A Friendly Nudge - The Magic of 30 Seconds

...because we all could use a little encouragement!

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I remember when my youngest son suggested that his brother and I join him in a push up challenge. 1000 pushups in a week. My initial reaction was “no way”. This was years before my shoulder replacement, but my left shoulder was already hot garbage. After just a few pushups, it would start sounding like fingernails on a chalkboard. It sounded worse than it felt but if I pushed it too much it would start bothering me. So I opted for 500 for the week.

What I quickly figured out was that I could do 10-15 pushups without alienating my shoulder. So I started doing 10 pushups multiple times a day. After a couple of days I shortened the time between sets and my goal moved from 500 to 1000.

But it started with that first set of 10.

It helped me appreciate that most of us can find a way to exercise for 30 seconds. It gives us a doable pathway to ease into exercise.

Headed to the kitchen for a glass of water, do 10-20 body weight squats. Finished watching something on TV, do a 20-30 second wall sit. Waiting on the coffee to brew, do some pushups against the kitchen counter.

Find ways to incorporate brief bouts of exercise into your daily activities.

In a relatively short period of time you’ll be happy to take the parking space further away from the store instead of circling forever looking for something near the door.

Your body is begging you to give it something challenging to do and over time you’ll be rewarded with more strength, stamina and resiliency than you’ve felt in years.

Today’s A Friendly Nudge is full of exercises to help you figure out where to start.

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But first, let’s do some cooking and make some Mango Chutney.

I make a lot of salsas to use with meat and fish dishes. Grilled chicken topped with a mango, avocado, jalapeno, and cilantro salsa is pretty tasty, but I’ve never made a cooked chutney before.

This one became an exercise in playing with my food because I screwed up and added a cup of white wine vinegar instead of ⅔ of a cup. I didn’t even catch it until the next day. It turned out fine because I just let it reduce a little longer which helped diminish the acidity of the vinegar and increased its sweetness. I’ll probably add a big jalapeno the next time I make this, which will be soon.

Ingredients: (I doubled the original recipe so feel free to cut this one in half for a smaller recipe)

4 champagne mangos, peeled and chopped

1 cup of apricot or peach preserves

⅔ cup white wine vinegar

2 shallots, chopped

1 large thumb of ginger, peeled and chopped

1 glug of avocado oil

1 bunch of cilantro leaves chopped

Add a generous glug of avocado oil to a skillet and when oil begins to shimmer, add the chopped mango and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.

Add the chopped ginger and shallots and cook for 1-2 minutes until fragrant.

Add the vinegar and fruit preserves and cook for another 5-10 minutes until the mixture begins to thicken.

Remove from heat and cool to room temp before adding the chopped cilantro.

I didn’t add it to the recipe, but next time I make this I’ll add a chopped up jalapeno to bring a little heat.

This was a perfect addition to a shrimp, asparagus, mushroom stir fry.

Enjoy!

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Now let’s give you plenty of exercise snack options to work with.

Feel free to combine these into a longer workout or to do them as individual snacks, skipping any that you don’t feel ready for.

Foam Rolling Duration: As much time as needed

There’s a reason that every week starts with foam rolling. It is a nice way to begin getting your muscles ready for exercise. When you find a sore or tight spot, hang out for 20-40 seconds. Check with your doc if you have osteoporosis, osteopenia or other health issues. Avoid your armpits, lower spine, neck, front or back of knee.

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Easy Warm Up Duration: 2-5 minutes

You’re just waking things up and getting your body ready for exercise. I’ve added some extra time here because giving your body enough time to get warmed up is time well spent.

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Jump Rope Without the Rope Duration: Build up to 1 minute but start where you are

This is another one that you can do while waiting on the coffee to brew.

Jumping is a great way for us to strengthen our muscles, connective tissue and bones but it can be intimidating. It can also help us develop better force production.

I’m going to start adding some to the workouts but if they don’t feel safe for you, please don’t do them.

We’re doing these without a rope, so it lowers the falling risk.

You want to practice landing softly, so be sure to land on the ball of your foot and don’t try to jump too high.

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Farmer’s Carries: Duration 1-2 minutes

Life involves carrying things. Groceries, grandkids, luggage–something is always needing us to move it from point A to point B. Kettlebells are great, but if you’re just getting started a gallon of water weighs 8 pounds. Start where you are.

Proud chest, shoulders back, core engaged (including your pelvic floor) and go for a walk.

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ATG Split Squat Duration: 30 seconds for each leg and increase as you get stronger

This is from the Knees Over Toes guy, Ben Patrick and its goal is stronger knees.

This helps with hip mobility, ankle mobility and it’s a great hip flexor stretch. It also stresses and strengthens the patellar tendon of your knee, but go easy.

Do not go into pain with this one.

I’m using an exercise step and a balance stick to make it a little easier.

If you’re able, you want to have your hamstring cover your calf.

And here’s something a little more approachable

FHL Calf Raise Duration: 25 each leg but pause if necessary.

These are part of Ben Patrick’s Knees Ability Zero series designed to help us build more durable knees.

The FHL is a muscle that goes from your big toe all the way up into your calf. It helps us flex our big toe and stand on our tip toes.

The FHL calf raise is a version of standing on your tiptoes with an emphasis on your big toe.

Make sure your footing is good and raise your heels off the ground until your weight is on your big toes.

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ABC Balance Duration: A-Z with each leg

This is a great exercise snack to do with family and friends during holiday or other gatherings.

We all need to play more and this is a way to turn balance improvement into a game. If you’re in the kitchen cooking and waiting on the water to boil, see if you can stand on one leg and trace the ABCs with the other leg.

If you only get to G, no problem, start again at H and keep going.

Now do it with the other leg.

This is something you can do every day.

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Push Ups Duration: Focus on quality over quantity. 5 quality push ups is better than 10 rushed partial push ups.

Push Ups strengthen your chest, shoulders, arms, back and core and they’re scalable across a wide range of fitness levels.

You want your chest proud, your core engaged and your arms are about a 45° angle from your body. This helps protect your shoulders.

Here are three options to choose from.

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Ground to Standing with Kettlebell Duration: 1 is a great place to start

This is a difficult exercise, so don’t get discouraged if you can’t do it. As you get stronger and your balance and mobility improve what feels impossible today may become more doable.

If this one feels like it’s just a little too advanced right now, don’t hesitate to skip this one until it feels a little more doable.

We want our legs crossed and close to our bodies and as we push off with our legs we push the kettlebell out in front of us. It acts like a counterbalance.

Take your time building capacity with this one. A single rep is an accomplishment, you can add reps as your strength and your comfort with the movement increase.

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Resistance Band Deadlifts: Duration Dictated by Form Up to 10

I love exercises that help us understand how to leverage the hip hinge because it can help us better navigate aging. It’s something that I’m sure I did incorrectly for years. You want your knees soft, your back flat and butt out. When you’re coming up you want to feel like you’re driving your feet into the ground as you drive your hips forward. I would start with a light resistance band and maybe even a Theraband while you’re getting comfortable with the motion.

I would shoot for a band light enough that you can do 10 reps but if your form starts to break down at all the set is over.

Kettlebell Swings Duration: Start with a light weight that lets you do 8-10 with perfect form

Don’t talk yourself into this one if you’re not sure about the form or you’re new to hip hinge movements.

KBS’s use the hip hinge. Your arms are just holding on to the kettlebell, but the force is generated by the hip hinge.

Keep your back flat and let your hips do the work.

I started with a 25 pound kettlebell until I felt comfortable with the movement.

KBS’s are a great way to get your heart rate up and build overall strength.

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Hamstring Couch Touch: Duration 10-12 reps each leg

I partially tore a hamstring a few years ago and I realized that I hadn’t been doing anything to make them stronger.

This exercise asks your hamstrings to do work in a shortened position and sometimes they will reward my effort with a cramp. I just massage them long enough to get them to cooperate and ease back into it again. After a few sessions they ease up on the drama and do the work without complaining.

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Walking the Line Duration: 30 seconds to 1 minute

Walking a straight line doesn’t seem like it should be a big deal, but trying to get as close to heel to toe as possible is more challenging than I was expecting.

I noticed that if I looked down at my feet, keeping my balance was especially difficult but looking at a point in the distance made a remarkable difference.

Work your way up to a minute.

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Planks on a Stability Ball Duration: Start with 10-15 seconds and increase as you get stronger

Adding a stability ball to planks forces our body to fight for stability and increases the difficulty. You want your core braced, your shoulders down and back and your chest proud. Adding a little more air pressure to your stability ball seems to make this more doable.

If this seems like one you’re not ready for yet, I’ve also included the links to the counter plank.

Counter Plank

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Stability Ball Leg Raise Duration: 1 minute accumulated time with each leg and rest as needed

This one has so much going for it, but especially balance in addition to core strength and stability. Don’t get too frustrated if 10 seconds feels forever

Sit on a stability ball that is against a wall and engage our core and raise one foot off the ground. This one will challenge your balance, your core, hip flexors, hamstrings, and your glutes. It is a new favorite of mine.

Please let me know how you like it.

Hopefully if you’ve been doing A Friendly Nudge for a while you’ve been able to start gathering some of the equipment. I try to keep it to a minimum and to include exercises that don’t require equipment but an assortment of resistance bands, a stability ball, a plyo platform and a few kettlebells provide an abundance of exercise options. In the beginning a gallon jug of water and a stair step can keep you busy.

It’s also why you see pushups, body weight squats, wall sits and ABC balance drills on a regular rotation because they can provide plenty of challenge with zero equipment.

It sounds a little dramatic but 30 seconds of pushups changed how I think about exercise and based on some of the responses I’ve gotten it’s had an impact on how a lot of other people feel about what’s possible for them.

Has exercise started changing what you feel like you’re able to accomplish?

I’d love to hear from you.

Have a wonderful week, play with your food and give your body something challenging to do.

Until next week,

Jim