Janae Says...

Ah, I hope you are picking up on the tone of the title of this post. I could have also titled this post many other ways: - Workout Wednesday: The Sauna Run-in-Place "Workout" - Workout Wednesday: The “Let’s Wear Black and Run in the Dark” Workout - Workout Wednesday: The “Remind Everyone Why Crossfit Guys are Douchey” Workout - Workout Wednesday: The “We Didn’t Plan This At All” Workout - Workout Wednesday: The “Let’s Exercise in an Underground Parking Garage” Workout - Workout Wednesday: The Non-Workout - Workout Wednesday: Let’s Get a Free Shirt and Leave - Workout Wednesday: Not-Really-a-Spartan-Training I could go on and on. For those of you who are confused, my friend Kristen is doing the Spartan Beast Race in Midway. I am too much of a wuss to sign up for it. It’s a lot of running, and it makes you get dirty. Let’s be honest, Janae hates getting dirty, like more than is reasonable (thanks, mom). Kristen asked me to come with her to ...

I apologize for the lack of a post last week. I was stuck at parent-teacher conferences until 7 PM on Wednesday, and needless to say, didn't really have the writing juices flowing afterward. I don't even know if anyone reads this anyway, so I'm not sure if anyone was disappointed. This week, I'm writing about a question that was asked me by a family friend. I love and adore this girl. And I think her question represents the way a lot of people think about exercise and working out in general. The conversation was about my exercise habits. I work out several days a week. I don't give myself a minimum. I just make it a priority, and if for some reason it doesn't happen, or I don't feel like doing it, I won't. But I usually hit 4-6 days every week. In discussing my gym habits, my friend asked, "Well, is it working?" I was a little taken aback by the question at first. What did she mean, "working"? Working for what? Then I understo...

So look, I have a lot of ideas for these Workout Wednesday blog entries. I have an idea to talk about motivation, an idea about foam rolling, warming up, cooling down, the mood-changing powers of exercise, high intensity intervals, Zumba, weight lifting, my go-to or backup workouts, and more. Today I just want to talk about doing the minimum. You've probably heard the recommended amount of exercise is 30 minutes five days per week (150 minutes per week). I've even heard that if you get in 150 minutes a week, it doesn't matter how you spread it out. I don't know about the merit of that. I just know how much it helps me to do it daily. More often than not, I use a blog to get my workouts off of. I like it because it is different every day. Some days it's a serious challenge, full of modifications I have to make. Other days it's easier, and I have to make it harder or longer. For example, yesterday's workout was, by my definition, easy. It was also f...

Have you ever noticed the techniques of really intelligent people in making it so you see things their way? Have you ever noticed how a parent gets a child to recognize his or her mistakes? Have you ever noticed how powerful a simple question is in getting you to think? I keep being reminded about the importance of asking questions. I think I could go on and on about this topic in a variety of circumstances. Asking questions helps you understand a situation and a perspective. You've probably noticed that a large number of your arguments arise from misunderstanding. Have you ever thought to ask and make sure you're interpreting somebody correctly? It can be as simple as, "What do you mean?" Or, "So do you mean to say this...? because that's how I'm perceiving it." I can't tell you how many times asking questions has saved me from a potentially awful situation. One such event happened today. I have a student for the second year in a r...