Core Strength

In a recent conversation with a friend, we discussed how he was at the limit of being able to add more weight to his workouts.

I advised him rather than increasing the weight, he could try decreasing his stability allowing him to use less weight for more benefit. He didn’t seem to understand the principle behind this progression, stating that this would “only improve his core”, rather than the muscle group he was trying to work on, as though core strength was unimportant.

I pointed out that the easiest way to decrease stability was to do the exercise standing on one leg, that his legs contained the largest muscle groups in the body and were undoubtedly taking on some of the work, particularly if he was doing an upper body exercise.

With a weighted push or pull, being unable to rely on the strength of the lower body forces the upper body muscle groups, either the chest or the back, to work harder with less weight to achieve the result.

Improving you core strength is also the best way to prevent back pain, particularly if you are sedentary or seated for much of the day.

That’s the technical talk, but this conversation also got me thinking about how training and strength extend beyond the physical body and our muscles.

Being strong inside and out means working and training consistently, whether we want to or not, whether we “feel like it” or not, and it teaches us more about ourselves and how we handle the difficult things in life.

Having the discipline of training our physical body also impacts our mental and emotional ability to cope when life throws the harder, weightier stuff at us.

Life throws instability, often in the form of our relationships which force us to grow, develop and change in ways we hadn’t anticipated or would necessarily have chosen for ourselves.

Working out how to navigate the instability gives us skills and resources we may not have realised we possess and deep in our core, we grow stronger and more able to deal with the inevitable challenges of life.

Imagine A Woman In Love With Herself

The past few weeks I have been posting stanzas to my Facebook page, from the gorgeous poem "Imagine a Woman in Love with Herself", by Patricia Lynn Reilly, encouraging women to celebrate and embrace our wisdom and wholeness.

Women and men alike have responded enthusiastically to the poem, as different stanzas resonated, at various times, relevant to life situations and experiences.

Here it is in it's entirety...


"Imagine a woman who believes it is right and good she is woman.
A woman who honors her experience and tells her stories.
Who refuses to carry the sins of others within her body and life.

Imagine a woman who has acknowledged the past's influence.
A woman who has walked through her past.
Who has healed into the present.

Imagine a woman in love with her own body.
A woman who believes her body is enough just as it is.
Who celebrates her body's rhythms and cycles as an exquisite resource.

Imagine a woman who embraces her sexuality as her own.
A woman who delights in pleasuring herself.
Who experiences her erotic sensations without shame or guilt.

Imagine a woman who honors the body of the Goddess in her changing body.
A woman who celebrated the accumulation of her years and her wisdom.
Who refuses to use her precious life-energy disguising the changes in her body and life.

Imagine a woman who has access to the full range of human emotion.
A woman who expresses her feelings clearly and directly.
Who allows them to pass through her as gracefully as a breath.

Imagine a woman who tells the truth.
A woman who trusts her experience of the world and expresses it.
Who refuses to defer to the thoughts, perceptions, and responses of others.

Imagine a woman who follows her creative impulses.
A woman who produces original creations.
Who refuses to color inside someone elses lines.

Imagine a woman who names her own gods.
A woman who imagines the divine in her own image and likeness.
Who designs a personal spirituality to inform her daily life.

Imagine a woman who refuses to surrender to gods, gurus, and higher powers.
A woman who has descended into her own inner life.
Who asserts her will in harmony with its impulses and instincts.

Imagine a woman who is interested in her own life.
A woman who embraces her life as teacher, healer, and challenge.
Who is grateful for the ordinary moments of beauty  and grace.

Imagine a woman who authors her own life.
A woman who trusts her inner sense of what is right for her.
Who refuses to twist her life out of shape to meet the expectations of others.

Imagine a woman who participates in her own life.
A woman who meets each challenge with creativity.
Who takes action on her own behalf with clarity and strength.

Imagine a woman who has crafted a fully formed solitude.
A woman who is available to herself.
Who chooses friends and lovers with the capacity to respect her solitude.

Imagine a woman who refuses to diminish her life so others will feel better.
A woman who brings the fullness of her years, experience and wisdom into each relationship.
Who expects others to be challenged and blessed by her presence in their lives.

Imagine a woman who assumes equality in her relationships.
A woman who no longer believes she is inferior to men and in need of their salvation.
Who has taken her rightful place beside them in the human community.

Imagine a woman who refuses to use her precious life-energy managing crisis and conflict.
A woman whose relationships deepen in satisfaction and contentment without depleting her.
Who chooses friends and lovers with the necessary skills to navigate through the challenges of life.

Imagine a woman who values the women in her life.
A woman who sits in circles of women.
Who is reminded of the truth about herself when she forgets.

Imagine a woman who has relinquished the desire for intellectual safety and approval.
A woman who makes a powerful statement with every word she speaks, every action she takes.
Who asserts to herself the right to reorder the world.

Imagine a woman whohas grown in knowledge and love of herself.
A woman who has vowed faithfulness to her own life and capacities.
Who remains loyal to herself. Regardless.

Imagine yourself as this woman."

Self Help Kept Simple.

It's been a while.

Life has been throwing challenges at me on a weekly basis and the benefits of health & fitness have never been more important.

 

Training makes me strong, inside & out.

 

Taking care of myself and my health means I can move more easily through difficult life circumstances.

 

These rules work in so many ways.

 

 1. Don’t eat what you don’t need.

 2. Stop doing what doesn’t work.

 3. In most instances, the solution is you.

 4. Getting offended is optional. As is getting off your arse. See how that works?

 5. Changing fifty things at once is a bad plan.

 6. Knowing isn’t doing. Do more.

 7. Joining a gym isn’t attending a gym.

 8. Being smart is not the same as doing smart.

 9. Intentions aren’t actions. Stop intending.

 10. You won’t undo three decades of bad choices in three weeks. Be realistic.

 11. Be more committed to success than comfort.

 12. Control your controllables and let go of the rest.

Earn Your Health – One Day At A Time

There are newspaper articles every day talking about the latest health fad, super food or magic ingredient that we need to be healthier, usually accompanied by a scientific study or clinical trial.
 
While I am all for research and scientific evidence for health claims, I would like to point out why you don’t often see the studies that conclude we would all be better off making some basic healthy habits part of each day.
 
The trouble with studies is that someone needs to pay for them and that someone is usually a Large Company.
Imagine a study that showed the dramatic and lasting benefits of making sensible choices about getting enough sleep, drinking enough water, eating fresh, healthy food and exercising every day.
 
Who would pay for this? The Fruit & Vegetable Lobby? The Sleep-Well Institute? 

Yes, “the fresh food people” and “the supermarket that rhymes with Poles” do sell the healthy stuff but they make their margins on the brightly packaged, highly processed, sugary, salty, stuff, the stuff that makes you fat and has questionable nutritional value.

Put good, fresh food into your body, ditch the processed snack food and notice the difference - in your energy levels and your wallet.
 
I advocate living a healthy life because I like how it feels to feel good, to go through my day with enough energy, knowing I can handle what life throws at me, knowing I am nourishing my body & mind to be at its best.
 
I have not always lived such a healthy life, so I also know what it feels like to just get through each day, feeling tired after waking up from a poor night’s sleep and the effects of eating nutritionally deficient food.
 
If you’re not reaching your health and fitness goals, don’t go spending a fortune on the latest fads.
 
Get the basics down first – sleep, water, fresh food & exercise – and if you still need help, contact MET Fitness.
I’m here to help.

It's That Time of Year Again

The Christmas indulgence has ended and here we are in 2012. 

Magazine covers shout about The Body Issue, newspaper articles advise on the latest 'detox' or 'diet' that will shed kilos fast, all suggesting that we should be remorseful for the traditional culinary delights that accompany our relaxed holiday celebrations.

At the very least, the implication is that we are certainly not okay to start this year exactly as we are.

I disagree.

You are exactly where you are supposed to be this year and you are perfectly capable of making the choices you need to, to reach your goals. 

The question is, what do you REALLY want in your life? 

What is it that you are doing or not doing that is holding you back from living the life you know you can have?

Change happens in  a moment, and it happens over and over again.

It is the moment where you make a different choice for yourself, where you wake up to the unhelpful decisions you made in the past and truly choose what you want in your life.

Own your freedom and your choices and delight in it.

YOU have this power. No one else will do it for you.

Happy New Year to you.

Stir Fried Greens with Char Sui

This recipe is more complicated than I like to cook everyday but tastes so good it is worth doing for a special occasion, or just substitute those hard-to-find ingredients for a deliciously quick dinner.

Cooking Time Prep time 15 mins, cook 5 mins

Ingredients:
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp ginger, cut into julienne
1 garlic clove, crushed
150 gm firm tofu, cut into cubes
½ quantity char siu, hung overnight in the fridge

1 bunch Chinese greens such as Chinese kale, coarsely chopped
50 gm black fungi, coarsely torn
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp each oyster sauce and Shaoxing wine
1 tsp Chinese roasted chilli paste (see note)
For seasoning: few drops of sesame oil and a pinch of white pepper, for seasoning 
 
Heat oil in a wok over high heat, add ginger and garlic, stir-fry until fragrant (10 seconds), add tofu and toss to coat, add char siu and greens, stir-fry until greens wilt (1-2 minutes). 
 
Add fungi, soy sauce, oyster sauce, Shaoxing and chilli paste, stir-fry to combine (1 minute).
Transfer to a platter, season with oil and white pepper.
Serves 4

Note Chinese roasted chilli paste is roasted chilli flakes in oil; it’s available from Asian grocers.
The paste is also sold with added salted black beans, dried fish or peanuts; you can use any of these pastes.

By Lisa Featherby

Cabbage, pea, mint, chilli and parmesan salad

Add some chicken or fish to this salad for a delicious summer meal.

Cooking Time Prep time 10 mins, cook 5 mins

Ingredients:
100 gm peas, podded (about 250gm unpodded)
400 gm cabbage, shredded
150 gm small radishes, thinly sliced lengthways
1 cup each (loosely packed) mint and flat-leaf parsley, torn
1 long red chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped
80 gm parmesan, finely grated

Lemon dressing
100 ml extra virgin olive oil
50 ml lemon juice

 
Blanch peas until bright green (1-2 minutes), drain and refresh, drain again and reserve. 
 
For lemon dressing, whisk ingredients in a bowl, season to taste and set aside. 
 
Combine peas, cabbage, radish, herbs, chilli and half the parmesan in a large bowl and toss to combine. 
Add lemon dressing, season to taste and mix until cabbage begins to wilt (1-2 minutes). 

Adjust seasoning and serve salad scattered with remaining parmesan.
Serves 4 

By Karen Martini, Mr Wolf