WE LOVE WII FIT PLUS

In these uncertain times of sheltering in place, it is important to stay active with indoor exercises.  Years ago when I got an elliptical machine, it was used mostly as a coat rack.  I was able to run outside at least every weekend and would occasionally used the "coat rack" during the week, but it was mostly not used.  Likewise, for a while my son was using the Wii program Wii Fit Plus, with the required Wii Board, to do yoga and strength exercises.  A few months ago when I pulled the Wii Board out of cobweb, the batteries already busted but luckily a little cleaning with rubbing alcohol and cotton swaps, plus fresh batteries, all was good again.  I've been using the elliptical and Wii Fit everyday.

As great as Wii Fit is, there are only so many yoga poses, strength exercises, and balance games to interact with.  A few weeks into the new routine, I started searching for a sequel of Wii Fit.  There is one and it's called Wii Fit Plus.  Not wanting to be a compulsive buyer, I promised myself not to buy it until I finished all the moves.  Or at least between my son and me.  It's necessary to add that additional clause because I am horrible at the balance games and only play a few of them, whereas my son aced all of them.

It's been a long time since Wii Fit etc came out so there are no "new" program to buy.  Amazon offers Renewed version at some discount with a guarantee so I went with that.  For some reason, among the various offerings on Amazon there was a PAL version.  From my days of dealing with software for the Amiga platform, which was popular in Europe, I learned about NTSC and PAL, the two primary video signals used in the U.S. and Europe, plus other places.  I don't know the nitty-gritty details of the difference, just that you cannot view a video made for PAL on a TV set in the U.S., which can only handle NTSC.  I made sure the Wii Fit Plus I bought does not say PAL or spells out NTSC.  I used the Amazon Locker at my local 7 Eleven, no package for you you porch pirates!

It's been a while since I last inserted a disc into the Wii, the first time I did so with the Wii Fit Plus disc I did it wrong and the disc couldn't be read.  Flipped it over and all was well again.  I plan to go through every yoga pose, every strength exercise, with different levels of time duration, every balance games, just to make sure the disc has no bad sector or scratch.  So far the three new yoga poses and the new strength exercises work so I don't expect to return the disc.  My son is still going through the many balance games, hopefully nothing wrong there.

I suspected that the Wii has some internal memory that remembers all the players and their stats.  I am glad that that is the case.  It makes sense, but sometimes things don't necessarily make sense in real life.

DON'T STOP, SKIPPING, HOLD ONTO THE FEELING...

In this day and age, you would think the Internet has all the answers.  Or at least it should.  I had a question last night and Google didn't quite give me a straight answer.

My exercise regiment, while I am unemployed and sheltering in place (at home) includes rope-skipping, elliptical, and Wii Fit.  I never skipped when I was a kid.  It's not something boys would do, at least in Viet Nam.  But I keep seeing it used as part of a training program, especially in the Rocky movies.  I happen to have a skipping rope in the house, it takes very little space to skip, and you can do it almost anywhere.  Some time ago, I started skipping in the alley at my house, my son and I took turn using the one rope we had.  Those early days, I could barely do five or six consecutively.  I jumped too high and wore myself out quickly.  Or I would get entangled with the rope because my timing was just off.

With this current pandemic, I renewed my interest with skipping and made much improvement.  I now can do forty reps of the rope moving overhead to in front of me then gliding below me.  I think that's the standard.  I can even do backward, where the rope goes overhead behind me then comes back to the front from underneath.  At much slower speed, but still in reps of ten or so.  My current routine is 3 sets of 40 reps each, forward, then 3 more set of backward skipping, whatever rep I can manage.  I may have read a little bit about rope-skipping, but maybe only about variations, to make it less boring.  Last night, I decided to research some more, especially with regards to losing weight.  Articles after articles would discuss the work involved in terms of time duration, not reps or sets as I've been doing.  That led me to dig some more around the question of "What time duration should I do with my daily rope-skipping exercise?"  And wow it sure took a lot of digging.  At first, it seems 30 minutes is the answer, but then the instructor mentioned that in that 30 minutes one would also do push-ups and other exercises, so that's not it.  In the end, I found from some blog that for a beginner a series of 10-minute sets will do.  With short breaks, like one or two minutes.

That's what she said, supposedly.  Today, I put myself to the test.  I thought I am pretty good at it now, that I should be considered intermediate.  Was I wrong!  While I was able to do 80 reps in one minute, I was flat out tired afterward.  I tried to have one-minute break, as opposed to the usual breaks that I had before, which involved doing other things around the yard, or checking for updates on social media.  The verdict is that I can do 5 sets of 80 reps in about 10 minutes, rest included.  I sure was all sweaty and panting.  The last set I think I only got to 70 something because I was out of gas and couldn't jump high enough so the rope got me.

The moral of the story: sometimes there's no one size to fit all.  Research and get an idea what should be done, but then try it out yourself.

Have Bike, Will Travel

I did it! Got up 7ish, took the bicycle to the local gas station, 75¢ at the air machine did wonder. My bicycle is wholesome again!

I went along the same route that I normally go jogging, Belt Parkway Green Way, only of course the distance is longer. Instead of 4.5K out and back, for a total of 9K, I went 7K out, all the way to Owl's Head Pollution Control Center and the Bay Ridge Pier, and back. The total distance is 14K.

I don't get the same sense of accomplishment as when I go jogging. With jogging, I would sweat profusely, with the innermost layer of clothes soaked. I would actually feel warm from the heat I generated. It was a windless morning and I didn't feel a single drop of sweat formed. The inner T-shirt got somewhat wet on the back, but that was it. My legs did feel wobbly when I first stopped pedaling and resumed walking. They feel tired now, so I guess I did get some exercise out of the whole thing.

Let's Get Physical - Plan B

I thought with my exercise program my weight would drop below 200 pounds but alas here I am on the last day of the year and I am still right on 200 pounds. It does not help that as of last Saturday the arch on my right foot got really hurt. The left foot got some boil but that's skin level. For the right foot, I think some muscle or tendon, or whatever, is really banged up from all that pounding of the pavement. I also need a new pair of sneakers, as the one I'm using really wore away much at the heels. This Saturday will be exactly one week of rest, I cannot rest any more. Time for Plan B.

With the injured foot, I think I still can pedal. No pounding of the pavement there, so hopefully it should be OK. Of course, bicycling goes against my idea of simplicity in execution. Whereas with jogging I just need to put on some clothes, extra layers for the cold weather, a pair of shoes, perhaps even an iPod, bicycling will be more involved. Getting the bike out the door is one extra step. Helmet is needed - Step #2 right there. Air does leak from time to time, so I may lose some more time pumping the tires.

I actually spent some time this evening getting the bicycle into usable shape. The last time I used it was to attend my son's Field Day, back in May. On the way back, the left pedal fell off and I had to push the thing back. Even since then the bike just stood in the vestibule, taking up space and collecting dust. With Plan B in motion, I managed to put the pedal back on - the task is so much easier with the wrench of the proper width. Next I tried to pump the tires but I think I actually let the air out. The foot- and hand-pumps I have didn't work. Some Mechanical Engineer I am, cannot even get the tires of the bicycle pumped. Maybe the pumps are defective. I'll splurge tomorrow morning and spend the 75¢ at my local gas station. Rain or shine, I will be biking tomorrow!

Let's Get Physical

It is a beautiful day in Bath Beach, Brooklyn, New York. About 55° F (or 12°C), us New Yorkers don't complain and try to have some outdoor activities. I started the day with a jog along the Belt Parkway totaling about 5K, with Leo Laporte of This Week In Tech pitching $3 toasters via the ear buds. Foot muscles a bit sore, but I feel good and alert since the exercise. I've been exercising regularly since September, mere months ago. Checking back through old Blogger posts, the last time I tried to exercise regularly was in late 2006. Wow, three years ago! The arrangement was similar to what I do now - get up early in the morning, go jogging, come home, take son to school then shower and off to work. That time, however, at some point the weather got too cold and I stopped jogging altogether. Then spring rolled around but I didn't resume, until three years later. This time I have a GoogleDoc spreadsheet to keep track of the progress as well as social networks like Facebook to post news about the endeavor. It really helps to hear encouraging words from my Facebookies (that's my way of referring to Facebook friends.) Besides support from friends, what does it take to keep the momentum going? Here's how I do it, in no particular order.

Keep it simple. I used to have the need to change into "jogging clothes". Sweatpants, sweatshirt, headband, music player, etc. Too much work! As I usually jog in the morning, I wear the same clothes I l slept in - it'll get all sweaty so it cannot be any worse. I do have to change the pants to something that have pockets to hold house keys, some money, and a piece of ID. I do have music to listen to along the way but I use my cell phone for that. Just listening via the phone's speaker saves me the time to find a headphone. I jog in the morning before going to work so there is a very small window of opportunity to get ready and be out of the house. The longer I linger in the house the more likelihood I will change my mind. On weekends, when things are less hectic, I do use an iPod with earbuds.

Keep it short, "it" being the distance between your house and the place you want to around. I usually run around some playground/park and usually go to the one that is closest to my house. The sooner you can start the exercise the better.

Keep track of the effort. I use a GoogleDoc spreadsheet, but anything would do, really. Perhaps you are a pen-and-paper person - then just dedicate a notebook, sort like a diary, to record the date you made the run, the distance covered, perhaps location if you want to exercise at different places for changes of scenery. I am sure there are some iPhone apps to help record the info.

Keep track of the kilograms. If your goal is to shred some weight, in the same tracking document, record your weight periodically. It may be disheartening to learn that you only lose 2 kg after 2 months of exercise, but deal with it. No pain no gain, really.

Keep track of the distance. I would love to run around a sports track but there are none around where I live. The typical track length is 1/4 of a mile or 400m. A pedometer is probably the best way to record your effort, but that means one more thing to remember to bring and goes against my idea of keeping things simple. For me, Google Earth works fine. The software is free from Google and is available for both Mac and Windows.

Keep it up! Getting up at 5:30 AM is a big challenge for me but I managed to pull it off most of the times. There was days when I got pulled back by the warm bed and blanket. It really helps to have friends, physical of Facesical (that's another word I conjured up to mean someone you know not in real life but via Facebook only), to encourage you to continue. Share your daily or bi-daily exploits, perhaps even get others to join in your effort.

Good luck with your exercise program! We have only one body to live in, let's take good care of it!

Resolutions 2009

I just reviewed the resolutions I made for 2008 and not surprisingly, I did not stick to any of them. I might have had a short period when I actually went to bed at 11 PM and got up 6 AM the next day to go jogging, but alas it did not last that long. I did not get any handier around the house. I drew a whopping handful number of cartoons, not the twelve I should have done for the months of the year. And so on. What can I say, resolutions, rules, promises... they all are made to be broken. But what the hey, I'll make another list for 2009, a shorter list, with preferences for things I want to do and things that I need to do.

1. Health is a popular topic for resolutions, so here again I would like to make it the top of the list. Yes, I will try again to have better sleep hours. On those mornings that I stayed up til 1 AM the previous nights, I felt really crappy. Why I kept doing it to myself I don't know. Early to bed, early to rise, let's hope it will come true in 2009.
2. I hate my job so much more lately I really need to change career. Again working with the slippery concept that I can succeed in the cartooning world, I will again try to put more effort into it. It is no longer true that I don't have any ideas of what to draw. I actually have two right now, one with the punchline "I want to make my numbers look good", as in when managers make their underlings do ridiculous things just to arrive at some numbers on their dang reports, regardless how wasteful of the underlings' talents. The other has the punchline, "If you do not stick your head in, you won't get whacked." Like those times when you are supposed to be off from work. As long as you don't appear on Instant Messaging, nobody will ping you. Whatever, here's hoping for twelve cartoons for January through December of 2009.
3. Learn a new technical skill. My job has gotten so tiresome there is no time to learn anything new. It always is sink-or-swim. Work just piles on and on and mistakes will be made. Or poor maintenance will occur. Working in parallel with my cartooning path, I want to pick up some new technical know-how. There are many free computer-based training courses on the corporate network. I will just need to invest some of my own time to take them. Maybe some of those courses will even help me earn a few points in Yahoo!Answers.
4. Be more organized in meatspace. Spend at least a day each month de-cluttering my room. My house does not get any bigger with time, so the stuff in the house must be cleaned up more frequently. There is only so much room for so much stuff.

That is all. Instead of ten things that I cannot fulfill, for 2009 I am less ambitious and have just four things to not fulfill. What are your resolutions?