Well done! You made it!!

Well done, you made it! I find social media revels in the miseries of January, ‘the longest month’, imposing rules, you must exercise and cut out treats to be happier and healthier. It is always great to start the year ‘better’, with positivity, refreshed  keen inner voice telling us there is a better you but does it last?! I hope you’ve indeed discovered the wonders of a clear head on a Saturday morning, enjoyed some beautiful countryside walks, got fitter or shedding a few festive pounds, did you find a Sankalpa? (issue 63 our Hummingbird yoga instructor Mandy talked about meaningful vows, determinations or wills from the heart). Congratulations if you did but welcome to a new month, the one for celebrating love! Whoever you are sharing love with, here at Hummingbird we celebrate loving the body and mind with the soothing gentle yoga or pilates class, or an invigorating ashtanga or cardio reformer class.  January sees lots of us renew fitness vows, ‘high five’ if that was you, it’s great to see happy faces in class and 121 training, discovering how amazing exercise makes you feel! We know and agree and love seeing the revelation!

Sometimes though, by February these intentions get lost, we’re disheartened because we haven’t achieved, letting ourselves down, but seriously – it is NEVER TOO LATE! Making a ‘sometimes too big’ goal, pushing our physical bodies out of our comfort zone, our brain can’t keep up and our inner voice shouts ‘STOP’. We are human, habits die hard, the key is finding manageable bite sized fitness goals which your body and brain can achieve.  

Having worked with Jan-Feb exercise/fitness trends for well over a decade, I notice that people take ‘go hard or go home’ literally - they go too hard in January and by February are home, with an injury and no fitter! The physical body is a maze of complexities even to the most experienced trainers and it needs love, respect, patience to function, effectively, painfree most importantly, long term. Like oiling a car engine, pumping each tyre, keeping the water topped up, and more frequently, refuelling, each component of us too needs attention and maintenance e.g. don’t forget a day of rest each week, a night of 7-8 hours sleep recommended for muscular renewal and recovery, flushing the body with minimum 2 litres of water and refuel effectively – protein aids healing of worked muscles.  

Focus on one component in goal setting, after all Rome wasn’t built in a day, whether that be; one body part, getting good at one exercise, or even looking after your spine, e.g. with a daily stretch to stop that aching lower back or tight shoulders. Over my next few articles I will giving examples of working your body component by component and this time it’s keeping the spine mobile in just a few minutes a day. This can help with sedentary lifestyles and equally those doing too much!

Cat stretch: on all 4’s, lift/arch the middle of your back to the ceiling and look down to your knees, then slowly dropping your lower back creating a deep hollow, look forward and up here.

Repeat 10x.

Mermaid: sitting on chair or floor, cross legged or somehow comfortably, lift right arm to ceiling, resting down on the left, lean left creating a sideways curve in the body. Then return back.  Repeat reaching over the other way. 10 times alternating slowly.

Seated spine twist: sitting on chair or on floor, keep hips rooted down, twist torso to right using left hand holding right thigh to anchor your twist for 5 seconds. Repeat to left, using right hand on left thigh to anchor your twist for 5 seconds, repeat 5 each side.  

If you are struggling with your health and fitness goals, at Hummingbird we can help with 1:1s or small group Pilates and yoga classes.

Email us at [email protected] or call us 01245 422556.