Fitness

Awareness / Exercises / Fitness / Habits / Leadership / Tips

To start a habit, focus on emotions

Different people suggest starting habits different ways. Some say to start with behavior, like setting a New Year's resolution or doing it every day for a month. Others suggest starting by changing your environment, like by putting a note on your computer monitor or daily schedule, wearing a device that measures your exercise, or joining a web page that tracks and reminds you. That's all low-level tactics. Tactics, no matter how effective, don't work if the high-level strategy doesn't work. Effective strategy comes from knowing how the new habit will affect your life. What is its meaning, value, importance, and purpose (MVIP)? MVIP is based in emotion. That means what emotions do you expect the new habit to create. If you expect the change to…

February 5, 2015

Art / Awareness / Entrepreneurship / Exercises / Fitness / Habits / Tips

This pattern improves your life

Notice this pattern and you'll know how to improve it. It applies to an activity. I'm thinking of exercise when I write it, but many activities fit it. The pattern When you're not about to do it, you think of it as something you generally want to do. When you're about to do it, you feel anxious, maybe to the point of fear. You have to overcome that anxiety and fear to start it. Starting is hard. After you start, it's hard and unpleasant, but you feel emotional reward for doing it. As hard as it is, since you're doing it, you want to keep doing it and push your limits. As much as you want to keep doing it, you can't keep it up.…

February 3, 2015

Exercises / Fitness / Habits

50,000 burpees!

Happy Superbowl Sunday tomorrow, traditionally a day for drinking beer and eating comfort food. By my calculations, I hit 50,000 burpees around tomorrow too. You can read about my hitting 40,000 and 30,000 before that. Still haven't missed any since my first set of ten in December 2011. Speaking of football food, before I exercise I think exercising will give me an excuse to eat sugary or other unhealthy food that might still taste pleasurable, but I find the opposite happens. Those foods become less appetizing. I think a burpee takes about four seconds to do. By my calculations, 50,000 burpees comes out to about two and a third days. From one perspective that seems like a lot, but over more than three years, it…

January 31, 2015

You won’t believe this marathoner

Regular readers know I read the New York City marathon results from the back to see the oldest finishers and finding meaning in the results, as in "On reading the 2010 New York City Marathon results." The other day I got the official result "magazine," opened to the back and found Margaret Hagerty, a 91-year-old woman who finished the 2014 marathon. She finished two seconds behind a 58-year-old woman. Eight minutes later a 51-year-old man finished, the last finisher recorded. The next oldest finisher I found after her was an 82-year-old man who finished about an hour and twenty minutes earlier. That means Ms. Hagerty was born during the roaring twenties and the Prohibition. By the time the 82-year-old man was born, the Great Depression…

January 30, 2015

Some science on where fat goes when you lose it

Exercises / Fitness / Models / Nature

Some science on where fat goes when you lose it

I love learning about nature! I looked up about what happens to the mass you lose when you lose weight. A paper last month in the peer-reviewed BMJ (formerly British Medical Journal), "When somebody loses weight, where does the fat go?" confirmed what I had read casually: you exhale it, or rather you exhale 84% of it. The rest is water, which we excrete "in the urine, faeces, sweat, breath, tears, or other bodily fluids." The paper's lead author, a physicist, also wrote simplified versions of the chemical reactions. The paper is mostly readable to a lay person, such as me, and is short so I recommend reviewing it. It also begins with a graph showing that nearly no one the authors asked knew the…

January 3, 2015

Exercises / Fitness / Models / Nature

How you lose weight

Have you ever wondered about when you lose weight what happens to the mass you lose? I didn't think of it either. My first thought was that you excrete it. You lose some water and salt to sweating, but I figured that got replaced so didn't figure into long-term weight loss. I didn't wonder how the mass you lose would get to your kidneys or bowels. I read recently that it doesn't. I read that the mass you lose when you burn fat exists your body in your exhalation. I confess I haven't looked it up for a second opinion, but it made sense from a few perspectives. We replace some oxygen in the air with inhale with carbon dioxide in the air we exhale,…

December 27, 2014

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

Three years of burpees

Yesterday began my fourth year of burpees. I've written about them at length, so I'll keep it brief today. A few sets of burpees are good fitness exercise. A few years of burpees is a solid foundation for a healthy life. Here are the top things they create for me. Sticking with them for a long time without missing any creates discipline, which is a foundation I can build other habits and behaviors I want in my life. I meant to make only burpees my base exercise. While increasing from ten per day to two sets of twenty-six per day, I couldn't help but include inverted rows to work my back and sit-ups to work my abs. My one-minute workout has increased to maybe five…

December 22, 2014

An unhealthy gift

I noticed a package of chocolate on my shelf I've had for a while. I got it at an event at the Tesla store in Chelsea, which seems like a classy place. It looks like classy chocolate. It's a package of four little truffle-like pieces. I don't love chocolate like some people do. The first ingredient on this package is sugar. A while ago I might have eaten it, but I dislike sugar more now. I look at a product with the first ingredient sugar more as "sugar with some chocolate added" than as "chocolate with some sugar added." That's part of the value of the skill of changing beliefs. When your belief makes something you don't want to eat unappetizing, you don't need willpower…

December 19, 2014

Rappelling down a three-story wall!

Exercises / Fitness / Freedom

Rappelling down a three-story wall!

My friend Dave got tickets to a rappelling class over the weekend. It may not have much to do with what I normally write about, but I can't help sharing some pictures. Come to think of it, people do courses like these as part of leadership training. Taking that first step off the platform to where only a rope was holding you up, and that rope wasn't tied around you, it only loosely looped through a metal piece attached to your waist, was scary. I recommend the activity to anyone. It's easier than you expect and fun. I did it in Brooklyn with Hollywood Stunts. They were professional and fun, so I recommend them. Pictures The light was low so not many pictures came out.…

December 17, 2014

Fitness / Nature / Tips

I don’t know what to call it but I can’t call it food

EDIT: since writing this post I came up with the term doof, which I describe in this podcast episode: I recommend never calling doof food or food doof. Here's the original post: Did you know antifreeze tastes sweet? It will also kill you if you drink it. Laws require putting something in it to taste bitter because its sweetness leads kids, dogs, cats, and other pets to drink it. Like all poisons, the dosage determines its effects. According to Wikipedia, "The dose makes the poison" is common adage first expressed by Paracelsus intended to indicate a basic principle of toxicology. It means that a substance can produce the harmful effect associated with its toxic properties only if it reaches a susceptible biological system within the…

December 11, 2014

Hold yourself accountable with precision. It gives you freedom.

Awareness / Fitness / Freedom

Hold yourself accountable with precision. It gives you freedom.

Do you stress over eating more than your want on the holidays? I found a great way not to that applies in many other places. Since getting more fit, I'm more sensitive to smaller changes in my fitness. When I used to have more fat, eating more than I wanted for a few meals didn't change much on my body. To go from having some fat to a little more fat didn't register. So I would eat more than I wanted. Now I notice the next morning or sometimes during the meal. The more precise your standards, the more you can stick to them because missing them becomes more obvious. You hold yourself more accountable without mental effort. This precision creates freedom because instead of…

December 10, 2014

Awareness / Fitness / Habits / Perception

Less dessert, more appreciation

I think dessert is standard after dinner in the U.S., especially at restaurants. Even if you don't eat one, they give you the dessert menu to think about it. I read that only a generation ago dessert tended to be just a piece of fruit, and not every day. Less dessert seems like less sweets, but more overall appreciation of sweetness. That is, I think eating less or fewer sweets will improve my life---less physical pleasure but more emotional reward. That's my style. So I decided to make dessert the occasional piece of fruit, avoiding things with sugar added. Maybe a glass of wine or scotch sometimes. Once you stop having sugar, you don't sweat the decision. You just don't eat it. Much easier. I…

December 6, 2014

My first Community-Supported Agriculture shipment

Fitness / Nature

My first Community-Supported Agriculture shipment

I finally got around to joining a community-supported agriculture (CSA) deal. You pay for a share of a farmer's, or group of farmers' in my case, output for a season. You take on some risk the produce doesn't come out well, but you pay less and get fresh produce. In my case they deliver it to my door. I'm cooking a lot, and a lot more from vegetable, so I decided to risk getting overloaded with vegetables. Mostly I'm getting the vegetables everyone knows, like broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and carrots, and I mainly cook them by frying them in olive oil, garlic, and onions to go into sauces. With a CSA, you don't know what you'll get until it arrives. So it will push…

November 25, 2014

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

100 burpees: 9 minutes 21 seconds

Over a drink the other night, a guy I met told me his record for 100 burpees was 7 minutes. He does cross-fit a couple times a week. I couldn't help trying this morning. I did them in 9:21. I wrote him: I couldn't help trying to see how fast I could do 100 burpees. Just did 100 in 9:21. Getting to 7 minutes seems hard, almost impossible, but now I want to keep trying. You were doing push-ups and jumps, right? Congratulations on your achievement and thank you for the motivation. (I secretly hope he wasn't doing push-ups during his to make 7 minutes more accessible. But I also secretly hope not, to help motivate me). I vaguely remembered trying to do 100 fast…

November 18, 2014

Awareness / Fitness / Perception

Now I understand meat eaters asking weird questions — they don’t know what they’re talking about

If you don't eat meat, people ask you "Where do you get your protein?" a lot. It's been so long since I ate meat, I don't think about protein. I eat what I like. No problem. After nearly a quarter-century including competing at Nationals for Ultimate, running six marathons, getting a PhD in physics, and doing about 50,000 burpees, and various other mental and physical achievements, if any problems haven't arisen from something missing from my diet, I don't think it's going to happen. So why do so many people ask such weird questions? Why the fascination with protein? The Brazilian attitude toward diet clarified it. They hardly have any vegetables or variety of plants. Every restaurant's menu is almost completely based on meat. I…

November 11, 2014

Joshua Spodek’s 2014 New York City Marathon Results

Exercises / Fitness / Visualization

Joshua Spodek’s 2014 New York City Marathon Results

I finished the 2014 New York City Marathon with my best finishing time for the race and my second best time ever! Philadelphia, where I got my best, is flatter and has fewer people, which makes faster times easier. New York, with its hills, crowds, and turns, never gives great finishing times---just an unparalleled running experience, with dozens of bands, hundreds of neighborhoods, and probably over a million fans. My past best time for New York came in 1995, which I was 24 years old, just over half my age today. I'm glad to have returned to my performances of old. Conditions: cold, windy, and gusty The temperature while waiting for the race to start was about 42 F, with a 31 mile/hour wind, giving…

November 3, 2014

Choosing/Decision-Making / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

Marathon burpees

It's just past midnight, meaning I'm about fifteen minutes into Saturday, November 1. Tomorrow, Sunday, is the marathon. I've trained for it pretty well for months. I've wondered what to about my burpees. Some people suggested skipping burpees on days I run the marathon. I see it otherwise. Those are the most important days to do them. What's the point of doing something only when it's easy? The benefit comes when it's hard. Arnold Schwarzenegger has a quote about how your development all comes from the last reps you do, that everything before that only sets up those reps. Ah, here's that quote, not that I'm competing at his level. The last three or four reps is what makes the muscle grow. This area of…

November 1, 2014

New SIDCHA series post

Education / Exercises / Fitness / Freedom / Habits / SIDCHAs / Tips

New SIDCHA series post

[I wrote a new introduction to my SIDCHA series. I'm happy enough with it to share it as a regular post.] Most people seem to want improve themselves, personally or professionally. Reading, watching, and listening to people tell you how you can develop yourself professionally or personally doesn't change anything beyond give you a bit of information. People don't succeed because they have more information. They succeed because they act. Even if you know you should do something, how do you know what? Marketers are trying to tell you what to do. They promote diets, exercise, how to start businesses, learning business skills, learning to become rich, learning languages, learning programming languages, religions, networking, and so on. It's bewildering. Each category has innumerable sub-categories. I…

October 30, 2014

Choosing/Decision-Making / Exercises / Fitness / Habits / Tips

Successful behavior comes from little tricks more than lofty ideals

There is a one-hundred percent chance I will work out this morning. It's raining. I'm cold. I'm hungry. I have a lot of work to do. I have emails to catch up on. So many distractions. How do I know I'm going to exercise? Because I put on the lycra shorts I wear when I row on the rowing machine and every time I wear them I row. They aren't that comfortable for anything else, so there's no point in putting them on except to row. And switching to wearing something else feels like defeat, so once I put them on, it's easier to row than not. The decision to put on the shorts takes no effort. I just do it. In the back of…

October 23, 2014

Fitness / Leadership

The rewards, pleasures, and life lessons of running fast

A friend and former teammate introduced me to running long distances about twenty years ago. A few years ago I commented about running a lap of Central Park in about forty-five minutes. He remarked how running that speed at that age was impressive. In the years since, I've meant to run a lap in forty-five minutes. Between China and just running long distances for past marathons, I haven't gotten around to it. I didn't prioritize it. I just kept it in mind. A week or two ago I noticed an opportunity. Last weekend I ran my last half-marathon. Next weekend---the weekend before the marathon---I won't run much. That left today open as a time when I've trained to run distances to try. Tomorrow I'm running…

October 18, 2014

Fitness / Habits / Nature

I love my breakfast!

I love my breakfast. Yes, breakfast, in the singular. I eat the same simple combination almost every day and I prepare it through the same steps almost the same every day. Yet it has more flavor, texture, and nutrition than any other breakfast I know. Compared to the flashy, colorful boxes taking up most of the cereal supermarket aisle I haven't entered in years---at least not since I wrote about "Variety, choice, the manufactured illusion of it, and creating more yourself" and "Nature versus Corporate." My breakfast creates a solid foundation for my day, every day. My breakfast: Oats, about 1/3 of a bowl Chia seeds, one heaping teaspoon Water, enough for the oats and chia seeds to absorb Fresh fruit, usually half an apple,…

October 17, 2014

Choosing/Decision-Making / Fitness / Habits

No time to exercise? I bet you do, but you don’t want to make the effort.

I get it. Exercise is hard. At least useful exercise is. I wrote about it in yesterday's post, "Defining moments." I know the feeling before starting exercising. You don't want to. But rarely do people tell me they don't exercise because it's hard. Far more often people tell me they don't have time to exercise. If you want to exercise and you think you're not doing it because you don't have time, you'll have a hard time overcoming the problem. You'll work on irrelevant goals. Nearly everyone can spare ten minutes a day. You can exercise during commercials while watching TV. A few minutes of burpees will do it. If you aren't exercising because you haven't yet figured out how to overcome your internal resistance,…

October 16, 2014

Fitness / Habits / Leadership

Why Are Americans So Fascinated With Extreme Fitness?

I decided to answer the question of this New York Times article "Why Are Americans So Fascinated With Extreme Fitness?". That article describes some fitness, but doesn't answer the question, which deals with motivation and overcoming big challenges, which connect it to leadership. To answer why people would push to get so fit, you have to explain the emotion and motivation behind it. Simply saying it's healthy or makes you strong only extends the question. Partly they do it because of the emotional reward from exhaustion, progressing overcoming challenges, feeling stronger or more capable, approaching an ideal appearance, comparing themselves to others, and maybe a couple others. I believe all of those things make people feel good and want to continue. But you also have…

October 14, 2014

Ran last half-marathon to train for this year’s marathon yesterday

Ran last half-marathon to train for this year’s marathon yesterday

Yesterday I ran my last half-marathon to train for this year's marathon. The temperature was in the mid-fifties with a light breeze. Yet another in a long string of perfect days for running. I've run a twenty-one mile run this year, an eighteen-and-a-half, and an eighteen-mile run, and a bunch of half-marathons. I'm ready to run the big race. It happens in under three weeks, Sunday, November 2. The New York City Marathon is the most attended sporting event in the world, with something like one million people watching it live. New York City is in the height of fall when it happens---the leaves changing colors, crisp air, and concord grapes in season. I find it about the most beautiful time of the year here.…

October 13, 2014

Fitness / Habits / Nature

Cooking from scratch means less garbage

The other day I felt lazy and bought a can of food for a quick dinner. It ended up creating the most trash of any meal for a while. Since my apartment renovations opened up the kitchen, I'm cooking a lot more. Specifically, I'm cooking a lot more from scratch, buying a lot more vegetables, which I cook in the rice cooker / vegetable steamer / miracle appliance. Also a lot more beans, which I also cook in the rice cooker. Or I sautÃ© the vegetables with olive oil. I've noticed I'm creating a lot less trash---a lot less. I didn't realize how much trash comes from food packaging. When I buy an eggplant, I put carry it home by hand or in a bag…

October 11, 2014

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