Are you ready?

Okay, so it's been awhile. And I'll tell you why. My mother, who was bipolar all her life, committed suicide by stepping in front of a train over a month ago. 

It's sad, tragic, and has been very stressful on my family. But I like to try to put a positive spin on things, so in pointing out the positive aspect, I'll say this - I won't go out like that.

Two weeks after I heard the news, I gave a talk on the importance of exercise and sleep in terms of mental health. It was hard, but I wanted to help. Exercise, for me, has literally been a life saver. I had a few episodes in my late 20s when I didn't want to live. It's not that I wanted to die - it was just that living held only pain for me  and I needed a way out. 

I've done the medication thing, which proved to be disastrous for me, but what helped me cope daily was using my body for work, feeding myself good food and getting my rest. 

Nearly a third of mental health patients (bipolar, anxiety, depression) don't respond to medication. Exercise can be as effective as meds as they change brain chemistry by stimulating the pituitary gland to release endorphins - that's right, the feel good hormones. You're also taking an active role in your own recovery, which further boosts self-esteem. Cardio - the term we apply to steady-state exercise where the heart rate remains elevated - is the fastest producer of the runners' high, but any moderately intense excercise counts. Riding a bike, using the elliptical, walking the stairs or just walking, are all examples. Weight training, which I think everyone should do, can also give that high feeling. For me, there's something very cathartic about abusing inanimate iron. 

What about yoga? Well, in a word, perfect! It combines strength and flexibility and the meditative aspect cannot be beat for calming and entering a frazzled mind.

What I learned through this group meeting, and through my recent loss, is that stuff can happen at any time, and you have to be ready. If you have certain tools in place - like nutrition, exercise, rest, support - you'll be better able to cope when things happen. 

Perfect Opposites

I started working out to maintain a healthy body weight and accidentally became a bodybuilder. Not like those huge dudes who look deformed, but pound for pound, I'm stronger than many men and most women.

So what is a bodybuilder doing in yoga/hot yoga classes?

Because they're perfect opposites! Weight training movements are all about contracting - in other words, shortening the muscle, while yoga is about lengthening the muscles. 

When I weight train, I'm fierce, almost angry, even though I LOVE how I feel. I take out my anger on the iron. And talk about solitary - I put on my iPod and focus and prefer not to be bothered.

In yoga class I could not be more different. I feel calm, at peace, and connected with my classmates.

It's good to use your body in different ways. I'll always be a bodybuilder, but doing other activities helps me to be better at the one I love most!

Exercise Presciption

I've been asked to speak at a course on the topic of exercise and mental health. I can't believe I haven't touched on this yet - it's so important!

I'll admit that I started working out for vanity. But what I learned was that as much as exercise is good for your body, it's also good for the soul. 

Of course, there's the endorphin rush. But there's also the focus that brings you into the present, new neural pathways forming with new movements, and the general awareness that you're taking control and actively trying to improve. 

Exercise is as effective as medicine, or more so, in treating depression in many cases. And it's natural and free.

Sometimes when you feel bad it can be hard to even move, but if you force yourself, you'll be glad you did. And if you're already perfectly happy, a workout still won't hurt!

Gratitude For A Gift

I'm pretty bummed out these days. My poor kitty is totally blind now, since his left eye went bad 10 weeks after we took out the right one due to glaucoma. For that and some minor personal medical stuff, I've been wallowing in self-pity, guilt, and general depression. 

But tonight I reconnected with a client I haven't seen in over 4 years, who has since developed a brutal, rare autoimmune disease. It has turned her life upside down. Not that I derive pleasure from the suffering of others, but while she sat there telling me all the things she had planned and now cannot do, I started feeling kind of small.

 Who am I to be sad and blue when I still have my health? Without that, everything is harder. Some things are no longer achievable.

It helped to remind me that I'm supposed to be thankful every day that I'm healthy. I was taking my health for granted, forgetting what a gift it is, and I'm ashamed of myself for that. It could change in the blink of an eye and then I'd be sorry I wasn't grateful before. Lesson learned.

Pick-up Line

I've been riding in the city for over 20 years, and in that time, I have noticed that certain drivers can usually be counted on to behave like cretins, especially around cyclists. 

Taxi drivers are the worst. Bus drivers also appear to resent those of us who prefer 2 wheels. I've been hit by 2 cabs and shoved into traffic and cut off by buses too many times to count.  I'm not saying all cab drivers or all bus drivers are out to get me, but I take extra care around them and I'm never surprised when they refuse to share the road.

The latest group is drivers of pick-up trucks. Again, not everyone who owns that type of vehicle is dangerous driver, but all that towing power and hemi-this and that seems to appeal to the kind of man who takes very stupid risks and it is only because I am such a good cyclist that I haven't been taken out by one of these morons yet. 

What is it? I don't know, but I can't help thinking, 'Big truck, small dick'. Maybe that's why they're so angry?

No Limits

I was working on the squat press yesterday when a member came over and asked me "What's the highest number of plates you've done?" (45 lb plates)

I answered, truthfully, twenty. Yes, 900 pounds, plus an estimated 50 - 60 pounds for the weight of the apparatus. 

She was blown away. Her trainer had her up to 270 and she thought that was extreme. I assured her it was not.

What I learned from my trainer and my own journey, is that women underestimate our strengths, as does society at large.

 I have been accused of using steroids in the past to achieve some of my heaviest weights and my physique. (I have not, and would not EVER cheat like that and destroy my body in the process.)

I told the woman "Don't let yourself be limited by conventional wisdom or 'science'. 

The human body is capable of feats previously thought impossible, and now that it is common for women to weight train, we're killing it and proving a lot of people wrong.

For example, a new client asked me, "is it true that women can't do chin-ups?" To answer I did a chin-up right then and said      "No."

I'm not saying every woman should go out today and try for chin-ups and 900-pound squat presses, especially without proper progression, but don't let anyone convince you that you can't do something because you're a woman. 

The weaker sex? I think not.

Never Too Late

One of the cleaners at my gym started working out recently. She comes in half an hour early and exercises during her break. Now she also does yoga. And she loves it!

This woman is 64, a breast cancer survivor, and besides her day job, spends her afternoons caring for two young grandchildren. 

She's a perfect example of 'never too late'. She's also proof that exercise can strengthen and tone at any age. The best part, though, is her excitement - she's doing something new and positive and it's just for her. 

I love it!