"Riffs" and "Reps"

The person in charge of things I’m not in charge of [which represents an entire alternative universe] dragged me to the local fitness center during the holidays to sign me up for an almost limitless list of physical fitness options – never mind the fact that I have both an exercycle and a NordicTrack e9, plus approximately 200 sq. ft. of open, carpeted floor space plus lead bricks and flex-stretch bands to entertain me right at home … all of which I actually utilize to varying degrees. 

NOTE: Someone on NPR recently marveled at the uniqueness of business plans for commercial fitness centers where people actually pay good money to access equipment they never use!  The facility we visited had a capacity for about 350 people simultaneously working out on various pieces of equipment and in various classes, but had only 3 clients engaged at the time.  

However, there are more than a few personal challenges with MY new plan to use the awesome and impressive new fitness center – even though, for me, it’s FREE through “Silver Sneakers”.  

First:  Whether it’s at home or at an official physical fitness site, I get bored easily, and boredom is neither fun nor productive.  So spending an hour a day or 3 hours a week or any other permutation of scheduling – in addition to preparation, unbundling and travel – isn’t something I’m going to get really excited about.   

Second:  I don’t tolerate “mindlessness” very well and can only stand microseconds of drivel on TV.  It turns out that the fitness emporium has megabanks of TV monitors for every fitness station.    

Third:  My short-term memory is shorter than that of the average bear.   So, since exercise stirs the creative juice, I can only go about 5 minutes at a time on a machine before I have to write something down to keep from forgetting it.   

Fourth: I don’t easily do “easy” … I’ve always got to push to the max – which leads to early exhaustion and, sometimes, muscle/nerve/joint discomfort.   This causes preemptive fatigue, minimizes the benefit of sustained effort, and can be, at least temporarily, debilitating.   

Those are the realities, not excuses!  In fact, I DO my exercise, but I don’t get the maximum benefit out of all the possibilities already available.   

So what’s the solution here?  What would the certified Physical Fitness Trainer at the new fitness emporium suggest I do?  How about: “Simply work at your body’s own pace …

… and STOP TRYING TO BE AN OVERACHIEVER!”

Duh!  Then it occurred to me … jazz musicians only do short passages of high intensity “riffs” during the totality of a performance, and physical fitness gurus talk about doing multiple “reps”.  So how about mixing up the “riffs” and “reps” in much shorter and more manageable segments to achieve a much more thorough overall outcome?  [It sounds almost like “Bitesizing”, which we encountered previously on this journey (http://lifemasterymusings.blogspot.com/2014/09/bite-sizing.html)].     

So yesterday I tried it.  Instead of 30 pushups and 30 sit-ups and all the rest all at once, ending up exhausted, I did 15 of each four times over a much longer period interspersed between stretching, jogging in place, e9 and exercycle reps, writing and making lentil soup.  Wow!  I was so “pumped” I had a hard time disengaging!!

 

So now I’m going to try to generalize it.   

Nutrition is the next big challenge.  It turns out that I’ve always treated foraging just like exercise, rendering Olympian effort to get the most calories I can pack in at any given “sitting”.  Although I’m a slow eater, I generally don’t give up, in or out until the table is completely clear!  It does have downsides, including packing on pounds, creating a feeling of over-satiation and inducing lethargy.  So now I’m doing smaller “riffs” and more “reps”, as well as minimizing the calories and adding more roughage ... in fact, trying to be an “overachiever” in a markedly different sense!    

Then there’s actual productive “work time”.  I’ve started doing more “reps” with more definitive intervals between “riffs”.  This helps eliminate dead space within and between projects, and maximizes “fresh approach” possibilities with greater focus and more energy.

Now the biggest challenge is STOPPING a given “riff” before the full statute of limitations on endurance has run out; knowing I could do more and not doing it seems patently unconscionable!  It’s going to require a different kind of discipline as well as a greater awareness of when each “riff” has run its most productive course, thereby needing to get out of the way.  I already know there’s been “riff-creep” on exercise – a tendency to extend the riff cycle.  But I think that goes with better “conditioning”, so I’ll try to be “attentively permissive”.   

I don’t know exactly how the Silver Sneakers deal is going to fit into this new lifestyle management plan.  One possible advantage would be to limit the overall time spent on physical fitness to a specifiable interval and to explore riff/rep options I don’t have readily available otherwise.  I’ll give it a try and hope to keep an open mind.  For now, I’ve gotta move on to another “riff” and do some more “reps”!   Quartermaster

“I shan’t be gone long. – You come, too.”

Robert Frost

“The Pasture”