Walking!

"If there's more than 4 people engaging in an activity in this country, you can bet there's a magazine devoted to it. Walking! WALKING! The a magazine called WALKING! Wow, the new Walking is here - look, hon: a story about repeatedly putting one foot in front of the other!" - George Carlin

Excuses are insidious. They affect every aspect of your life. Very few of us have the true courage *not* to make them. When it comes to exercise, we all make them (and believe me, I have a Master's Degree in this area). Here's what I've been doing to fight them:

1. I have physical pain when I exercise

Try walking. It shouldn't hurt that much to just walk (unless you have a serious injury). Two stories:

a. In the US, there's a reality show called "The Biggest Loser" where people compete to lose weight. Every year, they get bigger and bigger people to be on the show. This year there's a guy that was 646 pounds (293 Kg / 46.1 stone). He walks as his exercise - that's basically all he *can* do. Sure enough, he's losing weight.

b. Back in the 1940's, my grandmother contracted Rheumatic Fever - it wasn't diagnosed or treated properly and it left her almost completely paralyzed. My grandfather had to "fend for himself" and for the last 50 years of his life, lived on a diet of fried hot dogs, home made french fries, picked pigs feet (as gross as it sounds) and ice cream (and lots of alcohol, but that's besides the point). He never went above 175 pounds his entire life. How did he do it? He always had three dogs in our house - when one died, he got another one right away. He walked those dogs three times a day every single day of his life - snow, rain, wind, cold - it didn't matter a lick to him - he walked them EVERY SINGLE DAY - despite his lifestyle choices in food and drink, he never saw a doctor and lived to be 87.

2. I don't have time

This one is pure BS - everyone on the planet has exactly 1,440 minutes each and every day - no more, no less. We don't have equal opportunity, equal physical characteristics, equal support and upbringing - the one thing that we all have is the equal amount of time. It you really think you don't have time, change something in your life so that you do.

3. I sweat too much

I put this in here because it's a personal albatross of mine. I sweat when I work out. A LOT. Like, an unbelievable amount. Lunch time is the best time for me to work out, but if I'm at a client (unless they have a shower at their facility), I'm out of luck. The solution goes back to #2 - make time to do it. A lot of gyms have 1 or 2 week memberships to "try things out" - if I'm at a client for a week or two, I'll join for the minimum period and work out there over lunch - if that's not an option, I suck it up and work out before I go in (I'm not a morning person and I *HATE* working out first thing in the morning, but I *can* do it for a short period.

4. I don't like seeing other people see me like this in the gym

This is a tough one. I understand this completely. There's a water park here in Denver that my daughter *loves* to go to, but I *HATE* with a passion because I have to walk around other people in a bathing suit. There's no easy way around this one, but there are a few things you can do to mitigate the effects:

a. Get flattering workout gear

b. Exercise outside - there are lots of people who jog in Portland and Seattle, so weather is no excuse

c. Buy a home gym - I put his last because it such a cliche to see exercise equipment in garage sales used for a week or month and then never touched again.

5. I'll just skip a day. I'm at the point where I'm actually afraid to skip a day, for fear that it'll lead me down the path of my old self. If you want to skip a day, do it for the right reasons, not just because you don't "feel like it".

Today's numbers:
Time: 60 min

Distance: 3.60 miles

Speed: 3.7 mph

Incline: 4%

Avg HR: 126

Calories: 664

Back to the high-energy workout music:

Todd Rundgren - Bang On The Drum All Day

Another blogger wrote that this song was about masturbation. I don't hear it.

John Mellencamp - Authority Song

Mellencamp and Meg Ryan? Stranger pairings have made it work.

Tom Petty - Even The Losers

What a great, great rock and roll song. Steve Jobs picked this song when he was first demoing the iPad.

Lucas - Lucas With The Lid Off

Another one of those "how-did-I-ever-even-hear-this-song?" songs.

Bob Seger - Betty Lou's Gettin' Out Tonight

Even when Seger's not really trying (Against The Wind is pretty flaccid), he's still better than 99% of what's on radio today here in the US.

Knack - Your Number or Your Name

Their first album is a masterpiece - they could've easily had 5 or 6 singles off of it. This one defined "power pop" in the 80's

John Mayer - Bigger Than My Body

Title alone makes it a great workout song.

Billy Joel - Downeaster Alexa

Joel drifts into pomp and sentimentality far too often for my taste, but this song pulls it off (sort of - couldn't have it in heavy rotation)

Phish - Down With Disease

Will respect to the Grateful Dead and Widespread Panic, Phish is still the ultimate jam band. Still kicking myself for not seeing them at Red Rocks on their farewell tour.

U2 - Vertigo

Like Lenny Kravitz's Dig In, sometimes you just need a straight-ahead nothing-fancy rock-and-roll song to get you through the day.

Ben Folds 5 - Battle of Who Could Care Less

Ben Folds 5 is, and always has been, a trio. Another song with the f-bomb in it. (Mental note: start working on f-bomb song list for future posting)

Tom Jones - Sex Bomb

Oh dear God! Wife had never heard this song, so she watched video on youtube. Had to physically restrain herself from vomiting watching old man Jones gyrate amongst nubile beauties. Will occasionally randomly jump in front of television and gyrate to chorus for wife's entertainment.

Pete Townshend - Rough Boys

Great, great song, but still wonder what the Who (even with Kenney Jones) could have done with this.

Fall Out Boy - America's Suitehearts

"I'm in love with my own sins". Aren't we all, brother; aren't we all.....

Michael Jackson - Jam

Perfect beats-per-minute for my workout. Posthumous releases are the epitome of creepy.

Hives - Walk Idiot Walk

Side one of Tyrannosaurus Hives is the best record I've heard in the last 10 years.

Clash - Police On My Back

The Clash win "Best-4-Consecutive-Albums" of all time with The Clash, Give 'Em Enough Rope, London Calling and Sandinista! (although side 6 of Sandinista! should replace water-boarding as an interrogation technique). Next is Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt Pepper and The Beatles (Magical Mystery Tour doesn't count since it was a hodgepodge of singles and B-sides and was never intended as a "proper" album) and third is Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall. The Clash win because their 4-album masterpiece is really 7 albums (8 if you count the re-mastered London Calling in 2007).

Filter - Hey Man, Nice Shot (Remix)

Not the original, but the insane remix with the horns and the drum machine. Made a classic even better.