Do you have fitness benchmarks?\u00a0 You know, things you want to be able to do physically (that are achievable.\u00a0 Disabilities exist and are real) that do require a bit of work to maintain.<\/p>\n
I thought about this today as I was getting some hot water for my coffee.\u00a0 The water cooler\/heater\u2019s bottle was pretty much empty and needed to be switched out for a full one.<\/p>\n
We get our water bottles in five gallon containers, so you\u2019re looking at about forty pounds that needs to be picked up off the floor and manipulated with some reasonable level of delicacy to get the opening on the nozzle correctly and not spill or break anything.<\/p>\n
Heavy?\u00a0 Not particularly.\u00a0 I can recall when I weighed about that, and my mother and father picked me up at that age with some regularity.<\/p>\n
But over the past year, I haven\u2019t been doing much physical, so while I could<\/strong> do it, and did (I think walking by an empty cooler if you are physically capable of switching it out without injuring yourself is kind of inconsiderate) it was definitely getting harder.<\/p>\n You wanna know if swimming puts on muscle? One month into getting back into swimming and it was enough easier to startle me.<\/p>\n Which brings me to the point.<\/p>\n What are your fitness benchmarks?\u00a0 What are your indications that you might need to be a bit more focused on getting enough exercise?\u00a0 I\u2019m not talking about the scale here, or how your pants fit. \u00a0Those are fine goals if that\u2019s what you\u2019re into, but they\u2019re a bit on the cosmetic side.\u00a0 I\u2019m talking the functional and physical benchmarks.\u00a0\u00a0 These are pretty individual.<\/p>\n For me, being able to manipulate forty pounds up through four feet of space with ease is definitely one.\u00a0 Another is perceived exertion going up the hill to my house.\u00a0 Can I lift a full suitcase easily from the floor of a train to the luggage rack without Red Cap assistance?\u00a0 Is two miles a pleasant walk or something that makes me want a nap?\u00a0 If I fall below any of those pretty modest abilities, I feel like I need to do something about it.<\/p>\n What are yours?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Do you have fitness benchmarks?\u00a0 You know, things you want to be able to do physically (that are achievable.\u00a0 Disabilities exist and are real) that do require a bit of work to maintain. I thought about this today as I was getting some hot water for my coffee.\u00a0 The water cooler\/heater\u2019s bottle was pretty much … <\/p>\n