Saturday, September 14, 2013

Gym-Rat-ian Confessions, Part 2 - Who Goes There?

I always half believed a stereotyped image of the sort of people who go to the gym faithfully almost every day: almost entirely teeny-, 20-, 30-, and 40-somethings (maybe a few die-hard 50-somethings); mostly in-shape or crazy-in-shape; mostly people whose lives are centered on their chosen type of fitness (e.g. body-building or runners). Ignoring the fact that I can't read people's minds, I'll say up front that I've seen such people at the gym over the past several months.

Age Range. Obviously, what follows is based on my personal, imperfect, guesstimates. With that caveat, I think I can safely say that I've seen youths (boys and girls) as young as junior high age (obviously with parental consent) , and I've seen septuagenarians and possibly octogenarians. I'd guess the age range for most people I see as 30YO-55YO.

Fitness Level. This is one of the two areas where the stereotype is furthest from reality. I'd say that people who are visually in-shape or crazy-in-shape are in the minority (a large minority, but still a minority). Saying this as a description, not denigration, I've seen quite a few people who are obviously not in-shape, or are very out-of-shape. FWIW, I'd place myself somewhere between not-in-shape and visually in-shape.

Reason for Being Gym Regulars. Like I said above, there are obviously people at the gym for whom their chosen type of fitness is at or near the center of their lives. But there is a wide range of apparent purposes represented (based on outward appearance). Some people are obviously there to lose weight. Some people are there to get in shape. Those two are my purposes. Some are there to recover from some health event - an injury, a pregnancy, a stroke. Some elderly people are there to maintain and even expand their physical capabilities.

I don't need or want to arm-twist anyone into joining a gym. But if doing so would make sense to some one, and they have the personal discipline to do it (rather than throwing their money away for something they won't use), maybe the above will help overcome some mental roadblocks. And it need not be applicable to gym membership only. I've seen a similar wide range of ages, abilities and purposes among people walking and running as exercise on their own.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Miracles Within Miracles

I've been reading recently in the Gospels and Acts, and it occurred to me that it's easy to miss the scope of miracles in some healings. A person healed of leprosy may be just that, healed of that disease. But if the disease did damage to parts of the body, that also may have been healed. This was certainly true when deaf, blind and lame people were healed. For such a person, being healed of the immediate cause of their blindness, etc., would not have sufficed. In addition to that healing, the person's nerve pathways would have had to "learn" to communicate information, the person's brain would have had to learn to interpret information or learn to control muscles never used, and those muscles would have to "learn" and gain the strength to be used!

Gym-Rat-ian Confessions, Part 1

It's months overdue, but I have a confession. I'm becoming a Gym Rat. At the end of last year several things came together. I was tired of having to work my exercise time - outdoor walking - around the weather (both winter and summer present challenges, even in Silicon Valley's mild climate). We found that my company-provided health plan offers membership at 24 Hour Fitness at a substantial discount. My company shuts down every year between Christmas and New Year, and I checked out 24 Hour to see if it could make sense for me. It did and does.

Let me say at the outset, a gym membership does not come with the discipline to darken its doors or exercise machines with one's shadow. Discipline and determination are developed, not bought. Buying a year's gym membership won't magically get one inside the gym and exercising every day. And I wasn't trying to buy that discipline. I had already been doing my regular walking for exercise (not an occasional casual stroll!) for well over a year and a half.

So, why did I join? I already mentioned greater flexibility regarding weather. It never rains inside, nor does the temperature get into the 90s. I mainly (but not exclusively) use the treadmill. Walking outside, I have to estimate my pace, and if I want it to be steady for some measured time, I have to account for things like stoplights and crossing intersections. Treadmills do that for me and time me. Treadmills are safer - no cars with distracted drivers, no idiots on bicycles passing me from behind on the sidewalk without announcing their presence, no idiots on bicycles coming straight at me on the sidewalk ignoring my existence. Streets in my area of Silicon Valley are fairly flat, but half-marathon courses (such as that of the San Francisco Half Marathon) can include hills. Treadmills can add varying degree of incline (handy generally to improve stamina and also to increase the number of calories burned per minute). It's not the same as walking outside, but using a treadmill offers some useful advantages and flexibility. I've also been using weight machines, to improve my general strength (not for body-building as such) and burn calories in a different way.

I plan to post more along these lines. I'm not into, "Me! Me! Me!" but blogging is about things that occupy my time, energy and thoughts.

Stuff & Life

Haven't posted much for several months ...

Stuff grows to exceed available space.

Life expands to exceed available time.

I suppose those may be more "First World Problems" than universal, but maybe not.