Wednesday, 8 November, 2023

This Week: time change, short days, off season, downtime, social connections, planning, habits, environment, winter activities

Linda Eskin - Personal Trainer, Behavior Change Coach, Martial Artist, and Author at GoYouFitness.com

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Happy Time Change Week, Reader!

November already! Dang... Time for vanishing daylight, cold nights, and holiday obligations and celebrations. Lots of great reasons to give up on this whole fitness thing, curl up on the sofa with a good book, and figure we'll just get serious about things in the spring.

Yeah, let's not. Don't quit on yourself.

Yes, enjoy the cozy season! Definitely read some good books. (More on that in a moment.) And let's keep moving forward our fitness intentions.

⬜ Take some time this week to think about each of the ideas below, and consider what you might want to do about them during the next few months.

Establish habits.

Remember that we talked about habits a few weeks ago. Now is a great time to strengthen your habit-building skill. Remember to start small, and be sure to celebrate your wins, even (especially) the little ones.

⬜ Practice a small habit, like "Do three squats while my coffee is brewing."

⬜ Been meaning to meditate? This is a perfect time of year to start a simple meditation habit.

⬜ Struggling with a habit? How can you make it more appealing or rewarding?

Optimize your environment.

We recently looked at our environment, and what we might do to make it easier, more pleasant, or more fun to be active. This is something you can do one rainy day when you want to stay indoors. What can you do to make working out at home more enjoyable?

⬜ Create a dedicated place for movement. That might be rearranging furniture, laying out a mat or thick rug, or bringing some weights in from the cold garage.

⬜ Enliven your exercise space. Does it need more light? How about a sound system? Or maybe just a good dusting and tidying, to make it comfortable and appealing.

Life has a rhythm. We all need "downtime."

Robert Nadeau, a highly-regarded Aikido and embodiment teacher, often talks about the concept of “downtime” — a time of rest, restoration, and reflection. For every busy day we need a night of restful sleep. We don’t only inhale, we exhale as well. Even plants take an annual break from growing, flowering, and producing seeds. There is a natural rhythm to things.

⬜ Establish good sleep habits. Sleep is crucial for health and fitness. Indulge.

⬜ Care for your body. Get a massage, enjoy a hot bath, do gentle stretches.

Struggles?

A lot of folks experience difficulties this time of year. Whether it's seasonal affective disorder (appropriately abbreviated SAD) from the long, dark nights, family or relationship difficulties around the holidays, or the simple realization that another year is slipping away without having accomplished some goal, this can be a rough time.

⬜ Take time to feel. Get quiet and listen. Try meditating. What is it you're feeling? See if a root cause for some malaise or aggravation reveals itself.

⬜ Share your troubles. Don't suffer in silence or isolation. Talking to a friend, connecting with kindred spirit online, going to meetings, or even writing in a private journal can be healing.

⬜ Can you improve the situation? Is there something you can do to make things better? Would brighter lights and music help? Set boundaries with irksome people. Make effective plans to meet your goals in the coming year.

Reset.

Now is a good time to take a step back, see what we might need, and set ourselves up for future success. This time of year can serve as a kind of "in the shop" season. You would get basic service done on your car at regular intervals, so do the same for yourself.

⬜ Take care of medical issues. Get your annual physical, or see a physical therapist about that wonky knee that's been bugging you.

⬜ Get your fitness things in order. Do you have worn-out or broken equipment that needs to be repaired or replaced? Replace aged therapy bands, get your bike tuned up, sharpen your throwing axes.

⬜ Learn about new activities. This is a great time to read, watch videos, take a class, or join an online community of people participating in your area of interest.

Reconnect.

Winter holidays traditionally mean spending time with friends and family. Our picture of "fitness" may not include talking and laughing with friends at the pub, or exchanging old family stories in the living room after dinner, but strong social connections are vitally important for our physical and mental health, and for longevity. << Don't skip over this point.

Social isolation can lead to poor health, unhealthy behaviors, and premature death. It is a health risk on par with smoking and excessive alcohol consumption. Check out this article from the Harvard School of Public Health: An active social life may help you live longer, about an analysis of 148 studies.

⬜ Call or see a friend or relative you haven't spoken to in a while.

⬜ Lift someone else up. Invite an isolated friend to join you for a fun activity.

Have fun now.

It's easy to think the fun is over now that the sun sets before you get home from work. But there are plenty of activities you can enjoy in winter.

⬜ Go outside and play. If you live where it snows, remember all your favorite winter sports, or try one you've never done before: snowboarding, snowball fights, ice skating, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, hockey, ... If you live in a warm climate, like I do, it's finally cooling off enough to enjoy walking, hiking, running, rucking, Frisbee,

⬜ Get a new toy. If you're planning to get a gaming console, mini-trampoline, balance board, etc. for Christmas, do it now. You'll gain seven extra weeks to bounce, balance, dance, or play fitness games. Don't put it off.

Look ahead.

Every year about this time I get a big new wall calendar. It takes up the whole upper half of my office door, and shows the entire year at a glance. This makes it easy to see that an event coming up in February (which seems like "forever") is really only about 16 weeks away!

⬜ Plan for whatever's next. Look at the next 6-12 months and think about what you could be doing now so things work out for you as you'd like.

⬜ Sign up for something. It helps me to have a deadline. There's nothing like knowing you have an adventure, event, or competition coming up to keep you focused and motivated.

Take an athlete's perspective on the off season.

What can I be doing now so that things go better next year?

Here's an inspiring, smart pep-talk from Matt Hand, a pro-level thrower in the Highland games community (SAAA is the Scottish American Athletic Association), but it's solid and inspiring "off-season" advice for anyone.

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Matt says, "Off season is your chance to catch, or pass, your peers."

Now, our day-to-day fitness isn't a competition, but the broader point is that we can use this time to work on fundamentals, build skills, and get stronger, so that we can have more fun next year. That's a sound approach in any area.

Matt suggests we start by taking an inventory of how it's been going:

• What did you do well?
• What didn't you do well?
• Where can you grow?

"Get it down on paper." Write down how it's been going — what's you've been doing, and what you haven't been doing. Write down your goals. There's more great advice, too.

⬜ Watch Matt's video on Instagram. Get a notepad or open your notes app and study the video. It's short, but there's a lot to take away and work on.

What works for you?

I've tossed out a bunch of ideas and suggestions, but these might not be right for you. What works in your life? What are your favorite cool-season activities? How can you take advantage of this time to set yourself up for a great 2024?

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READ PAST NEWSLETTERS

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The Book Report

Still reworking the structure of the book. I think I'll have a rough outline ready for your review and feedback by next week soon!

Table of Contents The Table of Contents is "in the shop" this week. The freshly-reorganized outline for the book and site will be available soon. Table of Contents

Release Notes With each significant site update I post a list of changes. Check out new posts and articles, plus website updates and new feature announcements. Release Notes

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If You're Having a Hard Time...

People often engage with fitness during major life transitions: a bad health scare, divorce or death, getting clean and sober, an empty nest, job loss, a move to a new community. We start out full of determination. But even when it's exciting, change isn't easy.

If you are having a hard time you might want to know about the crisis resource links on the website. You can find them under Fitness Resources.

Please take care of yourself, and get help if you need it. 💛

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Copyright © 2023, Linda Eskin — Go You Fitness