Fitness

Within the first few steps of this morning's run, I could tell I didn't have the energy I normally did. I kept running anyway. I don't know why sometimes my body has less energy. Sometimes my legs feel like lead. Other times I have tons of energy. I haven't done a long run, nor pushed myself hard on the rowing machine lately. I surfed earlier this week, which takes a lot out of me, but that was Tuesday and wouldn't affect Saturday. Maybe I didn't eat or sleep enough last night? Oh yeah, the temperature was above eighty most of the run, which probably contributed, though it was only in the high seventies when I started. Anyway, I thought about running a shorter distance than…

I was recommended a book called "Wheat Belly." I read a lot more books than I write about so it has to be remarkable. I started to remark how much I disliked it. The more I put my dislike into words and the more I looked in the book to explain what I didn't like, the more I found to dislike it more. I'm saddened to find such a popular and recommended book so disappointing, like Quiet, which I reviewed too. (I recommend many authors and books in my Resources and Inspirations page) I don't find Wheat Belly compelling. On the contrary, I find it irresponsible. He keeps calling wheat unhealthy, and I get that it is for people who genetically can't tolerate it but…

I don't keep track of my total burpees, but since my last update at 30,000 burpees in January since starting at ten a day on December 21, 2011, I hit 40,000 somewhere around now. In the past I've celebrated milestones by writing about the value of burpees. Today I'll write general thoughts. Moving up to fifty a day (two sets of twenty-five) from forty (two sets of twenty) was my largest single jump. I did it because my sister's basement, where I was staying during my apartment renovations, had a low ceiling that limited how high I could jump, making burpees easier. I stuck with the number when I moved back home. My latest challenge is to start my burpee set right away. The jump…

Starting a set of twenty-five burpees is hard. I do something that makes them a little friendlier. It comes from the friend I started doing burpees with years ago. Most descriptions of burpees start with you dropping down. For some reason my friend starts with a jump up before his first burpee. Ever since I first learned he started that way, I have too: I start with a jump, then do my "first" burpee. I find the jumping the hardest part of burpees, so all this time I've been doing a half burpee more than I count each set, and the harder half. But doing it also reminds me of him, which makes them friendlier. As I've written about habits and changes in behavior, starting…

Remember I found a guy in England who did a one-year burpee "ladder" in my post "A burpee brother?" A burpee ladder means one burpee on the first day, two on the second, three on the third. A one-year ladder means you go until you do 365 on the last day for a total of almost 70,000 in the year. I've meant to do 365 burpees in a day since then. So I did. Ten days of meditation has its ups and downs. Day five they asked us to hold our positions for the full hour, which led to searing pain and sweat about forty minutes in. By day six my body had figured out which muscles to relax so they weren't fighting each other…

Have you had problems? Have you felt depressed? We all have. Sometimes life feels like it's free-falling, like as bad as it gets it seems like it can still get worse and does. When life brings you down, it helps to have things that keep it from dropping lower. Friends and family are resources people commonly cite as keeping their lives stable and keep them from dropping too low. As much as they help, friends and even family are outside your control, meaning you could lose access to them, leaving you vulnerable to suffering. SIDCHAs, Self-Imposed Daily Challenging Healthy Activities, keep your life from deteriorating and they don't depend on anyone else. Having a few SIDCHAs stabilizes your life and helps keep you from getting…