Thoughts in Veeberland

So I’m sure everyone has been familiar with all my past attempts to get back in shape.  I’ve been playing with the Wii Fit Plus for a bit, but honestly it doesn’t really give you that good of a workout.  Some of the games are fun, but that’s about it.  Apparently just playing Wii Tennis or Boxing ends up being a better calorie burner that the entire Wii Fit genre.  It’s still nice to use to track your weight and play every so often.

Instead I’ve embarked on something that I had tried in the distant past.  I know I’m never going to run a marathon or be ripped like a 20 year old.  But doing simple fitness items like push-ups, squats, sit-ups, pull-ups, and jogging should be within my ability … eventually.  So for the last six weeks I’ve been going through the 100 push-ups program.  The goal is eventually to be able to do 100 push-ups in one set.  I’ve had to repeat weeks three and four, so I haven’t finished the initial six week program yet, but already I’ve gone from less than 10 in a set to 20+.  I’m going to have to continuously repeat the whole program to get to the goal, but it’s a start.  This week I just added the 200 squats program to the list.

These programs seem to be effective and don’t take that much time.  There’s a straight forward progression and it’s pretty easy to see progress.  As I get closer to completing the first round of these two I’ll add sit-ups.  There’s also another site that has a program for getting to run a 5K.  Here’s to hoping the new shoes can help me run again without the knee and back pain.  I just got the Vibram Five Fingers, so I can’t give a good feel for them yet, but so far they seem to be working to reduce my foot pain.  One of these days I’ll talk about them a bit more.

The most attractive thing about these programs is the lack of equipment required.  It’s pretty cheap to engage in these activities and the author even went ahead and developed an iPhone app for each one.  It makes timing the rest period pretty easy and tracks all of your progress.  I think it would be pretty annoying to use the Twitter integration to post my progress, but who knows, maybe I’ll be vain enough to do so one of these days .  I bought a set of the Perfect Push-ups to reduce the wrist pain and after I lose some weight I may get a Perfect Pull-up to start those workouts as well.  Still that’s less than $60 overall.  If anything, the new shoes cost me more than that.

So here’s to yet another attempt to get healthy and lose some weight.  Hopefully going slower this time around will help me stay focused and motivated.

[Originally posted December 22, 2005]

NYC will always overcome.  I am quite proud to be from there, though I really don’t fit the typical Manhatten resident.  This strike has really put a lot of people out and yet it seems everyone’s making a great attempt at getting in to work regardless.  I’m sure the casual shopping is down, but they brave the 2-3 hour walks or incredible traffic on the bridges and streets.  What troopers those New Yorkers are.

I really think the TWA is being greedy.  They are arguing because the city wants new employees to pay 6% of their salary towards their pension, which they can start claiming as early as 55.  Most workers across the US can’t really retire until 62 and probably don’t even get a pension.  You’ve got really good benefits already and you’re asking for respect and dignity?  What is that saying about all of the other workers in NY or the rest of the country.  Those people who working for minimum wage and no benefits are just suckers?  The strike really only hurts them.  The rest of the business world is moving on since their companies can afford to have them work from home or to arrange transportation.  The MTA should fee free to negotiate the best contract that they can, but they cannot claim the moral/judicial high ground when they are causing tens of thousands more to suffer.  That’s just rediculous.  At least go back to work while you are negotiating.  The people of NY are not on your side in this.