Principle: Concentration
While stores are selling Halloween decor and fall clothes fill the racks, I am hanging on to every last bit of summer. So much that writing this blog is almost 2 weeks behind schedule.
I genuinely really love all four seasons. Summer is my favorite, but if it were summer all year round, I wouldn’t be a productive member of society. I am ready(ish) to get back to the routine.
One of our favorite mantras in life and with our family is: work hard – play hard – rest hard. Most months and years of my life were heavily imbalanced toward the work hard; summer now is admittedly and deliberately biased toward play/rest hard.
This is after 20 years of owning the studios, and I am grateful to relish in having a child-led summer.
Growing up, summer was a time to dance train really hard in spurts and feel super sore at times, maybe have some time off, go back to it, feel the progress, and repeat. It’s not so different now; I think I carry that same pattern with me as an adult, and Clara’s summer training for gymnastics somewhat mirrors this as well. Add in long weekend vacations, sleeping on mattresses that might not suit your body, staying up late, and doing all the usual summer activities.
Everyone’s story is different, but most of us have a transition period back to some sort of routine after the summer fades.
First and foremost, it is crucial to strengthen the back, abdominals, hips, and upper back extensors, but here are some of my go-to warm-up, cool-down, range of motion, and recovery back exercises.
It’s only suitable that Clara filmed these exercises with me. In fact, I let her choose which were best to include in all of us getting back at it this summer into fall. She does most of these at times before bed as we wind down.
Enjoy!