The manufacturer of my rowing machine, Concept2, created its annual holiday challenge. In honor of anyone rowing at least 100,000 meters between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, they would donate to a climate charity of your choice. Something got into me to do it. 26 days meant five of my workout cycles (day 1: lifting, day 2: Turkish Get Up (TGU), day 3: rest, day 4: cardio, day 5: rest). I[…] Keep reading →

Running errands today in 16 degree weather (-9C) reminded me of a time playing Ultimate in college. I think it was the year we were in the finals of most regional tournaments against Wesleyan and expected to make nationals, though I don’t remember exactly since what do I remember exactly from around 1990? In any case, the only times we could all meet was super-early, maybe 6am. This was during[…] Keep reading →

I’ve rowed enough on my erg to get decent times on the standard measure for rowing—the 2k. My best time is 7:43, which I consider good for lightweight 48-year-old guy. I’m considering competing the U.S. indoor rowing competition—not to win, but for the experience, figuring I might do okay. I looked up how lightweight men’s performances last year. My category: lightweight men 40-49 years In my category, I would have[…] Keep reading →

The other day, just walking down the street I felt super tired, like I got hit by a truck. Then I remembered that I lifted that morning and I had lifted more than ever before in my life. No wonder I felt exhausted. I had noticed I was lifting more than before that morning, but it slipped my mind when I went out for the day. I don’t lift heavy[…] Keep reading →

An organization called Trust for America’s Health released its latest obesity report. I don’t think many would call it good news. This graph caught my eye. We’re more obese than ever. The report said a lot more so I recommend reading more. It proposes remedies, but people have proposed remedies for decades and the trend continues. A quote from the report: “As recently as 2012, no state had an adult[…] Keep reading →

I don’t know how long it takes time for depression to take root — that is, for someone feeling fine to feeling depressed. A quick web search didn’t show anything and I’m sure it differs from person to person. I imagine it rarely happens overnight. The reason I thought about it was a conversation with a friend about sidchas and my twice-daily burpee-based calisthenics. As he put it, motion creates[…] Keep reading →

I write a lot about cold showers. They may sound crazy, but bear with me and you may find them more helpful than you could have imagined. After taking a few in Shanghai because the water took five minutes to warm up that I couldn’t stand wasting, in December of 2013, I took thirty days of cold showers. I can’t tell you how much the discipline, dedication, and so on[…] Keep reading →