Just Move...Do Something

"Action may not always bring happiness:

but there is no happiness without action."

- Benjamin Disraeli

Wow...what a change of mindset between yesterday and today. And all it took were some words of wisdom from a friend and moving my body. Sometimes we need to re-focus and keep moving. This doesn't always mean physically moving.

Moving can also mean, taking the next step or a step towards your goal/s, whether that be directly or indirectly. Moving can also mean mentally taking that step and thinking about what it is you would have yourself do in order to make progress. At some time this will need to be followed up with physical ACTION to help make your plans reality. Thinking about things is good. However, at some stage, getting up off the couch and taking what's in your head and transferring that to your body (moving from intent to action), is necessary if you want to see your plans come to fruition.

So yesterday, I moved my body. I hopped on the train and bus and went for my Home Core Program session with Deanne. And it was such a glorious day, much like today, and while waiting for the bus and train, I soaked up the sun and thanked God that I am fit, healthy and strong.

Today I rejoice at another glorious day of sunshine, and thank God again for my wonderful husband, beautiful daughter and a life full of blessings (thank you Wendy for reminding me), because there are many others who have less than I do, and so, I am thankful for what I have.

I've done my stretches; my house and garden are tranquil and I've enjoyed morning tea on my back patio and listened to the sound of the birds; soaked up the vibrant colours of my pansies and violas; starting re-reading my Paleo book; revised my training schedule, nutrition and 3 monthly goal, to help me re-focus.

I tried to find a photo of someone sitting in contemplation in a beautiful garden, I envisage as what I would like, but there only seem to be pictures of mature age people. Why is it so stereotypical? I found this photo which is similar to what I would like my back patio to look like. Very french! Now I want my Rhododendron (the shrub with the pink flowers) to look like the one in this photo. It looks exactly the same species as mine, right down to the colouring, except mine hasn't grown as big, and doesn't look as beautiful as this one (and mine is at the front entrance).

Okay...better finish up soon. I just wanted to talk about my Home Core program. I'm quietly excited about the exercises that Deanne has given me. I have to do them 3 times per week and they take about half-an-hour. This will be worked in as part of my training schedule, and has been labelled by De as what she calls a work-in (rather than a work-out) and includes walking, pilates, yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, stretching & mobilising. This is how she describes a Work-in...

"The general principle of Work Ins is their gentle, smooth and often rhythmical nature in movement. Whilst they still produce 'pumping' of the body (vital to our health), the intensity is typically low-moderate.As they aid recovery, rebuilding and growth of our body, these gentle activites are suitable for everyone, especially those who are stress laden.

Our bodies function at a highest level only when we maintain homeostasis (bio-balance). So think about balancing our body as driving a car. To keep the car moving straight, we need to balance the right and left. If the car is veering towards the left (stressed out), turning the steering wheel to our left (intense exercise or work out) only makes it worse. To move the car back to the middle of the lane, we need to turn the steering wheel to the right (Tai chi or Work In)."

I will be going back in a couple of weeks just to see how I went with the exercises and to make any adjustments if necessary. After that, I have to record my training schedule, including my core exercises, over a two month period to see if and what changes are happening. Now, I won't kid myself, this is going to take longer than 2 months to improve, but without this core work, I'm just not going to progress physically.

Deanne's assessment was interesting and I took note. I have a sway back (small), which obviously affects posture, but also my hip stability. Muscularly, my traps are a little overdeveloped, so I need to focus on using my mid-back and lats more. My rear deltoids are underdeveloped, in comparison to my front delts, but I'm not too sure how I'm going to tackle that, as I can't think of any Crossfit movement which is typical to working the rear delts, as most of them are large, functional movements. I might have to look at isolated weight exercises to rectify it.

The thing is, unless all my muscles are aligned and functioning properly, I'm just not going to get any stronger, and it's the core muscles which hold it all together and ensure neurologically, everything is activated and firing properly. As Deanne points out, I have alot of muscle strength, but I'm not going to get them all working in unison unless the trunk is strong enough, which will hinder my performance and any chance of getting stronger and fitter in the medium-longer term.