September 10, 2009

280 Today’s post is dedicated to MizFit. She has been inspiring me since Day One and today her guest-blog post felt almost psychic. Her blog post (written by guest George) is about working out every day.

Not too long ago a friend Tweeted me (Twittered me?) and said “Dude you work out every day? You are hard core!” That made me laugh. I do not think of myself as a hard core person, especially in terms of workouts. But gradually over the past months I have come to expect that unless something (see MizFit’s post on what those somethings might be) comes up that makes it impossible, I will work out every day. It used to be that I would work out “when I felt like it.” Which could range from “never” to once or twice a month. Then I began working out, by schedule and appointment, about 2 times a week, maybe 3x if I was feeling extra hard core (ha). THEN I started aiming for 4-5x a week. But then I’d forget, “What is the day I don’t work out again?” and eventually it morphed into, if I am alive and breathing, not injured or ill, then I’m working out.

It helps a LOT that I do different things on different days. Some days I run. Some days I go to a Nia class. Some days I go to my trainer and do weights and stuff. Today I woke up in a hotel so I went to the fitness center (a really, really great one!) and did 40 minutes on the elliptical, a bunch of free weight and ball stuff, and some other stuff. When I read the MizFit post, it made me really happy. I was like YEAH! I feel good now, and ready to do all the other things in my day.

SO, in honor of and in gratitude for MizFit and all she says and does, I am doing a giveaway today! I have a wonderful size L women’s T-shirt designed (I think) by Miz herself. I ordered it because I always assume that if something says “womens” then it is automatically very tiny. But this shirt is actually pretty large, and too large for me. I would guess it is about a size 14-ish. Maybe 12. So I am going to be ordering another in a different size for myself, and I am giving this one away.

In order to be eligible to obtain this fantastic piece of apparel, just leave a comment here about your favorite/most used/most creative excuse to NOT exercise, AND what response you can come up with to turn that around so that you DO exercise. Example:

Excuse: I don’t have enough time. (this is certainly not creative, but it is common)

Response: I have plenty of time. In fact, I am going to ______ while __________ or instead of ________.

OK? Ready set go!

I’ve been taking Nia in so many places it’s making my head spin (um, literally!). But it’s very interesting.

Last Sunday after the 5k I went to a great class with an awesome Nia teacher. What I didn’t mention is that that class was actually FILLED with Nia teachers. One of the participants turned out to be a Nia teacher who was visiting from … Ecuador! She was just a few feet away from me and was absolutely amazing to watch: graceful, beautiful, fluid. There was another person near the front who seemed to have an INCREDIBLE amount of energy. Whereas the teacher usually demonstrates, “This is level one.. this is two.. three…” in terms of exertion etc., this woman was operating at like level EIGHT. I was thinking, whoa, are you over the top? Are you trying to outdo the teacher? But it turns out she was an instructor as well. It made me curious – does she teach her classes at that level? Do her students feel intimidated? Or energized?

The next day, I took another class at a new place, where I thought I’d be with a teacher I’d had before and liked a lot (the dimpley, “gooey” one!). But it turned out that she wasn’t there, and the class was taught by a sub. All I can say about that experience is that it was one of the only Nia classes I took where I felt like it just was not a good match for me. The music rubbed me the wrong way (think elevators and dentists). The teacher seemed physically not quite up to the job. She was enthusiastic and seemed to be having a good time, but this class was a little bit too much DIY (do it yourself) for my preference. If this was my first class, I do not think I would return.

Today, I went to a class two thousand miles from home. I was warmly welcomed by the teacher. It turns out this class is brand new, and there were only two students! (including me!) It’s a good thing this was probably my 8th? class or else I would have probably not been able to deal with that. The teacher was good. The other student was good. It was all good. It didn’t knock my socks completely off, but it felt familiar in all the right ways and unique in some good ways too. I thought it was impressive that this teacher could teach a class to TWO people and seem perfectly comfortable and relaxed, as if she were teaching to two dozen. I was happy I went, and I will certainly try to return if I can manage it. After the class, the teacher asked how I liked it and said she had not been teaching Nia very long (could’ve fooled me!). I told her I’d enjoyed it a lot. (true)

One of the things I’ve noticed about Nia is their great ability to “translate” certain movements into descriptions that just make so much sense. I am normally a terrible dancer, I have a hard time following instructions and it can take me forever to pick something up. But some of the phrasing I’ve heard in Nia makes me feel like I “get it” right away and I don’t feel like I am completely out of synch with the entire class. A few things I’ve heard have been: “your hands are seaweed” – (yeah, flowy!) – or, “we’re surfing” (changing balance in that crouched position) – wiping a table, pulling out an arrow (from your stomach? OW!) etc. It’s all very visual an accessible.

I am really looking forward to a big “Nia Jam” coming up in a few weeks, which is a two-hour extravaganza taught by a whole slew of teachers. It should be so interesting! and fun. If anybody around wants to check out Nia, this could be a great opportunity to try it out.

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