Your mind is your strongest muscle. It holds the key to your belief about the way you feel and the way you see yourself. — Tunde Oyeneyin, Peloton instructor and author of Speak.
We need to incorporate physical activities of all kinds into our daily lives, especially as we get older. We need to preserve strength, flexibility, and stability. The benefits are huge — not just for our hearts, but for our minds.
I dedicate 10 minutes a day to a light-arm weight workout using my Peloton app. When I started, I used 2-pound dumbbells and eventually leveled up to 3-pounds with various instructors. And if I get tired midway, I will pick up a lighter set of dumbbells, or even go through the motions just using my arms. If the instructor calls for unilateral moves with both weights in one hand, I can put down one weight if it’s too hard or combine two different pound weights. The instructors suggest all these options, from 1 to 3-pound dumbbells. The important thing is to keep moving those shoulders, biceps, and triceps and to complete the 10-minute circuit.
When I began doing these workouts, my goal was to tone my arms and prevent skin sag as I dropped excess weight. But I quickly realized that I was gaining arm strength and discipline through resistance training. When I reached my 100th milestone workout, I got a shout-out from the instructor during a live class. Meeting the challenge is it’s own reward and provides an incentive to keep going.
You might be inclined to think that 10 minutes is not much of a workout, but one of the most intense Peloton classes is coached by Tunde Oyeneyin, who once weighed 70 pounds more than she does now. In fact, in one of her classes, she said that if anyone tells you that 10 minutes is nothing, “You send them to us.”
One morning last February, I caught her on Good Morning America, as she spoke about creating small intentions — just starting with 10 minutes a day, creating goals that are not only accessible, but achievable, and repeating a session 3 to 4 times a week. She suggested dressing the part (putting on an outfit that you feel makes you look good) and setting a timer (Set it and forget it.) Once the timer goes off, she says, “You decide if you want to keep going or not.”
We can all make it to 10 minutes… and then grow it from there.
❤️ Susan L. Ward
Integrative Nutrition Health Coach