Lifting heavy stuff and other exercise-y support

Hey check out Missmirakwon on Flickr lifting 85kg hex dead lift. No really, look at it, you need to look at it.

Did you look at Missmirakwon’s video like I told you to? Good, because I did that this morning. I lifted 80kg hex dead lift 8 reps (or “times” if you’re outside of the gym). I felt good doing it; and fantastic afterwards.

I’m documenting this because I did have a plan of abandoning the hex dead lift upon entering the gym this morning. I’d decided that I couldn’t lift 80 kilos after last week’s ugly attempt - 6 wobbly reps with poor form. During the week I’d done a few High Intensity Intermittent Training (HIIT) sessions at the University of Auckland’s gym and it seems to have made a real difference. Which proves, yet again, you don’t always have to lift heavy stuff to lift heavier stuff.

Now, I’ve been working with a personal trainer for a year. If you have known me for a year, and I hadn’t told you that I’d been working with a personal trainer for that whole time, you’d be surprised. I don’t look very different at all now compared to 12 months ago. But I am, in fact, very different.

Not only am I much stronger, I have better balance, my sleep is much better, my “digestion” is marvellous, I can get down onto the floor and, get this, get. back. up. again. I know, right? Incredible.

The first session I had last year, I had to do some stuff on the floor a) I nearly died and b) I couldn’t get up again without first crawling over to a chair and using it to help me back onto my feet. I don’t need no stinking chair no more. I have strength in my legs now!

But no, you won’t notice just looking at me. I still look overweight and dumpy but change is a-foot from the inside-out.

Digital fitness

Seconds Pro app

I know that most smart phones and watches have timers on them of some time. But Seconds Pro is so much better than any built-in clock. If you do HIIT, Tabata, or any exercise where you have a certain amount of time exercising and resting, this is the best bloody app I’ve found. Programmable, colour choices, sounds counting up and down so you don’t have to keep looking at the phone - it seems expensive compared to other apps in the market but truly, best value for money amen.

Seconds Pro in the App Store

Natacha Oceane

I know, she’s a person, but she’s a flipping generous and fit one. Each week she shares an exercise routine via Instagram you can use for free. She’s also developed a small but perfectly formed stable of exercise regimes available for purchase and use via the Aflete app. Check her out because she’s revolutionised thinking around exercise and revved up my gym visits thanks to her CUT workout schedule #fangirl

Natacha Ocieane’s website

Chris Hemsworth Spotify Playlist(s)

21 songs in a playlist that just work with your exercise session. I think Mr Hemsworth has shared other playlists for different body parts/tempo, but this one just works for most of my sweaty workouts so far. Check it out and let me know how you go.

Spotify: Chris Hemsworth - for those in the making

Yoga with Adriene

Adriene and her youtube.com yoga is so good it might just change your life, man. She’s got something for everyone; from a ten minute session for busy people to a 30 day guided journey. If you think yoga is passive, do a couple of her sessions and you’ll find both your body and mind will feel the difference. Oh yeh, and it’s 100% free!

TRUE - 30 day yoga journey with Adriene

UPDATE 14/05/2019 - 85KG X 6 REPS

Getting pickled: how time changes stuff

My youngest son (28) came around this morning for breakfast, to do his washing, and to show me how to make sauerkraut. He'd come to see me last month to scrounge a box full of jars to use to store and ferment food, and now he’d experienced the whole life-cycle of the process and consumption, was ready to teach me how to do it too.

When my children were small and I was a stay-at-home mum, everything they knew I knew too. I knew what they knew because they’d either learned it from me, or I was in the room when they learned it. That started to change after they started having experiences outside the home: first kindergarten, then school, then self learning.

In the beginning it was a bit strange. Hearing my son read for the first time, I asked “Who taught you that??” He told me he’d learned it from school. That happened with lots of things - school taught him how to read and count and multiply and write and play sports and draw and then all of a sudden he’s this fully formed person who, while he still needed someone to cook his dinners and clean his clothes, didn’t really need me for learning new stuff.

He grew up and learned so much. He went to University and out-learned me easily. Now he’s 28 and teaching me how to ferment cabbage.

From the moment your child leaves your body, they are growing away from you. In the beginning it’s slow and imperceptible. Over the years the gap widens and the rate at which it grows increases.

All of a sudden they’re gone.

They truly don’t really need you any more.

If you’re super lucky, they come back sometimes. To use your dryer, or to eat your bacon, or ask advice, or tell you they’ve met the love of their lives.

I’m super lucky - not just because I have a dryer and some bacon. I also have a jar of fermenting cabbage that will be sauerkraut in two weeks and a memory of spending time learning new stuff with my youngest son.

Might be over now, but I feel it still

Original by Portugal. The Man