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June 17, 2011

On alternatives in exercise

I could easily be accused of overcompensating for my disability; I vigorously strive to find exercise I can sustain into my old age.  Currently I do quite a few body-weight resistance exercises: push-ups, situps, office furniture curls, etc., and for cardio I do a lot of walking (thanks podcasts).  In the course of this ongoing exploration, I do a lot of measurement: weight, percent body fat, monitor step counts and heartrate, this is the fun part for me.  Monitoring and viewing data is a hobby of sorts.  I try to take the information and ascertain what the most efficient exercises are.
 
In addition to conventional resistance and cardio,  I seek unconventional activities based on snippets I read. A week ago, I walked an hour a day carrying a 20 lb backpack based on this report.  It was an interesting way to beef up a cardio routine; my knees hurt a little, but I might try it again, it was a pretty serious workout and required no gym and no time out of my tight schedule.
 
This week's pursuit is a little odd too.  A look through Google Scholar revealed exercise researchers are pretty interested in our society's habit of excessive sitting allllll daaaay loooong.  On this one, I only made it to a 3rd day.  At the end of that day, I was in quite a bit of pain.  I developed a special appreciation for anyone doing real work during the day instead of the namby pamby act of slinging data. I considered myself pretty fit until this.  I believe the pain is from my particular condition, and it's not sustainable for me, but I really found it a good feeling in my upper legs. 

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