Tag: fitness

a holiday for losing weight

Obesity in America is a big problem, which needs a solution. Actually, we know the solution. Despite all the diet fads and bringing back the presidential fitness test and time-change chicanery, we know what the best answer is: eating less and exercising more. It’s that simple. It’s not easy, but it’s simple.

So what’s the problem with our solution here? We need people to know about this and then to do it. So if the government is serious about making a difference, here’s some ideas. (I’m not suggesting it’s the government’s business, but since they try to do something about it, it might as well be more effective. Well, we do need the FDA to protect us from harmful additives, but they shouldn’t legislate our health and fitness. But I digress…) Here’s the idea:

1) To bring awareness to the issue, create a national holiday (or even multiple days, like in the spring and fall). People can have a paid day off work IF they commit to getting physical exercise. There could be events setup to encourage people to do this together, like a 1-mile walk (but make it fun, perhaps without donuts for this one). This would help people get exercise, and hopefully they would realize it can be fun and help them feel better, so perhaps they will continue getting more exercise in the future. Various groups could schedule events on this day, like a free 10-minute introduction to pickleball or tennis or some other sport.

2) Provide a benefit for participating. Just getting a paid day off work is a huge benefit already, so there’s that. Perhaps some fitness-focused groups might want to setup some promotional benefits for people who participate in various exercise events. Maybe there could be a rebate from your health insurance for participating. (Some already do this for things like having a gym membership and going to the doctor for an annual physical checkup, so check your plan — they require you to fill out forms to get the rebate, but some do offer it.) The government could offer corporations a tax break for the day to encourage them to participate.

Do you have any more ideas?

Changing Daylight Saving Time Might Reduce Obesity

I knew it was because of Daylight Saving Time that I’m overweight! I just knew it! Okay, perhaps that’s a slight embellishment. My slightly-more-than-ideal weight might be partly due to what I eat and how much (or not much) I exercise. But according to a new study at Stanford University, if our government gets rid of Daylight Saving Time, it could provide incredible health benefits:

The researchers estimate that permanent standard time would prevent about 300,000 cases of stroke per year and reduce the number of people with obesity by 2.6 million, compared to biannual changes. Permanent daylight saving time would also be positive, although with a smaller impact.

So it’s the changing of time that matters, and to some degree, having more daylight. So apparently even if the government never changes the system officially, one could just ignore the time change and be less fat. Works for me! I could switch my sleep habits an hour if that helps me be less overweight. That would surely be easier than eating healthy and exercising more! 🙂

So far I’m having fun with this. However, it is an actual scientific study, and they used mathematical models to simulate this, trying to find the impact of time policies on light exposure and circadian rhythm (your body’s internal clock). But I’m skeptical. Normally I’m all for the use of math and the scientific method, but I think those numerical claims are vastly exaggerated. There might be a real benefit — I’m not arguing that — but preventing 2,600,000 cases of obesity? Whatever.

If we’re not going to change Daylight Saving Time, I’ve got some ideas to improve it, which I’ve discussed before: a better way to fix Daylight Savings Time. Most people would be for one of those plans, I think, but so far it has been ignored.

As far as reducing obesity in America (which is a big problem), I wish changing the clock would be a solution. But I think the best solution is still eating less and exercising more. That strategy is no secret, but perhaps we need a fresh approach to promoting it… (I have an idea, which will be in a future post.)

a twist on presidential fitness

I usually don’t discuss politics much here, but this is a topic that will attempt to be funny and contain facts you probably don’t know. It may also include a political rant or two, so if you can’t stand political criticism, click here to go to a random post or here for a post with an idea for creating a holiday for enjoying life.

President Donald Trump is bringing back the “Presidential Fitness Test”, which sounds like a great idea until you realize (or remember) that this is for schoolchildren. I saw an article suggesting one condition for bringing back the fitness test that requires children to run a mile and do sit-ups and pull-ups. It’s an amusing read: Trump brings back dreaded Presidential Fitness Test. Let’s see him run a mile.

They suggest requiring Trump to take the test and make it a pay-per-view event, which will surely raise a lot of money to help pay down the national debt (which is being increased by Trump’s “big, beautiful bill”). This is a great idea. It’ll never happen, though. Donald Trump tells people how strong and fit he is, because he tries his best to always control the story, the narrative. His mantra on this:

Stick with us. Don’t believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news. … What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening. ~ Donald Trump, 7/25/18

Don’t believe what you see or what others say — just follow him. Hear the propaganda, drink the Kool-Aid… (Not that it ALL is, but there are definitely some lies being told repeatedly to manipulate people.) He tries to craft his own version of reality, and sadly, some of the conservative news networks go along with his fabrications and don’t report the truth.

Anyway, Donald Trump is 79 years old now, and he has never been into fitness. He plays golf — A LOT (24% of his days in office, and we’re paying for it) — but that’s not too athletic. He believes that exercise is misguided, that your life is like a battery and you have a finite amount of energy. Science doesn’t agree with that. Also, if he is against exercise and thinks it makes you die earlier, why is he mandating it for children? (We ask, you decide.)

Now let me share some historical facts about presidents you probably didn’t learn in school:

George Washington was an accomplished collar-and-elbow wrestler. (Some wrestling scholars claim that, during the Revolutionary War, a forty-seven-year-old Washington took down seven Massachusetts militiamen in a row.) Nixon, meanwhile, was a football scrub—“cannon fodder,” a teammate called him. … In his rail-splitting young-lawyer days, Lincoln is said to have gone 300–1 in free-for-all wrestling matches against tough guys across the Midwest. In 1992, he was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame; some credit him with inventing the choke slam.

John F. Kennedy published an article in Sports Illustrated with a public-fitness challenge of marching fifty miles in twenty hours. That would be averaging 2.5 MPH — a decent walking pace — for twenty hours. Figure in rest breaks, bathroom breaks, eating, and you’d have to be walking rather briskly to meet that. I doubt there are many civilians who could do that. Maybe some marathon runners could, but most adults don’t run at all these days, and many don’t walk more than they have to. Plus, I doubt most Americans could focus that long without getting distracted by their smartphone. (If that sounds crazy, try going just 3 hours without touching your phone — while awake, obviously. Let me know if anyone tries this and how it turns out.)

Teddy Roosevelt was one of the toughest presidents ever. His life is an interesting and inspirational story. He chose to live a strenuous life, because it makes you stronger. He was into boxing, tennis, hiking, rowing, polo, horseback riding, jujutsu, fighting in wars (and actually leading soldiers into battle), climbing mountains, exploring the Amazonian rainforest, etc.

There have been a number of really interesting and accomplished presidents of the United States. Where are the outstanding candidates now? How long has it been since we’ve had a great candidate that you were excited to vote for? Some of them over the last few elections will tell you how great they are and make big promises but not live up to the hype. Surely there are some great leaders out there who would make a great president…

Maybe the next great president is reading this now, thinking they could do better than the recent ones. Maybe it’s you! Is it? Would you make a great president? If so, how so? Would you rule with compassion? Would you defuse tense situations with humor? Would you have your own walk-up music or theme song? Would you dance? Would you build a weather dominator? Would you provide ice cream sandwiches to people in 100 degree heat? Would you tell all Americans about cheese dip? (They really ought to know, because it’s awesome.) Would you tell people that this random blog inspired you to become president? 🙂

designing a fun race for non-runners

I recently received an email newsletter that started with this:

I ran a marathon a couple weeks ago. No training. No preparation. I decided 5 days before. Just went out and did it.

The newsletter had the title “Lessons Learned”. I’m thinking that would be some harsh lessons there. If you don’t train, you don’t just go out and run 26.2 miles. Without running regularly, most people probably couldn’t run more than a quarter mile. I was curious about these lessons he learned, so I kept reading, and he talked about how it’s good to prepare, but then he said he did it because he knew he “could run 20 miles”, so he could just push himself to get to 26. And he did finish.

At this point, it’s obvious he’s being misleading, so I’m out. I unsubscribed from that email. (I realize there is strategy for trying to win a marathon, but the hardest part is being able to run that far, and being able to run 20 miles counts as training and preparation to me. That doesn’t just happen. Even if you’re young and skinny, you don’t just run miles without building up to it.)

I run more than the average adult, but I know I couldn’t finish a marathon without massive amounts of training, and that’s not one of my goals. I suspect most people have no interest in running that far.

However, I do enjoy being outside and getting exercise, as well as enjoying the camaraderie from being with like-minded people. So perhaps there should be some similar events but with modifications. I don’t just mean a shorter race — I know those exist, and I’m still not interested.

I’ve heard of a bicycle race called the Tour de Donut (The Donut Race). It’s a 30 mile race with two pit stops where you eat donuts, and each donut you eat reduces your time by five minutes. That’s more my style. Although 30 miles is still too far. So we should have one that is 5 miles (bicycling or running or walking), and each donut you eat takes off one minute from your time. We could also do this with bacon strips. Or donuts AND bacon!

I think a lot of people would attend an event like this. You could hand out medals for various categories: fastest actual time, lowest adjusted time, anyone who gets negative time, and most donuts/bacon eaten. The whole event could be a fundraiser, too. Someone should make this happen.

Would you participate?

Do you have any ideas to make it even more awesome?