exercise

Quick Fixes and The Perils of Hacking

January 27, 2018 By John Du Cane

“In the soil of the quick fix is the seed of a new problem, because our quiet wisdom is unavailable”—Wayne Muller

The notion that we can hack our way to faster physical transformation has gained widespread currency in our modern Want It Now culture. But, while there are undoubtedly effective hacks to be had, is the hacking mindset a safe one for those of us in recovery?

In our using days, we were bedeviled by our hunger for the quick fix. To lurch back onto the path of instant gratification—physically, spiritually or emotionally—could set us up for disappointment, impatience, frustration or irritation. None of these emotions are exactly supportive of our serenity!

The urge to hack for quick results is essentially immature—a product of the teenage impulse. We are creatures of the natural order—much as we try to wriggle and scam our way out of it… The natural order dictates a path for growth which, across nature’s board, is slow and deliberate. Consider how plants grow over time. Consider animals in the wild. Consider our own kind, in the earlier years. We see a gradual growth, a gradual maturing, a gradual strengthening.

Many of us, though, remained stuck in the house arrest of teenage impulsivity. We kept on punching and punching the quick-fix buttons in our play box. We stubbornly continued to trick and trigger our way into pleasure hit after pleasure hit after pleasure hit.

The hacking mindset tends to deny the need for consistent effort over the long haul to reach our goals. And yet, the Way of Resilience and of Stable Strength—be it of body, mind or spirit—is the deliberate application of time-tested wisdom on a daily basis. Let’s seek that resilience and stability and maturity of outlook, to better safeguard our recovery!

There is finally no magic fix to getting and staying stronger and more resilient. But, there is a secret: persistent, consistent effort. Regular, daily movement—however minimal—is a sure-fire way to maintain that all-important, multi-dimensional resilience.

Let’s buttress our recovery today, then, with some sweet and sweaty effort:

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Cross your arms over your chest and squat down as low as you can, preferably below parallel and eventually with your thighs touching your calves. Keep your knees from bowing in by aligning them with your feet. Keep your back as straight as possible. Come back up and lock out your legs and hips completely. Squeeze the muscles in your legs as tightly as possible for a second, relax and repeat the squat. Inhale and hold the breath as you descend. Exhale as you ascend. Do three sets of twelve repetitions. Rest at least a minute between each set.

It feels so good to be making steady progress with my health and strength, by committing to consistent, daily movement.

The Trick to Recovery Is Having Some

January 20, 2018 By John Du Cane

“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”—Sir Isaac Newton

Besides the money, we have spiritual and physical bank accounts. As with the financial, it’s prudent to make regular savings deposits, spiritually and physically, against those inevitable rainy days. In our recovery, we place rightful emphasis on the need to build up our spiritual account. It’s hard to beg and borrow your way to a robust recovery…

However, many of us in recovery have not been so adept at building up our physical health account. This can have unfortunate consequences. While we can never do more than stack the health deck in our favor by regular exercise and sensible diet, having no deck of cards to speak of can be a grim alternative. Nature loves to slap us around the face or kick our legs out from under us, every now and then—just to show who’s boss. If we don’t—or simply can’t—bounce back up from those mischievous hits, we can be in a world of hurt. Hurt that might threaten the stability of our serenity.

Exercising for strength and vigor has an immediate payoff. But, it’s the consistent practice of demanding exercise that will give us a fighting chance to ward off those future blows of fortune. Physical resilience is a necessary companion to spiritual resilience. Deep pockets physically, deep pockets spiritually. It just makes sense, right?

For bang for the physical buck—and to avoid bouncing those resilience checks—there is no single exercise that beats the full bodyweight squat. It’s not even close! As we progress through our year, we will return over and over and over (and over) to this magnificent drill. Repetition is the mother of resilience. Let’s show that mother some love, now:

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Cross your arms over your chest and squat down as low as you can, preferably below parallel and eventually with your thighs touching your calves. Keep your knees from bowing in by aligning them with your feet. Keep your back as straight as possible. Come back up and lock out your legs and hips completely. Squeeze the muscles in your legs as tightly as possible for a second, relax and repeat the squat. Inhale and hold the breath as you descend. Exhale as you ascend. Do two sets of ten repetitions, with a ninety-second rest between sets. Do more sets if you want and can…

I’m loving the surge of well-being that comes from vigorous exercise!

Confessions of an Emotional Eater

January 14, 2018 By John Du Cane

“You may continue to eat emotionally until you take consistent action to create a satisfactory and meaningful life.”—Laura Houssain

When we suddenly feel vulnerable, what do we turn to for relief? When emotional distress triggers a craving for release, what do we reach for? When the pain won’t stop, what do we grab? When the dull ache spreads out from our heart, how do we numb it? When sorrow spills its slick, how do we soothe it?

In our using days, we often turned to our drug of choice to handle or run from those emotional challenges. In recovery, we have learned many skills to cope successfully with the emotional flares ups—or the chronic unease of long-held, long-stuffed feelings. However, food can be a cunning foe—because it is so much our friend and benefactor in the normal course of things. No food, no life.

It’s one thing to crave something salty or sweet when the mood is upon us—and to wolf down a few extra crackers or chocolate donuts. Little harm in the occasional food fling—it can do the soul a world of good to indulge without guilt once in a while. Right?

However, if we find ourselves compulsively gorging on dollop after dollop of sugar-saturated health bombs; if we find ourselves guiltily munching on fistful after fistful of oily fries; if we feel bad and immediately think of food—then we might just be “emotional eaters”.

Anything that puts us out of whack, creates a vulnerability for those of us in recovery. It just makes staying straight and serene that much tougher. Emotional eating, by its nature, sets up a dependency pattern that masks our feelings and can put our recovery at risk.

From the menu of fitness options available to help dis-empower the beasties of emotional eating, let’s order up a heavy-duty entrée: the push-up. The push-up requires significant energy expenditure and determination to accomplish. So, we are going to really push that push-up here. Time to grim and bear it—so a little while later we can smile and be glad we are not stuffing down our tenth donut…

Here we go:

Kneel on the ground. Place your hands on the floor at shoulder’s width. Raise your knees up and extend your legs until your whole body is in a plank-like posture. Keep your butt in line with your spine. Tighten your abs. Take about two seconds to gently lower yourself down until your chest almost touches the floor. Push up into your original position. Inhale and hold your breath on the way down. Exhale when you push up. If the full push up is initially too challenging for you, perform the movement while resting on your knees. Do as many complete repetitions as you can manage with good form. Leave a little in the tank at the end of your set. Get up and walk around for a minute. Do another two sets. Or three. Or four. Burn out those beasties! Scatter their ashes to the winds!

Yes, depending on your current conditioning level, this may leave you sore. Sore—but satisfied. Satisfied in your body and satisfied in your mind. You just successfully torched that emotional upset—which, you have to admit, feels pretty darn good…

I am grateful to discover how vigorous exercise can help safeguard me against unwise eating habits.

Commit to Commit

January 8, 2018 By John Du Cane

“It takes a deep commitment to change and an even deeper commitment to grow.”—Ralph Ellison

It’s easy to flip the switch for change—when you have decided that there is no other decent option BUT to flip the switch. There is no such thing, after all, as a casual commitment… We are all in—or we are all out.

The commitment to sobriety is re-committed to day by day. No half-measures. No “just a little bit pregnant”. Nothing taken for granted. We stay clean—that’s what we do. Because we believe it’s what we need to do. We believe that clean is the only way to go, the only bearable way to be…

How do we strengthen that commitment? By persistently, consistently repeating the small steps of healthy habits—until it will feel like it would be an atrocity to abandon those habits.

Committing to a consistent movement regime can bolster our mental and emotional commitment to our recovery. Just promise yourself that there is a bare minimum you’ll get done every day, come what may…

You can set the minimum bar at any height you want. It might be just the one or two movements from Spark Your Day. It might be a round of Tai Chi. Five favorite Yoga stretches. Six mobility exercises. One strong strength building drill, for five hard reps. You get the picture. And naturally, if you miss the boat for whatever reason— and find yourself sloshing about in the water—well no reason to beat yourself up. Just note and re-commit for the next day… You’re still a good person…

We’re into our eighth day of the new year. How are those resolutions keeping up? Feel ready to test the strength of your commitment? Your resilience when faced with a challenge? Good! Then let’s jump in and up the ante for today’s “absolute minimum”.

We are going to revisit the infamous full bodyweight squat, but instead of the ten repetitions we did on January 2, we are going to aim for 30 reps this time. Are you already moaning and groaning? And we haven’t even begun? Come on! You can do this!

Each squat rep, you will be able to go a little bit lower—if you let yourself. When you arrive at a sticking point on your way down, tense your legs as much as you can for three seconds then exhale and release down another inch or two.

Take your time and keep good form. Keep breathing. If you need to hold on to a chair or table, then be my guest… Go as low as you can without hurting yourself. Discomfort will happen. That’s a good thing. Your body is being forced to adapt to the challenge. You’ll be stronger next time round. Just don’t injure yourself.

Here’s a reminder of how to perform a great full bodyweight squat:

Congratulations, you made it!

It feels great to strengthen my recovery by committing to and conquering a physical challenge.