Are you fit? This post can help you find out (with lots of good fitness and health links)

It’s January, a time folks resolve to get in shape. But where to start? First off, start by getting some advice. This page is full of it! So let’s go.

Exercise: let’s warm up with some exercise links.

See how fit you are by reading this.
You don’t need a lot of gear to work out. Even a strength exercise band can give you a great workout. Or a sandbag. More sandbag workouts here.
For the olds, here a strength workout you can use.
For folks with mobility issues, these seated chair exercises might be what you need.
Not all runs need to be long. Even running a short distance is good.
What your heart rate tells you about your fitness.
New to the gym and gym gear? Read this.
On weight training.
Good breathing leads to good fitness. So learn more aboutthe art of breathing.For folks with high blood pressure, learn how exercise can help you manage your blood pressure.
Sitting all day is bad for even fit people. Read this and see.

Gear: here’s some good links on gear, mainly Nike.

Nike has been making the pegasus running shoe for decades. Here’s something on the latest, the nike pegasus 41.
If you are more of a trail running, you might want to check out the nike pegasus trail 4.
Speaking of Nike, I have always been a fan of their mission.
The nike run club app might help you get running again.
What to look for in a running shoes, be they Nike or otherwise.

Diet: for a lot of folks, you may not need so much to exercise as to eat better and lose weight. These could help.

If you need help eating healthy all week, consider these meal prep tips.
If you want to improve your gut health, you might be able to settle for cheese and eight everyday foods that are great for it.
Read about how marketing labels get you thinking foods are healthy
More on the risks of sugar on your health.
Here’s when your weight loss will plateau, according to science.
Something I.F. fans should read:It’s cutting calories—not intermittent fasting—that drops weight, study suggests.
Not everyone thinks you should restrict your diet. For example, fat activist Virginia Sole Smith.

Health in general: finally, these are a mix of good links.

Do you take daily multivitamins ? Then read this.
Are you expecting to get a colonoscopy soon? Then read about what your options for sedation during my upcoming colonoscopy. More colonoscopy information here and here. Here’s some information on colonoscopy alternatives. I put mine off for a long time. Don’t be like me: when your doctor says go get one, go get one. It’s not all that bad.
A good piece on how sleep helps our brains.
Finally don’t listen to the TikTok folks. Experts say you dont need a low dopamine morning routine.

The real cost of a peloton (and other good fitness and health links)

Do you wish you could do gym workouts but you don’t have access to a gym? If that’s you, IKEA is here to help, with their new pastel-colored DAJLIEN collection (shown above). Especially good for people with small spaces.

Maybe you think the secret of working out at home is to go the peloton route. In that case, you own it to yourself to read about the real cost of a peloton.

Do you want to get fit but are feeling stuck? If so, read this: Here Are 5 Ways to Jumpstart Your Life. Mental health experts suggest exercises to knock down the internal roadblocks that are causing burnout and holding you back.

If you think you are too old to get fit, then check this out: can I build enough muscle in my 60s to make it to 100 even though I’ve never weight trained? If you need a workout to get started with, try this 10 minute bodyweight workout.

If you think you have high blood pressure, see your doctor. But also read this: Why High Blood Pressure Matters to Your Health And how to get it under control. Apparently a good way to lower your blood pressure is by doing this: wall sit isometric exercise.

People who are already pretty fit and are considering running a marathon, read this: Running a fall marathon? Here are 26.2 tips to help you finish.

Finall, this is a funny and artistic way describing how to lose weight.

What is happening with running shoes these days? Thicccckkkkkness.

The shoes, they are getting thick.*

Perhaps they’ve been inspired by the Nike alphafly 3 proto running shoes shown below:

…but they seem to have moved far and away from the minimal sole. For example these New Balance Permafrost Fresh Foam X which are made for winter running are might think in the sole:

Same with the New Balance x district vision trail running shoe:

Nice. I have always been in favour of thick soles, so I approve of this trend. I am also a fan of running shoes made for winter running (and you’ll be too the minute you go for a run and get freezing slush in your shoe).

Need new shoes? Check these out. You’ll be faster in no time.

* I am sure there are plenty of running shoes that are being sold that are not thick. But definitely noticing a trend towards a thicker sole.

If you are thinking of possibly running a 5K (or just using the Couch to 5K program)

If you are thinking of possibly running a 5K (or just using the Couch to 5K program), then these links can help:

The fitness line Oiselle has a guide for you: First (or Fastest) 5k.
Darebee has an 8 Week program to go from couch to 5K that’s helpful.
This is a good reminder about how apps like couch to 5K and more can help: How Running Changed Me Mike Murphy
Some things I wrote earlier: In praise of the 5K and other (non-marathon) races.

It’s Thursday: let’s go rucking. (Here’s some fitness links on exercise, dieting, gear and more for ya)

Exercise: You don’t have to use heavy weights to get stronger. The Washington Post explains. Speaking of weights, you can get a full body workout by filling a backpack full of weights. And the weight could be something as simple as groceries or even books. Get on the rucking bandwagon. Meanwhile, if blood pressure is your worry, skip the weights and consider doing wall squat workouts.

Dieting: Matt Yglesias recently lost 70 pounds with a combination of surgery and dietary restrictions. Here’s what he learned. Relatedly, here’s how former NFL Player Russell Okung lost over 100 pounds on a 40-day water-only fast. I can say I don’t recommend either of those things. Now maybe ozempic is what you are thinking about. Well so are major retailers, and they are worried about it. So much so that Walmart is monitoring the relationship between ozempic use and reduced shopping. I think a lawsuit is going to be coming there.

Gear: If you are using an Apple Watch to improve your fitness, you might find this piece on how to set apple watch move goal useful. I did. Also useful: some tips on what the value should be. If badges motivate you, here’s how to get all of the Apple watch activity challenge badges. You can use your watch for other health benefits, such as monitoring your sleep. Here’s a good article on why you want to get the benefits of rem sleep. Let your watch help you with that.

As for other gear, if you plan to workout this winter in the great outdoors, consider getting a pair of new balance fresh foam x permafrost running shoes. I am sure they are great. For more advice on working out in bad weather, check out this. It has gear recommendations and more.

Finally, the Guardian has a piece on the new Taschen book focused on Arnold Schwarzenegger. Fascinating. And yeah, Arnold had a head start on most people in the bodybuilding game.

(Link to photo by Ariana Drehsler for The New York Times)

Can you run in summer? And other fitness advice you can use

Can you run in the summer? Of course. You just have to be smart about it. If you are interested and need advice, the New York Times has a whole section on summer running. Check it out.

Not that you have to run. Walking/running or simply walking is a perfectly fine way to get in some exercise on hot days. The Times also has a walking workout that may be just the thing you need to stay fit safely.

Back to running. Sometimes all you need to help with running is some better gear. Here’s six very different runners on what they consider their essential running gear (not all of it is something you wear).

One of the runners featured there is Martinus Evans. He talks about his slow af run club here. I greatly admire him. He has a new book out: if you need inspiration, check it out. (Image above is of the book.) Running slowly in summer is especially a good idea.

Not all runners are inspirational. Here’s a story of how embattled Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema uses campaign cash for her marathon habit. She’s a good runner, as this shows, but that is not something I would not want my representative to be doing.

Whatever her motivation is, if you need motivation, maybe running bingo can help you. Or this story on ultramarathon running from dawn dusk over 24 hours.

It’s not all running here. This is a good piece on self described “swole woman” Casey Johnston who is an inspiration to anyone looking to get fitter using weights. Any type of weight. She publishes an e-book that looks good for beginners especially called Liftoff: couch to barbell. Check out her shop, here for more good things.

This isn’t hers, but this full body workout you can do in 20 minutes might be the thing you need to get in shape or stay fit.

I thought that this was interesting: how to get the most out of apple watch heart rate zones. Related, here’s how analyse your health with python and apple health

Here’s something on nutrition myths. Here’s a piece in the Atlantic on ozembic.

This is how to tell the difference between being sleepy and being fatigued differences. Maybe you need a nap: maybe you need a break.

Finally, here’s a cool shoe: nike waffle one se (shown below). Take a walk AND be stylish doing so.

What do professional runners get paid?

Well, like everything, it depends. But to get a sense of what they do make financially, you could read Kara Goucher’s recent book, “The Longest Race”. Or you could read this piece in Runner’s World that gives a excerpt of that part of her book. She writes about everything she made, from salaries to appearance fees to other bonuses. It’s nowhere near what professional athletes in football or basketball make, but it’s still substantial.

Some thoughts on using Apple devices to get fit

I have now become one of those people who tries to close their rings every day! I tease myself, but I am also happy to try and do it. I find my fitness has definitely improved from the low point it was during the pandemic.

Here’s some tips and things I’ve learned along the way that might help you too if you decide to get fitter this way.

Start of with the default goals when it comes to your rings. You want goals that are achievable but not too easy. To determine that, I recommend you use the watch for a week or so to get some measure of how you are doing. Now it is time to determine your goals.

When it comes to determining your goals, I suggest you go into the Fitness app on your phone. Go to the Summary tab, click on the box labelled Activity. Scroll down to Trends. You can click on Move or Exercise or Stand to see how well you are doing. I found I could meet the default Stand and Exercise goals, but I was having problems with the 900 cal/day goal for Move. I was achieving about 750 cal/day. To stretch and encourage myself, I wanted to change my move goal to 800 cal/day.

To changing goals, you can go into the Fitness app on your phone. Go to the Summary tab, click on the green avatar on the top right and then click on Change Goals. It’s pretty straightforward to do that.

Now all you have to do is get off the couch or step away from the deck and close those rings!

I found the Stand goal is helpful for me because it was the first one I could achieve. Whenever I don’t achieve it I now I am sitting down or lying down too much.

Once I had the Stand goal in hand, I went to tackle the Exercise goal. While typical workouts are a good way to achieve that, so to is a brisk walk. I found I was able to get my heart rate up to 70% of my maximum heart rate just by walking. You likely will too. If I do nothing else in terms of exercise, walking alone can get me to meet my exercise goal.

I hate to say it, but it is easy to cheat on your Exercise goal. I found this out when I decided to include housework as exercise. To do that, I picked “Other” as a workout on my watch. After 15 minutes or so of housework, I stopped the workout and checked the data, only to find my heart rate was much lower than a brisk walk (not to mention other workouts). I think housework is good for helping me achieve my Move goals and Stand goals, but I will not include it off my Exercise goals. But that’s just me, though. Housework can be hard work and for some it definitely counts as exercise. (For more on other workouts, read this.)

Speaking of heart rates, I found them too high and reset mine. These should be the correct target heart rates. You can learn how to change them, as well as display them, here: use heart rate zone tracking with the Apple Watch.

I found the Move goal hardest to reach. Stand and Exercise are easy to measure. If you find that too and you need help with meeting it, read this. I learned a lot from that piece.

Finally, I was disappointed to find all this exercise was not doing much for my VO2 Max numbers. Then I read how smartwatches aren’t very good at measuring this. At best, you want to see the number trend up. But don’t put too much value in a given number.

Friday fitness links (April 2023 edition)

Here’s some more useful links on staying fit, physically and mentally. Plus some things on sleep, because sleep is an important part of fitness. And more!

Fitness:

If you are wondering, How Long Does It Take to Get Fit Again? Read this. Relatedly, here’s how much exercise you need a week.
Remember, walking is a great form of exercise.
This will motivate you to walk.
How to play run until to stay motivated during your workout.
For older folks, read: 5 Exercises to Keep an Aging Body Strong and Fit.
For a more hardcore workout: a 19 minute HIIT program.
Some very cool home exercise equipment you need to achieve your dream body.
Finally, here’s how to create an exercise habit in 6 easy steps.

Diet:

If you want to know, What Is the Satiety Index, Anyway? then read this Saveur piece. Related, this piece can help on How to Eat Less Meat and Still Be Satiated.
The WaPo has something on Keto. Also from them: Why timing big meals early in the day is better for your health.
The mediterrean diet explained at Chatelaine. It could help you eat better. So can this: How to Cut Down on Eating Meat Food & Wine.

Mental fitness:

How breathing exercises can help with anxiety.
Read this on spring cleaning your brain.
For folks suffering from panic attacks, that link could help.
Also, how to calm your worried mind with these self soothing techniques.
This was interesting: the keys understanding high functioning depression.
This is extreme: on involuntary medical treatment for people with serious problems, at least in NYC.

Sleep:

On sleep and babies.
Also best sleep practices that could help you.

Misc:

The very interesting swissmiss on her two Years of No Alcohol. Good writing as always.
A reminder that boys struggle with body image problems too .
On the evolution of women’s running uniforms.

On Dry January

Kudos to all of you succeeding this long into your dry January this year. I hope you are crushing it. If you are not, or if you are curious about this and want tips on how to do it well, then check this out.

Dry January does not mean you can’t be social. No sir. If you want to have a party and keep it dry, there’s plenty of ways to do that. One way is with mocktails. For instance, here’s 6 Mocktail Recipes you can use. You can find a ton of such concoctions on the Web these days.

After some consideration, perhaps you want not so much a dry January and more of a…damp January? Yes, it’s a thing. Read this and see what I mean.

If you need more guidance: How to Drink Less Alcohol: 9 Tips for Drinking Less and Enjoying It More this Also this: How to Be Sober and Work in a Bar . And this recovering rule follower sobriety.

For people wanting to get on this healthy bandwagon, don’t wait until next year. As I have argued, February is the best month to do resolutions. Why not have a dry February? The best month to change is the one you’re in on the day you decide to change.

Some help to get you on the path to fitness in January

Welcome to another piece on getting fit.

If you are looking to get fit and wonder if you need to take 10000 steps a day then read that. (Answer: nope). 10000 steps a day is good though. But so are exercise snacks, those bite sized workouts spread throughout your day. If you feel like something more sustained, something more than a snack, why not this nine minute workout?

One of the best things to do is take advantage of exercise you can’t avoid. Case in point: pushing a young one around in a stroller. Make the most of whatever opportunities you have to get fit. Remember: exercise is not just good for the body, but also for the mind. To see what a run does for your brain, read this. To see more on the mental health benefits, read this.

Finally, if you find that even with sustained exercise you still aren’t looking like a superhero, fret not. As this piece shows, some of that extreme fitness is the result of steroid use. You don’t want that.

If you want to run a marathon but struggle with running

It’s Fall, and Fall means marathon season. Many of the big marathons, like the one in NYC, happen at this time. If the idea of running one next fall is appealing to you and you want some advice on how to approach it, the Washington Post has some fall marathon running tips that can help. And you can find advice everywhere on the Internet, including this blog!

However, for this post, I want to recommend some links for people who find running a struggle. For instance, if you want to run but honestly hate running, then this piece could help. Likewise, this piece is useful: Try This One Simple Trick the Next Time You’re Struggling in a Race or Workout. But what should you do if you can’t even run slowly? Read that. If you think you can never get over your problems with running, this piece can give you hope: enjoy running and actually look forward to it.

Last but not least, this article on Violet Piercy might help you find some inspiration: Overlooked No More: Violet Piercy Pioneering Marathoner.

Good luck! Get out there and do your best, whatever that is. It gets better, for sure.

Summertime fitness links, July 2022

Here’s a list of things on fitness and health I’ve been collecting that you may find useful. It’s summer: at the very least it’s a good excuse to walk more and eat salads more. 🙂

Exercise: a nice list of articles on getting in shape…

A key exercise: Why you want to do squats …
Why it’s good to walk and run. Seriously, walk a little.
On how crosstraining helped this one man. If that’s your thing.
Not all routines should be short: A 30 minute exercise routine
Getting back into running. The weather is good for it.
And if the weather is terrible, here’s 5 Sitting Exercises That’ll Give You a Full-Body Workout
Putting joy back into exercise. Because exercise should be fun.
But also a good way to slim down: Lose fat with weight training

Diet/weight loss: four pieces on losing weight

Health in general:

A nice piece on Sports and culture
A good thought provoker for runners: Why We Should Embrace Post-Race Emptiness
Two ways to get help, here, Get help with substance use and here, Getting help with mental health.
Finally, this is amazing Small rectal cancer drug trial sees tumors disappear in 100 percent of pati– …

The very fashionable New Balance 327 are perfect for spring

I think New Balance makes great shoes for lots of reasons. If you are training hard athletically, they can really help you. But not all of us are doing that. Perhaps we just want to go for nice walks in the spring.

If that’s your goal, consider the NB 327.

The cloud version above and the mushroom version below are both really stylish and look really comfortable. They could be perfect for doing that stroll you want to do. They’ll be fine if you also want to pick up the pace.

I love the tread on the back too. I had driving shoes like that and they were incredibly comfortable on long drives on the highway.

(Credit to Uncrate.com for the images)

Forget resolutions and get healthier any time (My fitness and health links for March, 2021)

Forget resolutions: you can get healthier and fitter anytime. Heck, stop reading this and go touch your toes or head out for a walk. When you finish that you can check out these 20 links to help you with exercising more, weighing less, drinking less, sleeping better or anything else related to fitness and health:

Exercise

This is me: When the Last Thing You Want to Do Is Exercise.
Not all cardio has to kill you: Low-Intensity Cardio Training: What Is It & How Does It Work?
These are an old collection of links I’ve gathered that are good: Are you in terrible shape? Not so terrible but bad enough shape? Do you need help? Here you go
This Simple Piece of Equipment Could Elevate Your Workout. Can you guess?
Especially good for people who can only workout at home: How to get motivated to start exercising at home.
One home form of exercise you can do: Embrace winter with this 5-minute outdoor yoga practice to connect with the earth and stand tall.
You will have to go outside for this, though: Sprints.

Weight Loss:

Very helpful if you feel stuck: How shifting your expectations about food can help you lose weight.
15 Impressive Fitness Goals to Strive for That Aren’t Weight Loss. This is great. For example, stretching and being more flexible.
I felt this was bogus, and so did many who read it: Mike Pompeo tells The Post how he lost 90 pounds in six months. Glad he got fit, but I think he did that for reasons other than good health, and he lied how he did it.
If you need a challenge: The 30-Day Well Challenge

Sobriety:

If you are considering your drinking, think of how it affects others: My sobriety is not just mine.
This is good: Reframe: Drink Less & Thrive 17+
As is this: Should You Try ‘Mindful Drinking’?

Sleep:

A good intro to melatonin. It has not worked well for me, but it might for you: Melatonin Isn’t a Sleeping Pill. Here’s How to Use It.
My Before-Sleep Ritual Is to Treat Myself Like a Baby. I liked that.

Finally:

Hey, this is good to know: The Secret to Making Colonoscopy Prep Less awful
I like the qualifiers here: How to (Try to) Quit (Almost) Anything …
Interesting: Retiring the Cinderella view of the spinal cord as an intrabodily cognitive extension
Also good: Health Insider – Workout & Nutrition Blog

Great dumbbell exercises and other good things to get back in shape post holidays

If you are past Christmas feast you may be thinking of getting in shape as a New Year’s Resolution. If so, good for you. But you may need help. Here’s some links to do that.

I am a big fan of dumbbells, both at home and in the gym, and I think they are a great way to get stronger and fitter. This particular guide is one of the best ones I’ve seen: 19 Best Dumbbell Exercises for Building Muscle 2021 | Garage Gym Reviews. If you want to take them up or get back into them, read that.

If you aren’t sure how often you should work out, read this, How to Motivate Yourself to Exercise Every Morning, this Can You Do a Full-Body Workout Two Days in a Row?, and this I Stopped Working Out Daily. Here’s What Happened.

If you want to get started but find the idea of it daunting, read this, How to ‘Grease the Groove’ and Exercise Easy – The Atlantic and this, From Zero to 45 Days in a Row: How I Built a Habit of Daily Exercise.

Good luck! Get up and go!

(Image from Garage Gym)

What is healthy? (My fitness and health links for December, 2021)

Here’s some links on fitness and physical health that are not typical. For example, I Did 340 Pushups a Day to Prepare for the TV Version of Prison. Then I Got There. Reading about this: Emily Ratajkowski‚Äôs New Book Tests The Limits Of Self-Awareness got me thinking about this Dear Younger Me: Lauren Fleshman. Sometimes we push yourselves from the extremes of one form of unhealthiness to another. You may think these Sample Menus for a 1 200 Calorie Diet can help you lose weight, but if so you should read this: 1 200 Calories a Day Is a Starvation Diet Actually, you may change your mind.

I still think carrying a lot of weight is unhealthy. As did this father: He Struggled to Play With His Daughter So He Turned to the Couch to 5K App to Lose Weight. Find your own level and continually move in the healthier direction.

If you use a fitbit, read this: How Many Steps Do You Really Need Each Day? If you are in the market for one, check this out: Your Fitbit Can Now Let You Know Whether You Snore. If you are looking for new shoes, consider these: Nike Air Zoom Alphafly Next Nature Running Shoe via Uncrate.

(Image via Uncrate)

Eight links to help you have a fitter fall. (Or my fitness and interests for October, 2021)

It’s fall and it’s a pandemic, but gyms are opening wide up and no doubt you (and I) want to get some of our fitness back. Here’s eight links I’ve found recently that could help:

Trying to get started running? Here’s four links that can help . You can do it!
How Short Can a Workout Be and Still Be Effective? lifehacker looks into it.
Sadly, running will only burn so much fat/calories. See this for more.
What do home gyms and IKEA have in common? The answer is here.
Put that pink dumbbell, sez this . If you know, then you know.
If you have been asking yourself: how did Kumail Nanjiani get so huge? Well GQ has the answer
Health related, here’s a piece on the devastating ways Depression and Anxiety impact the body.
Finally: Ten habits of people who lose weight and keep it off .

(Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash )

Looking to get fit in the pandemic? Here are 37 great links to help you with that

I’ve been struggling to get back in some form of better shape during the pandemic. During that time, I have been researching diets, fitness routines, meditation routines, health links, wellness articles…you name it. Here are some of the good links I have found that are worthwhile:

(Photo by Alex McCarthy on Unsplash )

On getting back into running with Darebee

Here on this blog I am a big booster of Darebee. While they have a wide variety of workouts, the ones I am interested in recently are having to do with running. If you are trying to get into or back into running, you might find these useful:

The long run – I am interested in this since I want to get some distance in
8 weeks to 5K Challenge – good for anyone wanting to run a 5K
Walk & Run Challenge – a good challenge
From Walking to Running – more on getting from walking to running
Running Form– good form is very important (see image above)
How to Reach Your Goals – a good thing in general

It’s Monday. You need to start getting back in shape. Here’s a good start

If you think, I got to start exercising again, I just got to, but you can’t even begin to know to start, consider this: Easy Cardio Challenge

If you think: that’s too easy, then consider doing them faster. Or add on an additional fitness challenge from Darebee.

And if you aren’t sure how to do these exercises, here is how you a side jack:

Here’s how you do a step jack:

You’re all set. Print off the challenge and put an X through each day you do. In 30 days you will be in better shape than you are now. Just as important, you will have created an exercise routine for yourself. Kudos to you!

Treadmills are horrible and have been forever

A horrific accident with a treadmill happened this week, causing lots of understandable worry. To see what I mean, see this: Peloton recalls treadmills after a child dies | CTV News

If you were wondering if treadmills were ever good, read this: The Torturous History of the Treadmill | Wirecutter

They have their uses, sure. But as equipment goes, they are one of my least favorite.

(Photo by Ryan De Hamer on Unsplash)

To lose weight is simple: eat 2000 calories daily and walk 10000 steps

It seems ridiculous to say that, but it really is simple (but not easy): eat 2000 calories daily and walk 10000 steps. To see what I mean, read these two articles:

In both of them, the people who lost weight ate about 2000 calories a day. I mean the guy in the first one literally lived on junk food and still lost 11 pounds in a month.In the second one, the people participating walked 10000 steps as well as ate around 2000 calories. The combination will get you fit and keep you in a calorie deficit mode that will cause your body to lose weight.

For more examples of that, see this (Fixing His Diet Helped This Guy Lose 100 Pounds and Get Shredded at 50) and this (Walking For Weight Loss – How to Lose Weight by Walking) and this (Apple Watch, New Year’s resolutions, and losing 50 pounds – 9to5Mac).

Is it easy? For most people, no. Do you have to be disciplined? Yes. Is there ways to go about it that are smarter than others? Certainly.

If you need motivation, read this: You’re ‘Prediabetic’? Join the Club – The New York Times. Why? You might think: I am fine with being overweight. And that’s ok: not everyone looks like a model. But you don’t want to be diabetic if you can help it.

P.S. 2000 calories is a guide. If you are a much smaller person, you might need a smaller number of calories. If you aren’t sure, consult your doctor.

(Photo by Diana Polekhina on Unsplash )

Fitbit for kids: good or bad?

I am of two minds on this Fitbit Ace3 Kids Fitness Tracker featured on Uncrate.

The pros are it encourages kids to get fit. It’s designed with kids in mind, unlike other fitness trackers. And it provides them with a watch to track time too. All good things.

The main con is that all this data for your kid is going somewhere in Google’s cloud. You may not want that to happen. Another con is that these things could take the fun out of fitness. I think it would be a bad thing if kids associated fitness with one more thing they are being graded on.

For some kids this device will be great and it would be a good thing for them to have. You know your kid better than anyone and can make that call.

It’s a new week. Perhaps you need a new goal for the week. Consider working out in the middle of the day.

Person doing yoga

I was skeptical of the idea of working out every day, but after I read this, I thought it was a good and achievable goal for a week: Midday Workout Habit — I Tried It: Working Out in the Middle of the Day. The key is to be open to change and not go hard every day. But if you can go harder, try it.

If you are thinking, “exercise? I can barely walk”, then choose walking to be your new fitness routine. If you need advice on that, read this: How to Keep a Fitness Streak — Turn Daily Walks into a Habit.

If you were walking before as exercise and you found it boring (confession, I did), here’s some advice on how to make it more interesting: The Joy of Steps: 20 Ways to Give Purpose to Your Daily Walk

If walking still isn’t your thing, then here’s a guide to finding something good to do: Keeping Fit: How to Do the Right Exercise for Your Age

Remember, you don’t normally have to exercise a lot. Indeed, this article encourages you to take a bit more than 10 minutes to get some benefits: Exercise 11 Minutes a Day for a Longer Life.

While 11 minutes is good to extend your life, if you want to lose weight, then read this: Exercise for Weight Loss: Aim for 300 Minutes a Week

Finally, whatever you do, remember this: Exercise Shouldn’t Feel Horrible

Good luck!
(Photo by Kari Shea on Unsplash)

The Fitbit Aria scale is the honest friend you need if you are worried about your weight. Here’s why.

I am a huge fan of the Fitbit Aria scale, even when it is brutally honest about my weight situation. It prevents me from deceiving myself about how I am doing. And it encourages me if I’m making even a bit of progress.

The Aria scale measures both your weight and your body fat percentage to the fraction of a pound. (It also gives you your BMI, but I don’t care about that). That little bit of accuracy helps. I found when I was dieting, sometimes knowing that my weight went down by a fraction of a percentage helped me get through the day. (Motivation often turns on small points like this.) Likewise, right now with the pandemic I see my weight going up by a fraction of a pound every week. So I am trying to get it to go down by a fraction of a pound every week. A half pound every week adds up to 25 pounds in a year.

Having both those numbers prevent you from fooling yourself. If you go on a low carb diet, your weight may drop suddenly, but your body fat percentage may go up alot. (In the past mine did). That tells me that I am not really losing fat or even muscle that quickly. It’s likely water. Over time I did lose weight, but that initial weight loss isn’t what I thought.

The flip side of that is I have noticed my body fat percentage has gone up during the pandemic even though my body weight has stabilized. Makes sense: my physical effort has really gone down hill during the pandemic, and so my muscles have decreased. Sadly. That’s very different from situations I have had in the pre pandemic times when I was working out and my weight was staying the same but my body fat was decreasing. That was good: I was replacing fat with muscle.

Since I also have a fitbit for tracking my activity, all of those numbers sync up in the Fitbit app, which makes it easier for me to track the relationship between my activity and my weight.

I can also use it to track my mental state too. I can tell when I have had stressful times in my life because I either stop eating and suddenly lose weight fast, or I start eating a lot and gain weight fast. I might think I am doing fine, but the numbers say otherwise.

It’s not perfect (what is?). I tend to weigh myself the first thing every morning. If eat a carb heavy meal the night before, my weight will be up. If I stop eating early in the evening, my weight will go down. I don’t worry about it though: I am mostly focused on the trends.

I have gone through two of these scales now and if this one dies, I will certainly get another one. I find it too easy to deceive myself about my weight: the Aria scale is the brutally honest friend I need to stay on track.

Just how short a workout can you do and gain benefits? Would you believe 4 seconds?

You might find that ridiculous, but if you read this, you might change your mind.

I have been doing what is known as “greasing the groove” while working at home during the pandemic. I have noticed getting stronger. As well, I stretch at least once a day, and I have found I have become more flexible too.

You will not get in the same shape as someone who works out 30-60 minutes every day. Get yourself some weights or even some heavy objects. Or go over to a site like darebee and get a 1 minute workout. After doing it for a few weeks, you will achieve more than you imagined.

Give it a shot.

(Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash)

In a Hurry? Try Express Weight Training

Weight training has many benefits. If you have been considering it but balking, you likely have multiple reasons for not getting started. One reason might be: you have no time. Well, if you have thirteen minutes, you can do a weight workout. As noted here, In a Hurry? Try Express Weight Training – The New York Times, you can get stronger no matter what. Of three groups tested for strength gain:

One group was asked to complete five sets of each exercise, with about 90 seconds of rest between sets. Their total time for a session at the gym was almost 70 minutes. A second group was asked to complete three sets of each exercise, requiring they work out for about 40 minutes. The third group had to finish only one set of each exercise, meaning that they were done after a brisk 13 minutes. Each volunteer performed his given workout three times a week for eight weeks and then returned to the lab to repeat the muscle measurements. After the two months, all of the young men were stronger, a finding that, by itself, is beguiling, since it suggests that people can continue to gain strength even if they already are experienced at resistance training. But more interesting and surprising, the strength improvements were essentially the same, no matter how many — or few — sets the men completed. The men who had stopped after one set gained as much strength as those who had done five sets or three.

As with anything, your results may vary. But if you want to get stronger with the least amount of time put in, consider this.

Three links to help you get back into some kind of fitness routine.

I keep searching for information on fitness, trying to motivate myself to get there. These seemed good to me. If you are in the same slump, check them out:

Lighten your mental load by lifting a physical one: lift weights to lift depression

You may hate lifting weights, but if you struggle with depression, even from time to time, then you should consider it.

More details, here: Resistance Training May Help Relieve Depression (Time)

What are you looking at in terms of exercise? It says:

He recommends following the guidelines provided by the American College of Sports Medicine: doing strength training at least two days per week by performing eight to 12 repetitions of eight to 10 different strength-building exercises each time.

Sounds hard, but it isn’t. And if you need some exercise routes, go to Darebee and find some routines you need.

Eight easy workouts while staying at home during the pandemic

I am guessing that

your exercise routine has died (if not, kudos!)
you feel like you should do some form of exercise
you are feeling worried about doing workouts outdoors

If this is true, you need some workouts to do at home. Now you might be thinking that you don’t have room or equipment or even the energy to workout at home. Think again: these eight workouts below can be done by most people. There’s a combination of things to make yourself more active during the day, from stretching to exercising:

All these workout comes from the DAREBEE website, which has an impressive and excellent database of exercises. You can find all the workouts here, and they are all easily searchable. You can find a workout for pretty much anything.

These days of staying at home during the pandemic are hard days. Being inactive can make it harder. Try lightening things up with a bit of physical activity.

How should you exercise as you get older?

Like nutrition advice, exercise advice seems to change as often as clothing fashion changes. It can be hard to keep up, and easy to get skeptical that any advice is solid. However, if you want to keep up and are not skeptical, read this: How Smart Exercise Keeps You Younger for Longer.

My take, which is a variation of this, is simple: do a range of exercises, from cardio, to strength, to stretching to balancing. A fitness routine that includes all this is better than a fitness routine that just focuses on one or two areas. And any fitness routine is better than no fitness routine.

An alternative way to get stronger that is both counter-intuitive and something you could use

The alternative is explained here: How to ‘Grease the Groove’ and Exercise Easy – The Atlantic.

If you don’t know anything about getting stronger, you should read this. You should also read it if you are someone who knows about sets, reps, leg day, and other such things. It may not be the way to reach peak bodybuilding, but it could be just the thing for people who can’t seem to find a good way to get stronger.

How to get unstuck from your fitness routine (25 ideas)

If you fitness routine is stuck or worse, then I highly recommend you read this: How to Stay Fit Forever: 25 Tips When Life Gets in the Way.

You should find something in that piece to help get you unstuck and get going again. So grab a towel and a water bottle and get moving!

If you need a workout or a change in your routine, you need DAREBEE

Seriously. They have a workout for everyone. Short, long, general, focused…all kinds. Even the supervillian workout, show above!

Find them here: DAREBEE – Fitness On Your Terms.

Joan Benoit Samuelson at age 60 and what that means

This piece is a must read for anyone trying to maintain their fitness later in life. It’s not easy, even for legends like JBS. Take solace in seeing how even the greats adjust as they get older, and read this: How a great marathoner — Joan Benoit Samuelson — keeps going at age 60 – The Washington Post

4 behaviors that may cut the risk of cancer by 30 percent

Everyone wants to lower their risk of cancer. This piece can help with this: 4 behaviors that may cut the risk of cancer by 30 percent – Vox. The main point of the piece was that:

… people who never smoked or smoked for only a few years and people who drank no or only small amounts of alcohol (one or fewer drinks per day for women and two or fewer for men). It also included people with a BMI between 18.5 and 27.5, and people who exercised vigorously for at least 75 minutes per week or moderately for 150 minutes…

…were at a lower risk of getting cancer than people who did not do these things.

Smoking and drinking are easy for you to monitor. If you want to track your BMI and fitness level, consider getting a digital scale and a fitness tracker. I use the Fitbit Aria scale to track my BMI and my Apple Watch to monitor my exercise. Of course you can monitor those things just as well with a simple scale, a watch, a pencil and a notepad. Regardless of how you do it, I encourage you to take action in the New Year to lower your risk of cancer.

How to get in shape, in two steps

There are only two steps to get in shape: 1) lose weight 2) exercise. Of course, those can be big steps. You need help to take both. These 15 links can provide you with some of the help you need.

1. Lose Weight

2. Exercise

Two simple ways to get fitter, easier

Stairs
Getting fit can seem like a big production, and for people who haven’t been exercising, that can be all it takes to prevent them from getting fitter. Speaking from experience, I know this to be the case.

What I think you need is something that will a) get you in the habit b) be so low key you have no real excuse to get started.

If you agree then I think these two pieces are just what you need to get started on your way to being fitter.

As for the yoga, if you don’t want to do all 10, then pick a few just to get started. Even doing 2-3 at first should get you started.

Good luck!

P.S. For more on simplifying exercise, check out this piece in Vox.

If Ruth Bader Ginsburg can workout like this, so can you

An interesting article: Ben Schreckinger from Politico Did Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Workout. It Nearly Broke Him. If you want to see what the 80+ year old judge does to keep in shape, or be inspired to keep in shape yourself, I’d recommend reading it.

It can get too easy to forgo exercising when you get older. One reason people stop is because they think they are too old and cannot do it. Or if they do exercise, they will harm themselves. Her trainer cautions against that, and says:

“Do something. If you’re not doing anything then I advise you do something. It doesn’t matter what you do. You find out what is your niche and do something. Your body is made to move.”

Good advice. Maybe your fitness routine is long walks. Or cycling. Or yoga. Or benchpressing hundreds of pounds. Whatever you do, do something. And read the article. I hope it will inspire you to get fit. Whatever your age.

(Image linked to on Wikipedia)