Transformations

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Coco

This week Amazon sent me an email promoting the Bob Harper “Total Body Transformation” DVD:

As much as I enjoy my Bob Harper Pure Burn Super Strength DVD, my first reaction to this email was, “I don’t need to transform my body.” (I’d be happy with a bit of fine-tuning.)

My reaction got me thinking about the transformations I’ve already been through.

The physical changes happened first:

(August 1998)

(August 2001)

But it took 10 more years to quiet those self-image demons and develop enough self-confidence to say (to myself) that I am just fine the way I am (and mean it).

Tell me about your transformations.

(Does anyone have this DVD?)

 

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Three Things Thursday (The ITB Rehab Edition)

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Coco

After my long run on Saturday, I followed a three-part plan of attack against my ITB:

1. Foam rolling and stretching.

2. Taking an epsom salt bath.

3. Slathering my leg with Biofreeze.

BIOFREEZE with ILEX Pain Relieving Gel - 4 oz. Tube

What’s your plan of attack against sore muscles?

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(Not Really) Wordless Wednesday (The Steve Jobs Edition)

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Coco

Last week I had a meeting at the Patent Office, so I got to see the Steve Jobs Exhibit.

I think they did a really nice job designing the exhibit–it’s simple, but elegant, like so many Apple products.

Each display panel shows 12 patents that name Steve Jobs as an inventor (there are over 300!) or Apple trademark certificates. The end panels have pictures of Steve Jobs (shown) and some of his quotes.

The exhibit has been extended through February 25, so if you find yourself in Alexandria, Virginia between 9-5 on a weekday or 12-5 on a Saturday, you might want to check it out.

While you’re there, you also can check out the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame and Museum, which is in the same building. Its current exhibit is called Exercising Ingenuity: Inventions in Health and Fitness.

It has several displays and tributes to Jack Lalane

and many items that make me grateful for the advances we’ve made since the fitness industry first got started.

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My New Strength Routine

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Coco

When my ITB flared again up last week, I did some research on Google for exercises that might help get to the root of the problem. I mostly found suggestions for stretches, but I did find a few suggested strength moves. I used those to build a new weight routine that I hope will let me train for the R’n’R USA Half Marathon in March.

I do super-sets of the following moves, doing 12-15 reps of each one, and then cycling through 3 sets before moving on the next group.

  • single-leg dead lifts
  • military presses
  • push-ups

—

  • single-leg curls (on the Bowflex)
  • bent-over rows

—

  • single-leg squats (holding on to my elliptical for balance!)
  • tricep dips

—

  • lateral raises
  • front raises
  • step-downs (stepping down off a step–I’ve seen this suggested for ITB issues several places)

—

  • bicep curls
  • crunches on fit ball

—

  • clam shell (another popular one for ITB issues)
  • side-lying leg raises (top and bottom)
  • crunches (various angles)

I can get through this whole routine in 4o minutes or so, as long as I don’t pause too often to fast-forward through whatever I am watching on my DVR.

Do you know any other exercises I should try?

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The Evil Done On My Behalf

Posted on January 15, 2012 by Coco

I love the familiar liturgy from the Book of Common Prayer, but my priest likes to mix things up once in a while, so sometimes we use alternative prayers. It’s sort of like hearing the same service in a different language. The gist of the prayers are the same, but the phrasing is different, invoking different imagery and shining a new light on familiar themes.

We recently started using a different version of the “confession” prayer we say before Holy Communion.

Here is our usual prayer, from the Holy Eucharist, Rite II service:

Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your Name. Amen.

The words are meaningful, but the enumerated “wrongs” are pretty benign. Yes, I don’t always put God first like I should; yes, I don’t always treat my “neighbor” as well as I should, and yes, there are things that I did that I shouldn’t have done and things that I didn’t do that I should have done, but in my mind all these things are easily forgivable.

Here is the prayer that we are using now:

God of all mercy, we confess that we have sinned against you, opposing your will in our lives.
We have denied your goodness in each other, in ourselves, and in the world you have created.
We repent of the evil that enslaves us, the evil we have done, and the evil done on our behalf.
Forgive, restore, and strengthen us through our Savior Jesus Christ, that we may abide in your love and serve only your will.

Almost every phrase of this prayer makes me stop and think, but I was particularly struck by the reference to “the evil done on our behalf.” The phrase makes me think of the wars fought halfway around the world to protect my freedom, of child labor and oppressive work conditions that make the products I buy so affordable, of the animals raised in conditions that I can’t bring myself to think of so I can enjoy my “balanced” diet. These “evils” loom much larger in my heart and I am truly sorry for them.

 

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