Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

This really is a full service blog.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Republicans in disarray!

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

This fight is for everything.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

You are here: Home / Organizing & Resistance / Don't Mourn, Organize / Balloon Juice Fitness Thread

Reader Interactions

88Comments

  2. 2.

    Lojasmo

    You MUST LIFT WEIGHTS!!!!11113leventy

    Went on a nice brisk run on twisty, hilly mountainbike trails today, and mowed the lawn.

  5. 5.

    j

    I only hang around with fat stupid people. That way I’m the thinnest and smartest in the bunch.

    The downside is that I’m always surrounded by teabaggers.

  7. 7.

    FridayNext

    Heading out to the gym now. Haven’t decided what I’ll do. Weigh-in is tomorrow morning, so it will be hot and sweaty.

  9. 9.

    oldmtnbkr

    It’s been raining all week in the Emerald City, but I finally got out on the trails for 2 hours today, got the bike quite dirty. Good thing, as my morning blood glucose was way high for no apparent reason.

  11. 11.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    Aerobic lawn mowing for me. Crappy little 150×45 foot lot, but I wore a pedometer once and it’s over a mile of pushing the mower.

    Plus a two-mile walk on the rail trail with my wife. I used to be able to do this stuff without getting winded. :-(

  16. 16.

    Tony the Wonderhorse

    I vote for sex!

    Sex is the only exercise that stimulates the body, mind and spirit, assuming you’re doing it right. Even if you’re doing it wrong, you still get a lot out of it.

    While Tantra is not as sexually-focused as we imagine it to be, it is based in sexual honesty. And as Robert Heinlein once accurately observed, “Everybody lies about sex.”

    At least until they realize that such lies are literally stealing the joy from their lives.

  18. 18.

    kdaug

    I am a svelte, tall, chiseled, and incredibly handsome man and have no need for exercise whatsoever.

    I may occasionally go knock down a tree with my forearm or go overhand bowling, but that’s strictly recreational.

  19. 19.

    Comrade Mary

    Anyway, Operation Heal, Foot, Heal! is proceeding. I cycled 20 km this weekend (almost half of it in hail), and should get more mileage this week.

  20. 20.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    6 mile high through some light to moderate forested hills! Beautiful!

  22. 22.

    Phyllis

    Hubby and I just got back from a good half-mile walk. Plan to get one in at least 3-4times a week now that we have the extra daylight in the evening. It’s always more fun and motivating with a buddy, I think.

  24. 24.

    Martin

    I’ve been constructing things. Much still to do today and again I can barely lift the drill. May have to go to the hard liquor this evening just to avoid the weight of the pint glass. I think I’ve met my exercise quota for the weekend.

  25. 25.

    Yutsano

    @debit: It was risotto wasn’t it? Don’t even try to lie sbout it!

    Came across a recipe for coconut milk risotto. May haz to try.

  26. 26.

    Pavonis

    I don’t own a car and so walk one mile to work and back everyday. It’s sure nice not knowing how much gasoline costs now. :)

  27. 27.

    SFAW

    12-ounce curls. At least six sets. No set number of reps per set.

    Of course, around the fourth set, it gets tougher to see the 12-ounce weights, never mind pick one up. (Which is a damn shame – in my younger days, I could get to my 12th set and still not be drunk tired.)

  28. 28.

    Johnk

    Crashed on the road in the rain twice, destroyed my rain jacket, GPS, perscription cycling glasses, took 10 stitches to close the laceration to the skull on my orbital socket, painfully contusions to my hip, shoulder and chest, and broke three teeth. Can’t cough, can’t lift my iPad with one hand, have to roll out of bed on the opposite side and have to sleep on a towel because I’m still leaking blood. But my bike is okay and I can still ride. I don’t have fun like that every weekend!

  34. 34.

    kdaug

    @Some Guy:

    Your secret, mister?

    Stir-fry. Lots and lots of stir-fry. With way more garlic and ginger than seems humanly possible (seriously, a head of garlic and 6″ of ginger), and at least 3 jalapenos.

    Serve with a little soy sauce, a lot of hot sauce, and cashews over rice.

    If you ain’t sweating when you’ve finished a bowl, you ain’t doing it right.

    But, good lord, you’ll be back in an hour for another bowl – makes you feel energized and tranquil at the same time. It really is amazing – no lie.

    I usually go with asparagus, a big bunch of kale, a carrot or two, a bell pepper, 4 jalapenos, and a pound or so of beef. And the aforementioned ginger/garlic.

    Try it.

  35. 35.

    Matthew Reid Krell

    A recovery day today. Did a 5K (walked almost all of it) at an…embarrassingly slow pace. But you know what? I f*cking finished it.

    Six weeks ago I wouldn’t have laid odds that I could FINISH a 5K, never mind run part of it.

    And my soccer team returns to play Wednesday, and my Saturday bike rides have climbed over 12 mph. Next week, I’ll have properly inflated tires – can’t WAIT to see what speeds I manage.

    I’m down eleven pounds since I started this process, and I’m starting to keep normal-person hours again. All in all, this exercise-and-diet business is rockin’ out.

  36. 36.

    Raven

    Got my swim in yesterday and today. Cut some big ass limbs, cut em up and dragged em to the brush pile and I am total slacker compared to the princess. 12 hrs in the garden yesterday, she started at 10 am today and she’s still out there until Great Expectations comes on at 9.

  37. 37.

    Matthew Reid Krell

    @kdaug: That sounds delicious – and decidedly NOT what I want right now, immediately post-workout.

  39. 39.

    kdaug

    @Matthew Reid Krell:

    That sounds delicious – and decidedly NOT what I want right now, immediately post-workout.

    Yep, not what you need post-workout.

    But sitting on your ass in front of a computer?

    Ding. Awesome-sauce.

  40. 40.

    Johnk

    I’ll repay the universe if I’m in my vehicle and ever see another biker go down. A very kind motorist stopped and gave me a ride back to my truck. Probably would have lost a lot of blood trying to ride back to the start. The joy of blood thinner. The ER bill will be entertaining.

  41. 41.

    Mnemosyne

    Picked Cocoa up yesterday and she is as lovely as I remembered. I immediately rode her about 4 miles RT to do some errands around Pasadena before taking her home. (Note to self: drivers in Pasadena are assholes. Dude, Los Robles is a six-lane street, you can give me more than six inches of room when you pass!)

    Rode her to work at Weight Watchers today. The ride home was tough — turns out that riding in 20-mile-an-hour wind gusts is not quite as fun as it sounds. Hoping to ride to my day job tomorrow, but it depends on if the gusty winds die down or not, because that seriously was a pain in the butt.

  42. 42.

    Josie

    @Yutsano: It will be good. I made sticky rice for a Thai dish and used coconut milk and a teeny bit of stevia. It was heavenly.

  43. 43.

    Matthew Reid Krell

    @kdaug: I didn’t say it wasn’t what I NEEDED, just that it wasn’t what I WANTED.

    But feel free to continue to attempt to guilt me.

  45. 45.

    Josie

    @Josie: Edit: Although I must confess I have been low carbing and haven’t had rice since January. That could have affected my reaction.

  46. 46.

    WaterGirl

    @Mnemosyne: I rode my Cocoa today, too, and I also went to the gym. And I STILL don’t look like the girl in the photo.

    Maybe next week.

    Edit: Congratulations on the bike, and on making a decision!

  47. 47.

    Matthew Reid Krell

    @WaterGirl: Strange. I’ve been riding my bike, too, and I ALSO don’t look like the girl in the photo.

    Maybe I need a different sports bra.

  48. 48.

    WaterGirl

    @Matthew Reid Krell: Damn. It’s just not fair, is it? Did try doing the “wheee!” thing with your legs off the pedals, for effect? That might help.

    P.S. It’s always about the bra.

  49. 49.

    Mnemosyne

    @WaterGirl:

    I accidentally found her online! I was Googling for pictures of the bike and came across her blog. Apparently she’s a former college basketball player, Miss USA contestant, and “Survivor” contestant.

    The bike will totally make me a 5’10” basketball player/model/reality TV contestant, right? The ads promised me!

  50. 50.

    BonnyAnne

    @Johnk:

    my husband carries around a Bicyclist Repair Kit in his backpack when he walks to work, just in case. Mostly gauze, tape, and stouter dressings. Whatever helps the bleeding slow down on the way to the ER…

    my contribution to my health for the week was giving up processed sugar. Of course there are exceptions, such as the gelato yesterday. But I eat way too much, and it’s time to stop.

  51. 51.

    Mnemosyne

    @Matthew Reid Krell:

    It’s the shoes. Gotta ride the bike in 4-inch platform sandals.

    (Let’s see if footware is still forbidden by the spam filter.)

    ETA: Looks like that got fixed, too, so we can talk about socialist shoes all day long now!

  52. 52.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    My chosen form of exercise is the best, and indeed the only, way to get fit, and all of you are stupid for not realizing it.

    This is as may be, but my chosen method of cooking kicks everybody else’s methods’ asses.

  53. 53.

    kdaug

    @Matthew Reid Krell:

    But feel free to continue to attempt to guilt me.

    As a svelte, tall, chiseled, and incredibly handsome man, I feel no need to guilt anyone.

    But stir-fry.

    Trust me on the stir-fry.

  54. 54.

    Mnemosyne

    @BonnyAnne:

    There was an interesting food study that said that if you were raised in a family that had dessert after dinner, your brain will pretty much always be programmed to want something sweet to finish the meal. It’s not as bad as it sounds, because your brain will be perfectly happy with, say, a cup of strawberries as dessert, but trying to cut dessert completely usually fails because of brain chemistry.

    Weird but (apparently) true.

    Also, completely anecdotal and without evidence, but I had a couple of vegetarians tell me once that if they were craving sugar, it usually turned out that they really needed protein, so you may want to try having a high-protein snack if you’re craving sweets in the middle of the afternoon.

  56. 56.

    Comrade Mary

    @Mnemosyne:

    Yay for the Cocoa! Yes, headwinds suck. I can take cold, snow, rain and hail, but nothing is dispiriting as cycling against a big wind. The one time I actually enjoyed it was one January, when I peddled about a 3 km round trip to get groceries. The headwind was 70 km/hr (about 40+ mph) on the way home, so all my pedalling barely kept me upright, let alone moving forward. I wasn’t trying to be fast, and I didn’t have a long distance to go, so the entire experience was actually amusing.

    Being passed closely: what is your road setup like? Is there a bike lane? What I usually do these days (not always, because I was socialized to be nice and it’s really hard to overturn), but what I usually do is this:

    1. If there are 2 or 3 lanes going in one direction, and traffic is light enough that drivers will always have a full open lane to use, I ride smack down the middle of the curb lane. It’s safe, legal and courteous because any reasonably aware driver knows that they have options.

    2. If traffic is more congested, I ride about 3-4 feet out from the curb so that any driver who wants to pass me must cross partially into their next lane to the left. This means that they almost always give me enough room to pass. If I turn into a gutter-bunny, sticking about 1-2 feet from the curb, I find that cars are much more likely to assume they can pass me without leaving the lane — that is, passing too close. This is safe and legal and possible a little less courteous, but safety and legality come first.

  57. 57.

    Cassidy

    Trying to decide on cross trainers or minimalist shoes for the gym. I don’t “run” anymore; all my cardio is machine. My running shoes are wearing out though. Problem is I still have to wear running shoes for PT tests and I was thinking since it’s only 2 miles that cross trainers will suffice, but I’d really like to be able to get and flat footed for squats.

  58. 58.

    BonnyAnne

    @Mnemosyne:

    I’d absolutely believe that study. Breakfast is no problem but I’m pretty much trained to need sweets after lunch and dinner. The goal is to make the sweets be fruit, rather than 800 cal of ice cream. :)

    I think the thing about needing protein is also true: I heard it from a nutritionist. It makes sense: blood sugar is dropping, the body knows it, and wants a fix. Candy will work but protein ALSO works and will keep the glucose levels steady for longer.

    I wish they did not make such tasty cupcakes in Seattle, is all.

  59. 59.

    DecidedFenceSitter

    Today was recovery from two hours of classes yesterday – first hour was all around fitness class that involved a whole lot of cross fit stuff (tossing a medicine ball, sumo lift, swinging a kettle bell, slamming a 35 lb ball into the mats, pull ups, and high knee hops over a pad) followed up by an hour of Krav Maga practice.

    I hurt beyond hurt. But hey I’m getting definition in places I didn’t used to get it, and my gut is hanging a little less low than it usually does.

  60. 60.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Mnemosyne:

    I wonder if that’s true of cravings of anything at any specific time of day or trigger point. I feel really deprived if I don’t have something sweet first thing in the morning to go with my black, unsweetened coffee. Doesn’t have to be much, just a taste, but I’m completely programmed for the sugar to kick in.

    My late ex-husband was even worse, though: he used to start Every.Single.Day with a (classic) Coke and a Hershey Bar. To which I say, ugh.

  61. 61.

    Matthew Reid Krell

    @kdaug: I believe you. It’s gone on my “recipes to try” list. But right now I’m so disgustingly sweaty ANYWAY, that the prospect of cooking something specifically to make me sweat just disgusts me.

    And with that, I’m off to shower and make dinner.

  63. 63.

    Mnemosyne

    @WaterGirl:

    Ha! I have some very similar ones from Keen for my bike, but they make my feet sweat. I’m not fond of Keen’s footbeds. I also have two pairs of Keen Coronado Cruiser shoes in black and tan (though it looks like they’ve discontinued the tan). They’re comfortable enough to use to bike to work, wear all day at the office, and then bike home.

    Because I am a klutz with narrow heels, almost every pair of “nice” shoes that I have is Mary Jane style (otherwise I end up losing a shoe just walking around the office), so I should be able to wear them on the bike if I feel like it.

    @Comrade Mary:

    There’s a LOT of street parking around here, so I usually ride about 3 feet away from the parked cars so I don’t get doored. I try to be reasonably courteous to drivers (lots of signaling, etc.) but my safety is more important than letting them drive as fast as they feel like driving. I remember you had a nasty wipeout a while back riding too close to the curb? That happened fairly soon after I got my first bike and I was like, “Whoa, dude, I am taking the lane whenever I need to!”

  65. 65.

    Mnemosyne

    @BonnyAnne:

    Weirdly, one of the most helpful things I’ve learned at Weight Watchers is food snobbery. I love cupcakes — as my husband said to me one day, I would punch a baby in the face for a cupcake — and there are 600 million cupcake places in LA County.

    So I’ve become a cupcake snob — I’ll have one from Violet’s or Dots, but I won’t have one from Crumbs (weird filling!) or Yummy Cupcakes (too crumbly). It helps if you can decide that the cupcakes at the place that’s easiest to get to aren’t up to your exacting standards. :-)

    (And since I always feel I should do a full disclosure when I mention them, I do work for Weight Watchers one day a week.)

  68. 68.

    R

    I rowed my marathon on a rowing machine Thursday night. 3 hours, 2 minutes, 36 seconds. My fellow rower also finished (a University of Rochester senior who used to row on the college crew team) and between us we managed to raise almost a thousand dollars for the Invest in Youth campaign at the YMCA. Excellent! At 46 though, I wish I had the youth of my co-marathoner. 5 minutes after finishing, she looked pretty good. I managed to upchuck 15 minutes after finishing and had to get a ride home! The next morning though I had recovered and went to work. It was my own fault, I pushed the last 7,500 meters too hard. Still, glad I did it.

  69. 69.

    Matthew Reid Krell

    @R: You, sir (or madam) are all of the badass. My hat (and my cox box) are off to you.

  71. 71.

    SFAW

    You, sir (or madam) are all of the badass.

    I agree – three hours at a 2:10 pace is pretty good.

  73. 73.

    BonnyAnne

    @Mnemosyne:

    Weight Watchers is a great program and I’ve lost weight on it a couple times before (oh, how I hate that statement), but I was never very healthy. It was more weight loss of the “oh, I have 25 points today, and a shot of whiskey is only 3 points? I’ll skip lunch and get trashed” variety. Unfortunately. The goal this time is to eat smaller portions, skip the processed sugar (actually, most sugar–it’s something akin to a genuine addiction for me), drink less, and get some damn exercise once in a while. We’ll see if I can manage that without a more structured program…

    As for the “be a cupcake snob” idea, I love it! A self-limiting approach to eating too many sweets. There are a few good cupcake places around here, too many gelato options, and all the breweries ever. So: be a snob, and only enjoy the *really* good stuff. I think I can manage that.

  74. 74.

    R

    @SFAW: Thanks, my goal was 2:10 and I just snuck under at 2:09.8. I am in the “sir” category just for the sake of knowing. The rower keeps me going for what I really love, being on the water. I have an open water Alden Appledore, a slow sliding seat Maine Peapod kind of boat, but fun in most conditions. Glad to see there are other rowers out there.

  75. 75.

    Matthew Reid Krell

    @SFAW: Three hours, full stop, on the GDMF erg is pretty good.

    @R: PLEASE take me with you. I am stuck living on the biggest river in the world and there’s NO MASTERS ROWING. How did I get stuck in this wasteland?

  76. 76.

    Matthew Reid Krell

    @BonnyAnne:

    all the breweries ever.

    That statement makes me smile, not just because of the style of it, but because I want to go there.

  77. 77.

    Steve

    @R: Another former rower here. I can count on both hands the number of times I’ve been on an erg since I graduated from college 10 years ago, so I salute you.

    I haven’t rowed in several years, which makes me sort of sad, but the sport did chew up my knee cartilage pretty good. Now I stick to trail running.

  78. 78.

    Michele

    Planted a tomato garden and baked cookies – as a friend quipped earlier, I think that counts as “cross-training.”

    No, srsly, I’ve been following the Couch to 5k running program (for those interested in learning more, you can go to Cool Running dot com for more details) and I’m just starting Week 3, which is 90 minutes running or jogging (I think I’m somewhere in between) followed by 90 minutes walking, then 3 minutes running and 3 minutes walking, and then one more round. It’s a very easy program if you are going from sedentary to active.

    Today I also busted out the new Dance Dance Revolution bundle I got for the Wii. I completely suck at DDR but it is so much fun that I don’t care!

    Thanks to Sarah for continuing these threads and I hope to contribute more in the future!

  79. 79.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    Walking or Bicycling in cemeteries, are a good quiet and most motivating form of exercises.

  80. 80.

    burnspbesq

    Up to 40 minutes on the stationary bike followed by eight minutes on the medieval torture device Concept 2.

    Blood sugar is down into the 130s.

    And bought a new pair of Levi’s 505s, in the next smaller waist size, yesterday. They’re a little tight, but they fit.

    Making progress.

  81. 81.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @Steve:
    Club rower here, quit when we had kids 20 years ago and I still miss it. Where else can you get exercise, be on the water, and socialize at the same time?

    Mixed eights were my favorites. The erg was absolutely the worst part of rowing.

  82. 82.

    Cassidy

    @Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason: I miss rowing as well. I sculled for a bit, did the LW boat for two years and then medaled in states with our JV boat in my Senior year. I tried to keep doing it in college, but like going to class, just stopped going. About a year ago, I switched things up and started erging again; I’d gotten bored doing the elliptical and treadmill. Two days later my legs felt like jelly and I remembered how painful that had been.

  83. 83.

    Marcellus Shale, Public Dick

    doing jane fonda workouts in the common room of a va psych ward is the best way i have found to both tone and shape systematically and then add an element of “realistic” martial arts, cardio, and self-defense. if that don’t tweak your flight or fight responses, nothing will.

  84. 84.

    SFAW

    Three hours, full stop, on the GDMF erg is pretty good.

    Ah, I don’t know, I can do three hours.

    Oh, wait, you mean three hours all-at-once?

    And it’s not like people haven’t been puking after an erg piece since forever. Why, when I was a kid … 32K a day (a/k/a “20 miles”), uphill both directions, puked more than my body weight after a piece, etc. etc.

    R –

    Nice piece, no matter the pace. Something for us old farts to aspire to meet.

  85. 85.

    SFAW

    Geez, all these rowers should enter one or more boats in the HOCR. We could get some exercise, have a good time, meet a bunch of rowers from all over the world, bitch about the site redesign (just to annoy Cole).

    Only problem I see is trying to find an eight that’s rigged for eight ports. And even if we did, we’d never make it past the BU Boathouse, because we’d be going in circles.

    Ooh, here’s an idea – we get Ewick Ewicksdottir, O’Queefe, and two other reichtards to fill out an eight, then do the ritual “drowning of the starboards” at the end. (Kinda like tossing the cox, only better, in this case.) I’d be willing to do some serious training for a chance at that.

  86. 86.

    Awesome

    “the best, and indeed the only, way to get fit”

    It’s nice to meet other swimmers! I did 1 mile in 30:18 this morning, so I’m starting to get back in shape too!

  87. 87.

    Steve

    @Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason: My senior year of college and the year after that I coached our novice teams, not being able to row because of knee surgeries. The best boats I ever rowed in were when the men’s and women’s varsity and novice coaches would conscript a coxswain after practice and take out a 4. Good conversation, “playful” jabs at each others’ technique, and a fantastically stable boat. Good times.

Comments are closed.