Look Beyond

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At work, we have a tradition on providing mini-bio pages when someone joins the team.  A little over a year ago, that tradition evolved for existing team members, where, if you are selected, you give a more detailed presentation of yourself during the bi-weekly team meeting.  Well, I got selected two weeks ago…. Derek immediately joked around saying that it would take me 25 hours to prepare it and then 4 hours to present it! (Ha-ha-ha, right!). It actually took me a week of thinking about it and 4 hours to prepare it (I haven’t presented it yet).  It was definitely one emotional task to put that presentation together because I went through a lot of great memories of my childhood.  It made me remember people, places, activities and even conversations…. I decided that one of the activities that I used to do and the conversation that followed it, would be a great theme for this month - Look beyond what it really is….

I went to a 5-day boarding school starting at age 11 through 18.  My dad used to drop me (later, me and my brother) off at school every Monday morning - it was about an hour drive.  There was a section of the drive where the highway would go through hills filled with houses “built-over-night” (gecekondu, in Turkish).  These houses were illegally built with no permits or stability in the structure, therefore they made those hills look horrible.  However, whenever there would be fog, my dad would say that we were in an enchanted forest.  We would imagine the trees and the animals in that forest.  The conversation would take us deep into our imagination and by the time we arrived to school, I would be in a whole different place in my mind.  Who would think that those eyesore houses would actually become something pretty in the mind?  Don’t take me wrong, Monday blues was still there but the excitement of seeing the fog was a whole new way of looking forward to the drive.  

The whole boarding school idea wasn’t fun for anyone in the family but it was a really good school so we all had to learn how to live with it.  When we looked beyond, we focused on the big picture but we also looked into the moment to make more out of it - the enchanted forest was just one of many excitements that we discovered along the way.

Into the memory lane - at my middle school

Into the memory lane - at my middle school

Now let’s think about the journey of being healthy… One part of that journey is “working out”.   Human mind is great at finding excuses to push it out and then feel guilty about it.  The easiest excuse is “time”, which I talked about last month.  The fast follow to “time” is the equipment.  This is where you can truly look beyond because I can guarantee you that your house is filled with all sorts of workout equipment.  After all, this is exactly why I started my “Train and Smile” sessions.  Last week, during my session, I wanted to focus on “being off the grid” and picked a workout tool that focused on being off your phone - I chose magazines.  Yes… we worked out with 2 magazines.  We were very respectful to the magazines where we absolutely did NOT use them to slide on the floors. :)

Here is a quick warm-up routine with two magazines:

  • Magazine twisters: (great upper body warmup)

    • Bring your palms together right in front of your chest with fingers facing up and the two magazines are in between the hands

    • Magazines should be stacked together and perpendicular to the floor (top towards the ceiling, bottom towards the floor)

    • Keep elbow at chest height and keep forearms parallel to the floor

    • Keep pushing your palms against to each other while the magazines are in between the hands

    • Just my using your wrist, turn one magazines towards you (top towards you) and the other on away from you (bottom towards you)

    • Keep alternating for 30 seconds

  • Magazine friction:

    • Magazines in between your hands, extend your arms forward at shoulder height

    • Palms pushing against each other, thumbs facing up, fingers facing forward

    • Start rubbing the magazines against each other forward and backward (as if you are trying to start fire with a stick)

    • Keep going for 30 seconds

  • Magazine curls:

    • Put each magazine under your arm against your body

    • Palms facing each other, on either side of your body

    • Bring your thumbs towards your shoulders, without dropping the magazines

    • Continue for 30 seconds

  • Magazine jacks:

    • Feet wider than shoulder width

    • Hold the magazines from the top and line it right in front of your legs

    • Jump to bring your feet together, while bringing your magazines together to clap in front of your legs

    • Jump your feet out, while bringing your magazines to the starting position

    • Keep going for 30 seconds.

Repeat it all for 3 sets…. 

Now do you see your magazines differently? :)

After a fun workout with our magazines!

After a fun workout with our magazines!

Let’s focus on the big picture, because it is always there… Just remember that as you come through hurdles/excuses, you might be able to find a way around it.   High Five to that creative mind of yours!