How to Do the At-Home Exercises

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I don’t list the number of sets or reps. It’s up to you what you want to do.

It’s strange and true that I’m a woman and I’m obssessed with having muscle.

I would like to swat with a pocketbook every female person who is afraid to lift weights because they tell you they’ll bulk up.

Those people will make any excuse not to exercise. Then they’ll go to the supermarket to buy a 6-pack of Slim Fast to try to lose weight.

Losing weight should not be the goal you have for exercising.

Ask yourself: Why do you want to lose weight?

To feel strong and powerful. To be able to carry home bags from the market.

These are better indicators than “I want to weigh 127 pounds”–some mythical number you’ve decided you must weigh to be happy.

A person should exercise to feel good. Period. End of story. A research study revealed that women who lifted weights felt better even when they hadn’t lost weight.

So there. My personal trainers over the years have offered this advice I give to you today:

Base the number of sets and reps on how much time you have that day to work out.

Doing a shorter routine is better than not doing a routine at all.

Use foam roller to stretch before and after the workout session. Warm up before and cool down after.

Incorporate HIIT into your exercise. Perform High Intensity Interval Training. Not too easy and not too hard.

You shouldn’t be able to have a conversation with no trouble while you’re exercising. You should need to exert effort to speak to get the benefit of HIIT training from your exercise.

Have a recovery snack after the workout routine. I have a container of Fage plain Greek yogurt the full-fat kind. I mix in organic blueberries and swirl in raw honey in the yogurt.

Strange and true too is that I prefer to do fewer reps and lift heavier weights. Instead of doing more reps with lower weights.

I kid you not I’m obsessed with how cut my biceps are.

 

Dumbbell Disclaimer

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The dumbbells on the Dick’s Sporting Goods website sell out quickly.

You need to keep trying back every five days or every week to see when the dumbbells come back in stock.

Refrain from giving up. The dumbbells will come back in stock.

Chris’s Workout #1

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You can watch YouTube videos to see the correct form.

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Upper Body:

Band Chest Press

Kettlebell Row

Dumbbell Overhead Triceps Extension

Band Bicep Curl

Kettlebell Upright Row for Shoulder

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Medicine Ball Slams – 16 Slams +

Band Core Rotation [Use the leg of a dining table should yours be secure]

30-Second Fast-Paced Step-Ups – I have a platform with two risers for each side +

Alternating Leg Raises Slow – 3 Sets

 

Lower Body:

Dumbbell Sumo Squat

Kettlebell Swings

Dumbbell Single-Leg Romanian Dead Lift

Farmer’s Walk with Romanian Dead Lift

Calf Raises

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30 Seconds Jumping Jacks +

Plank Tucks

30 Seconds High Knees in Place +

Alternating V-Ups

National Physical Fitness and Sports Month

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May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month.

I want to talk about getting fit and active while living indoors.

In the time of living through the pandemic the health of my body has become my number-one priority.

Good to Know:

On the Dick’s Sporting Goods website you can buy real-deal dumbbells. Refrain from buying the Made in China dumbbells sold on Amazon.com.

My 15 pound dumbbell set was delivered in only 3 days from Dick’s. The total cost was $55 dollars.

I’ve decided to post here some of the workout log exercises my personal trainers have given me to do in the last 2 years.

For one year so far I’ve lifted weights at home on my hardwood floor for 25 to 40 minutes total in each session. For mostly 2X/per week.

I only go to the gym to run on the treadmill.

My trainer at the gym creates a 2-section routine for me to use. Upper body and Lower body exercises that alternate with each other on different days.

I complete 12 sessions of the current routine. Then the trainer creates a new routine for me. And so on. And so on.

Doing this I have been fortunate to remain fit if not active living through the pandemic.

Faced with the option of talking a long walk outside [it was sunny and warm!] having to gasp for air under a bandanna I chose to life weights indoors.

In the coming blog entries I’ll give some of the exercises.

Theme for This Blog Going Forward

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My goal in this blog has become to act as a motivational speaker in print.

I envision my blog as being a safe space on the internet to promote what I value:

Living in health harmony and happiness with yourself and others.

Most likely I have written in here before that I value fitness of body, mind, spirit, career, finances, and relationships.

As I remain mostly indoors while living in the epicenter [New York City] of the pandemic I’ve decided to continue to write motivational blog entries.

I choose to cater to a target market of people coming together to honor, accept, and embrace each other’s individuality.

I choose to serve a target market of individuals who want to be healthy, wealthy, and wise in the ways that count.

I choose to use my life experiences and accumulated wisdom to educate, empower, and entertain a target market of people who seek to heal what’s not right in society:

Namely, the corrosive hate and judgment that reinforces stigma and makes it impossible to heal from any kind of ill-ness.

My focus will be on ideas I have for achieving mental and physical health.

In the next blog entry I will talk some more about the six categories of fitness talked about above.

Living in the Epicenter of the Pandemic

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I wanted to write about what it’s like to live in New York City–the epicenter of the pandemic.

1 in 5 New York City residents have been infected.

15,500 people here have died from the coronavirus.

58,000 people in the U.S. have died from the coronavirus.

1 million Americans in the U.S. have been infected.

The novel coronavirus appeared in the U.S. as early as late December 2019.

As a person who works with 100s of members of the public everyday I was at a greater risk for far longer than I should’ve been.

New York libraries shut down on March 16. It was revealed that the coronavirus appeared in New York State as early as mid-February.

I was put at risk far longer than I should’ve been. I don’t take this lightly.

Going outdoors I wear a black bandanna. I have a host of 10 red bandannas that I will alternate with the black bandannas.

You have to wash the bandannas frequently after using them.

I find myself gasping for air under the bandanna when I’m walking outside.

Screwed-up are the people who go outside and don’t wear a bandanna.

They’re putting other people at risk of getting infected.

Living through this tragedy in the form of disease I’ve come to a turning point in how I want to move forward writing blog entries here.

The pandemic has changed how I see things.

I’ve become more committed to championing mental and physical health for everyone living on earth.

Taking a Detour

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My life changed forever in one night in 1987 when I was 22.

I had to take a detour that lasted for 13 years. You got that right–13 years.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic I want to talk about taking a detour.

Let me tell you a detour is not a dead-end. It’s a pit stop along the way to a different path.

Maybe you’re not supposed to get what you want quickly and painlessly.

That is the goal as I see it–to embrace the struggle for what it is– a learning of something you need to know in order to get what you want.

I care a lot that in this pandemic everything seems to have been put on hold. A sunny day can be harder to envision.

I would say my life didn’t get better until I turned 35 and started my library job and moved to Brooklyn.

Sometimes where you start out isn’t where you should remain.

That is the ultimate purpose of a detour: to cement in your mind the one true path you must go down to be happy and fulfilled.

You don’t often figure out until you experience firsthand a setback the truth about who you are and where you should be going in life.

Again–I think of these things during the pandemic we’re living through. Of how it can seem like this is the end of everything–the end of your hopes and dreams for whatever you had hoped to achieve.

I say: use this time to engage in active reflection.  Get out a notebook and sketch out what your goals will be when the pandemic is over.

Shore up your good feelings while you shelter in place.

Remember that after things get better there’s so much life for all of us to live.

Adapting and Being Flexible

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I think now of the beauty and benefit of adapting to a challenge rather than expecting that things can go “Your Way” like they used to.

While the COVID-19 outbreak rages I make do–and sometimes that is all you can do–persevere in whatever fashion it comes to you to persist.

I’ve adapted in one specific way: I have a heightened sensitivity to the role of nutritious food and physical activity in promoting optimal health.

The crisis has turned out to be for me the catalyst in wanting to up my fitness game post-pandemic.

The unpredictability of getting food delivered has forced me to reconsider the food I’m able to eat right here right now.

For one I have had to buy regular produce not organic at times.

Being flexible in this regard will make all the difference. It reminds me to be grateful that after the crisis ends it will be easier to eat more healthfully.

In adapting and remaining flexible you hold the key to winning against a setback.

Which I will talk about more next.

It’s imperative to not lose sight of your life goals while experiencing a hardship.

Making Prioritizing a Habit

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One thing I’ve started to do as a coping mechanism in the time of the COVID-19 outbreak is to act strategic in planning what I need to do each week.

This sounds old-school yet prioritizing weekly activities has made all the difference.

In effect at the start of each week planning out what I want to do for that week. Right down to how and when I exercise and what meals I eat and when.

This isn’t a luxury afforded only to single persons without a family. Those of us with kids would benefit from slowing down and planning instead of  rushing about filling every hour of the day with busywork.

Years ago I read an online essay that a mother wrote about how she got off the activities treadmill with her family.

There were no soccer games on Saturdays in her house. Everyone lounged around in their pajamas instead happy at home.

In fact I think prioritizing “doing nothing” is imperative in our jam-packed lives.

Sheltering in place I’m reminded of the Italian ethic of dolce far niente or the sweetness of doing nothing.

One thing I’m making a priority too is enriching my mind. I’m devoted to picking out a couple of books from my new book pile and reading them.

Prioritizing might just give us back our sanity in a time of uncertainty.

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Side note:

Folks: I might have led you astray. It’s now impossible to schedule FreshDirect or PeaPod to deliver anytime soon or at all in this crisis. This turn of events happened last Thursday. The time slots fill up within minutes if you’re lucky to get one.

The only way to order from FreshDirect is to go on their website at 12:15 a.m. And hope it doesn’t crash from the record number of people logging on.

Mi dispiace – I’m sorry.

 

Recovering in the Time of COVID-19

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I consider my target market to be everyone who wants to have a better life.

Not just people in recovery. For a moment though I want  talk in more detail about recovery in the time of COVID-19.

The remedy is that the action a person takes can aid them in healing right alongside the pills.

After the COVID-19 pandemic ends we can’t go back to judging people for taking pills. Nor can we revert to judging people who are making strides in their recovery by holding a job or having an apartment.

Cheers to everyone who wants to have a better life regardless of the severity of their illness or other hardship!

What I’m saying:

Our lives cannot be measured out in doses and disability.

We’re individuals with skills, abilities, and strengths. These things count more than the pill count in a bottle.

Everything I write in this blog is geared to empowering readers by giving you information you could use that might benefit you.

We will recover from the COVID-19 pandemic as well.

In coming blog entries I’m going to give more insight gained living through this crisis.

Good to know:

12-Step meetings are now being held via online video.