July 16, 2008
SWAP 2008, fitness, kids, sewing
3 Comments
I’ve been appallingly bad about working out in the past couple of weeks.
Which, of course, is idiotic, because I got a job where I have to get up at 0 dark thirty to open the gym for a couple of hours once a week so I can use the facilities without having to have the expense of a membership. I get paid a little, which is nice, so I come out ahead of the game.
If I use the facilities!
I swam a mile today. I just haven’t felt like pumping iron, so I’m just gonna swim most days. I know, not perfect. Screw perfect. Swimming a mile a day is hardly bad for health and fitness! I’ll be eager to start pumping some iron soon enough, I’m sure.
I’ve also been reluctant to work out according to my usual schedule because my son is home with me. Why I feel guilty about leaving a thirteen year old for an hour while I go work out is dorky. I used to love to have the house to myself at that age. Not doing anything wrong, mind, just liked the sense of freedom and privacy.
Like my own mother, I tend to leave chores for my son when I leave the house (empty the dishwasher, put a load of clothes on to dry, etc.) I’m glad to have ‘em taken care of, so am kind of effusive in my praise, because… Well, it really is a help, and it means he is a contributing member of the household. I want him to know I see it that way. When I was his age, I know my mom was glad someone else was doing the laundry in the summer.
I think a lot of problems with teenagers is that they feel unappreciated and useless. Chores often feel like busywork to a kid rather than a necessary (and valued!) contribution. Frankly? I’m grateful to be free of dealing with the laundry for the summer, and I let my son know that. I like it that I don’t have to cope with the dishwasher, and I let him know that, too.
I’m gonna get some work out of the way, and then reward myself with the final jacket in my sewing session. I wore the burgundy jacket, burgundy shell and black skirt working at the front desk at the gym yesterday morning. That combo works and looks quite nice. I was so pleased with it that one of the trainers made a joke about me getting on my “million dollar smile” for the patrons. He’s a chipper, friendly type of guy and I think he enjoys opening with perky morning people.
I know I do.
June 16, 2008
fitness
No Comments
There are a lot of reasons swimming is not the world most popular form of cardio. It’s expensive (hell, I got a part time job at a gym just so I could use the facilities instead of having to pay out of pocket for them!), it’s time-consuming (you won’t get a good swim in for under an hour, what with the getting to the gym, changing, showering, etc.), and it’s difficult.
Yes, difficult. If you come to me bragging about how your father tossed you in the water when you were five and now you’re like a fish, I’ll laugh at you. You probably don’t have the technique down to swim laps comfortably or effectively.
That last seems to be the biggest sticking point. I’m trying to think of cardio that’s more technique-based than swimming and frankly I can’t! Though I’m sure a Helpful Reader will point one out.
No-one would say that I’m a poor swimmer - prolly not even those Total Immersion folks. But there are still techniques I don’t have down, even averaging three miles a week.
I’ve decided I’m spending the summer becoming fluid with bilateral breathing. When doing the crawl[1] I usually breathe on every fourth stroke. That’s always breathing to the right for me. It’s lousy technique. And it occurs to me that if I’m swimming a mile a week[2] with bad technique, then I’m practicing bad swimming.
So now I’m forcing myself to breathe every third stroke and switch sides every single time. I’m clumsy as hell in the water right now and feeling like a dork for waiting as long as I have to force myself to use proper technique. As a martial artist, I should know better.
Martial artists are usually cautioned in one way or another not to train their non-dominant side to be stupid. You’re constantly drilling so you can lead equally well with your dominant or non-dominant limbs.
When I go to Virginia Beach this summer, I want to try to swim from the pier at 14th Street down to Rudee Inlet[3]. Open water swimmers really should be good a bi-lateral breathing so they can compensate comfortably for surf conditions, current and that sort of thing.
[1] The stroke isn’t freestyle, it’s the crawl. Most people use that stroke in freestyle events because you want to use the fastest stroke possible in said event, and the crawl is
fast.
[2] I break up my laps with three different strokes to use different muscle groups and try to avoid a rotator cuff injury.
[3] The challenge won’t be the distance. I swim farther than that every workout. It’s the fact it’s open water. Very different from a pool!
June 13, 2008
fitness
No Comments
I got my lazy ass into the pool for the first time in a week today.
After my gall bladder attack, I just didn’t feel motivated. I even asked the doctor if working out was okay (secretly hoping for a “no” and an excuse not to). He laughed and said that as long I was not in the middle of an attack I should be fine.
So, no excuses. I swam.
They keep that pool too damn warm in the summer. I know they do it because of the people in aqua fitness and aqua therapy rehabs that just cannot take the cold. Dandy. In the summer, competition pool coldness is fine with me. Ah well. I wouldn’t want it to be too cold for people that really need the water workout and the warmth, anyway.
I had oatmeal for breakfast in my new lowfat diet. Since I’ve been having oatmeal for breakfast for the past few months, this was not exactly a huge change. I’ve been using powdered milk as creamer instead of half-n-half. I like half-n-half better, but I’ll be goddamned if I buy those stupid low-fat “products”. I’m not bloody well going to buy low fat cheese. I’m just eating nonfat yogurt and gonna be done with it. It’s summer, the produce is good. There’s plenty of real food I can eat — I love fish, turkey and chicken. Salads are my friend. Strawberries are almost in season. I make a mean beans and rice. I bet I can come up with a really tasty yogurt-based salad dressing, too. I’m a great cook and don’t need to fall back on fake food.
Thank God I can still cook in wine.
June 4, 2008
fitness
No Comments
This week seems to be Have Fun at Work Week here at Figart Consulting.
Got a couple of clients who have a quirky sense of humor. God, it I love it when that happens.
Being a freelance writer is funny. Sometimes you get these really interesting projects. If you have a particular hobby horse, you sometimes get paid to ride it. I always like that. All my projects this week are stuff I actually have a real interest in. This does happen more often than not, because if you’re really into something, your proposals start sounding all excited. And let’s be frank, if you’re hiring a writer, having one that’s enthusiastic about your topic is always nice. But sometimes you get some weird, or boring stuff.
Sometimes you have a project where when you start researching it starts to scare the living bajesus out of you. I had one not too long ago. It was Friday, Press Enter, The Happiness Patrol and 2001: A Space Odyssey all rolled into one. I’ve uncurled from my little ball, though.
But not this week, thank goodness. I’ve got a couple of ones where I’ve rushed home from the gym with an Oh boy! I get to noodle about something I like and get paid for it!
Why, yes, I do love my job.
June 3, 2008
fitness
No Comments
Lovely workout this morning. While I didn’t get in at 5:30, I did pretty much started my day with a workout, a shower and a nice walk.
Now that I’ve got pics of myself out there, I feel free to rant about something.
I work for the gym where I work out. It’s a nice. You know, friendly — a clean, well-lighted place.
One of the things that one runs across in the fitness industry quite often is someone who wants to get more fit but is afraid they won’t “fit in” – too heavy, too old, too many disabilities…
Friends, the picture in my previous post was hardly that of a svelte gym bunny. And I don’t catch any shit from anyone. Ever.
My gym, having a good, warm pool is very popular among the elderly for aqua fitness. There are people who come in who need walkers.
But they come in.
If you want to join a gym and are worried about whether or not you’ll fit in?
Stop worrying. No-one really cares. Well, okay, some of the hard cores will approve of someone making a start on the fitness journey. Other than that, it’ll be mostly blissful indifference ‘cause they’re sweating too hard to worry about it. But a lot of the fear is in your mind. Seriously.
It took me a long time to get the guts to go into the weight room. I was doing my dumbbell workouts, and I was seeing a lot of success with them. I was happy with my progress, but wanted to go ahead and start using the weight room at the gym where I had a pool membership. But I was scared – scared of being mistreated, scared of being made to feel I didn’t belong, scared of looking like an idiot.
If you read things like Testosterone Nation and some such, with a lot of their very harsh comments about fat people, it’s understandable that you might be a little scared. I’m increasingly of the opinion that it’s a loudmouthed minority who really only behave that way from behind the computer screen. I mean come on, if a woman is strong enough to lift a 15 lb kettlebell, she’s strong enough to brain you with it from behind. Who wants to risk that? You’re much more likely to face online nastiness than you are actually in the gym. Not trashing the site. There’s some good info there. Just read the articles and ignore the chest beating. Or, hang it up and go to Stumptuous for your info. It’s just as macho. <grin>
June 2, 2008
fitness
1 Comment
I talk a lot about getting fit and what it’ll do for you.
What it won’t do is make you automagically skinny. The people that read this have a fair idea of my basic workouts. This and a moderately okay diet will give you a body that looks like this (if your basic shape tends to such) when you’re starting out heavy.
This is not to discourage anyone from working out. Working out is great. Working out makes you strong and happy and all that.
It just doesn’t make you skinny.
June 2, 2008
Freelancing, fitness
No Comments
I sometimes wonder if I should preface ScrewSkinny with: “I wrote most of this in the pool.”
I find myself thinking a lot about health, fitness, body image and what have you when I’m swimming. I used to listen to audiobooks, but I can’t find waterproof earphones that last more than a few months. My inner Scrooge screams at buying them all that often, and I’ve never found any you didn’t have to futz with a lot to get them to work. I’m in the pool to swim, not play with electronics. That’s my other job <grin>.
Speaking of which, my suit really has Gone Where All Good Suits Go, and I need to get off my lazy butt and get a couple of swimsuits. God, I can’t believe I put this off until early June - the worst time in the world to get value for your buck on a good, chlorine-resistant suit! Well, I brought that all on myself. Speedo has nothing in my size on sale right now, dammit. I’m checking out the Junonia suits and grinding my teeth. No, I don’t want a swimsuit that’s bloody shorts or a skirt. I don’t want something with cute folds and drapes to disguise body shape and increase drag. My body shape is drag enough, thanks so much! Yes, I know. Women my size who care about such things are not in the majority. I expect plenty of women my size don’t wanna put on a suit at all.
Been checking out some of the freelance boards and I’m seeing a lot of what I call Turnip Wagon Projects[1]. These are projects where a buyer wants you to submit a “sample article” that’s never appeared in print or on the ‘net before. This sample article will almost always be as long as and in a similar subject matter to the actual one you’re bidding on. Yes, the person is trying to get free work out of you. If they’re looking for a real writer, what they really want are samples of your professional work. You know, stuff you’ve already written and probably sold. The Turnip Wagon sort? Sure, there are ways to fix their little red wagons if you’re willing to go to the trouble to do so. And yeah, calling them on their theft would probably benefit the world. I just don’t bid on ‘em. Lazy, I know. But as Holly Lisle put its, “Writers get paid to write.” I bid on the ones who don’t seem to want free work. I tend to have more success that way.
[1] My father’s expression for “I wasn’t born yesterday” is “I didn’t just fall off the turnip wagon, you know.” I have no idea where he got that. Probably his mother. She wasn’t often creative of speech, but could get
real pithy on occasion.
May 30, 2008
fitness, goals
No Comments
As I’ve mentioned countless times, swimming is an excellent time to ponder.
I was looking forward to a breakfast of fresh-from-the-farm eggs and a nice espresso when the title phrase of this post fluttered through my mind.
Now, I’ve never been thin. I really wouldn’t know. But I’m trying to imagine how it’s gonna feel great.
All my mind can go to is, “Well, it’d be easier to do pullups, and probably with less drag my swim times will improve” and then my mind goes blank.
Being thin won’t feel like anything that I can imagine. I don’t live in front of a mirror, so I won’t have any real, consistent feedback. My body will just feel like my body because I live in it. Whatever you get used to just feels normal. It won’t feel like a constant orgasm of thin. Possibly I’ll get more male attention. I know it sounds weird, but I’m not actually looking forward to that part1.
I used to be a diet counselor. I’ve watched many women lose large amounts of weight. Accomplishing a big goal? Hell yeah, that feels really good — for about twenty minutes. Then you move on to the next thing.
But, I never noticed that their lives necessarily improved from losing weight. They still had issues with their husbands, or had the same sour tempers they started with, or still hated their jobs, or found their children frustrating, or were scared their husbands were having affairs…
Or if they were happy and had positive attitudes (as many did. I don’t want to imply that all my clients were miserable. They weren’t), they were about as cheerful as they always were, laughed about the same amount and there really wasn’t a significant change in their basic attitude.
I know the phrase is supposed to help people focus on their goals. And you know what, “Don’t sacrifice a long-term goal for a momentary distraction” is a good thing to keep in mind. The thing is: “Being thin will feel good” is a lousy motivation. It won’t feel like anything. It’ll just be you and your body. The change is gonna be gradual and it’s just gonna feel normal after awhile. It’ll be your life and you’ll take it for granted after some small period of time.
1It’s not that I don’t like being flirted with. I do. A LOT. But, that sort of attention becomes less attractive when you’ve seen someone trying to ask a girl for a date when she’s at the squat rack. Free advice to the men that wanna date women who lift:
Do not distract a person who is lifting enough weight to cause an injury if it is lifted wrong. You won’t score any points that way. Promise. Wait’ll she’s done. It’ll improve your chances.
May 14, 2008
fitness, goals
No Comments
I’d been oscillating since doing the 50 mile challenge at my gym whether or not to swim 1500 yards or 2000 yards as my workout. My normal swim was 1650. The last two times, I decided to do a 1500.
I woke up grumpy as all hell and feeling down on myself, so I chose to try a challenge and swam 2000.
I’d never done that before. Felt kinda good.
A lady in the gym got on the scales and commented (right beside me), “No way have I gained four pounds in a day!”
I laughed and said, “Don’t sweat it. It’s probably water weight.”
Another woman near us spoke up and said, “She’s working out, it’s probably muscle weight.”
In one day.
You wish.
A hard-training, unsupplemented1, young, genetically-gifted beginner female might put on about half a pound of muscle a week for the first five months or so if she specifically lifts to failure. If you’ve been following my listed workouts you will note this is considerably harder than I train2. I’m also hardly genetically gifted.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, strength training is important. But let’s be accurate with the numbers, ‘kay?
You’re probably not gonna jump four pounds of muscle doing aqua aerobics. Oh, do the aqua aerobics! It’s fantastic exercise, easy on the joints, gets your heart rate up, gives you some strength work. Absolutely. But it ain’t gonna turn you into a monster. It’ll help you be a little more healthy, and that’s great. It’s a wonderfully valid reason for doing it.
I don’t wanna be Captain Buzzkill here. I really do believe in exercise and I’m all for doing what you can. I mean, c’mon, I got my start swimming 400 yards three times a week, and lifting less than the weight of an empty barbell for my workouts. It’s taken me coming on to two years to get where I am. Doing what you can is something to be proud of. You don’t have to make anything up or distort it for it to be worthy and valuable.
If you think pop magazine articles on exercise get under my fingernails, you’re right.
1 A euphemism for “not taking anabolic steroids”.
2At the best I can estimate, I’ve put on about four pounds of muscle in the past eighteen months. In a way, we women are lucky at how little it takes to make wonderful changes.
May 13, 2008
fitness, food
No Comments
I’ve been doing the No S Diet for a few weeks and wanted something cute for lunch today.
Technically I’m supposed to have three meals a day, and keep portions to whatever will fit on a plate — one plate per meal, no seconds.
You can’t really screw up portion control using a bento, though!
I had onigiri wrapped in nori, tuna salad, apples and carrots. Yummy.
The gym was cool today. There’s this huge bodybuilder type with a friendly face, but otherwise pretty intimidating-looking. He’s a grunter, but I think I’d grunt, too if I were trying to do dumbbell flys with 80 lbs.
When I got in and got started with my deadlifts, he was working with this little old lady (I hate the cliche, but it would have been the first thing that came to mind to anyone who saw her) who had baby blue dumbbells. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t work for the gym. I think he was just helping the woman out to be friendly.
I like seeing stuff like that.
« Previous Entries
