Ottawa
03-30-2006, 03:24 PM
Yesterday as I biked home from work for the first time this year, it was the first time that I actually felt that spring was here. I was biking, and thinking about new things and sensing things that I had not been aware of for teh past several months.
The sun was full on my face, there was the odd smell that comes from fresh earth after the snow leaves, the renewed energy somehow from more daylight and even two couples I biked past that were necking on the pathway benches were all signs that winter is over. SPRING is HERE!
As I continued on I wondered what else I could do as the weather improves and what new types of exercise or recreation I might pursue. From an article on the Men’s Health website came the following tips/ideas.
“Call it human hibernation. It's one of the things that link us to our cute mammal friends--chipmunks and raccoons and Jesse Ventura. "Animals respond to light and temperature cues," says Greg Florant, Ph.D., of Colorado State University, who studies hibernating animals. These cues compel bears, for example, to store 50 percent of their body weight as fat in preparation for the long, cold nights of winter. Does that remind you of anyone?
It should. Most of us spent last winter like giant, hairy carnivores, sleeping more, eating more -- and exercising less.
Now it's time to leave the cave. “
It's one thing to say, "I need to do aerobic exercise," or "I really should lift weights." It's another thing not to hate every second of it. Two approaches to try:
Distraction: "Distract yourself with some sort of entertainment," Neporent suggests. Tell yourself you can only read your favorite mystery author when you're on the recumbent bike. Make the treadmill your Louis Rukheyser hour. At high-end gyms, you can surf the Web while on a stationary bike.
Recreation: No rule says that exercise has to be plodding around a track or smelting iron in a room full of muscleheads.
Recreational sports burn calories, too. Say you play three rounds of golf a week, walking and pulling your clubs with a handcart, which would be about 15 miles of walking, or 1,500 calories burned.
Some other ways a 185-pound man can burn 1,500 calories in a week without feeling miserable exercising:
Doubles tennis: 3 hours
Fly-fishing: 3 hours
Softball: 3 1/2 hours
Using power tools: 3 hours
Lawn mowing (no, not a riding mower): 4 hours
Drumming: 4 1/2 hours
What new activities are you planning to bring you out of your cave more often?
The sun was full on my face, there was the odd smell that comes from fresh earth after the snow leaves, the renewed energy somehow from more daylight and even two couples I biked past that were necking on the pathway benches were all signs that winter is over. SPRING is HERE!
As I continued on I wondered what else I could do as the weather improves and what new types of exercise or recreation I might pursue. From an article on the Men’s Health website came the following tips/ideas.
“Call it human hibernation. It's one of the things that link us to our cute mammal friends--chipmunks and raccoons and Jesse Ventura. "Animals respond to light and temperature cues," says Greg Florant, Ph.D., of Colorado State University, who studies hibernating animals. These cues compel bears, for example, to store 50 percent of their body weight as fat in preparation for the long, cold nights of winter. Does that remind you of anyone?
It should. Most of us spent last winter like giant, hairy carnivores, sleeping more, eating more -- and exercising less.
Now it's time to leave the cave. “
It's one thing to say, "I need to do aerobic exercise," or "I really should lift weights." It's another thing not to hate every second of it. Two approaches to try:
Distraction: "Distract yourself with some sort of entertainment," Neporent suggests. Tell yourself you can only read your favorite mystery author when you're on the recumbent bike. Make the treadmill your Louis Rukheyser hour. At high-end gyms, you can surf the Web while on a stationary bike.
Recreation: No rule says that exercise has to be plodding around a track or smelting iron in a room full of muscleheads.
Recreational sports burn calories, too. Say you play three rounds of golf a week, walking and pulling your clubs with a handcart, which would be about 15 miles of walking, or 1,500 calories burned.
Some other ways a 185-pound man can burn 1,500 calories in a week without feeling miserable exercising:
Doubles tennis: 3 hours
Fly-fishing: 3 hours
Softball: 3 1/2 hours
Using power tools: 3 hours
Lawn mowing (no, not a riding mower): 4 hours
Drumming: 4 1/2 hours
What new activities are you planning to bring you out of your cave more often?