What's Your Number?

"Don't cover me with your gossip magazine, look me in the face dammit!"

It could be pounds, calories per hour, strides per minute, minutes per mile, time elapsed, time remaining, points, minutes, beats per minute.
Here are my preferred numbers:

1. Calories per session on the Precor AMT-my favorite machine!! (about 30 minutes) = around 300
2. METS or the calories per hour section = at least 10.0
3. Beats per minute for my exercise music = greater than or equal to 120 (attained by lots of remixes including Britney, Madonna, Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Black Eyed Peas, other top 40 types-my current fun fave is this new song)
4. I personally never get on a scale to see THAT number, it only demotivates me horribly and ironically sets me running for a bag of chips. My weight number has only ever brought me annoyance and worry, so I forget about it! Jeans and non-elastic waistbands tell me what's up more than the number ever has. I admire people who are dispassionate about their weight number and who see it as just that, a number. Maybe someday I'll get there, but I'm more than happy to stay off of the scale for now.

What's Your Exercise Plan?

I've been biking to work via the southwest corridor (the green highlighted bits are google's attempt at showing you where to bike) as much as possible and trying to hit the gym a few times a week (during my lunch hour at Marino) to strength train and build up some muscles so that they can keep supporting my body, and you know, for the fight club I run in my backyard after work.


After last month's rather disturbing report on sitting for 6 hours or more per day, I'm going to find a way to make my desk a standing desk (like this DIY puppy from Lifehacker). Even if it isn't properly approved and requisitioned by the higher-ups (I was told it was too expensive to fix my cube up like that last time I asked) I'm not just going to sit around and gather unhealthiness at work. I urge you to figure out how to reposition your day so that sitting constantly isn't always involved.
 

Faster, Stronger, Better, but don't SIT DOWN!!

So I'm sure a lot of you saw news of the recent article in the early online edition of the American Journal of Epidemiology that said sitting for more than 6 hours daily can increase your chances of dying and isn't "undone" by exercising and going to the gym regularly. This is ALL CAPS important my friends, you can find it in our Oxford Journals online, just click on the "Advance Access" link to see the most recently published articles.
Forget what anyone says: "Oh, 10 minutes doesn't count" or "You have to raise your heart level to 80% times the square root of your age divided by 3.14" It ALL counts and it ALL matters. Those of us in desk jobs need to be especially vigilant about getting up and being active during the day. Feel the wind in your hair!

(c) manyfires on flickr