Last post I talked about the different components of fitness that I integrate into my weekly movement account. Driven by the accountability of writing this blog, I know I have been pushing things a little bit hard; so this past week, I began to rebalance my portfolio of movement investments.
I previously explained that walking my dog twice a day (with some enhancements, such as running, skipping, or rock hopping) is my daily foundation; it’s going to happen and I give it significant time. Along with that is yoga, although yoga has not been daily this past while. That is because I’ve been doing two days a week of more traditional bodyweight strength training, and THAT has further resulted in needing some walk-only-days to recover. So, my week was looking like this:
Every day: Walking-(plus) the dog morning and evening.
Saturday: Challenging yoga
Sunday: Easy yoga in the AM. Bodyweight strength in the evening.
Monday: Maybe only walking the dog.
Tuesday: Yoga
Wednesday: Bodyweight strength work in the evening.
Thursday: Maybe only walking the dog, maybe some gentler yoga.
Friday: Maybe some moderate yoga, maybe not, depending on how I felt and what I was gearing up for on Saturday.
I previously noted that I have found the yoga to be really good for me and yet I’ve been shortchanging it. Hmmm. Time to rebalance, in more ways than one! Last week I began to do just that. First, I pared back to two clear main activities: the dog-time and, starting five days ago, daily yoga, with an initial commitment to 21 days of #yogaeverydamnday.
I’m also practicing with less aggressive yoga sessions, being more respectful of myself, my recovery, how I feel, and keeping me fresh for whatever else I do. After that, I’m doing any additional muscle and strength work by simply adding in two or three sets of one exercise following my time on the road with Chester.
For instance, I get back in the morning and/or evening from walking Chester and then finish with one exercise, such as chin-ups (or, in the case of leg exercises, maybe I wait until mid-day or evening to knock out my sets if I want fresh legs). The exercises I snack on right now are:
- Broad jumps (gotta do these warmed-up, though; they’re OK after a basic walk)
- Single-dumbbell, uni-lateral thrusters; they’re just kind of athletic fun. I work them from a deeper squat, so I’ve also got to do these warmed up; I’ll do them mid-day, or in the evening, with some hip mobility work first — a nice little ten-minute movement snack break.
- Stability ball leg curls
- Chin-ups
- Push-ups
- Hanging leg curl-ups.
I like to think of the single exercise as being a small movement “snack” after the dog walk or after sitting at a Zoom for too long. No big meals of those particular exercises! The plan is to do each of those exercises twice a week, doing only one exercise at a time. Now my week looks like this:
Every day: #chesterthegolden morning and evening
Every day: gentler to moderate yoga in the morning or later afternoon (with one longer and more challenging yoga session on a weekend day)
Every day: one or two single exercises after walking the dog, or sometimes mid-day
It’s hard to get over an orientation of only “more” being good. In Taekwondo training even in my forties, harder and more was the standard, as it was in any supplemental activity such as weight training. I still now find that no matter what I start I always swing to progressively more challenge and push, and then need to step back and cruise at an slower speed for a while. Unfortunately this is often sparked by tweaking something pretty good and then it not going away. It’s my body’s built in financial advisor slapping me in the head and telling me to rebalance before there are more nonrecoverable losses; I am reminded that I am investing for long-term movement retirement and, even if I want to maximize my returns and future physical wealth, I have to be cognizant of not taking undue risks and busting my account.
I don’t know about the rest of you grandpas, but I want to remain as physically rich as I can as long as I can. Daily and sufficiently-challenging movement is my greatest investment. I want my grandson to have a very rich grandpa.
Your Turn: What’s your history of getting your physical accounts out of balance, or keeping them in balance? Maybe you’ve always been broke, or have always been rich, or have lost it and regained it. Do tell! Comment please!
What I’ve Been Doing
My Chester-walking-&-play
Josh Chen’s Flow to Slow and his Morning Stretch Flow . Here I go!
My muscle & strength movement snacks. Here’s one.
Grandpa Mode 