Posts filed under 'Exercise'
When I started my job and this blog, I said I’m going to post at least once a month. Well as you can see over 5 months have passed and nary a post. This post is an apology and an update to my blogroll.
I’ve begun to embrace Los Angeles and decided that it’s a place I want to try to like. I am going to bike from Griffith Park to Long Beach next weekend. I hope the 45 miles will leave me invigorated and excited about biking, or maybe I’ll be calling my dad for help and a ride home.
Los Angeles River Ride, June 10th, 2007
June 1st, 2007
Have you ever wanted those six-pack abs? I do.. I do.. but I do not have the dedication to get them. I took a look through all my magazines and a light went off in my head. What if I become a surfer? Battling the waves should be a good cardio workout and in theory should work out my abs. All surfers look amazing.
My little sister, her best friend, and I signed up for a series of surfing classes at Venice beach. For the past two weekends we got up at 6 am; ate a power carb breakfast; and drove the 40 minutes out to the beach. When we arrived at the beach we were greeted by a truck with foam boards and wetsuits unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of the rusted out truck with boards. After shimmying into wetsuits (they are very snug), we set off with boards on our head to the ocean. This was my second most disliked part of the lesson, getting out to the ocean with a big board on my head.
When we hit the ocean we were taught how a wave breaks, how to get through the waves, how to pop-up on the board, how to turn, and lots more of how to’s. Then came the implementation part of the lesson came into place when we placed our boards in the ocean.
The hardest part of surfing isn’t standing up on the board. It’s getting out past the breaking waves and dragging your board from your car to the ocean. You have to learn how to paddle and get past the whitewater where the waves are coming towards you and possibly breaking over you to the calm outside. As these waves come toward you they either flip you over or push you back to where you started. As a beginning surfer we were blessed and cursed with little waves the first weekend of surfing. The little waves were great for getting past, but then a curse when trying to ride them. The little waves have less momentum behind them so you can get past them with less risk of being flipped over. However when you’re trying to catch the wave, there is a lot more paddling involved to match the momentum of the wave. You also have to paddle much longer to stay with the wave because it won’t carry you once you catch it as a larger wave would.
The second weekend the waves were much bigger from 1-2 feet to 2-4 feet tall. Imagine trying to get out though 2-4 foot waves instead of 1-2 foot waves. It is much harder. We got flipped much more and spent a lot more time getting through the waves. (we learned later at brunch with a guy from Hawai that you need to find a channel on the side of the waves with less energy to get out inside of trying to go through the waves.
In summary, surfing is exhausting. It’s a great cardio workout and it tones up the arms. However I do not feel I got up enough times on the board to really have any effect on my abs.
August 29th, 2006
My sister and I had a very insightful dinner conversation last night. The topic was how one of our friends, who has managed to lose I would estimate about 20lbs, looks amazing but has horrible endurance. She and her sister are exhausted after about an hour of mild hiking and would prefer to burn calories by eating less.
For me a hike is at least a minimum of 1 hr long. I was told by my sister that endurance is mostly mental. Yes there is a physical aspect and some bodies handle it better, but by no means am I an in shape girl yet. Hence I was surprised.
Here is the gem of this post. Running for speed and running to challenge yourself are very different things. Ta-Da! Most of your will say “DUH!” Why the heck are you blogging about something so obvious?
I want to encourage those of you who hated running laps around the school yard for the Presidential Fitness award or state requirements to try a half marathon or trail run. Pick something non-competitive. I suck as running for speed and will never beat over 75% of the world in a sprint across a finish line. However give me a 8K+ run and I can outlast 50% plus of the world. Wow I just got a 25% improvement and increased my stamina.
Try it even if you hate to run. I promise it’s different because you’re only trying to prepare your own mind and body. I guess I can say I tolerate running now.
For getting started tips try:
Cool Running – Couch to 5K
Trail running in NorCal:
Pacific Coast Trail Runs
July 7th, 2006
Today I am at a conference and it came to my knowledge that there is a great diet out there blogged about by Jeremy Zawadony. He is currently speaking at Gnomedex a blogger conference in Seattle and lost 50 lbs on his diet.
Check it out. He has an objective voice and overall great blog.
July 1st, 2006
I hate to exercise. I am not a team sport person, nor an individual sport person. My favorite thing to do is to curl up on a couch and read a good book.
Does this sound like you? Join the club. Unfortunately when you’re in this club you’ll slowly gain weight as you get older. Most of us get up in the moring, go to work in a car, come home to an unhealthy dinner, watch some tv, and get ready for bed. Exercise does not appear anywhere in this list, and at work we’re sitting at our desk all day.
I’m like that too, but I’ve realized I have to exercise. After a little while it does get better. 30-45 minutes a day of cardio seems like a large committment but start with something simple that you can do at home.
Saturday mornings I always have a list of errands to run such as the bank, post office, and grocery store. I’ve started a routine where I walk/jog/run my errands in the morning before the sun gets too hot. I get both exercise and my errands of the way. You might say that is too slow. It takes too much time. With some careful planning you can do it too. I usually start with a small empty backpack for keys, wallet, and cell phone.
I jog to the local post office 1 mile away, then to the bank another .5 miles away from the post office, then to Trader Joe’s 2 mile away from the bank, then home 1.5 miles. If this seems like a lot I can get all my errands finished in under 2 hrs. I only save about 30 minutes driving, but I’ve managed to get in 5 miles of exercise.
Try it. Start small.
April 14th, 2006
