Bulgarian split-squats could save your life

 

What I’m thinking

Question! Which do you prefer: squats or lunges?

Wrong. The right answer is neither. We don’t like pain. Unfortunately, some pain is necessary.

So here’s the deal. Research by these guys and these other guys (there are many other guys too, but I really want to get to the end of this sentence) explain that as if having to deal with men isn’t enough, women are also more prone to osteoporosis. As we get older, our bones weaken more quickly. Bone density does a disappearing act. Bone brittleness shows up with a cheery ‘Heeyyy!’ Enter, lower back pain. Exit, correct posture. 

We get to fight this through resistance training. I don’t mean cardio. Most of us already are familiar with cardio. We walk to most places, we climb stairs, we clean our rooms, we sweat it out to Afro-beats, we chase after our toddler nephews when they steal our headphones, we swat at flies. There are those disciplined enough to go on early morning runs. That’s all nice, but resistance training involves the other hard stuff. Lifting weights. Doing pushups. Doing lunges and squats. Combining those into the even more evil Bulgarian split squat (because why hurt fifty percent when you can hurt double?). These will build muscle and improve your bone density, and you don’t have to be scared you’ll get buff. 

I’d shut up about this, but resistance training is absolutely necessary as you age. The sooner you start (especially if you’re already thirty), the better. There are a ton of twenty-minute, full-body resistance workouts you can find on the web for free, so find them. (I’m nice, so here’s one for you.)

‘But Debbie,’ I hear you ask, ‘what if I don’t have dumbbells?’ If you have a husband or boyfriend, lift him. If you have neither, sorry. Maybe lift a car? 

 

What I’m reading

Books. Hehe.

Turnabout is Fair Cosplay, by Amy Trent

Genre: Romance, Comedy

Synopsis: Bea is in love with Mike. That’s it. That’s the story.

Amy Trent just knows how to write. She knows humour. She knows empathy. She describes places with such fervor they come to life before your eyes. She writes professions like she’s lived a thousand lives.

This book had me in a chokehold. I’d do the whole, ‘Ooh, how many pages are in this chapter? Oh, ten? Okay let me read it and stop. Hehe that was fun. How many pages are in the next chapter? Fourteen. That’s just like ten. Let me continue,’ when I had other things to do. It had me laughing so much! Also made me mad, because when Ms Trent writes emotion, she really draws her arm back and sucker punches you in the gut.

Bea and Mike are loosely based on Beatrice and Benedick, sparring lovers from Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, and these guys have never-ending banter, even when it is quite obvious they are also very in love with each other. Beyond the love, it reads like Bea’s coming-of-age story, as she figures out what she really wants, professionally and personally. It’s a clean read, with no explicit scenes or strong language, but it’s so passionately written that you miss none of those.

Noteworthy: Includes elements of tarot reading and a minor same-sex couple.

What I’m writing

Words, mostly.

I don’t know what this one’s going to be. I know what I want it to be, but, um, we’ll see. Below’s an excerpt. I have no doubt it’ll be totally different in my next rewrite.

‘The band was packing up when Annie stood. She circled one wrist with her free hand, held both arms above her head, and stretched, giving her back a good reprieve after all the sitting. She swiveled to leave–

–and saw Fareed. Alone now, his phone on his raised knee, a stylus clutched between two fingers. His eyes didn’t whip away from Annie fast enough.

She took one step toward him and stopped, lest she spook him. Ooh, too late. He’d clicked off his phone, unfolded his long legs, and stood, stylus deep in his trouser pockets now. ‘Hello again,’ she said. 

‘Nope.’ 

It was all she got before he sidestepped her and walked out. 

Surprise bubbled out of her in a chuckle, her wide eyes on the doorway he’d ducked through. Oh, it was officially on the top ten things she would do before she left the island: she’d get the laconic Fareed to hold one civil conversation with her.’

 

What I’m hoping for

A castle, cats, and hair that magically rearranges itself however I want.

May the Lord bless you and keep you. Till I pop my head out of the water again, adios!