workingout
You are viewing stuff tagged with workingout.
You are viewing stuff tagged with workingout.
Been trying a new workout technique lately, which can be described with the following words: go faster, waste less time. I’ve decreased my time by 30%, which amounts to 2 hours 18 minutes time savings per week. This has been in collaboration with Mykala, who had the original idea long ago. The thing that I had a hard time with is the mental state you have to be in to push yourself constantly for an entire workout. Since I’m lifting weights, I’m constantly resting but now trying to shorten that rest time. It isn’t a treadmill, where your pace is essentially enforced. Rather, it is like running intervals for your entire workout. Every workout. I’m getting used to it, the time-savings are tremendous, and I think I get a better workout.
Mykala surprised me at the gym today. I saw a young lady out of the corner of my eye, and it was my wife! I don’t like being away from her, at all, even during my gym time. Nine years into our relationship, this seems like a good sign. We talk and talk and talk and take walks and picnics and spend such wonderful hours together. We joke about going to work at the same place, like maybe I can work at a dental building and she can work in an adjoining suite… but that’s a reality I would be thrilled with! After all, marriages aren’t about time apart.
Back in the day (2001), a British fellow named Steve Smith voiced parts of an album by a band named Dirty Vegas called Days Go By. This would be high school Alex listening to this, and he was proud to have liked it before the single became hugely popular when featured in a Mitsubishi Eclipse commercial. A few things about this. First, everyone knows that the second generation (95-99) Mitsubishi Eclipse with the lump in the hood for the turbocharger and just-short-of-ridiculous and therefore stupendously awesome hoop spoiler is the best Eclipse. The ones after are merely boring cars that happen to bear the name. Second, I asked for the Dirty Vegas album for Christmas from my then-girlfriend’s parents. In retrospect, this was a tremendously stupid idea because (1) it is very hard to describe your enjoyment of British house music to a family that primarily listens to country and (2) oh my god I swear it was at least 5 years later when I was cleaning out stuff and ran across this album again that I actually noticed the angle of the shirt on the cover:
Philosophy says you can not have good without evil. Which is to say you have no frame of reference, no true way to define “good” if you don’t have it’s opposite. Now, I haven’t the philosophical experience to discuss good’s definition in terms of evil, but I believe it is related to another universal facet of the human experience: joy’s definition in terms of pain.
Mykala’s getting her MA in Human Development and another MA in Counseling and Psychological Services, so she’s reached the point where she’ll do something called a practicum. It’s not unlike an internship, except you earn credits for doing the work and getting the experience. We’ve talked a lot, and Mykala is interested in, well, not pathologizing people. Clinical psychology, the DSM diagnoses, etc. have their place, but she wants to take a well-adjusted person and help them stretch to reach their potential. So, Mykala interviewed for her practicum at the St. Thomas Career Development on Friday. The interview went so well that they called back later that day to offer her the position!
Nike+ has this “Power Song”; it’s what you play during your run when you need instant motivation. This is that song: “Part Of Me (Original Mix)” by Solar Stone from “Rain Stars Eternal”.
I leapt over a leg press machine so I could quickly move to another part of the weight room floor.
“How old are you, man?”
A random guy at the gym, one who I’ve talked to only once before, surprised me with his question.
After laughing for a bit to regain my composure, I answered: “I’m 26.” Twenty-six, I thought. That sounds… old. I’m over halfway through my twenties. That was quick.
Zen at Home: Working Out in a Small Space; here’s a gem from the comments:
My company offers every employee a free Stair Master for personal use, 24/7. It’s double wide and you can do an “up” or “down” workout. The best part about it is that it serves the added function of access to all six floors in our building.
Does Exercise Help You Sleep Better? has some pretty strong things to say about the link between sleep and exercise. A quick summary: there isn’t a link. This is my favorite part:
From Robin Nixon of LiveScience, Exercise is physiologically good for your brain:
Because it burns calories so quickly, aerobic exercise is a threat to the body’s energy reserves. Heeding this danger, the body acts to protect one of its most precious, and energy-demanding, organs: the brain.
…
By acting as a mild stressor, exercise is an alternative way to spur many of the protective benefits associated with calorie restriction and the release of brain-building growth factors, said Carl Cotman, director of the Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia at the University of California in Irvine.
Podrunner: Free Workout Music from dj steve boyett is an interesting way to load your iPod with non-stop constant beats-per-minute workout music. It’s not fantastic (I’m a fan of a bit more melodic stuff, without so many crashing beats), but for a thumping background groove, I think it would do the job.
Last night I was putting in a little time at Lifetime Fitness lifting weights. The pace was laid back, generally slower than I usually go. Despite the relaxed environment, there was still one man at the gym out to ruin it for the rest of us. I will call two separate transgressions committed by this man to your attention:
There are frequently crickets in the basement of my parent’s home, which nobody likes to kill. So, after accidentally amputating the legs off one too many crickets in attempts to remove them from the premises, my mother devised a system whereby a check box (remember checks?) is used to scoop up the crickets. Recently, my dad was trying to save a cricket, so he asked after the whereabouts of this box. He found it. It’s labeled in permanent marker: “Box for catching/releasing crickets.”
On a whim a couple of weeks ago, I decided to ratchet up my running distance. I’m doing ten mile runs now at around eight and a half minute pace. This isn’t bad, though I recently heard my cousin Tim threw down a half marathon (the Gary Bjorklund) in 90 minutes, which raises the bar. Anyhow, the first time I got back from this run, nearly dead, I drank a lot of water. But that’s not the point of the story. I then went to the basement and mapped the run out on Gmap-Pedometer.com. This yielded the picture below.
Gription: water bottle accessory - Adds a giant handle and modified seal to your Nalgene bottle. I use my Nalgene all day, every day, so I’m certainly considering on of these.
Hong Kong fitness club partially powered by its members - Well, this is nifty, a fitness club that harnesses its members athletic exertions to help supply electrical needs.
I can see this concept being really helpful in a place like Texas where air conditioning in health clubs is essential. The more work you did and therefore heat you produced, the more you would contribute towards air conditioning the place. Interesting.
Today, at the St. Thomas gym, I was walking around, minding my own business, and then I got hit in the head by a 45 pound steel bar. The kid who was brandishing the thing apologized promptly, I replied with “no problem.” I can’t say for sure, but I think it was an accident.
At the starting line to the Life Time Fitness Torchlight 5k yesterday, I looked down at my race number and noticed a coupon at the end of the race for a free Michelob Ultra low calorie look at how we can appeal to the exercising crowd and isn’t it amazing how little flavor there is in this beer. Recalling how I had felt at the end of the race last year (not too hot), I turned to the guy next to me and asked, “How could anyone want beer after a run?” I guess I assumed that those standing at the front of a crowd of 2500 runners would not be the type to pound back beer after a run. Instead, he said absolutely nothing and stared through my head as if it wasn’t there. To Mr. In The Race Zone, I say: thanks for making the beginning of my race memorable. “Screw talking to people,” I thought, feeling the tension in everyone around me rise as the starting horn was lifted into the air.
This is the Bigger Faster Stronger store - I have to keep these guys in mind for when I build a Home Gym®™©. First, though, I have to live about another 10 years, get a home, and get a job. Thank goodness I have tags on this website to look this stuff up!
A Book about Gatorade? - It’s unbelievable to me that someone can write a book about Gatorade … nevertheless, I find the topic rather interesting. How do you leverage a sweetened beverage into a multibillion dollar industry? The thing is: Gatorade doesn’t seem to include any potassium anymore, which would explain why the sodium in it makes me so thirsty.)
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