For our gym, scheduled workouts have been a positive development during the pandemic.
Since the early days of the pandemic, Fay’s Fitness changed to a scheduled model of exercising to limit the number of people in the gym. Now, everyone that exercises here has timeslots for their workouts.
There have been big advantages to this:
Continue reading Your Own Personal Gym!I’ve been lifting weights since I was 14 years old. I’ve long forgotten how it feels to be a beginner in strength training.
And I’m totally ignorant when it comes to empathizing with a woman in her 50’s trying to get in shape by lifting barbells for the first time.
Well, maybe not totally ignorant. I’m learning.
If you read my blog, you know I workout with three 50-something women. I keep playing with the workouts and the class format. We experiment with all sorts of things like eccentrics and drop sets added to the routine. For the last few months we’ve done Lift 4 on Beachbody which is a combination of hypertrophy workouts and HIIT cardio.
These women have stuck with me through all of this. Go figure.
This month, we went back to the basics of building strength: Lifting heavy, pushing limits, writing stuff down.
Continue reading Ready for MoreThe concept of anti-fragility was developed by the brilliant professor, former trader, and hedge fund manager Nassim Taleb.
Anti-fragile systems do not merely withstand a shock or a stress, but IMPROVE because of it.
Continue reading Anti-Fragile FitnessWhat if summer in Upstate New York suddenly turned to Fall and on September 21st, all the leaves on the trees changed color overnight?
That’s just not how the seasons work. They transition.
Humans have one of the longest transitions from infant to full grown adult in the animal kingdom. About 1/4 of our life is spent growing up.
But when it comes to personal change, we want things to happen overnight. If our life is off course, we expect some self-help guru to bring us to “life-changing moments” to turn the ship around immediately.
But that’s not how things work. Our life is full of changes and most of these changes happen over time in transitions. They include:
Speaking of health and fitness…
Continue reading Transitions20 years ago, I never would have thought that I would be working out with a group of women.
Back in 2017, I invited people from the gym to workout with me two times a week. For the last year it’s been me and these three amazing women.
The reason I never imagined things would turn out this way is because, the way I see it, most people, particularly women, don’t workout as hard as me.
Continue reading Live and LearnEveryone wants a long life, but few work toward a truly meaningful one.
We laid to rest my step-mother in June. Her life was the epitome of meaning.
Nancy E. Fay NP was diagnosed with Type I diabetes back in the 1950’s. We know now that the life expectancy for someone diagnosed in the 50’s with Type 1 was about 55 years old. She died at 77.
Nancy not only beat the odds, but went on to live an extraordinary life.
Nancy was a Registered Nurse, a Nurse Practitioner, and a Physician Assistant. She was also a certified Diabetes Educator. She paved new roads for the benefit of people with diabetes locally and state wide. She established the first diabetes educational programs in the Mohawk Valley and she was the first to receive medical coverage for such in the U.S. Nancy was the first female non physician to become president of the NYS Diabetes Association.
Nancy was a trail blazer. Her whole professional life was full of meaning, and much of her meaning came from her illness – diabetes. She was a living testament to all those with diabetes on how one can live an extraordinary life with the condition IF it is well managed.
In her pursuit to help with diabetes management, she was a guinea pig for the local use of the insulin pump, which is widely used today.
The memorial in her honor was indeed a celebration. She beat the odds and lived a life of true meaning. A life to be proud of.
A much different “celebration of life” was saying goodbye to my friend Kate this past summer. She was 39 years old.
Want to see what’s in store for your future?
You don’t need a crystal ball. Just extrapolate.
By looking at past and current trends, you can estimate what’s in store for your future.
There is a tool in Microsoft Excel to extrapolate data on a chart. Put in a few data points and it will tell you what the next number will likely be.
For instance, if you weighed 150 pounds when you were 20, 160 at 30 and 170 pounds at 40, you could estimate, based on the trend, that you will weigh 180 pounds at 50.
Most people measure how far along they are in a project by how many hours are left to complete it. If it’s a project that takes 40 hours and I’ve worked at it for 10, I’m 25% done.
Those that do a lot of projects or manage projects know the hardest part is getting the project started. Getting a project off the ground is like static friction, as it’s harder to get it moving from a standstill than it is to keep it moving (Law of Inertia).
People that have worked with me know I am more stressed at the beginning of a project than when it is underway. In a building project, you have to have plans, coordinate labor, and purchase materials before you hammer even one nail.
Once things are rolling and everyone knows what to do, things are much less stressful. Systems fall in place and stuff gets done.
I heard this expression for the first time a few weeks ago. It was meant as a snide comment about something I did that appeared to be half-done. The real meaning is in how it recognizes that getting a project started is the hardest part.
Continue reading Well Begun is Half DoneAs previously mentioned, Barb and I had COVID-19 back in March.
Since that time, I have been suffering symptoms of Long Haul COVID (LHC). In my case, it has been two things 1) joint pain, particularly my right knee and 2) sensitivity to gluten.
I could function OK but I limped around a lot and spent a lot of time in the bathroom. I figured out the gluten thing after binging on bread and pasta a couple of times. I felt like crap.
Long Haul Covid is big business these days and there are clinics specializing in the treatment popping up all over. But I wasn’t gonna pay no clinic. Like everything else I do, this was going to be DIY.
Continue reading In It For The Long HaulIn the The Big Bang Theory, Howard Wolowitz is an engineer among his scientist friends.
Howard is the nuts and bolts guy. His friends are the pure scientists. While the others are running experiments to support theories, Howard is making toilets that work in space.
And that’s how it works in the real world. Scientists answer questions based on the Scientific Method and Engineers take the findings of these Scientists and use them to design and build things that are practical.
