Category: Entertainment

Like so many Americans, my heart truly goes out to the victims of Harvey, and my admiration goes out to the amazing rescuers. The scope of this disaster is unprecedented, and thankfully the outpouring of support has been overwhelming. The ordeal is hardly over for Houston and adjoining areas, with new storms like Irma barreling toward us. Watching a TV image of a displaced person resting in a shelter got me thinking. Once they have gotten the rest they need, they will then need to maintain or build their physical conditioning. I then considered how strikingly out of condition the average American is, and how it can potentially affect their survivability during a crisis, or their ability to rescue another human being. It has been good to witness the resurgence in “functional” training, led by CrossFit, Spartan Races, progressive calisthenics, heavy barbell work, and kettlebell training, among so many others. Yet there still exists a great mass of deconditioned Americans. They are unlikely to fare well in a crisis – any crisis. I say “any” for a reason: it is far more common for someone to succumb to a self-created crisis, formed by poor sleep, nutrition, exercise, and stress habits than it is…

  Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –  I took the one less traveled by And that has made all the difference. ~ Robert Frost The Road Not Taken   There are many ways to get fit. Many of these ways are not attractive – at least not to me. Long, boring cardio, burpees till you puke… You get the idea. There are new, trendy, fitness routines coming out all the time. Some are good, and some are outright ridiculous. One can be led to believe that if they’re not doing the latest craze, they’ll be left in the dust. This turns off many who would otherwise find their road to fitness: “If I need to go through all of this $%#! to attain health, count me out!” Fitness choices include: weightlifting (bodybuilding, Olympic lifting, powerlifting), bodyweight training (progressive calisthenics), kettlebells, bands, awkward object lifting, long “steady-state” cardio, high-intensity interval training (H.I.I.T.), yoga, Pilates, barre, Zumba, and so many more. Though I enjoy some of these disciplines, many people do not. And fortunately, that’s okay. There are many roads to fitness, including less regimented ones than those listed above. Activity of almost any kind – particularly in the great outdoors – is beneficial, as…