Episode 17: #OwItHurts, Taking Care of the Body While Flexing the Mind

......in which Jess and KJ consider how to keep your muscles from waning as you wax poetic with pen and paper. KJ recommends getting messy with your creativity and Jess speaks to a physical trainer about staying limber in the chair. 

(available on iTunes and AudioBoom)
 

#AmReading

Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives by Tim Harford
Adapt, also by Tim Harford! 
The Undercover Economist
Kazoo: The Magazine For Girls Who Are Not Afraid To Make Some Noise
I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yong
The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer
The Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Jess' new hammock and the straps I use to connect it to whatever trees strike my fancy

#OwItHurts

Matt Newell, Certified Personal Trainer and Movement Training Specialist 
NASM: National Association of Sports Medicine

Foam Rolling: The bane of Jess' existence. Here's an article that pretty much sums it up: "What is a Foam Roller, How Do I Use It, and Why Does it Hurt?"
Hip flexor stretches
Deep Psoas stretch (I know, I'd never heard of it either, but it turns out it was the muscle that was causing my back pain, a result of sitting too much. Runner's World does a great explainer in this article. 
Planking to strengthen your core: as if simple planks are not horrifying enough, here are "20 Ways to Do a Plank"
Squats: Women's Health on all the ways we do them wrong (For the record, I don't hate lunges. I hate planks.)

And, just for giggles, Harvard Medical School on the right and wrong ways to do lunges, squats, and planks. 

Anything where you can open up your midsection and mid-back, like downward-facing dog and upward-facing dog poses. 

You always can find K.J. here and Jess here.