June, 2015 | Sunny Spirit

Fixing Fitness

Believe it or not, I have a small hole gym, or at least a room in my basement that could be used as a gym….

I use it sometimes, but about a year ago, the treadmill broke. It was a pretty cool fold-up machine I had in my apartment a while ago. Okay. Then, during tax season, I must’ve set down a weight not-so-gently, because it made a hairpin fracture in one of the discs.
20150628_145016~2 They are the Bowflex Select Tech Dumbells (clicky adjustable weights).

inside the handle are different discs that rotate in permutations that hold different amounts of weight – 5 to 52.5 lbs.

The fracture made it so one disc couldn’t hold the weight because it had done flex in it.

“Why don’t they make the discs out of metal?” you ask. That’s a good point.

The weight has a bunch of ball-bearings and springs. I bought the repair kit, so now I have every part….. except for the discs. I had to order one of those separately.

Taking it apart and replacing the disc wasn’t hard. Putting it back together was tedious, probably because I took a short cut taking it apart.

It works now, so I can randomly lift weights again!

Here’s the video I used:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Gg73jcN8qCw

Clubs

Most people know, I thoroughly enjoy dancing.

What I don’t enjoy all the time is dance clubs.

They’re okay, but so people go to then by themselves? I don’t think they do.

If I go to then with a bunch of friends, they all dance in a giant circle by themselves. Lame. I greatly prefer having another’s field of gravity to play with (centripetal force).

If I do go by myself, being a fan of partner dancing, I just want to find a lady with whom to dance.

While I can’t dance by myself coolly and have fun, because guys aren’t supposed to dance too much, which is lame, if I dance with the full extent of my energy like a ridiculous dancing fool, people will laugh, and I do enjoy that.

Two Stage Breathing

My surgery last year was to help me breathe better.

The idea is that I could have air when I run. But then it was winter, and while I run outside, I’m more focused on not falling on ice than I am my breathing.

This summer is the first time I could build my lungs. The problem before was not that I couldn’t inhale, but I couldn’t exhale. My obstruction was “dynamic”. If was interesting watching it on film. It would only close when I exhaled hard.

If you didn’t know, if a person doesn’t exhale all their air, they can’t inhale as much. Therein was my problem.

Anyways, no that I can do that fine, I have to train my lungs by inhaling more air faster.

The way I do this is by having two stage inhalation. It’s basically like Lamaze breathing (had to look that one up to spell it right). In. In. Out.

It seems that by not being fully utilized for 9 years, my lungs have grown weak. So now I run faster and breathe deeper and faster. I’m slowly increasing my pace and distance. It’s probably a good thing.

Having the O at Lunch

It’s healthy, it’s sweet, and it’s all natural.
I’m talking about orange carrots, of course!

One part of my health plan (“Eat decent and exercise sometimes”) is to not eat a bad lunch. That means nothing “out”, nothing from the “cafeteria”. Well, usually…. built in flexibility in any plan makes it possible for the average guy like me to follow.

Of course, I need to bring a lunch. Rather than always bring a frozen dinner like everyone else, I bring fresh vegetables or a salad. My dinner is “bigger”.
Actually, I don’t eat any crappy food, and I haven’t for quite some time.My house is always “out of food” because I eat all fresh foods. I usually buy fruit and vegetables on Sunday, and I prep containers I can bring to work or randomly eat whenever I can.

But one thing I am in the habit of doing is buying a bag of organic baby carrots.

They’re awesome!

They’re sweet, they’re really clean-tasting, and they’re semi-filling.

Moreover, when I work, I prefer to always have something nearby with flavor to constantly munch. If they’re healthy, that is a good things.

To make a little flavor variety, I bought a red pepper, so I have a lunch of baby carrots and red peppers. I also usually have fruit and a flavored sparkling water.

It’s also a great money-saver! A bag of carrots only costs about $1.50, much cheaper than lunch in the skyway! A bag also has about three servings.

Plus my power bill is cheaper because I don’t have to use lights anymore (from seeing so well in the dark from eating carrots, of course!). And yes, that was a lame joke.

Solution

I thought of a solution!

What’s the problem? Well that’s s pretty basic problem: I have a ton of work to do for my business, but I only have the evening in which to do it.

That does not define the problem well, so I’ll elaborate. I’ve usually been working from home in the post tax season times. When it is the evening, it’s been nice outside, so I’ve had a distinct problem of focus. Not so much focus, as when I’m working, I can concentrate fine. The problem is that there’s always so much to do besides working.

Partially, it’s a discipline problem. I tend to go to happy hours and social events for a bit. That’s okay now and then, not 4 days each week! Okay, that’s easily solved. Just to hell with meeting new friends.

But there’s the other issue: Once home, there’s so much that I could do! Work on a landscapers project, clean something, outside or inside (not that my house is particularly messy, but there’s always something to do!

What about going to the gym? Or my big distraction, going for a run.

Working outside doesn’t much cut it anymore, mostly because the bugs are pestery right now.

Well my solution is simple and takes care of everything.

I will work downtown at my job longer. Now, I’ll physically be at my job, but I’ll be working on work for my business. I’ll iterate why this is possible and why it is a solution.

Most importantly, only do non-work business work at your place of employment if you are 100% sure they are okay with it. For instance, at my job, they hired me because I had my own business. In my interview, I noted how I am more innovative than typical CPAs. The CFO replied, “I know!” and proceeded to tell me why. Because he did research on me. He also loved that my interests in tax were so broad and that I generally like knowing everything and solving such a wide variety of problems.

My job is definitely results-driven. Once after the prior week during tax season was only 12 hours, the Controller walked into my office and went through the things she knew I was supposed to be finishing. After addressing everything, she said, “Well okay, you’re getting your work done,” and left.

Anyways, I just wanted to say that it is very important to have the support of your employer before you do other work in the office for which they pay. I may have had a seasonal role not turn permanent because of that….

How this is a solution

I’ll be doing work in the office, which means I won’t get tempted to go elsewhere in the long, seven mile commute. I won’t get tempted because I won’t be leaving!

Then, because I won’t be near the outside, I won’t get tempted to do anything else. I’ll just work, and it will be great!

I’m sittingon top of thousands of dollars of nearly-competed work, and all l have to do is finish it and bill.

So you see, my solution to getting distracted is simply to not have the distractions!

I told you it was simple!

The next hope, of course, is to not spend every day working, but instead have days where I am completely off!

Next on the list will be weekend international solo travel!

Running Form: The Dancer

When I run, I have two forms that I believe minimize impact on my knees. I can’t prove it, but so far, my knees don’t hurt. One uses my calves, and one uses my thighs, I use one until I get tired, then I switch to the other form. These are just generally the forms I try to do. What I look like and what I’m actually doing may be completely different, but this is how I think.

The first form is what I call The Dancer. Many of you may understand why. The main focus of the form is to be lower to the ground and take heal leads.

Running Dancer - Form There are two nuances to understand. The first one is that your quad is doing most of the work, so make sure you strech. Its job is to basically pull you through the step. Using both forms, it uses the heck out of your Achilles’s heal, so stretch that if you want to walk the next day.

The lower stance makes the motion more of a forward motion instead of an up and down motion, and that is the main thing that will help save your knees.

I also think about the step, and this is an impact absorber.

In marching band, the first thing the instructors taught is how to walk without mashing your teeth against the mouth piece. Basically, you have to make your lower body absorb all the impact. They taught how to use your foot.

Running Dancer - Foot

Rather than clapping your foot in a 1-2 motion, you should round it off. You start with a heal lead, and then make your foot curve around the outside of your foot. In this way, the step will never clap against the ground.

In general. this form is easiest to pace yourself and has great endurance. If you want to go on a run and think about things and not concentrate on your run, this is the form for you.

Matching & Pacing

Del Sol Back in the del Sol era, I had an interesting mechanical failure that renders most people unable to drive. My clutch stopped working when I was about 2 blocks from my home in Saint Paul.

I was heading to Eagan already, and I didn’t want to take the time to get a tow truck, so I figured I could drive their without releasing my clutch.

Drivers who are experienced or more attune to their car will be able to drive without a clutch by doing RPM Matching. A manual transmission doesn’t need a clutch. For instance, 2nd and 3rd gear may both be able to comfortably drive 30 mph. In second gear, 30 mph may be at 4,500 RPM, and in third gear, it may be 2,000 RPM.

RPM matching is when a driver is able to switch from 2nd gear to 3rd just by lowering his engine revs from 4,500 to 2,000 RPM. If he’s good, he can do this with minimum idling.

In my story, I was able to drive through all the way to Eagan from Saint Paul without issue.

Even with perfectly synced matching, the driver needs to make sure he paces well. This means not advancing too quickly or too slowly.

Driving down Grand, I had to pace myself perfectly to line up with the stoplights, because stopping once would kill my car.

I did have to stop once at the top of the highway exit because there was traffic. It killed the car to a complete halt, and the engine was dead. Luckily, the car gods were smiling (okay, it was a Honda), so when I turned the key, it jutted the car back in action. Sometimes when things are at a halt, they need a simple restart.

Walking

I don’t get people. I’m not sure if they don’t like life, are always “relaxed” (lazy), just don’t value their own time, or don’t realize the large aggregate effect their choice will have on their life (think big picture, people).

That’s a little hard, I realize, but that’s the only reason I can use to explain why everyone walks so darn slow.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, if I have nowhere to go and am conversing, of course I don’t have a fast pace. But I was hanging out with my friend, and he criticized how I always “power walk ahead”. I honestly wasn’t, but I do walk faster than most. He didn’t ask why….

But seriously, why wouldn’t I? Everyone should walk faster for many reasons:

Of course life is about the journey, but I’d prefer to spend my journey doing things, not just travelling. For instance, once I get downtown, I walk to and from work pretty briskly. It’s not that I’m super pumped to get to work, but the less time I spend travelling to and from work, the more time I get to do whatever I want. Many journeys are not ones that I would choose to savor. By walking faster, I have time for more adventures! In the same number of years, I’ll live more life than some people because they’re spending their time travelling inefficiently. I guess it’s cheap entertainment, though.
It’s significantly healthier. If it starts making you tired, GOOD, that means your body is building! Eventually, you’ll walk faster without even about it. It usually increases most people’s heart rate, which is awesome. I’ve been walking incredibly fast since I was 14 or so. If I walk as fast as some people jog, my heart rate is maybe increased by 10 or 15 bpm. So I can’t walk to get a workout, but that’s why I jog easier and my “fast for me” walk might be borderline crazy.
I have more time in my day. If I choose to spend that working, then I can easily say that I make money because I walk fast. (Because I was so fast, that’s actually why I got so many raises at my first job)
When combining these reasons, I also realize that not only will I have more life in the same number of years, but it’s also more likely that I’ll live more years because I’ll be healthier and will enjoy then by having money to do whatever I want.

So again, why does anyone walk slowly?!

Time

Time is odd to me sometimes, and I don’t know why.

For me, time can fly by when I’m having fun, but when I’m in the moment, it seems to last forever. This can often be amazing, but it may also be a reason I’m a bit too much sometimes.

Understand that when I have time away from something I like, one day feels like a week. A month feels like a year. Honestly, it’s really kind of weird. However, I’m not one to let mere time kill something good, so being the loyal person that I am, people don’t dwindle. Actually, not really loyalty so much as a flawless memory of the positive.

On the flip side, because I really enjoy my work, I can feel like I can get tons done in just a few hours, and it’s awesome, especially if I’m not charging hourly.

Not working, I’ve been able to make some nights seem like a long and blissful adventures.

As much as I may think this has to do with me, it may just be physiological. While it’s medically fine, suppose the average resting heart rate is 50 bpm. Now suppose mine is 65. By default, I’m wired 30% faster then everyone else. Maybe I’m just medically more intense than average person.