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 DON'T KEEP DOING IT
JUST BECAUSE YOU USED TO
I heard that one of my daughter's friends tried to pierce her own ears.
Not only did she end up with an infection but she ended up by getting
less of what she wanted in the first place.
It will probably be awhile before she has jewelry dangling from her ears, I am guessing.
And after I finished ranting to my daughter, which, by the way, gets ME less of what I want -
which is information about why this young girl would attempt such a thoughtless, not to mention painful procedure,
Then, it occurred to me that when I was twelve,
I marched down the street and Nancy,
our neighbor,
put me on a stool in her kitchen,
put an ice cube on the front of my ear,
a potatoe on the back
and after a few icy minutes,
she took a darning needle and
VOILA!
Pierced ears.
This reminds me of how people at the gym tell me how far and fast they used to be able to run but now,
now,they have to ice their knees for a half hour after a run or if they sit down after a jog, they can't get back up. In other words, what used to be totally normal is now not only NOT working but in some cases seems NUTS.
When my friends from the gym complain about pain or limiting tightness from their running, for example,they ask me why I think they should give up running when it is their passion,
I explain that just because we used to blood-let in the Middle Ages doesn't mean we do it now, right?
If we want to keep doing what we love doing then we have to be smart. We have to switch it up. That's why cross training is so important. Not only should we do different types of exercises, we should do different durations with some workouts longer and slower, then some shorter and more intense.
It would be nice to imagine ourselves at seventy years old, running like those runners in a triumphant NIKE commercial, but if we keep doing workouts that jeopardize our joints, just because we used to ,
the end result will be more crippling than triumphant.
Find something that feels challenging. But don't just keep doing it because you used to.
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MAKE A FITNESS DATE
Everyone knows that you cannot teach your spouse ANYTHING. As soon as you start to instruct your partner, he/she reflexively gets annoyed and shuts down the part of the brain required to learn new information. That's why Larry still doesn't know how to play Canasta and also why I can't play tennis.
But one thing that partners CAN do together is find a fitness activity, or a hobby to do together, hopefully as unimaginably often as once a week.
A lesser known fact about the difference between men and women has to do with their brains. The two halves of the brain are separated by a neuromuscular bundle called the Corpus Collosum. This membrane is actually thicker in men than in women.
My theory is that this is why women seem more readily able to see differing view points and to be notoriously more empathetic when some car cuts them off in traffic. Women do not usually think to flip them off or even consider rolling down the window to scream profanities at the offending car.
ANd conversely, women tend to try to get men to participate in fitness activities that they themselves like. Because of their feminine predisposition to mentally cross over, may I suggest that women consider participating in a sport that their male counterpart enjoys?
We, as the female species, are more able to open our minds to hobbies or activities that might contribute to the higher good. By having something physical to do together(and I don't mean go to the soccer game either) the bonus is that this can bring us closer to our spouse.Not just proximally, but in a more connected relationship sense.
EVEN if that activity does not really inspire me to dance around in a little circle every time it crosses my mind, I can still benefit in ways that my thinner membraned brain can more fully appreciate.
And maybe, just maybe, if we've just been to the golf course for 9 holes, he will be less likely to notice it when that car that always cuts him off in traffic does it again
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REMEMBER, GOOD HEALTH IS
JUST THE SLOWEST WAY TO DIE.
IF YOUR FITNESS QUESTION WASN'T ANSWERED
SEND ME AN EMAIL, THOUGH I RESERVE THE RIGHT
TO THROW MY HANDS IN THE AIR AND SAY
"I HAVE NO IDEA"
Penny Love Hoff
CHECK OUT MY BLOG
www.fitcouples.com
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