Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

This band, OK GO, has a unique video for their song, Here It Goes Again. They look like they are having so much fun with these treadmills.

Next time you look at your treadmill, dreading the workout, dial up OK GO on your iPod and pretend that you’re playing on your treadmill just like they do in their video. Do some different moves on the treadmill and enjoy yourself just like they did.

Via: SOUND-OFF :: OK Go on Treadmills

Update 08-19-06: Wendy Bumgardner, from About.com, pointed out some treadmill workouts that may let you have just as much fun with your treadmill as these guys from OK Go:

• Jumping Intervals on the Treadmill

• Walking and Jogging Backwards on the Treadmill

I’ve talked a lot about the Nike+iPod, but it isn’t the only fitness oriented MP3 player out there. Sony is working on an MP3 player called the Sony NW-S200 Walkman. Is it really good for running? Read my thoughts on the Gadgets Page:

• The Gadgets Page » Sony’s Answer To The Nike+iPod

As much as I would like to be able to recommend a couple of different products, it just seems like the Sony Walkman was designed by someone who doesn’t run.

“Sadly, it seems that this MP3 player for athletes was designed by someone who has never gone on a run in their life. The reason the Nike+iPod is so cool is that it’s so easy to use. In my entire review of the product, I didn’t touch once on how to use it because it was so intuitive. It makes me feel sorry for Sony because they just don’t understand it.”

Until Sony learns what we need, I’ll just keep running with the Nike+iPod. It has kept me running on a regular basis and entertained me along the way.

A lot of research is being done on something called Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, or NEAT. It is being performed by a doctor, James A. Levine, M.D. You can see the Mayo Clinic abstracts here:

• The Mayo Clinic – About NEAT

The idea is that it is possible to burn a lot of calories over the day just by fidgeting. Being unable to sit still is actually a good thing when it comes to staying thin. His philosophy is that moving around throughout your day is a way to keep healthy and strong. He hasn’t proved it yet, but he is working on it right now with research.

Until then, how can we fidget productively?

• Every few minutes get up from your desk and walk around the office. Get a glass of water, go to the bathroom or even just stand up and jog in place. If you are tied to your desk, you can still just stand up and stretch.

• Set up an elevated desk in which you can work by sitting or standing.

• We worry so much about efficiency. Stop it. If it takes you three trips to the counter to get what you need, that’s actually better than getting it all in one trip.

• Bounce your leg while you’re sitting. Lift your arms over your head and stretch every few minutes. Roll your shoulders. Any activity burns a few calories. Take the times when your computer is loading a page, compiling a program or saving a document to fidget.

I’m sure Dr. Levine will have an entire program to teach you how to fidget productively and burn calories while you work. Until then, just remember to keep moving.

V is a freelance architect who wanted to have a healthier life. She saw the treadputer ideas and decided to try it on her own. Documenting her journey (and the cost) she has started her own weblog about the process.

She found a used treadmill on Craigslist for $200 and her bulky CRT monitor didn’t work on the shelving, so she has purchased a LCD monitor for only $119. That and a little shelving and she is ready to walk and work.

She has used a monitor splitter so she can work at a desk (work top) if she needs to or work on the treadmill.

V talks about some of the logistics of walking while working:

“The other thing I’ve noticed is, when I get focused on something, I tend to forget to walk. It’s a good thing this machine has one of those thingies that hooks to your clothes and will pull out and turn off the machine if you get too far away from the console.”

I’m interested to see if she is able to draft while walking. Drafting takes a certain precision when using the mouse, so learning to do that while keeping active will be a challenge. If you are considering setting up a treadputer workstation, keep reading her weblog to see how she is able to handle the logistics of working while walking.

Update 08-18-06 12:12 am: Sadly, it looks like V has deleted her weblog.

Joanne Colan, from Rocketboom, learned how to race walk with Stella Cashman and Leo Romero of The Park Race Walkers in New York City. Race walking is an Olympic sport with strict rules defining it versus running.

You can also see the video here:

Rocketboom – August 4, 2006

The benefit of race walking is that you can reach running speeds without the jarring impact of running. It works an entirely different set of muscles than regular walking and running, so that makes it a great cross-training activity so you don’t overwork your body.

For more information about Race Walking:

• Race walking – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Racewalk.com – Introduction to Race Walking Technique

• North Amercian Racewalking Foundation – Home Page

Josh Leo has been trying to figure out why people feel so passionate about sports. He went to a hockey game and was bored, so he thought he’d try to participate in sports to see if that would create a passionate experience for him.

Josh Leo’s Vlog » Josh on Sports – Part 2

I love his final decision on the process:

“I think it’s pretty clear that this isn’t working out. I don’t think that playing sports badly is the best way to get an understanding about the passion that people have for sports.”

He’s right. Passion for sports is not about playing sports so much as being part of a tribe. If you don’t feel connected to your local hockey or basketball team, sports will hold little interest for you. So, the question still remains, if you have never enjoyed sports, how do you get excited for exercise?

Exercise and being active doesn’t have to happen in a sports environment. It also doesn’t have to happen at a gym. You can increase your activity just by changing your life a little bit. Here are a few ways to keep active without resorting to sports:

• Once a week, walk to the grocery store to get your groceries. Only buy as much as you can carry in two bags.

• Once a week, find an alternate route to work that doesn’t require your car. Even if you live too far from your work to walk or ride a bike, there are still alternative routes for you. You could take public transportation. The walk to and from the bus stops will add activity to your day.

• Get an active job. You might not want to give up your lucrative day job, but a part time job that is active (like at a department store stocking shelves) will not only bring in extra money, but move you in ways that you aren’t used to.

Just because sport is the method that so many people use to increase activity, doesn’t mean you have to resort to that option. There are as many ways to exercise as there are people. Go find your own favorite!

Threadless is a strange company. They let anyone post a design for a t-shirt on their website. They let anyone vote on the designs. If the design gets enough votes, then they will actually make t-shirts with that design on it. The person who designed it, gets a $2000 prize. How’s that for cool?

The above photo is a t-shirt design that is currently being voted upon. It’s called Heart Attack! and it’s a pretty accurate depiction of what fast food does to your body. The little hot dog and hamburger look so mean. They’re just going to beat that heart into a bloody pulp.

If you’d like to vote for this t-shirt, you can do so here (registration required):

• Threadless T-Shirts – Heart Attack!

The best thing about Threadless is that they carry plus sizes for their cool shirts. The Girly T runs a little small, even in XL, but the regular t-shirt size comes in a generous 2X size. They allow their users to post pictures of themselves wearing the t-shirts, so you are able to see what it would look like on you. I find this particularly valuable when I am wondering how the shirt will look on a woman with ample breasts. I hate it when you can’t even tell what’s on the shirt because half the design is on the underside of my boobs.

If you are threadless, be naked no more and get yourself a t-shirt!

Watching this video made me eager to dance again. I never was into breakdancing, but moving the body to music is so therapeutic and even cathartic that I miss it sometimes.

You can also see the video here:

Rocketboom – August 11, 2006

When asked, the leader of Fox Force Five, the winners of the competition, described the joy and passion that can come from a sport that you love.

“You put in dedication so that even after you hurt yourself, you know that you can’t wait ’til you get back better because you know that you are going to start all over again. Some people have a kid and say I’m not doing that anymore. A B*Girl will have a kid and be like, ‘Can’t wait ’til I pop that baby out so I can practice again!'”

Next time you can’t imagine jumping on that treadmill once more, put on your favorite tunes and try your hand at dancing. It doesn’t matter if your moves are as smooth as a B*Girl. You can burn just as many calories dancing like a maniac as you would dancing like a ballerina. Let your favorite tunes move you for thirty minutes instead of pounding away at the gym and you might just enjoy your workout a little more.

Yesterday, I did a post about Yahoo! Avatars and how you can make them fat. I redid my avatar to be a more busty version:

What if Avatars were real?

What if you could have any body that you chose?

Would you choose a celebrity body?

Would you keep the one you have, just fitter?

What if they couldn’t make you thin unless you chose a different body?

Would you give up your current body just to be thinner?

What if that meant you had to be stupid? Or cruel? Or boring?

The Question of the Week is meant to be an Inner Workout for you. Find some time during the week and allow yourself to write the answers to the questions posted. You can write them on paper, on a word processor or here in the comments section. Whatever works for you as long as you do it.

Keep writing until you find out something about yourself that you didn’t know before. I’ve also heard that it works to keep writing until you cry, but that doesn’t really work for me. Whatever works for you. Just keep writing until it feels right.

My biggest complaint about Yahoo! Avatars was that I couldn’t make my avatar look even remotely like me.

• Pick Me! » Winter Avatar

Even though I have lost weight, I’m still really curvy and that skinny thing that they came up with looked nothing like the busty version that looks back at me in the mirror. Well, they finally did something about it.

• Yahoo! Avatars

Now, you can choose Plus Size in the Clothing section and your avatar will have a little meat on its bones. You can see my before and after avatars here:

No matter how little I eat or how much I exercise, I could never be as thin as the avatar on the left. I actually prefer the new one. It’s more realistic.

Good Job, Yahoo!

Via: Big Fat Blog: Yahoo! Avatars Expands