Monday, December 5, 2011

Exercise or exOrcise?

When did eating become a regrettable and sinful act? All I heard last week (and will continue to hear) is how much people ate and how "BAD" or "GUILTY" they are. Am I the only one who sees the problem here?

After breathing and hydrating, eating is the most important thing we do. Let's not call it eating for a second, but instead refer to it as consuming nutrients vital to existence.. What do you think would happen if you stopped "eating"? YOU WOULD DIE A SAD AND PAINFUL DEATH!!! 100% guaranteed.

Somehow, a few years ago, someone decided that exercise is the magical antidote to this deplorable act of "eating". So the fitness craze started. We're a good 20+ years into the fitness revolution. Coincidentally, we're also in an obesity epidemic.. perhaps a "pandemic".. oooooo..... Strange how those two are coinciding in what seems like a nice linear fashion.

So if exercise is the cure for this disease called eating, why hasn't it worked for more than a couple notables that have their own show about it on TV? Wait.. Even Oprah failed at it... Odd.

We're lead to believe that NOT exercising is bad for us. You know what would happen if you never exercised again? YOU'D LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER! Nothing would happen. Nothing. Don't believe me? My grandfather is a holocaust survivor (all of my grandparents are, but my paternal grandad is especially cool) who has not exercised a day in his life. In fact, he did the opposite. After surviving for a few years looking like a Halloween decoration, he didn't really have much desire for any exercise as he luckily avoided military duty since he was freed at the end of the war (in the soviet union, exercise was called military prep). He doesn't speak english, so none of our current health advice has ever entered his thoughts. He has been prescribed every medicine known to man and was told by every doctor that he needs more activity in his life and that he's not what they consider to be "healthy". He was always too lazy or preoccupied with collecting random things to heed their advice or even fill the prescriptions. All he did was go on walks and when I was around, he'd drag me with him. I'm fairly certain that he has outlived many of these medical professionals at this point. He is one tough guy who refuses to let life get in the way of him sitting on the couch and watching TV and reading nonsense tabloids. "Health" was never his priority, but living is. So he does just that. He lives.

I can go on for a while about this, but consider this: Jack LaLanne was supposedly this healthy super-strong and fit guy. He died at the age of 97 this past January. He was a beast of a man and a role model for many. The dude was awesome. George Burns, on the other hand, was not a beastly man. He lived to an easy 100 years with a healthy diet of stiff drinks and a daily cigar. Bob Hope also lived a century. We all know who he was.. explain that one to me.

I digress. But as we move towards this special time of regrets and resolutions, please understand what it is that you're asking of yourself and perhaps you can prioritize a little. Maybe you'll enjoy it a little bit more.

Here's some exercises for the exorcists in all of us:

For time:
50 Jumping Jacks
50 Pushups
50 Tuck jumps (squat, jump, tuck the knees up, land into a squat, repeat)
50 situps
50 Mountain Climbers (each leg)
50 squats
50 Jumping Jacks

Enjoy!

9 comments:

  1. Gillian McKeith versus Nigella Lawson

    ;-)

    http://happyeaters.net/forums/?page=post&id=B9576662-39B0-475F-A39B-85434EA1797F&fid=8006C5D7-F9E2-4FA9-A434-D96CDA9E1910

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  2. The Tues./Thurs. crew tackled the filthy fifty. Here are our times:
    Darling: 16:00
    Karen: 17:04
    Angela: 17:14
    Judy: 17:42
    Jolie: 18:32
    Carlos: 21:05

    Go Team! =)

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  3. Team 5:15
    Fastest time 11:18
    Slowest time 13:20

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  4. 14:47 :) those tuck jumps are deceiving, they don't "look" that taxing but oh man.....

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  5. Thanks to Leigh, Louis and Brian for not letting me fall behind. We all finished between 10:15 and 10:53; my tuck jumps could use some work (not deep enough in the squat part), but Brian was like a frog!
    -Andrea

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  6. 11:20.

    Looking forward to improving those tuck jumps.

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  7. @ Karen: What time does the Tues/Thrs crew meet?

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  8. 0715 did "the 50's" this morning, we had a good turn out, 10 showed up! We didn't record our times :(. The tuck jumps take timing.

    On Wednesday we are going to do the 400m runs with the 25's , then take the week off.

    We did it as RX's, truly breathless.

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