Pixie’s #wsrmumstrainlikechamps off-season workout

You’ve probably seen the awesome hastags our roller girls and guys have been using lately #wsrtrainlikechamps and #nosuchthingasoffseason but what if you’re a mum wanting to balance off-season training with playtime? That was my conundrum.

I work full-time, add to that roller derby including volunteer time and you get #mumguilt when you miss spending time with your spawn.

As the famous commercial goes, “why not do both”? This has been my #wsrmumstrainlikechamps workout for the last two months or so:

The Swing!

In between pushes on the swing complete the following set three times:

  • 20 × squat holds
  • 20 × right leg lunges
  • 20 × left leg lunges

This should give your offspring a good 5-10 minutes on the swing and you can actually enjoy swing time too, instead of going into zombie mum mode.

The Roundabout/Turntable

Ask your darling kidlet to hold on tight. Grab the rail and Carioca/grapevine around the the roundabout. Start slow and work your way faster. How fast can you go? If you go one direction always do the other. Only go for 30 seconds at a time so you and the offspring don’t get too dizzy and fall (learnt that the hard way…).

Ask kidlet to hold on tight. Sit on the very edge of the roundabout, lean back to about 45° and push with just the balls of your feet and toes. Start slow and go faster and faster. Again only do 30 second reps. Stop and spin in the opposite direction. Try changing it up and just use the heels of your feet instead of the balls of your feet. Too easy? Try not to lean on your arms. Put them in front of you in prayer position.

Rope Climbing Frame

Find a length of rope about belly height and hold on with your hands about shoulder width apart. Move your feet back until you are in a comfortable position to do two sets of press ups of 20 reps each. Too easy? Move your feet back further and move your feet to hip width apart and then shoulder width. Still too easy? Find a length of rope at knee height. Lie on the ground and place your feet or ankles on the rope. Complete your reps as push ups.

The Rope Basket/Net Swing

Jump in the net swing with your lil’ dear facing you in the centre. Place your legs and feet on either side of your kidlet and sit toward the edge facing the direction of swing. Hold on, lean back and push with your legs and feet in the direction of the forward swing and bring it back to a crunch on the back swing. See how much swing you can create without touching the ground/getting a push. Too easy? Try not to hold on or use your arms for swinging, get to a point where you are stable enough to swing while your hands are in front of you in the prayer position.

Monkey Bars or Climbing Frame

Try doing some pull ups. Cross your feet in front of you to avoid pushing off with your feet and just use your arms. Tbh, I’ve got really weak arms…I would just try to do one or two reps before moving on…

Some more tips

  • Take time to warm up whether it is part of walking to the park or a quick game of chasings around the backyard before you start.
  • Protect your back, engage your core with each rep by sucking your bellybutton inwards.
  • Get creative, make playtime about both/all of you enjoying yourselves, if your cheeky monkey wants to play here/there how can you play too and challenge yourself.
  • Don’t over do it if you still need to walk back home from the playground either mum needs lots of breaks or Mr Two needs to be carried home along with his bike and drink (lol).
  • You’re at the park to play and spend time with your precious babies, remember to engage with them, ask for help counting your reps, make funny faces or noises with each rep, or make up some imaginative play together.
  • Be that fun mum that properly “plays” at their playground, it doesn’t all have to be about reps and stretching, running around playing tip or the floor is lava is still a workout, trust me.

In the end, Axel and I did have fun and I feel #derbystrong for our 2017 season.

Go forth and play
❤ Pixiematosis

What’s your Mindset?

Very recently I had to sit through the analysis of my workplace annual engagement survey, and whilst that was a bundle of ‘fun’ there was something important I took away from that session.

My Human Resources representative, a lovely and charismatic woman, spoke of one main point, “Mindset.”

There is a woman named Carol Dweck, a Professor at Stamford University, who has done studies around this very point. If you read on, I think you’ll agree that it makes complete sense. So much sense that maybe you’ll start to question how you operate, and how you might be able to improve the way you see yourself.

Professor Dweck speaks of Mindset in the sense of school education however, I believe it can also be applied quite well to each of us in our roller derby lives.

After hearing about Professor Dweck I did some searching online and found a couple of articles that I really liked. Please see the links in the footnotes if you’re interested in reading about this further- whilst somewhat long-winded they’re incredibly insightful.

Professor Dweck talks about Mindset in two ways, those with a “fixed” mindset, and those with a “growth” mindset. The diagram below shows the opposing ways the two mindsets approach common things such as challenges, obstacles, effort, criticism and the success of others.

One thing to note with this, that it’s not about being a positive person or a negative person, but rather someone who is fluid in how they see themselves and how they take on feedback from life, or whether they are rigid in their self-assessment, and are just “this is what I am.” An example of a growth mindset description might be “I try to learn something new every training session I attend.” A fixed mindset might be “As a skater I’m ok.” Both statements are reasonably positive, but the statement which is the most promising is the growth statement.

mindset(1)

The next article I found (2) is based on how you can develop a growth mindset, as not everyone has this naturally. The good news is folks; there are 25 ways here that you can help you develop a more growth centric mindset. I have picked out the top 10 in the list that I feel relate the most to those of us playing roller derby.

1. Acknowledge and embrace imperfections. Hiding from your weaknesses means you’ll never overcome them.

2. View challenges as opportunities. Having a growth mindset means relishing opportunities for self-improvement. Learn more about how to fail well.

6. Stop seeking approval. When you prioritise approval over learning, you sacrifice your own potential for growth.

7. Value the process over the end result. Intelligent people enjoy the learning process, and don’t mind when it continues beyond an expected time frame.

15. Provide regular opportunities for reflection. Let students reflect on their learning at least once a day.

16. Place effort before talent. Hard work should always be rewarded before inherent skill.

18. Cultivate grit. Students with that extra bit of determination will be more likely to seek approval from themselves rather than others.

21. Learn from other people’s mistakes. It’s not always wise to compare yourself to others, but it is important to realise that humans share the same weaknesses.

22. Make a new goal for every goal accomplished. You’ll never be done learning. Just because your midterm exam is over doesn’t mean you should stop being interested in a subject. Growth-minded people know how to constantly create new goals to keep themselves stimulated.

25. Take ownership over your attitude. Once you develop a growth mindset, own it. Acknowledge yourself as someone who possesses a growth mentality and be proud to let it guide you throughout your educational career.

I look at these points above and think about how I approach my life:

  • Do I recognise my failings, and strive to improve them?
  • Do I keep pushing myself further, or seek confirmation that I’ve done all I can do?
  • When I finish a training session, do I feel like I have put everything out there – have I done the very best I could do or have I just been present?
  • Watching my team mates – when I’ve noticed that there’s a common error being made, am I doing the same thing, or do I learn from this and better myself?
  • Do I set goals? Do I push myself further and higher?
  • Finally how do I see myself – do I have a growth attitude?

Well I’m going to be honest; I think I’m a little column A and a little column B but I’m going to seriously look at myself and see where I can be better, and do better.

Growth mindset here I come!

Cheers,
T-Wrecks

(1) https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/29/carol-dweck-mindset/
(2) http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/develop-a-growth-mindset/