Journey Updates

Creative Ways to Get Your Cardio

February 4, 2010 @ 02:00 pm

The treadmill, elliptical, rowing machine, stair climber. All basic forms of getting your cardio. But also really boring after a while. My gym has TVs at each machine to help ease the dull roar, but there are plenty of other ways to get a great cardio workout. Here's a couple of sample videos. The first is boxing - I'd really love to learn how to do this stuff some day. Something about the sheer force and raw power of hitting a bag combined with the need to dodge and weave. I'm not particularly combative but boxing has always interested me as a sport I'd like to try.

^{Click to play}

The second is a rock-climbing wall. Not content with a normal wall, some gyms have these infinite walls that let you climb until you fall off. And it's a total body work out if I've ever seen one. I've been rock climbing before, believe it or not, and it's not exactly a walk in the park. I'd love to go again.

^{Click to play}

0 comments | Topics: boxing, gym, rock-climbing, sports, workout

Goals

Weight Loss Goal: Learn to Surf

May 19, 2008

I lived in California while going to college, but was far from the beach and never went during the day. That, along with the occasional surfing enthusiast I knew in high school, is the closest I ever really came. I've just never been that exposed to the whole surfing thing, and so never really had the opportunity to learn much about it.

But I'd like to. While I don't expect to throw my cares to the wind and become a beach bum, or scour the world for the best waves, I'd love to learn to ride. There's something about surfing that exudes fitness - even though most surfers are not ripped or particularly buff. The balance involved, the resonance they have with nature, the pursuit of freedom on the water, it makes them athletes.

I never even considered learning how to surf before starting this journey. I figured I could never fit in the wetsuit and I fell off the 6-inch balance beam at school. I don't even know where to learn, today. I'll probably combine my "surfing" goal with another to cruise or go to a resort, and take one of those silly tourist surfing lessons. But that's not a reason not to try. And when I'm fit, I want to be out there riding the waves.

Weight Loss Goal: Learn to Play Tennis

March 21, 2008

My partner - and his entire family - love Tennis. They're actually tennis fanatics. His sister coaches and teaches, his other sisters just love to play, and so does he. I ... like to watch. Actually I have no idea how to play beyond running around a court hitting at a very fast and very small ball with a racket. We have two tennis court complexes on the island where we live - including one right outside our building's front door (not a bad view from the gym which overlooks it, by the way). About once a week my partner pipes up that he'd like to play again someday, and I would like to play with him.

I've simply never learned to play tennis. I know that it's extraordinarily physical even while not being the same type of exertion as football, basketball or baseball. Part of me wonders if I could even keep up or if I'd simply wimp out after 10 minutes. And since I'm new, and I suck, there's always the spectre of making a fool of myself on the courts as I learn - and fat fools always look most foolish. So as a goal for losing weight, I want to learn to play - and really take up as an activity - tennis!

The thing about losing weight and becoming more active is that as you start to get into it - even a little - you get a natural craving for more and new activities. So as I lose weight and see my fitness levels increase, I expect I can begin to learn to play this intriguing sport in the near future. And when I do, it will surely be a great way to continue my fitness routine with an alternate activity - and it will make my partner happy to play again.

Weight Loss Goal: Go Kayaking

March 21, 2008

I love water. I love being on the water, in the water, under the water. I've always had a fascination with the ocean and waterways and all the life underneath, as well as the peacefulness of floating out in the middle of it all. One activity I've always wanted to try was kayaking.

I've been canoeing and I've even rowed a boat at one time, but kayaking is very different. You're barely out of the water - and all you have to rely on is yourself. If you get tired, or can't keep going, you're stuck - and it's your fault, and there's no one else to get you back ashore. These are the things that've kept me away from trying it since I have little faith in my own level of fitness. When I use the rowing machine at the gym, I can barely go for very long - so how am I supposed to keep up such a demanding activity as kayaking? Plus, it seems like it would leave me feeling somewhat vulnerable; I hardly like taking my shirt off - the awkward process of getting in, navigating, not-tipping-over, and getting out of the thing, all on show for any to see, is terrifying.

Since first coming up with this goal I've discovered a good friend of ours has really taken up kayaking as a favorite summer pass time. Last summer he mentioned wanting to get people to go with him. This summer, I want to take him up on it.

So as a goal for my fitness journey, I want to take up kayaking. It probably won't be this summer but maybe next year. I want to join those groups of people I see gliding up the East River. I want to float and enjoy nature from out in the middle of the sea.