Football Epilogue

It's been a struggle lately. Going to bed most nights I feel primed to get up and get a workout in; only to have the motivation evaporate in my sleep.  This morning was different. I woke early and turned on my nightstand lamp. I was out of bed before 7 and decided to take advantage and go for a jog. I found my sweats, put on my hat gloves and my old down vest and ventured out. My Bluetooth earbuds still had some charge and I was feeling something melodic and metal. Ghost filled that void and I started around the long block with a brisk walk to the tune of "Dance Macabre" (random Joe fact: Macabre happens that be one of my favorite words).  The Walk turned to jog as I turned my first corner, careful to avoid the freshly frozen puddles that would put a Zamboni to shame. The air was cold on my arms, but the rest of me warmed up quickly and I was surprised at my endurance as my last non-treadmill cardio was in October.  The morning movement felt good. I was able to clear my h...

I was occupying some time checking out the social media and came across a plug for "The Rock Clock " . It is simply an alarm clock app that is supposed to help the user get up earlier. As early rising can be a struggle for me on occasion, I thought I would give it a try. The app is free from your preferred app distribution channel (App Store or Google Play). It is simple to use. The app first has you pick a goal, something you want to accomplish. A project. I wrote "get up early" (well duh, why else would I be doing this), but I suppose "go to the gym", "stretch", "beat my co-worker into the office", "minimize harassment from the cat wanting to be fed" or even a longer term goal such as "take over the world" (if you're going to go, go big) would also work. After the modest amount of goal setting and self delusion you can elect when you want to get up. You can pick a time or choose to get up when The Rock ge...

The first two stanzas were hanging on our lockers one day in college. I still have the tattered printing. It reminds me that there is very little we do in life by ourselves. Still, our contributions matter immensely. The Law of the Wolves by  Rudyard Kipling Now this is the Law of the Jungle --as old and as true as the sky, And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die. As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and back, For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack. Wash daily from nose-tip to tail-tip; drink deeply, but never too deep, And remember the night is for hunting,and forget not the day is for sleep. The Jackal may follow the Tiger,but, Cub, when thy whiskers are grown, Remember the Wolf is a Hunter, go forth and get food of thine own. Keep peace withe Lords of the Jungle the Tiger, the Panther, and Bear. And trouble not Hathi the Silent,...

Just a song that got in my head while getting motivated to keep stride through the Holidays. Enjoy!

NOT ME!  Image from: http://sbrsport.me/2013/10/20/planking-and-injury-prevention/ I ran into my boss, more specifically, my CEO at the gym Friday morning. This is a rare occasion as he usually works out on the other end of town. He had to be to a physical for his pilot's licensing so there we were. I'm not often impressed by stuff in the gym. I've seen a lot: 400+ pound bench presses, 5K sprints, etc. but my CEO actually did something that impressed me. He held a plank for over five minutes!  It looked effortless too. He's a smaller guy so I could expect some longevity (I start trembling at 15 to 20 seconds I'm afraid to admit), but that is a crazy long amount of time. The last few days it actually has me pushing my planking abilities.  I'm calling it interval planking where I do 10 to 20 seconds on and the same amount of time off. It's a lot of work at the end of a workout, but we'll see where I can get to. If it's good for the core it's go...

Visit the App store (I suppose Apple has it too) and check out  Total Fitness A week or two ago I came across an app called "Total Fitness". I was looking for some variation in my strength training routine (you know, the days I'm not doing cardio).  The free version of this app provides an array of fairly basic workouts geared to various situations (e.g. two, three or four days per week, at home vs. at the gym). It also gives basic dietary suggestions, simple demonstrations of the various lifts.  I've been doing a two day per week workout and just started one of their ab routines to supplement my cardio days with. I'm liking it well enough that I went ahead and coughed up the $3.99 for the complete app that opened up all the workouts. This includes innocuous ones named after famous people both real and fictional (e.g. from Brad Pitt to Wolverine), provides some fitness challenges, has a custom workout builder and is ad-free.  I'm just gettin...

Doldrums, a bedreadded part of a sailing journey (near the equator) where the wind is non-existant/calm, or unpredictable. Colloquially, I've hit the workout doldrums. I've hit the dietary doldrums. I feel like at the beginning of the week I gather some traction. I run several miles. I lift. I do an ok job eating right. The end of the week seems to bring a severe case of apathy. To much junk food is procured and my good feelings that started earlier in the week have diminished. There's plenty of physical activity to be had with the ditch digging and rock breaking I do around the house. I sweat. I huff and puff. I get dirty. Without the structure though I don't entirely feel the same satisfaction as with a structured program.  All I can ask is what is holding me back at the moment? Where is my motivation? There are a lot of reasons to go kick some proverbial butt, but I'm struggling to feel it. Maybe it's time to change gyms? Maybe it's time to find a ...

Music is one of my great motivators. To mix things up a little, here's one of my cardio favorites (yes, I'm a child of the '90s)

Umpiring kids' baseball/softball games is a hazardous job. It requires thick skin and a decisive resolve (even if you're wrong at times). I've been umping my for daughter's softball team this season. tonight was exceptionally challenging. A couple of the opposing team's parents started chiding right from the first close call. To make matters worse, there is substantial ambiguity from what most people interpret as "out of play" (i.e. beyond the fence) and this league's director foul. On one hand I understand the intent of the latter (don't turn the game into an inside the ballpark track meet) on the other hand the fielders should learn to chase the ball down. This was ill defined coming into the game until tensions rose enough that I called time and we had a ground rules discussion (we opted for the former definition). Then after all was settling I cleared a bat from home plate giving it a little toss away from any players. One of the chiding pare...

Rather satisfying, imho.

Music isn't always a "must have" for my workouts, but it often helps. Like most people older than 25 my tastes consist of what I liked in high school plus a new album here and there. This post was actually inspired by my purchasing The Pretty Reckless's album "Going to Hell" which I think will do me well when lifting. I tend to prefer heavy music in the gym, but some stuff I like elsewhere (e.g. in the car) doesn't often do it for me. An example of this is Guns 'n' Roses "Appetite for Destruction". I love this album and it was one of the first cassettes (kids, ask your parents...what a cassette is), but for some reason it doesn't work for me in the gym. I have no clue why as "Welcome to the Jungle" is, or was, nearly a warm-up anthem during football pregame warm-ups. There are a number of albums I keep coming back to though to give me that extra bump in energy. Here are a few: "Greatest Fits", Ministry'...