The weigh in. Necessary, but controversial, in a weight loss quest. Why is it necessary? Two really simple reasons: if you don’t know where you’re at when you start, you can’t set a goal reasonably and if you don’t know if your plan is working as it goes along, you don’t know whether a change […]
No pain, no gain is the old saying as far as athletic training goes. Hurt after your workout? Yeah. It comes with the territory. But there are different kinds of pain, and ignoring pain is not the best idea. Much of the pain associated with working out is due to the fibers in the muscles […]
If there’s a golden triangle of qualities of an athlete–speed, strength, and endurance–I’m certainly lacking in the first. I’m a horribly slow runner. My times in the Great Aloha Run are about 13 minutes a mile–I’m the opposite of a sprinter there. While I don’t like running (okay, I hate running), I also know that […]
The truth is that a few days off not only never hurt anyone, they actually might help. After not feeling like I could get my rides done last week and taking a few rides off, today I was determined to get 45 miles in. It’s the longest ride I’ve done yet this season–although I have […]
I realized I said I’d talk about food this time around, but I thought this was more important right now. I’m burnt. Not burned out–what sometimes happens to athletes, students, workers of all types when they experience long term exhaustion and diminished interest–but sunburned from multiple rides and runs this past weekend. However, there’s no […]
If you have success with losing weight, it’ll be very evident on the scale early on. If you’ve been eating poorly and not exercising for years, once you start, if you keep at it, you’ll definitely lose weight–and for a little while, rapidly. There’ll be other changes too. Your clothes may start fitting more loosely, […]
To a large extent, managing your blood sugar is like dealing with a car. You have necessary fuel (food), you may have some additives to your fuel (medication), and you have movement (your activity level). All of these impact your sugar levels. We all need food. That’s a given. Foods with more non fiber carbohydrate […]
I’m not sure I’d say I love–or even like–working out. I do it, largely because I have to in order to get and stay healthy. To some extent, there’s a social theme to working out when I go swimming with my friends on Thursday nights. But aside from that, I do it because I believe […]
The power of goals is in keeping your vision and managing your behavior in large ways and small to meet that vision. Having goals in and of themselves is not going to assure someone reaches them, but if there are no goals then the chances of them reaching one are zero or less. When I […]
Testing. If you’re a diabetic, chances are you have a glucometer of some kind. What’s a glucometer? It’s a (usually pretty small and portable) medical device that allows you to test your blood sugar. Usually you have a test strip that is inserted partially into the glucometer, a lancet with which you prick your finger […]