boat in the  Dragon Boat Festival on Treasure Island, along with dozens of other boats and hundreds of other competitors. Some do the sport year round, train hard, buy the best equipment, know what they are doing. We were in the novice division. We didn’t have our own boat. We didn’t even have our own paddles and  had to use big, borrowed, clunky wooden ones (hey, the carbon fibre ones cost more than $200, would you pay that for something you were only doing for four Saturdays in September!). We had three Saturday morning training sessions and then it was race day.

We lost. Not badly, we certainly gave it our all and tried as hard as we could, but we lost all the same. That realization produces a sinking feeling which is never a good thing to have in a boat that is just barely above the water.

All in it together

But that’s when that hand on the back shakes you out of that and reminds you why you are there. Because it’s such an amazing experience to get into a boat on that first Saturday training session with a bunch of people, most of whom you don’t know, and emerge a few weeks later feeling like a team, knowing you are surrounded by people who will give their very best, that you are all in this together. That’s such an amazing feeling.

For so many of us exercise is a solitary experience. We go to the gym and jump on a bike or treadmill or lift weights. We go for a run or a walk. Even if you are taking an aerobics class you get to the end without the aid of anyone else in the class. In Dragon Boats, it’s all about the team. That’s why that hand on the back is so wonderful. It’s a teammate reaching out to share in that moment, to acknowledge defeat, but more importantly to acknowledge that we all went down together, working as hard as we possibly could.

The memory of that defeat will fade, just as the joy at winning medals in previous years fades. But the feeling of that hand on the back doesn’t fade. It’s what keeps me coming back year after year, and it’s what will ensure that this time next year, I’ll be there again, ready to climb into a boat armed only with a paddle and a life vest thinking “oh my god, why am I doing this?”

I just don’t have time to go to the gym! By the time my work day is over, my workout is just too taxing! Look, I’d like to work out but….

Does this sound familiar?  Does it make you feel guilty?  Does it make you feel bad, not good, like a loser?  Just think about how long you have been saying these same words. “I’ve got to get into shape, soon!”  If you are like a lot of people, you started in your 20′s and how old are you now?

Do Not Worry! Healthy and Simple is here for you!

Because today our Work Out Wednesday is 3 minutes long!  Yes,  you can get into great shape by working out for 3 minutes!  The first  workout uses the whole body by doing a tricep repetition and include a kick-back leg movement.  You can do it with  weights that will challenge your muscles.  No weights? Use jugs of water, cans or even bottles of beer, just make sure that whatever you use is challenging, but they challenge not too challenging.  You want to stimulate the tricep not destroy it!  The arm movement is to the back with  the weight in hand, bend your elbow up to your shoulder and then reach back behind you. As you are doing that you are also stepping from side to side, stepping to the left when you are working your left arm and to the right when you work your right. Do this for one minute.

The second exercise is using a Pilates movement.  Stand with your legs a bit more than shoulder distance apart, with feet facing away from each other in a form of V shape. Then,  tucking your tailbone under, and with a straight back do a squat and as you come up kick one leg to the side – almost as if you are a ballet dancer (don’t worry, you’re doing this at home so no one can see). Then back into a squat and as you come up kick the other leg to the side. Repeat for one minute.

The last movement is my favorite, from kickboxing!  It’s the movement which begins by holding your fist in front of your face and pulling your arm back with your fist to the shoulder and punching as if you are punching someone with a hooking blow to the side of the head.  Then alternate to the other arm.  Punch that guy in the side of the head for saying those things to you! Alternate, then hit her in the side of the head for just looking at you like that…alternate, then punch him for telling you “No!”  alternate, then hit her in the side of the head for spreading those evil little rumors about the way you…..Wait!…Uh….Hahmmmmmm…(ah sorry about that…but it sort of felt kinda good…didn’t it? )

Just do each of these exercises for 1 minute each and you will have a great 3 minute workout.  Here’s the clip: quick workout

Here’s why I don’t wear pajamas. The other day my brother-in-law, let’s call him “Ken”, was putting his pajamas on and twisted his back. He hurt himself so badly he could barely walk for a couple of days. He’s ok now but obviously he’ll think twice before wearing pajamas again. Or maybe he’ll just start doing some stretches before getting ready for bed.

Speaking of stretching, a lot of people have completely the wrong idea about stretching. They think that you should stretch before you exercise, to loosen up the muscles and get your body ready for activity. The truth is, and there’s science to back me up here, that you should warm-up before you exercise but only stretch afterward.

Bad stretch

Stretching before running

Now, the latest piece of research in this area says that stretching before you run may have some really unexpected, and not desirable, results. In fact, the researchers say that distance runners who stretch before setting out may not be able to run as far as people who don’t stretch, but they’ll also expend more energy doing it.

The study, in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning, involved ten college distance runners who did two 60 minute runs on a treadmill; one run was after a 16 minute series of static stretches, the other run was without any stretching. At the beginning of each session the athletes were told to run as far as possible, but they weren’t able to see how far they had run or what speed they were running at, they simply had to go as far and as fast as they felt comfortable doing.

Shorter distance, greater effort

When the athletes stretched they ran 3.4 percent less than when they ran without stretching. What was just as interesting was that they burned 5 percent more calories when they ran after stretching than when they ran without. So, they ran less but burned up more energy.

Now, if your goal is to lose weight that’s great. But if you are a collegiate athlete the odds are that you are already pretty thin – not to say skinny – so you are not trying to shed pounds, you are trying to shave seconds off your time. Stretching is not going to help you.

So. To recap. If you are exercising warm-up first, stretch afterward. That’s it. Simple eh.

Unless you are putting your pajamas on. Then you might want to do some loosening up moves just to be on the safe side.

There is a phrase that I hear a lot at the gym these days. It usually involves someone, typically over the age of 35,  sitting on a chair or stool, red faced and sweaty at the end of a workout, saying variations on “Oh man, I’m too old for this.” The “this” in question can be anything from tennis or running to basketball, swimming or squash. But while the sport may vary the reason behind the statement does not – the body in question has taken a beating and doesn’t want to do it any more.

Ouch!

But here’s the amazing part. Next time I go to the gym I see those same fellows – and it’s always men because they don’t allow women in our locker room and for some reason the club won’t allow me in the women’s locker room to see if the same thing happens there  – doing the same activity, hurling their body around and bruising and battering it all over again.

Too old for what?

There’s an almost ritualistic quality to it. They tell themselves they are too old to do that kind of physical activity, and then go out and do it any way to prove they are not too old, or maybe just to say “Well, I may be too old but what the heck it’s too much fun to stop now.” It’s as if they are using the notion of “too old” to psych themselves up for the activity.

None of us are kidding ourselves that running or swimming or biking or playing basketball are age-defying activities. Our knees and backs and and ankles are constant reminders that we are not turning back the clock, that we no longer bounce back as quickly as we used to, that the things we could get away with in our youth no longer apply. Instead there’s a kind of wonderful “oh heck, who gives a tinker’s curse” approach. Everything wears out sooner or later and the more you do the greater the odds are that it will be later. And even if it isn’t then at least you can have fun along the way.

There’s endless studies out there that show if you exercise regularly you are better able to cope with stress, less likely to get heart disease or diabetes or even cancer, more likely to lead a longer, better quality life.

But to be honest, I’ve never heard anyone in the gym lift a weight and says “take that cancer” or chase a ball in tennis or basketball and say “wow, this greatly reduces the likelihood that I might develop type 2 diabetes in the upcoming year”. No, most people are doing what they are doing because they enjoy what they do or how it makes them feel.

Ice ice baby!

There’s a kind of camaraderie among us, sitting around after a tough workout,

Ankle, on the rocks!

bags of ice strapped to different parts of our body, trying to calm down the flaring and inflamed muscles and tendons and whatever else we injured.

It’s almost as if there’s an unspoken agreement among us. Yeah, we probably are too old for this. But what the heck, see you next time.

The other day the fabulous Miss Shirl and I were out walking when we came across three fellows working their gluteus maximi off. All they had was one piece of equipment in the park - basically a glorified pull-up bar - and some rubber bands, but man were they getting a great workout. It reminded me that if you really want to stay in shape all you need is the desire and a bit of imagination.

See what I mean……….

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlNZ-YS5qes

I have a friend, whom I have never met.  He is a young man in (where are you from Henrik?)  Oh, yes, Henrik lives in Sweden.

He is 30 years old going on “Wise” man  and he has spent (how many Henrik?) oh, yes, 5 years training himself in the power of Positive Thinking. Here  is what he has accomplished – in his own words:

• Switched from a generally pretty negative attitude to a much more positive one.
• Lost 26 pounds during 4 months in the winter/spring of 2009. I did it by using a program called Turbulence Training, check out the review here.
• Become a lot more present. I used to live a lot of my life in my head, in the past and in the future. Today I spend a lot more time living it in the present moment. It’s a wonderful thing.
• I have become a less shy and more confident person.
• I get things done. I used to be a real procrastinating slacker that never got much done. My effectiveness and productivity have shot up quite a bit since then (although I certainly still have room for improvement).
• I have created a highly successful blog. This blog has – in July of 2010 – 32000+ subscribers via email and RSS and hundreds of thousands of visitors each month. How did I do it? How to Build a Somewhat Successful Blog: 16 Lessons I Have Learned has a lot of answers.

Henrik is a man with a mission.  I have never actually met him, but his blog is filled with interesting lessons and lovely positive thoughts.  His picture is perfect for what he advocates.

So it was terrific tonight when I got home and got a message from Henrik.  My day had not been stellar!  It was one of those days when my computer wouldn’t do anything I asked of it, and although I was all set up for my favorite client, she came in and asked for other things which I could not bring up on my computer immediately, which made me feel the fool and a tad inept when she found a spelling error in the very first title page.

Geez, I felt completely disheartened after trying a number of times to burn a DVD of my work for my client, only to send her home with a DVD with “Nothing” on it.  Duh!

Knowing this, I spent another 2 hours trying to burn a “corrected” version of the DVD.  To No Avail!  Sorry, the computer said, No Can Do because the original can’t be found.  What?!!! It’s a Movie!  You Can Burn a Movie, said I…but no.

Then, I opened my g-mail and Henrik sent me this: