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Sunday, July 31, 2005

 

Fieldwork take 3

Who: Radagast and SO
Exercise type: Working in the field
Details: Hours of hiking over rough terrain; climbing (and descending) 62 stairs every time we go to our room.

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Saturday, July 30, 2005

 

Fieldwork take 2

Who: Radagast and SO
Exercise type: Working in the field
Details: Hiking over rough terrain, lugging boxes of equipment around, and climbing (and descending) 62 stairs every time we go to our room.
Soreness report: Both Radagast and SO had mild leg soreness today.

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Friday, July 29, 2005

 

Fieldwork take 1

Who: Radagast and SO
Exercise type: Working in the field
Duration: 2-hour hike over mixed terrain, lugging dozens of boxes of equipment around, and climbing (and descending) 62 stairs every time we go to our room.
Notes: This is the first of many days that we'll be spending out in the field doing work (Radagast is teaching a week-long field biology course this summer); we'll be working hard every day this week.

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Tuesday, July 26, 2005

 

Hotel exercising take 3; Pure and Simple Stretch take 2

Who: Radagast and SO
Exercise type: Weightlifting and the Pure and Simple Stretch video
Details: ~15 minutes of weightlifting (leg extension and bench/incline/shoulder press), followed by the entire video (standing and floor stretches)
Duration: ~70 minutes
Notes: The weight equipment at this hotel was difficult to use; it looked pretty new, but was difficult to adjust for different exercises, and some exercises (e.g. leg curl) were downright painful to attempt because of the placement of the pads.
Soreness report: Still a little sore from the weightlifting on Sunday.

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Monday, July 25, 2005

 

Hotel exercising take 2

Who: Radagast and SO
Exercise type: Treadmill and stairclimber
Details: Radagast did 25 minutes on the stair climber (climbed 960 units), while Radagast's SO did 25 minutes on the treadmill (avg. speed 4.0, inclines ranging from 4-9). Both did a 5-minute cooldown after.
Duration: ~30 minutes
Notes: Radagast figured out how to use the stairclimber, which he has now named the machine of pain and suffering; he was completely wiped out, and covered in sweat, after 25 minutes.
Soreness report: Still sore from the weightlifting yesterday.

The exercise room at today's hotel was somewhat annoying; it connected the pool and hotel, so anyone going to the pool had to walk through the exercise room. A few people decided to ask inane questions, such as "Working out, huh?" and "Having a good workout?"

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Sunday, July 24, 2005

 

Hotel exercising take 1

Who: Radagast and SO
Exercise type: Treadmill and weightlifting
Details: Radagast did 35 minutes on treadmill (avg speed ~3.3, incline ~5), 20 on weights. Radagast's SO did 35 minutes on weights, 20 minutes on random treadmill program
Duration: ~60 minutes
Notes: We tried out the exercise room at our hotel. Radagast's SO attempted to use the stair-climber, but couldn't figure out how the machine worked.

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Thursday, July 21, 2005

 

Lawn mowing take 2

Who: Radagast and SO
Exercise type: Mowing the lawn and gardening
Intensity: Moderate (it's pretty warm here today)
Duration: 1.5 hours (Radagast's SO worked for 1/2 the time)

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Sunday, July 17, 2005

 

A.M. Yoga take 2

Who: Radagast and SO
Exercise type: A.M. Yoga with Rodney Yee
Portions of tape: relaxation, workout, guided meditation (full tape)
Duration: ~20 minutes
Intensity: Low
Notes: Radagast enjoyed the tape more this time, probably because he's much more sore and because we did the tape shortly after waking up.

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Saturday, July 16, 2005

 

Comic-Con 2005

Who: Radagast and SO
Exercise type: Attending Comic-Con 2005
Duration: ~4 hours walking/standing while lugging around a backpack
Intensity: Low
Notes: Not quite as much walking as Anime Expo, which was good, because of:
Soreness report: Lingering soreness from Body Basics tape.

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Friday, July 15, 2005

 

Body Basics take 6 - full tape completed

Who: Radagast and SO
Exercise type: Kathy Smith's Body Basics video
Portions of tape: warmup, arms, aerobics, abs, legs, butt, cooldown (full tape)
Duration: ~70 minutes
Notes: We did the whole tape at once for the first time! Woohoo! Of course, we were both absolutely exhausted at the end, so much so that we collapsed to our knees in unison when we were supposed to be doing a calf stretch during the cooldown.

We've now met the first of the goals we set at the beginning of the month.

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Thursday, July 14, 2005

 

Skeptically analyzing exercise equipment

The American Council on Exercise has commissioned a number of research studies to examine the effectiveness of various exercises and exercise eqiupment. The studies cover a wide range of topics, including analyses of ab workouts, sports bras, and super-oxygenated water. While I'd like to see more detail in the methods and results, the studies appear to be well done and are a good skeptical look at modern exercise hype.

In their ab workouts study, the researchers compared 30 men and women performing "traditional crunch, modified crunches, partial body weight exercises and exercises using both home [including the Torso Track, Ab Roller, and AB Rocker] and gym exercise equipment [including the captain’s chair]". They measured muscle activity to quantify how much the exercisers were working (and if they were working the proper muscles), and found that the bicycle maneuver (a floor exercise), captain's chair (a piece of gym equipment), and crunches on an exercise ball were the best exercises (see here for instructions on how to do the good exercises, including images).

The home ab exercise equipment didn't fare too well:
"[T]he Torso Track appeared to be marginally more effective than the traditional crunch. However, this training benefit is likely offset by the lower-back discomfort reported by a significant number of subjects while using the Torso Track.

The Ab Roller was proven to be virtually no more effective than the traditional crunch while the AB Rocker was shown to be up to 80 percent less effective.
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Their other studies make for interesting reads as well, though they generally show results that any good skeptic would already have hypothesized.

[Cross-posted at Rhosgobel.]

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

 

A.M. Yoga take 1

Who: Radagast and SO
Exercise type: A.M. Yoga with Rodney Yee
Portions of tape: relaxation, workout, guided meditation (full tape)
Duration: ~20 minutes
Intensity: Low
Notes: Very light workout, composed mostly of moving quickly through a sequence of gentle poses. It seems like it could be a very good routine to do shortly after waking up (as suggested), or when feeling stressed/tense; it's probably not a good stretching workout, as the poses are not held for very long. Having already gone through Yoga for Beginners helped us with this video. Radagast's SO reports getting tired of guided meditation and relaxation sessions (though thankfully the "meditation" in this video is only ~2 minutes, and is mostly free of new-agey talk).

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Monday, July 11, 2005

 

Healing Yoga for Aches and Pains take 1

Who: Radagast and SO
Exercise type: Healing Yoga for Aches and Pains video
Portions of tape: seated poses, standing poses, floor poses (all)
Duration: ~30 minutes

Notes: This was a gentle, relaxing workout (except for a few poses that worked the thighs). Our chairs were not sturdy enough to perform a few of the poses, the cueing seemed like it could have been a bit better in a few places (but was good overall), and the video was filled with new-agey talk that got a bit annoying after a while. However, there were some good poses included, and the workout seemed especially good at stretching out and loosening up the shoulders. This seems like it could be a good video for the day after a more intense workout.

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Sunday, July 10, 2005

 

Yoga for Beginners take 1

Who: Radagast and SO
Exercise type: Yoga Journal's Yoga for Beginners video
Portions of tape: warmup, standing poses, forward bends, seated poses, inverted poses, deep relaxation (entire tape)
Duration: ~2 hours (tape was 1 hour)

Notes: Our first ever attempt at yoga. The beginning of the tape was a bit odd (Patricia Walden performed a "look at what I can do" session for ~5 minutes, after 10 minutes of dire warnings contrasted with glowing praise of the benefits of yoga), but the rest of the tape was excellent. The poses were well explained, variants for the less-bendable were regularly included, and the workout was a nice mix of muscle-working and relaxing. Who knew standing in one place could take so much effort?

We both found the proud warrior and downward-facing dog poses to be kinda fun, and Radagast enjoyed the guided relaxation at the end (Radagast's SO's snickering at Ms. Walden's "feel your brain" comment excluded). During the video we spent a lot of time arranging our furniture and equipment so we could do the poses.

As a side note, the video's box claims that it is "set in majestic Death Valley National Park!" It is not. In the 5-minute "look at what I can do" part, Ms. Walden is indeed in Death Valley; in the rest of the tape she is in a purple-blue void.

Soreness report: Radagast and SO both have sore lower back, sides, and shoulders; Radagast's arms are also sore.

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Friday, July 08, 2005

 

Pure and Simple Stretch take 1

Who: Radagast and SO
Exercise type: Pure and Simple Stretch video
Portions of tape: standing, floor
Duration: ~40 minutes
Notes: Good stretches for while we're still sore from yesterday's workout. Karen Voight cues very well; we didn't even have to watch the TV to know what to do most of the time.

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Body Basics take 5

Who: Radagast and SO
Exercise type: Kathy Smith's Body Basics video
Portions of tape: warmup, arms, aerobics, abs, butt, cooldown
Duration: ~50 minutes
Notes: Radagast did 1/2 abs, and no butt; Radagast's SO did 1/2 aerobics

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Wednesday, July 06, 2005

 

Lawnmowing take 1

Who: Radagast
Exercise type: Mowing the lawn
Intensity: Low
Duration: 1 hour
Notes: Not high intensity exercise, but at least it's activity.

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Sunday, July 03, 2005

 

Anime Expo take 1

Who: Radagast and SO
Exercise type: Attending Anime Expo 2005
Duration: 13.5 hours total, ~8.5 hours walking/standing while lugging around a backpack
Intensity: Low
Notes: Exercise has never been so much fun!
Soreness report: Radagast's SO's arms are sore, oddly, and Radagast's back is sore.

OK, so this isn't exactly running a marathon, but it was activity, right?

[note: See here for more details on our Anime Expo visit, including pictures]

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Friday, July 01, 2005

 

First set of goals

Most exercise programs recommend setting some goals; here's our first set:

1) Be able to complete Kathy Smith's Body Basics video in its entirety in one exercise session.
2) Exercise at least two times every calendar week (starting Mondays).

That's it for now. We'll plan to reevaluate our goals in one month.

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