As 2020 draws to a close you may be thinking about your health and the year ahead.  Perhaps you are hatching resolutions? “2021 will be the year I ….. “  Throughout my life I’ve made many resolutions which have fallen by the wayside.  Recently, I’ve come to understand the negative impact these failed attempts can have on our belief in ourselves and our abilities.   You may shrug it off as “just one of those things that didn’t happen” but deep down may feel like you’ve let yourself down.  Trust in yourself may be eroded and at some level you may doubt “it” will ever happen.  You may lose faith and feel let down by your good intentions.  If so, don’t be hard on yourself.   Applaud efforts and in 2021, if you are tempted to set New Year’s resolutions or goals take some time to re-visit any discouraging attempts and identify what derailed your plans.   A common pitfall is setting a far-reaching goal without creating the small daily habit required to see it through.  “I want to lose 10 pounds” could become “I will eat a cup of vegetables at 2 meals a day” or “I will attend 4 fitness classes a week” or “I will go for a thirty minute walk after dinner.”  Choose one habit to implement for a month as a starting point. There is a whole year after-all.   Set yourself up for success by making your new habit, that supports your goal, something that is simple to do on a daily basis. For example, my attempts to quit smoking failed many times before I realized I needed the help of a patch.   My narrow efforts to quit did not work.  After I committed to putting on a daily patch I found success.  I was also motivated by not wanting to fail and start over, so the past “fails” were in the end helpful to keep me on track.  But on to 2021.  Personally, I am not ending 2020 feeling my best and a re-set is required.    Instead of the vague, sweeping goal of “I’m going to clean up my act” (which is what this is really about),  I am going to define the new habits I wish to develop to start 2021 on a stronger note.

Goal: Move better.  Feel better. Live better.  How? Replace non-serving habits with better practices by:

  1. No hitting snooze! Get up when alarm goes off = more time in the morning = less rushed = reduced stress = better time management = day started on right foot.
  2. Identify a daily victory. Record, in writing, in a journal, prior to going to sleep, one thing in the day that classified as a victory, i.e. made it to gym and did workout (when I wanted to stay home) or ate pile of greens.
  3. Improve hydration. Drink half a cup of water upon waking. Habit: Place measuring cup next to coffee pot before going to bed.
  4. Increase range of motion. Complete Daily Movement Commitment (DMC) There are currently 16 Empower Re-sets in circulation. If this goal appeals to you, choose one to do.  I made a couple of revisions to #16 to suit. For example, I do not have the flexibility for a judo push-up rock and replaced with a hands and knees rock.  I’ll stick with #16 for a month to ingrain DMC. When creating a new habit make it quick and easy to do, not laborious and hard to fit into your life.   Want a routine for yourself? Let us know!

January 2021 DMC

1 min standing breathing
30/30 sec head Nods/rotations

2 mins
20 cross touch dead bugs
10 windshield wipers

2 mins
20 cross touch bird dogs
10 hands and knee rocks

2 min frog roll

3 min plank hold: left/centre/right

3 rounds
1 min pike handstand hold from floor
20 cross crawls

3 rounds
1 min table-top hold
1 min squat hold

3 mins get ups (switch lead leg every 3 reps)

Time commitment = 20 minutes

Athletics: Post Holiday WOD

11:15am 12.27.20

A body weight grinder to get us back after a couple days of feasting and relaxing.  Some alternative ways to approach this workout are to reduce reps to 15.12.9 or 12.9.6.  If doing strict pull-ups consider reducing reps to 5-7.   For ring rows find a hard foot position for sets of 5 or increase reps to 20 per round.  At home pull-ups options without a bar or rings = odd object rows, renegade rows and banded rows.  No equipment pull-ups subs: plank up downs, push-ups or tri-cep dips.

In gym low cardio replacement options:

Run = 10 deadlifts (KB or barbell – choose a light weight, allowing for unbroken movement with solid form)

Lunges = 20 DB floor press or plate raise to press out

Burpees = 60 second overhead plate hold or carry to 4th tree

Warm Up: 5 min amrap:

10 down dog knee-ins, 10 FB rocks to stand, 20 cross crawls

WOD: 

7 Rounds

400 m run or equivalent bike/row/ski erg

21 body weight lunges

15 pull-ups

9 Burpees

Cool Down

30 bird-dogs, 30 dead-bugs, dragon, pigeon, thread the needle, child’s pose, 10 belly breaths, big smile and air high five!

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