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Thursday, June 20, 2013

Why Exercise?

Frequent readers... and there are none of you... may have seen the wrap-up of the Superhero Scramble in which I got "sweaty, muddy, bruised, and sometimes bloody." We concluded the article with the question, why do people do this? Let's back up and go to the highest level possible so we can land on a better answer. Why do people exercise? Well I can't speak for the world but I can speak for myself.

Why do I exercise?

It's Challenging: Why choose mud runs, or marathons, or six pack abs as a goal? Why climb the highest mountain?  Why, 86 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas? We choose to exercise in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. (skip to 8:20)

Although JFK is implying we went to the moon for the challenge, we know it was really just to beat the Soviets and because it's awesome. The Vikings went to Canada first, the Spanish went to the Carribean, the Portuguese went to India, and America went to the moon.* Why? Because it was awesome. I think competition and adventure are two subsets of achievement that cause people to exercise. Onward...

When winning gets old. Source
-To Compete: I'll define competition as attempting the same goal as other people to see who can do it best.

It's plain and simple, winning is great. It shows that you're good at something or at least better than other people. If you find yourself winning all the time, it gets old. You may even do something drastic like leave your 3 time NBA championship team to play baseball for the Birmingham Barons.

But not everyone can win. Quitting and denial of effort are back-ups in the event of a loss. The best approaches to losing are either learning from mistakes and improving or realizing that you are bad and accepting it. That's why there are handicaps in golf, right?

-To Find Adventure: I'll define adventure as stepping outside of your comfort zone to accomplish something previously thought to be impossible with a high level of risk. It's why (some) Soldiers want to go to war, superheros scramble, skydivers skydive, and Bodhi likes to rob banks. It's the ultimate rush.

Obviously, this is one of the main products that sports like mud runs and rock climbing offer. People that want to do this want to show themselves and the world that they are bad mofos. This is probably because growing up in the suburbs and working in a cubicle are not that physically demanding or threatening.

To Socially Interact: I'll define this as building and nurturing friendships with others through a shared hobby. Take a look at all the run clubs that are popping up around the US. Boston has an enormous run club called the November Project. To kick things off, everyone greets and hugs someone new before running hills or stadium steps. Conversations between runners even continue into the run. Where else can you make friends like this in your sneakers?

The social interaction aspect started long ago when sports were invented. There's nothing like getting together with your best friends and taking on another group of friends. Think rugby, the closest sport to a fight with a ball. They destroy each other on the field then have beers and sing dirty songs in English that I can't understand.

Health: The human body is an adaptable machine that builds competence in what it does. If sitting in a seat on the way to work, at work, on the way back from work, and at a computer at home is what it does, that's all it will do. If you want to be ready to do anything more than sit without hurting yourself, you have to exercise. It also helps you...

The early girdle. Source.
-To Look Good: Whether it's the guy/gal looking at you in the mirror or guy/gal looking at you walking by, it's nice to be sexy and know it. It's why God invented plastic surgery and Queen Elizabeth I invented girdles.

-To Feel Good: Here's WebMD's take on the mental health aspect. This stuff is pretty common knowledge by now, right? Endorphins, sleep, diet and whatnot.

-To Clear the Mind: I vividly remember yoga classes where I was told to forget all my worries and feel peaceful... which made me remember my worries and feel uneasy. I sometimes prefer the isolation that comes with a run and headphones. There are times when you need to get away from the stresses of real life like deadlines, bills and the Gilgo Beach Killer. Focusing on low-consequence efforts like miles and reps can help you relax and refocus.

-To Live Longer: Sustained physical activity over the years has the ability to prevent all kinds of illnesses that come later in life (later, on average, because many of them make you die). Young athletes generally have this benefit in mind but it's not their high on the list of important benefits. Your 80 year old self will be glad you played outside when you were younger.

To Enable Activities in Real Life: You usually hear people say, "to live a fuller life." You'll hear exercise goals such as, "To keep up with my grandkids," or, "be ready for that trip to... place where people hike." These exercisers are having some physical challenge and have to build up to be able to meet it.

This list is not totally comprehensive but it is a good starting point to figuring out if there are better alternatives and characterize types of exercise, motives and trends. We will dig deeper and hopefully get some perspectives other than my own.

*May be historically inaccurate but probably not, according to American history books in 1962, when Kennedy made the speech

Sunday, June 16, 2013

The Superhero Scramble

Team Red, White, and Blue's (Team RWB) Massachusetts got a random email from a point of contact at the Superhero Scramble asking if some veterans would be willing to help with the administration of their race in exchange for a free bib number and t-shirt. Why thankee.

A few of us got on board and played in the mud for free by volunteering. I ran the Spartan Race at the same park in Amesbury, MA and did pretty well in August 2012.

I finished with a time of ~53:00 for a 4.4 mile course which earned me 4th place overall, 4th for gender, 1st in age group. Out of ~1,100 runners that's a pretty phenomenal finish if I do say so myself. But let's not get too excited over a good but not out-of-this-world physical feat. So how can YOU succeed?

Keys to Success

Nail the Ring Swing: This video shows the easiest way to do it. It demands a little strength, a little patience and a lot of coordination.

Be Aggressive on Slippery Hills: There is a way to go down a hill that is too slippery for running or walking (also works great on snow). Squat down on one leg and extend one in front of you (to buffer any rocks or trees you may run into) and put your hands to the side to keep balance. Think of a pistol squat with hands on the side for steering and braking. It's risky but fast and looks awesome. Which is the most important thing. If you're not comfortable with this, just keep three points of contact on the ground or slide down on your butt.
The Pistol Squat (Source)

Trust Your Feet in Puddles: A lot of runners were afraid of falling in a hole or stepping on something sharp (or snakes). Keep your knees bent, keep your weight back so your front foot can "explore" where the next step will be, and step gently and cautiously but quickly. Pull a Homer Simpson and bring your best snake whacker for snakes and people passing you.

Be Smart About the Beast: The 10 degree wall with ropes that runners can use to pull themselves up and over. Find a rope with the most evenly spaced and most knots, grab with both hands over your head, keep your torso parallel to the wall and legs perpendicular to it. Reach hand over hand, pull, take a step, repeat until you're at the top. On the last hand-over-hand, grab the leg and pull yourself over. NEVER push downward on the wall to gain elevation... that's just what they're expecting you to do.

Train for Hills and Train for Cardio: The 4.4 miles will be excruciating if you don't have the leg strength and endurance. 98% of runners will give up and walk at some point... if not at most points.

Highlights:

The Superheroes: LOTS of people got into the superhero theme by dressing up. It keeps the race more light-hearted than hardcore-themed races like the Spartan Race. It was a fun crowd.

The Beast: There were some pretty big spills on this bad boy. Nobody got injured but, dang, it was entertaining to watch.

Overall it was a good time but it got me wondering how races differentiate themselves. If the Superhero Scramble and Spartan Race were at the same park, same trails, same length, similar obstacles, same music and food, same price, and people hit you, kinda, at the finish line would you choose one over the other?  Maybe it's just filling a gap in the calendar when there are no other races.

Also,why do people do this at all? There are very few occasions in American society where you will find yourself sweaty, muddy, bruised, and sometimes bleeding and our predecessors worked very hard to make it that way. Why do we want it?

I will be trying to answer these questions in the future. Stay tuned. 

Saturday, June 15, 2013

The Blog is Back

Time to get excited. Long Sox Fitness is back for the summer! It was a busy school year but things have settled waaay down and there's more time to focus on fun stuff again. So what's on the agenda for LSF over the next few months?

1) Exploring the keys to success in the fitness and sports industries: That's right. I'm in business school so let's get to the bottom of how people basically make money by pumping us up and playing games. I'll spare you the financial statements but there may be anywhere from a few to many, many bar, line, pie, and scatter charts. Even a heat map if you're lucky.

2) General fitness tips: Yep, still working out. Full-body weights and cardio but always mixing it up. There will be a yet-to-be-named adventure race in the near future. 

3) Basketball tips: I'm working on finishing shots and dribbling this summer. You'll get a glimpse of some of the drills, metrics, successes and failures along the way. 

4) Some other things: Carte blanche to write whatever I want. I'll try not to turn it into an online diary. Nobody cares.

PS: For those still following the Surfcycle Diaries the other two were Spiders and Sand. I left my coat on a porch one night and got bitten all over my arms the next day.

Also, on the motorcycle I tried to stop too quickly, used too much front brake, and turned over a patch of sand and put the bike down. I made it all the way from Boston to Wilmington before that happened and will not be headed back by motorcycle any time soon. Thanks for reading.