This Valentine’s Day start the day off by acknowledging an incredibly special person in your life, YOU!  It is true. Do!  When you wake up say to yourself, “Happy Valentine’s Day.”   Thank yourself for all the hard work you’ve put in getting through this difficult year.  For navigating all the stresses and continual adjustments to your daily life the pandemic has required.  For supporting others through it while also taking care of yourself.  Not easy. But you’ve done it! If you feel there are some things you could have done better, do not let that overshadow all the positive steps you’ve taken.  Traditionally, Valentine’s Day is about love and appreciation for our nearest and dearest, but this year let’s expand our horizon to include ourselves. Why? Who do we spend the most time with each day? Ourselves!  Make sure to value this person by giving credit where credit is due!

 

While we often keep at the top of our minds how to support the needs of others in our lives, we may forget that it is also important to meet our own needs.  Just like the advice on an airplane to put on our own mask before helping someone next to us, we cannot properly care for others if we don’t work to take care of ourselves. One step in this direction is to make it a priority to give yourself the love and appreciation you give to others.  Remind yourself of the positive steps taken on the regular and kick those negative voices about how this and that has not, or should not, of been done to the curb.  Give no time to that naysayer.  It may feel forced and awkward or somehow off puttingly self-important, but it isn’t.  It is an act of kindness, caring and compassion for self.   Here is my suggestion for a gift to yourself this Valentine’s Day and it costs only your time !

Find a quiet space in the day and take 5 minutes to make a list of your strengths. Whatever comes to mind capture it in writing.  Next:  do 5 minutes of bellybreathing lying on your back or prone, let any tension melt away, from there complete: 1 minute each of: head nods and rotations,  hands and knee rocks, birddogs, speed skaters, windshield wipers, dead bugs,  full body rocks and crosscrawls.   When complete say to yourself, “Thanks for being the loyal and caring friend that you are!”

Athletics Valentine’s Day WOD

Sunday 11:15 2.14.2021

Warm Up:

50 Marching Steps, 40 Jumping Jacks, 30 Prisoner High-Knees, 20 Sit-Ups, 10 Full Body Rocks to Sky Reach

WOD:

WOD Flow: Partition reps as you like.  Do solo or split with a partner.  Select weights that won’t bottleneck.  Stimulus is steady grind.  Rep options to consider: 10 sets of 10 reps*, 5 sets of 20 reps, 4 sets of 25 reps. 20 sets of 5 reps, 2 rounds of 50 reps, 1 round of 50 reps.  Partner suggestion = 1 works while 1 rests chipping away at rep scheme as written.

100 cross-crawl squats or weighted squats

100 tri-cep dips

100 weighted get-ups

100 lunges/step ups to high knee or box jumps

100 plank knee-in to leg lifts

100 ground to over-head or over the shoulder med ball/sandbag toss

100 push-ups

10 mins bike/row/ski/skipping

*Example:  10 rounds of: 10 squats, 10 dips, 10 get-ups, box jumps, 10 plank lifts, 10 g2oh, 10 push-ups, 1 min skipping

Cool Down:  Dragon/Pigeon/Thread the Needle/Child’s pose. Walk later in day.