Imbolc                                       Black Mountain Moon

Spent the morning tweaking my exercise regime. I’m taking a MOOC, Body Matters, from McGill University and it got me thinking about stuff I’d left out of my current routines. Then, I read a book (sampled) by Gretchen Reynolds, the excellent health and fitness columnist for the NYT. Plyometrics. I’d left them out this round. I change my routine up every once in a while, just to keep things interesting.

Plyometrics used to be called jump training. It involves explosive moves like jumping, doing an obstacle course of low hurdles, jump-rope. It adds bone strengthening, agility and balance to endurance, cardio-for which I do high intensity intervals, and resistance work for which I do a mix of exercises from outfits like Core Performance and P90X and old trainers.

Just ordered a wooden plyo box, 12x14x16, that will give me three different heights for squat jumps.

I didn’t start exercising until I was about 40, but I’ve kept at it pretty much since then, varying levels of intensity, at gyms and at home, with trainers and without trainers. Sometimes I’ve had healthy diets, sometimes not so much. But staying with it has been such a mantra for me that it is now easier to continue than it is to stop. After two months of no workouts due to the move, I was eager to get back to regular physical exercise.

That’s not to say, as Kate points out, that I did no physical activity during that time. I packed and unpacked, moved boxes from here to there, broke down cardboard and removed it from the house, set up all manner of things and did all this, once here in Colorado, while acclimatizing to 8,800 feet.

Even so, I like my workouts. In my new gym space. And I’m glad to be back at them.

BTW: I’ve also started using a nutritional supplement highly recommended by exercise physiologists, and I’m not kidding: chocolate milk!