Category: Exercise
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Change is worth it for its own sake. Can you believe that? Can you want it?
Interesting discussion on weight and diet over at Megan McArdle's. I participated as "bearing." I chose to press a different point, but I really do agree with many of the principles of the HAES (Health at Every Size) movement mentioned by commenter "silentbeep." Health is more important than weight and appearance, and focusing too much on…
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Hiking.
There's a good post on introducing your kids to backpacking at Sectionhiker.com. The author is Tom Murphy, a guest-poster from the comboxes. Good to read it, because one of my great frustrations is hiking with children. Maybe it sounds like a bit of a cliche, but of all the kinds of exercise in…
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Coming back for more.
I ran my second 5k this morning, the Center for Diagnostic Imaging "Back In Shape" Run/Walk in Bloomington. As I told my friends Eric and Kim In IA a few weeks ago: "I think the reason I want to keep doing this is that even after months of running, I still hate the feeling of…
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Exercise vs. antioxidants.
So often, health recommendations are offered in a vacuum: "Do this, it's good for you." As if there were no interaction between different "healthy habits," and as if certain habits might not be good for some people and bad for others. I think there's a general tendency for policy makers to frame health recommendations almost…
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Focusing on just one thing: it doesn’t have to mean everything else falls apart.
One of my biggest reasons for taking up swimming is that it's kind of an all-in-one exercise: you get some cardio, and because of the resistance of the water you get some strength training too. You can get better cardio through running, and you can get better strength training by weight lifting, but it's hard…
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What’s so hard about running.
Yesterday evening I got back on the treadmill. What? No applause? I spent a lot of time, on the treadmill, before the 5K, telling myself, "Don't worry, after the 5K you won't have to do this EVER AGAIN." And now, there I was, on it again. (Huh. It almost reminds me of the time…
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A long-term running goal.
I've written before that one of the joys of having been a dumpy, fat, sedentary young person is that, at least for a while, it's truly possible to get better as you get older. While everyone else is declining, I am improving, getting stronger, leaner, and faster as the months go by! It's like time…
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“So was it fun?”
I don't know. What is fun? Sitting around with friends on a back porch on a warm night with cold beers and good conversation — that's fun. Reading a good page-turner with nobody to bother me — that's fun. Going out for sushi is fun. I don't know if running for almost half an…
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What went through my mind in the 5K.
At the beginning you're just in a big crowd of people. I was chatting with another runner whom I had known briefly in college. I asked her how long she thought she'd take, and she was telling me she thought somewhere between 30 and 35 minutes, and while she was talking we heard "Go!" and…
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28:24.
The only picture you get, though, is the one of me looking indignant because Mark elected to cheer for me (which I asked him not to do) instead of take pictures of me (which I asked him to do) as I approached the finish line. Later, after I get the card back from his camera.…
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A new path.
I did something new yesterday. I stole a bunch of pictures off the web. No, wait a minute, I did something else. I ran around Bde Mka Ska.* View Larger Map Bde Mka Ska is one of the “Chain of Lakes” here in Minneapolis, and is a prime walking/running/blading/cycling route. Peoplewatching…
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Topic synergy here at bearing blog: Contraceptives and muscle mass.
Where we love to rant about how bad contraceptives can be for you, and also about how important it is to stay healthy and fit. From Reuters: CHICAGO (Reuters) – Young women seeking a sculpted, muscular silhouette may want to avoid taking oral contraceptives, U.S. researchers said on Friday. They found women who…
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