Category: Daily

Actually, it was yesterday.

But today’s the next best option.

What reasonable and realistic action can you take today that moves you one step closer to your goal?

-J

I don’t have the exact numbers on this, but somewhere around 99% of the health and fitness marketing and advice for women revolves around looks.

Amazon returned these book (sub)heads with ‘women fitness’:

Walking for Weight Loss

A Strong, Lean Body for Life

Interval Weight Loss for Women

Thinner Leaner Stronger

Lift To Get Lean

While it’s understandable that looks matter to most, it’s misguided to think it’s the number one concern for everyone. Who decided that looks is the main narrative? Whatever happened to feeling strong, powerful and full of energy?

Unfortunately, only a few women are ever satisfied with how their body looks. But I have to wonder, how much of this feeling is amplified by the mainstream fitness narrative of the slim, toned body?

This narrative is not only narrow in its definition. But also unattainable for most women because of body proportions, genetics, and, I don’t know, raising kids, working and other important commitments in life.

How much more content would you feel about your body if you wouldn’t see constant reminders of this weight loss/aesthetics narrative?

I can’t change that. But I can make a small contribution towards a healthier, more productive narrative. Here’s my promise.

I will never write about fat loss or aesthetics.

That doesn’t mean that fat loss can’t be your goal. Or that looking a certain way can’t be important for you. But there are plenty of trainers and coaches and resources specialising in that.

The last thing you need is another place where everything about your health and fitness revolves around your appearance.

Fuck that noise.

-J

ps. Yes, there are past blogs about it on my site and in my book. But I will no longer contribute to that pile.

Improving your fitness doesn’t necessarily mean you need to add in another workout, an extra walk, or a bike ride.

When none of the above are an option, find ways to get more out of the things you’re already doing.

That’s exactly what one of the Reps And The Rest readers did:

“I started taking a couple 5lb weights on our daily 25 min walk to try to kill two birds with one stone.”

I love this idea. I often carry a backpack (or a child) when mowing the lawn or going for a walk.

If dumbbells or a backpack are not an option, add ankle or wrist weights when going for your usual walk, mowing the lawn, or even vacuuming.

-J

ps. I forgot to ask this particular reader her permission to share this, so I am doing it anonymously.

A few things make you feel more capable than a Bordeaux glass filled to the brim with motivation.

When the glass is full, any fitness goal feels achievable. Everest Basecamp? NYC Marathon? Jumping The Channel? Sign me up already.

The restrictions and objections you once held are far behind you. (Maybe that’s because just before a full glass of motivation, the glass held The Chateau Lynch-Bages Pauillac 1983*. Although, a glass of motivation often strikes without wine too.)

Yet however magical it may seem, motivation doesn’t make the realities of life disappear. We both know this.

Sometimes it’s easy to get carried away with goals that have no wheels in reality. Work, kids, life, dogs… all the multiple roles you hold. They all demand and deserve some of your time.

And now might not be the time to be as ambitious with your fitness goals as you’d like to.

But now might be the perfect time to build a routine. To build a firm foundation of strength and fitness. And be ready when the time is ripe to jump The Channel.

-J

*A brief illusion of knowledge. Because yes, I definitely copy pasted that from Dan Murphy.

This might sound like just a cute play with words, but stick with me here.

You’ve spent years wrestling with the goal of how to get fit. And it hasn’t worked. So let’s flip it on its head.

Instead of trying to get fit(ter), avoid being (or getting more) unfit.

Instead of seeking solutions for getting fit, improve your understanding of what’s causing your current inactivity.

What are the behaviours that are eroding your health and fitness?

What is it about your routines, habits, environments or people that you spend time with that contribute to you feeling unfit?

Once you have all that listed, start eliminating or changing them one at a time.

Not to get fit. But to not get unfit.

-J

I wish it would because that’d be dynamite for marketing. But, alas.

However, in most cases, being strong will protect the joint and reduce the severity of the injury.

Take it from this client who rolled her ankle on Sunday.

Unfortunately, that upside gets often lost as we’re focused (understandably) on the injury that happened instead of thinking about the injury that could’ve happened.

-J

In January, I decided to put more emphasis on low-intensity cardio. You know, for heart health and all that.

Two kids and working from home really zaps my activity levels.

The late afternoon* was the only time I could fit in a decent cardio session without taking an angle grinder to everyone else’s routine. But I was already using that time for strength training.

Obviously, I didn’t want to forfeit strength training altogether. But I had to compromise.

Instead of doing a dedicated block of strength in the afternoon, I now do five or so minutes every hour I sit in the office, which adds up to about 20-30 minutes three or four days a week.

Is it ideal? Far from it. But it’s the best workaround I could think of where I could still at least maintain my strength.

But most importantly, it leaves me a decent chunk in the afternoon for a walk**.

-J

*Well, except late in the evening. But there are just too many moving pieces at that point in the day.
**Like now when I should really leave for a walk instead of typing this.

It’s true that you probably don’t have enough time for the perfect, glistening Rolls Royce workout plan. At least if you want to follow your training routine with any consistency.

Luckily, the most practical workouts are simple, reliable and about as glamorous as Toyota.

Far from perfect and not very pretty or exciting, but they get the job done.

And unlike the Rolls Royce version, you can squeeze in a Toyota workout whether you have 5 minutes or three-quarters of an hour. Even with little sleep and stress levels pressing the back of your eyeballs.

I haven’t done a Rolls Royce workout since at least 2018. And I can’t see myself doing them any time soon. Like you, I’ve got other shit to worry about.

-J

You don’t need a trainer, guru, influencer, or pastor to dictate how you should move or live.

You don’t need a list of optimal things you should do to improve your health and fitness.

Reclaiming your energy and strength isn’t something that’s done for or to you.

You’re the expert of your life. You can listen to the input from others, but in the end, you’re the one who decides where the guardrails go.

Instead of dictating what you should or shouldn’t do, a coach will help you find the things that work within those guardrails.

-J

In the early 90s, text television was the shit. I’d wake up in the morning, hit the ‘teksti tv’ button on the Finnish remote, and key in 235.

Like many kids in Finland, I followed the NHL (the National Hockey League for all you non-ice hockey people) from when I was barely out of nappies. Keying in 235 on text television took you to the page with all the last night’s NHL scores.

From October to June, I’d wake up to that site like I was summoned to a religious sermon. Every single morning. As did all of my friends.

The methods changed over the next 30 years, but one thing stayed the same: I knew everything that was happening in the NHL. And for the last two decades, hockey’s been the only sport I follow.

Once I moved to Australia in 2007, my obsession with the NHL became more feverish. The change in time zones meant that the games were on during my daytime instead of overnight, like in Finland. With the subscription service, I could watch as much hockey as my bleeding eyes could take.

Then one day last December, I was trying to find more time to read books, write, and get in some cardio.

As I examined my time use, it was clear that keeping up with NHL took up hours each week. Watching highlights (I quickly learned that watching full games is a no-go with two young kids), keeping up with the news, rumors, whatever. It all took a lot of time.

The more I thought of it, the more my relationship with hockey started to feel like a relationship held together by our 30+ year history.

I mean, we still had the spark. But just because we’re still occasionally bowling together doesn’t mean we should redo our vows, tattoo each other’s names on our foreheads, and start a polka band.

At the same time, I didn’t want to end the relationship because being a hockey fan was a huge part of my identity.

But then again, I fucking love a good book.

And so, that same December evening, I deleted the NHL app from my phone and decided not to follow hockey for the rest of the regular season, which would go on until April.

Surprisingly, since the app was no longer on my phone, I had zero urge to keep up with hockey scores or news. I didn’t miss it.

Once the playoffs kicked in, I followed the scores on and off. But this was the first time in, well, ever, that I wasn’t that invested in what was happening, which felt weird.

Not unlike watching your ex-partner date other people, get married, and have kids. I mean, I am very happy for them. And also, thank god we went our separate ways.

What’s the point of all this?

Sometimes we spend our time doing things for reasons that we think matter.

Only when we look deeper might we find that our reasons aren’t ours anymore.

-J