Category Archives: Fitness

2024, books, Fitness, Games, Mysteries, TV

Sweating it Out

36 Comments

When I went to the gym last week, I turned on the tv attached to the stationary bike.  This doesn’t sound like front page news, I know, but it’s extraordinary to me for two reasons.

First, I have never turned on the little tv EVER.  I joined my gym about 30 years ago.  A franchise of a California company was opening and they sent representatives to BIW to scrounge up some memberships.  I’ve spent most of my life trying to get myself to exercise; if there were a vitamin I could pop that could replace exercise in my world, I’d be all over that.  When the reps offered up an extraordinary rate for BIW folks, I signed up.  (And not only was it extraordinary but the price never went up in all the years I was a paying member.)  And I went to the gym like clockwork because for most of those years I got money back from my health insurance company and from BIW – for about 15 years the amount of payback was actually a couple more than I paid the gym.  It was like getting paid to exercise. These days I do mostly stationary bike and occasionally laps in the pool.

The second reason it was extraordinary was that when I turned on the tv, I searched for the Olympics.  You all know I am not a sports fan of any kind.  I only follow gymnastics a smidge because YA follows and I hear things from her. Other than that, I know nothing. When I play Trivial Pursuit, I always make sure there is a sports person on my team because I am useless in that category.

But that day, there was an intersection of my issues.  I didn’t have a book; I’d had a bunch of errands, including meeting YA for lunch and I completely forgot to grab a book even though the gym was on my to-do list.  And no stray books skulking around in the car either, which is also unusual.  I thought about stopping at Southdale library (between BIW and the gym) but I just didn’t want to.  I figured I’d just fart around on my phone for 30 minutes while I cycled.

When I jumped onto the bike, it occurred to me that I could turn on the little TV and watch THE OLYMPICS!  I’m not sure why I am not a jot interested in sports/athletics but I can watch Olympic coverage for hours and days on end.  I was in Madison for several days and my friend and I had the games on pretty much full time if we were at home.  That’s how it always is; I don’t expect to watch any Olympics and then I watch, follow specific athletes, text a couple of friends who I know are watching.  When the games are over, my interest will disappear, pretty much overnight.

So there I was – the person who hates to exercise — watching sports on the gym television.  When Leon Marchand was trailing in second place for most of his 200M Butterfly and then poured it on the last 5 seconds to take the gold, I raised up my arms and cheered (quietly)! I feel like a different person lives in my skin during the Olympics.

Do you have/have you had a go-to exercise? 

2024, Fitness, Health, Uncategorized

The Posterior Chain

16 Comments

I have been struggling on and off over the past couple of years with sciatica down both my legs. The whole situation is complicated by my lumbar scoliosis. I have been in physical therapy for the past several months, and it has kind of helped, but I still have a lot of pain, or at least did until now.

My physical therapist changed her strategy a couple of weeks ago and has focused on what she calls the posterior chain, the muscle system that runs from one ankle, up the leg and across the lower back and glutes, and then down the other leg. All the muscles work together, so that I can feel the stretches in my right ankle when she manipulates my left leg. I figured out the source of the whole problem last week on my own, and I am proud to say and the culprit is my bifocals.

I realized last week that I walk consistently with my head down so that I can see where I am going and I don’t trip. I lowered my head to get a clear view right in front of me because of my bifocals. My lowered head was messing up the weight distribution up and down my back. The minute I started making sure I kept my head up. 75% of my leg pain disappeared. Some of my other back muscles have protested with the change, but that is to be expected. I haven’t tripped yet. It is a hard habit to break, though.

How is your posterior chain? What are your recent exciting discoveries?

2023, Fitness, Health

I Am What I Yam

51 Comments

I’ve gotten to the point where if anybody is willing to give me a shot to keep me from getting some disease, lay it on me.  So I found myself once again at the pharmacy yesterday getting this year’s flu shot.  For many years I didn’t get the shot but then about 15 years ago I got the flu one winter and it was dreadful.  Flu shot every year for me since then.  I know it’s no guarantee but I’ll take all the help I can get.

When I sat down for my shot, the pharmacist asked me which arm I preferred.  In thinking about it, I realized that the last few years, every shot but one has been in my left arm.  I asked her if getting all my shots in the same arm would cause me to get a “Popeye” arm.  She laughed out loud.  And then assured me it wouldn’t happen. (I can’t stomach watching the Popeye cartoons anymore.  They are so violent and Olive Oyl is such an irritating damsel in distress.  Ick.)

Before I left the pharmacy, she said that I probably wouldn’t have any soreness in my arm but if I wanted to, I could do extra arm movements to help out.  So once again I was doing the chicken dance in the car on the way home!

What food gives you strength and energy?

animals, Family, Fitness, gardening, Health, home, Nature, Uncategorized

Woodpecker Spa

38 Comments

A few weeks ago, Husband decided to water the strawberry bed with a rotating sprinkler that watered the strawberries as well as a section of the lilac bushes. It was terribly dry then. The backyard birds got very excited and flitted in and out of the bushes through the water. One bird, a Hairy Woodpecker, just sat very still in the lilacs letting the water fall on it, luxuriating in the shower.

One other occasion many years ago in yet another drought we had a flock of Cedar Waxwings sit for a long time in the lilacs as an oscillating sprinkler went back and forth over them. I guess we have a bird spa in our backyard!

I have never been to a spa. I have never had a massage. I know lots of people do such things. I think I fear the intimacy of such experiences. I would rather watch the birds.

What are your spa experiences? How about massage? Any good bird stories?

2021, Fitness, Health, Media, Uncategorized, work

Signs of stress

38 Comments

I can always tell my level of work stress. All I have to do is look at my fingernails and cuticles. The more stress, the more chewed up are my nails and nail beds.

I have been an inveterate nail chewer since early childhood. I decided when I was very young that I hated my mother clipping my nails, and I started chewing them off. It is sort of like our cats, who hate nail trims (Don’t squeeze my paws!) I think it might have been a sensory issue for me, too, because I am only comfortable with the shortest of fingernails and toe nails.

I was appaled last week to read about the woman with the world’s longest nails. She finally got them cut when their collective length was something like 28 feet. I can’t imagine how a person could even function.

I haven’t bought nail polish for decades. I have no interest in stopping my nail chewing, but I am interested in stress reduction. I have three more years to get through for my job, and I need to be a good role model for positive coping.

How can you tell you are under stress. What is stressing you these days? What do you do to de-stress and relax?

Family, Fitness, Kids, sports, Uncategorized

Snowboarding

61 Comments

YA went snowboarding last weekend.  I knew that she had a snowboard; her ex was a serious snowboarder, although as far as I know, she only went boarding with him a couple of times.   But I was surprised by the amount of equipment she actually owns: board, boots, ski pants, helmet and some serious goggles.  I took a photo of it all that she had laid out on the dining room table before she left.  I was afraid to ask her how much cash she had sunk into this equipment.  She mentioned before she left that the lift ticket for the day would be $34.  Opinions were kept to self but it seems to me that this is an expensive sport. 

As I thought about it, there are plenty of hidden costs to most sports.  When YA was younger, her gymnastics was a big money suck.  Monthly team fees, individual meet fees, leotards and the inevitable “stuff” available for sale at every meet.  When she tried out for dance team, the price tag for everything was unbelievable; I had to tell her that I couldn’t afford both dance team and gymnastics.  Diving wasn’t quite as bad but the team swimsuit was $97.  Yowza.  Luckily for my pocketbook, she decided she didn’t like the 5 a.m. practice time before we had taken the tags off the suit. 

Swimming wasn’t too bad, although you always had to pay for pool time, either lessons at the Y or seasonal fees at local pools.  Rollerblading wasn’t too bad, as long as you didn’t want to blade during bad weather/winter – then again, fees for the rink or the rollerdome (as it was called).  Same for tennis; if you don’t mind mediocre courts and waiting times, once you pony up for a racquet and some tennis balls, you can play free in the parks.  Winter play costs money for indoor courts. 

In thinking about it, I guess running is about the cheapest of the sports – the only real expense seems to be the shoes, unless you feel the need to have gadgets for playing music or keeping track of your distance/heart rate, etc.  

Tell me about your sport of choice.  Do you participate or just watch?  How do you keep the costs down?

Family, Fantasy, Fitness, Games, Health, home

Keeping Fit

57 Comments

My mom (Nonny) is a jock.  She was very active as a kid and played many sports when she was in school (basketball, field hockey, tennis).  She got my dad interested in tennis after they married and they played consistently until his death.  She even played tennis the night before my baby sister was born.  Doubles and she was happy to tell everyone that they won against the other team.

So imagine Nonny’s disappointment when all three of her daughters turned out to be complete non-jocks.  I cycled fairly seriously for a couple of years (way before YA was born) and my baby sister runs occasionally, but for the most part, we are couch potatoes.  Of all seven grandchildren, only one has any spark of jock-ness: YA.  Swimming, gymnastics, running and weight training have been part of her regime over the years. 

Santa brought YA a 10-pound weight, so now she has two.  I noticed a couple of days ago that she has set up a “gym” in Nonny’s room upstairs.  She has her yoga mat, her weights, a big yoga ball and some kind of exercise bands.  This morning she had music playing on her phone while she worked out.

I admire her get-up-and-go.  While I’m doing the stationary bike at the gym occasionally (translation: every 4 or 5 days) and walking the dog occasionally (translation: if the sun is shining), I wouldn’t say that exercising is my top priority these days.  If would be nice if YA’s commitment to working out would rub off on me, but I’m thinking if it hasn’t happened yet, it probably won’t.

Have you ever had a “favorite” exercise?  If you could have your own In-home gym, how would you like it set up?

animals, Fitness, Gatherings, pets, Uncategorized, work

Gatherings

33 Comments

I got a letter from the city last month that prior to the re-surfacing project in Tangletown, they will be re-doing some of the curbs.  (I am technically part of the Tangletown neighborhood, but my street is actually a county road, so I am not affected by this.)  Every morning Guinevere and I have been seeing signs of the project; they dug up all the affected curbs first and then are going back to add the new concrete.

When we came around a corner yesterday, we were surprised by a group of ELEVEN construction workers, all in their neon yellow vests, standing around one of the holds where a curb had been.  While we watched, the concrete mixer started to whirr and soon there was concrete glopping into the hole.  Two of the eleven worked to control where the concrete was pouring and the other nine started smoothing out the mixture.  I’m not sure if they really needed nine guys to do this, but I’m sure it made the job go quickly.

As Guinevere and I continued on our walk, I said to her “well, now you’ve been to a concrete workers’ convention”.   She was more interested in the smells along the sidewalk than the convention.  I kept thinking about it and realized that except for two Stampin’Up annual conventions about 20 years ago, I haven’t been to any other conventions.  Trade shows yes, conventions no.  Full disclosure — I did drive a friend downtown to a Star Trek convention once and drove around the block several times while he ran in to buy a couple of t-shirts.  But I didn’t actually go inside so I’m not counting that!

Have you ever been to a convention?  Any good stories?

Family, Fitness, home, sports, Uncategorized

Pedal to the Metal

78 Comments

I live next door to a five-year old.  It’s fun to see her growing up; she has a different temperament than YA had as a child.  On Thursday, she was sporting a brand new pink helmet and then her dad took the training wheels off her bike.

They started in the backyard, on the grass – doesn’t every parent do this, hoping for a softer landing than on concrete?  On Saturday, they went up to the high school, where there is a lot more flat grass.  Then on Sunday afternoon, as she was working on it in the driveway, her dad let go of the seat and she was biking!  She practiced for about another 30 minutes; she still needs a little shove to get going but other than that, she’s got it!

It made me think about YA learning to ride a bike.  We didn’t even try in our yard, since it’s very bumpy, but we did practice at the high school.  YA was not a natural rider and for a couple of weeks she was incapable of seeing an obstacle and then being able to avoid it.  I remember thinking that learning to ride a bike is way more complicated than it appears on the surface.

I was five when I learned, starting in the grass like my little neighbor did and eventually graduating to the elementary school parking lot.  I still remember the thrill of realizing that my dad wasn’t holding me up any longer and I was flying along on my own.  According to Nonny, I fell and scraped my knee rather badly but I don’t remember that part at all, just the wind on my face and my legs pumping the pedals!

Do you remember learning to ride a bike?

 

 

Family, Fitness, Games, Health, Kids, Medicine, Nature, Uncategorized

Speed

41 Comments

Husband is slow. Motorically slow. He always has been slow.  He really can’t do much of anything quickly, and it has been a source of frustration for him that I can do things quickly.  Really quickly.  When I did my psychology internship at a VA hospital in Iowa, we interns were administered  the same  battery of neuropsychological tests that we would eventually administer to the patients.  One of the tests was the Purdue Pegboard, which is a large board with holes for pegs, and you time people to see how fast they can put the pegs in the holes. It assesses bilateral motor speed and coordination. I had the fastest time ever for anyone who had taken the test at that clinic.

Last week, I got a notification from Ancestry.com that recent analysis of my DNA revealed me to have the Sprinter gene, common in athletes, especially in successful short distance runners. I never was an athlete, but my dad was, and he was really speedy.  In high school he could zip around the basketball court so fast that he once caused the boy assigned to guard him to start crying during a game because he couldn’t keep up with him.  He did most things really fast, and I am pretty sure I inherited that gene from him.

What genetic advantage  do you think you inherited? Make up a gene you would like to have.