The Hand and Mouth Wiping Effect

I was at the gym doing one of the exercises our trainer has us do and I noticed I was doing an unnecessary step between each repetition.  The exercise in question was something called, "burpees" in which you go from a standing position into a pushup position, do a pushup, stand back up and jump straight up.  You repeat this process until your trainer says you've done enough or until you fall down and pass out; hopefully the former.

The gym we work out in is nice, but it's still a floor people walk on with their outdoor shoes on and we're doing a lot of putting our hands down on that floor while we exercise.  My hands aren't accustomed in general of behaving like a second set of feet, except when I'm doing some form of exercise (or playing with my children).  My hands expect to be clean and free of debris.

It's not something we consciously think about, more that we react to it.  You sit down on the grass and when you get up, you brush off your hands.  You picked up something from the floor of the garage and you wipe your hands on the back of your jeans afterwards.  It just happens without thinking about it.

So I notice that commonly when I'm doing burpees or other exercises in which I put my hands on the floor in rotation, that between every rep I brush them off.  I get up, jump in the air, brush my hands off and am back on the floor four seconds after I stood up...and yet I still wipe my hands.

I do the same thing while eating.  I get food on my mouth and I wipe it immediately, even though I'm about to put another forkful of food in my mouth mere seconds later.

The Big Boy Update:  My mother wanted to sing "Twinkle Star" tonight as we were Skyping with her.  She started into the song, got one line in and my son yelled out, "No...sing twinkle twinkle traffic light!"

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  She couldn't make it through three pages of a book until very recently.  She would let you read two pages or so, want to flip all around in the book and then decide it was bed time.  She has now decided books are fun and she likes to have them read to her.  She is still a bit impatient in that she wants to turn to the next page before you've finished reading the current page.

Fitness Update:  We're back at the gym and Don took no mercy on us this morning.  He upped everything all around, so much so that he told us we were done ten minutes early.  And while that may sound like he went easy on us, it means just the opposite, throwing all kinds of tough things at you from the start.  Only two workouts back and I'm so glad we're going again.  I do love to run, but the workouts at the gym are so much fun...afterwards...when you can breathe again.