Sensational Fitness is Make-it-Work Fitness

“Sensational Fitness” is one of the more positive outcomes of the Covid pandemic. With most gyms and yoga studios closed, many folks ventured outside to walk, bike, swim, row, golf, garden, kayak, and practice yoga. No longer cooped up indoors on exercise equipment or packed into crowded aerobic classes with music blasting in the background, Mother Nature got her chance to bring us back to our senses. More so than ever before the Covid pandemic, she got a chance to make us use our senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste.
 
Exercising in the great outdoors allowed Mother Nature to titillate us in many splendid ways:
·      stunning sunrises and sunsets bursting with vibrant colors
·      birds singing their hearts out and the wind rustling in the trees
·      soothing sea-scented breezes and seductive flower scents
·      cool, refreshing winds brushing up against our skin
·      forbidden fruits to scintillate our taste buds along hiking paths
 
When exercising outdoors, Mother Nature calls the shots and demands we adapt to her outdoor conditions. We can no longer micromanage our fitness regimes with modern-day conveniences of air conditioning, managing the control buttons on our exercise equipment, and so on. As we all know, she holds no punches. You never know when she’ll change the winds forcing us to run or bike against strong headwinds. We can never tell when she’ll cue rain that drenches our clothes and belongings, thus making them much heavier to carry and leaving us shivering. At a moment’s notice, she can stir the seas making them much more treacherous to swim or row. With Mother Nature in charge, all we can do is to adapt to her whims.

Here’s the good news: when Mother Nature controls the control buttons, she forces us to adapt; sharpen our wits and grow on many more levels. Mother Nature forces us to practice what I call “Make-it-work Fitness.” I am a huge fan of Tim Gunn so I’m unabashedly borrowing his famous phrase, “Make it work.”  If you don’t already know Tim Gunn from Bravo TV’s Project Runway, here’s a brief funny introduction.

When weather conditions change at a moment’s notice, and we have no modern conveniences to bail us out, we simply must follow Tim Gunn’s advice: “Make it work.” Find a way to bike harder against a strong headwind even though we’re sleep-deprived and don’t have any more water to quench our overwhelming thirst. We must surprise ourselves and muster up more strength and courage when the seas go wild on us. The best part though is we feel so much more rewarded afterwards when we realize we went well beyond our comfort zone and see ourselves as more sturdy, strong, and intelligent.
 
Here's another phenomenal benefit of “Make-it-Work” Fitness: being outdoors fortifies us with vitamin D that's often referred to as “the sunshine vitamin” because the sun is the best source of it. Sunshine on our skin is far and away much more effective than swallowing synthesized vitamin D. By the way, vitamin D is a misnomer, as vitamin D is actually a steroid hormone, not a vitamin. It’s a hormone that influences many functions including calcium absorption, immune function, and protecting bone, muscle, and heart health. In fact, research on Covid-19 immunity has shown higher vitamin D was highly correlated to better Covid-19 immunity.

Now, that the pandemic is coming to a close, I hope you continue to practice “sensational, ‘make-it-work’ fitness.“ For instance, you could take one of my zoom yoga or Pilates classes outside using your phone. For my zoom class information and schedule press HERE below.

I’d love to hear about your experience with Sensational Fitness. Please share with me via email or show up for one of my Zoom Yoga or Pilates classes this week.