WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD! (artist and /or composer, anyone?)

Great day today, isn’t it?  What day isn’t?  Tell you what, if ANYONE can tell me what day isn’t great, I’ll have to get into a rebuttal with them.  Here’s what I say today about that; this morning, I had a schedule change, which sometimes I question, when it happens at the last minute.  Here’s what I figured out;  that it isn’t the schedule change that engages the “I question” mentioned above, it’s the routine that gets disrupted.  I think that we all know that theme; routine.  I think it’s a cue that we must go forward,  on our routine, but I also think that change is the biggest hurdle to climb over.  The greatest feeling that I get when we accept change, with an open mind, is that anything is possible, even within the “smallest” change.  To me, that makes the world beautiful, ( why would I think this?)!  This morning, instead of sulking, for the next 1/2 hour, I put in a GREAT workout in a very short period of time; and guess what?  I felt great, and, by the way, that’s happened many times before.  Time limitations, great workouts!  Here’s the point, no time is wasted  because of a schedule change.  I think we all have gone through that in our professional lives, and personal lives.  That’s just life’s way of taking us to a place we need to go; for our wonderful world to open up!  Sometimes we need that change, to help us remember that an open mind means we have to evaluate the position we are in now, in this present moment.  This might sound silly, but it’s not, if you think about it.  A changed schedule for me this morning, turned into a great workout; a flat tire means that maybe you’re not supposed to be on the road at that particular moment.  We can turn those negative thoughts into a positive thoughts, and what could be better???  Negative into positive; frown into smile…awww, that’s’ what I’m talkin’ about!

So what is all of this leading to?  Time.  Minutes that can be incorporated into your daily, functional life.  Restricted time.  My workout this morning, I knew that I only had a few minutes, so I used what we would call the H.I.T., ( High Intensity Training) technique.  This “type” of training has been getting a lot of press these days, but I’ve been doing “H.I.T., which is the same as circuit training, for over 30 years.  H.I.T. simply means high intensity, either in weights, or repetitions, with little or no rest in between sets.  All of this happens in a short period of time.  There’s a ton of movements that can be done with just your body weight, no additional equipment required!  So let’s get to the point here; little time, no weights= your workout.  Very simple, no excuses about your time.  Most of these movements can be used in your office, bedroom, or any small space.  Time and space, no excuses!  Here’s one routine, (out of…???): three exercises, all doing 100 reps, ( beginning your routine? then just do 50 reps of each exercises).  1) jump rope; 2)push-ups; 3) squats.  Do 100 jumps on your jump rope;  do 100 push-ups; do 100 squats.  DONE.  Don’t have a jump rope?  Do a step up on any stair; left foot goes up to the next step, right foot goes up to the same step, left goes back down to the step you started on, right foot goes back down to same step.  That’s 1 repetition.  Do 50 on one side, then switch to start with your right foot for another 50, (that way, your right foot now engages the muscles required to “step up”).  For the group that can’t do 100 of these, do 30 reps, (15 each side).  Then go to 50, increase by 10, until you can get to 100.  See, now you can’t decline your commitment if you don’t have a jump rope!  When you do any of these movements, and you get tired, take a break, 30 seconds or even one minute if you need to, but stay on that same move until you complete the set of your numbers that you picked.  All of this should take 5-8 minutes.  Your heart will race, and so will your metabolism, all day long, by the way!  Time; no excuse.  Space; no excuse.  Commitment; priceless!  Doing what you’ve committed to do, makes your life, your world, wonderful!

I just put three exercises out there, but if any one of those is of concern to you, put another active movement in there, one in which you know you can do with correct posture, and keep those same numbers.  The theory here, is to do a few different movements, in a short period of time, so you can keep going with your day.  This works; usually I have less than 30 minutes of time, and I use it for this type of training.  It motivates me, because I know that in 15-30 minutes, my heart is going to pop through my chest, (embellishment, embellishment!!!), but my metabolism will be burning all day, and I will feel much better than before I started; and you know what that means?  A wonderful, wonderful world, (or day) for me that day.  Stay in that positive mindset, and things ALWAYS feel more sound, that they really take effect to you; and this will, make you SMILE!  Didn’t we talk about that before?

Be kind to yourself, do what you can do with these movements; meaning don’t go overboard the first time around.  I wrote it out for some numbers that won’t take you long to hit; it just means that you have to live up to your commitment to yourself.  You’ve been there before, with other activities, and you felt great.  Why not do it again, with something that will make you feel the same, both physically, and emotionally?  Trust me,  why not feel this way??  It truly will make you say, “what a wonderful world”!!! (after the fact).

Have a great workout, a great day, and pass on the positive, (pass the pos.!)