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

I absolutely LOVE this Nike commercial!

The voice of the woman says:

I don’t need to fill a stadium, or cause one to erupt with joy. I don’t need to hear 60,000 people chant my name. I’ll never have a fan club, get a signing bonus, or even sign an autograph, but can you honestly tell me, I’m not an athlete?

Next time you’re feeling like skipping your workout, come back here and watch this commercial again. It will get you on the treadmill, exercise bike, or out of the house to exercise, even if you were feeling unmotivated a mere one minute and one second earlier.

In the early nineties, I exercised a lot with Denise Austin. She was on ESPN back then and while I jumped and bounced during the commercial breaks, I saw this commercial ALOT:

To this day, I can hear that guy’s voice in the back of my head:

Hey baby! You gonna hog the court forever?

Ironically, this commercial NEVER made me want to hit tennis balls, but it did make me want to hit dorky guys with tennis rackets.

And they say video games cause violence…

Seeing this commercial again on YouTube made me so happy in a quiet way. I remember jumping and moving while this and commercials for NuSkin flashed by my eyes. I never fast forwarded through the commercials because I was supposed to be exercising during them.

I’ve never owned a pair of Reebok shoes and I feel a little guilty about that. Life IS short, so play hard, even if it’s not in a pair of Reebok shoes.

The snow has already blanketed the Wasatch Mountains, leaving hiking to be a cold and potentially dangerous pursuit here in Utah. Fortunately, Tom Mangan was nice enough to share his hike through the Sunol Wilderness in California.

• New hike video: Sunol Wilderness

A beautiful video showing the perpetual spring in California. THIS is why we exercise. So we can enjoy sites like this in real life. When you are pounding away on the treadmill this winter or biking your butt off at a spinning class, remember that THIS is why you’re doing it. Enjoy the mountains and the trails in the summer and train for them in the winter.

SLB+ has been training for a big race. He did his first 20 mile run and logged it with 20 photos. You can see them all here:

• Quadrathon: 20 miles in 20 photos

Twenty miles was on the plan yesterday. It is the first 20mile distance that I’ll run, increasing steadily up to the final week before I start to taper and culminate in a 35 miler.

Next time you feel a little sluggish during your morning workout, remember SLB+’s 20 miles. If his shoes can take him that far, so can yours.

Despite my best efforts, I haven’t been able to stop watching The Biggest Loser. I have to admit that I get really motivated watching all those people working out.

If you missed it, this little video will catch you up:

I was just SHOCKED when Colleen lost seven pounds. That is just a HUGE amount to lose in a week. Unfortunately, her father had gained two pounds, so they voted to send him home. His leg injury just pushed him over the edge. You can see how he’s doing now here:

I don’t like to see any of the contestants being screamed at, but I have to admit that I do like to see the success that these people have. Of course, I’d like to see them ALL five years later to see how many keep the weight off.

They are marketing treadmills to little kids now:

There are quite a few companies making these treadmills for children:

• First Fitness Kid’s First Treadmill
• Kid’s Gym Treadmill Junior Workout Kit
• Redmon 9201 Fun & Fitness Health Systems for Kids-Treadmill

And there is even an exercise bike in primary colors for your child:

• Kid’s Gym Stationary Bike Junior Workout Kit

I think this could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on whether the kid wants a treadmill or not. When I was a kid, my grandma insisted that I was fat and forcibly enrolled me in dance, baton, swimming, and tennis classes in an effort to slim me down and make me graceful. Honestly, I kind of liked those classes and they kept me busy for many summers, but I did feel the shame of “needing” a class in the first place. Instead of saying that it was a fun thing to keep me entertained while I was in Billings, she told me that I needed them to lose weight.

If I had asked for the classes, it would have been an entirely different story.

The kind of kids that want these treadmills are the kind of kids that see their parents on the treadmill and want to pretend that they’re grown up like Mom and Dad. In that case, SURE! You can have your treadmill and even an exercise bike in primary colors. Whatever you want!

If you as a parent think that buying one of these treadmills will make your kid lose weight, then you’re lost. Not only will they resent the toy, but they will have a more difficult time staying at a healthy weight as adults. The problem is with the attitude of the parent, not the toy.

Via: Treadmills for Kids? : Complete Running Network

A couple of weeks ago, I was enjoying myself watching interviews with Alfred Hitchcock on YouTube and I was surprised by this video. At the 1:42 mark, he comes back from a commercial break for a laxative product:

Alfred Hitchcock comments:

May I say I am very confused by that last commercial. Well, it was a commercial for a laxative. And I wonder why all those people doing sports and all that sort of thing–where they would need a laxative after such vigorous movement all over the place.

When I first heard him say this, I thought it was funny, but didn’t think about it any further.

Fast forward to a few weeks later and the thought has stayed with me. I’ve noticed that after I exercise I DO need to go to the bathroom. Whether I’ve eaten or not, exercise helps me go to the bathroom. It has actually helped me a lot with my “stomach trouble.”

I had NO IDEA that exercise might help me with my stomach problems. NO IDEA. The doctor that I visited suggested exercise, but only as a means to lose weight because, you know, skinny people don’t have stomach trouble. Apparently, my doctor didn’t even know that my condition could be helped by exercise.

It’s a sad state when I get my best medical advice from a 350 pound dead man.

If you have a Nike+ iPod, don’t forget the Starling Fitness Challenges on Nike+. It’s a chance to run with people on your own level. They add a fun bit of competition to your daily workout. We have these challenges EVERY week, so join up and start running with us.

If you DON’T own a Nike+ iPod (or even if you do), you can still compete on Runner+.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 1 (09-29-08) – RUNNER+: Runs between 0-10 miles a week. If you run more than 10 miles a week, you will be disqualified.
• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 2 (09-29-08) – RUNNER+: Runs between 10-20 miles a week. If you run more than 20 miles a week, you will be disqualified.
• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 3 (09-29-08) – RUNNER+: Runs between 20-30 miles a week. If you run more than 30 miles a week, you will be disqualified.
• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 4 (09-29-08) – RUNNER+: Runs between 30-40 miles a week. If you run more than 40 miles a week, you will be disqualified.
• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 5 (09-29-08) – RUNNER+: Runs between 40-50 miles a week. If you run more than 50 miles a week, you will be disqualified.
• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 6 (09-29-08) – RUNNER+: Runs between 50-60 miles a week. Right now, there is no maximum mileage limitation. Run to your heart’s content!

There are the same levels on the Nike+ runs, but I can’t link to them because Nike’s site is so phenomenally stupid. If you have been feeling stale with your walks or runs, join a Starling Fitness Challenge and add a bit of spice into your workouts.

Sandy Says: September 24th, 2008 at 12:29 pm

I was googling something else and came across this blog entry. How does one go about finding the right work out tennis shoe? My foot (specifically the arch area) hurts sometimes when exercising (aerobic videos at home)…my feeling is that it’s the shoe, but I don’t know how to choose the right shoe.

Thanks! Sandy

Sandy,

The best thing to do is to go to a professional running store. Wear your exercise clothes and be prepared to run on a treadmill in front of the staff. The best places (like Nike, New Balance and specialized running stores) have treadmills in their stores so you can test out the shoes in action. I always say that I have to run a mile in a shoe to know if it will hurt me or not. In actuality, I usually only need to try it out for a minute, but it is SO helpful to have a treadmill at the store to try out the shoes.

If you happen to live in an area without a specialized running store, your next best bet is Foot Locker. Try to go during a time when they are slow so you can get some personalized attention. My first shoes I bought at Lady Foot Locker and the girl there was so good she was able to find a shoe that felt good from the very first day.

Other than trial and error (which is FAR too costly when shoes can run in the hundreds of dollars), there is no better way to get running shoes than to go to a professional running store for a fitting. What you pay in embarrassment by running or walking on a treadmill in front of strangers, you save in dollars in your pocket.

Best,
Laura Moncur

Now that Hurricane Ike has passed through Texas, I think of all the people who evacuated Galveston and Houston to avoid the hurricane. They knew it was coming, but not everyone got out.

What if you were in that situation? What if the freeways were clogged with cars? Could you get away if you were on foot or on a bicycle?

How far can you go in one day on foot if you were really pressed to get out of town? How far could you go on a bike? If the situation was desperate enough, could you escape using only the power of your own body?

THIS is why we workout. We have to be strong for those rare times when everything might be asked of our bodies. It can be the difference between life and death.