I can’t blog about secret projects I’m working on, so how about something completely different?
I’ve improved my fitness level substantially over the last five years. (On index cards, I have my daily weight and body fat percentage, according to the bathroom scale, back to November 2009). Here’s some things I’ve learned:
- Moving counts. A lot. The difference between being completely sedentary and moving a bit (easy walks, standing desk, etc.) is the biggest leap. Everything after that is incremental.
- Spending $99 in a Fitbit is the best health investment I’ve made, dollar-for-dollar, ever.
- Expensive shoes don’t help much. My current main shoes were $40 online, and they’re just as good, if not better, than the $120 shoes from Roadrunner.
- Pilates looks easy if you’ve never tried it.
- Once you reach a certain level, you will plateau there unless you challenge yourself further.
- Strength training is helpful for just about everything, even improving your running times.
- Foam rollers are super useful for managing sore muscles and tendons. Highly-recommended.
- Boosting your VO2Max is painful–interval training is the gasping-for-air kind of torture many people think of when they hear the word ‘exercise’–but it’s also important if you want to improve your run times.
- But you shouldn’t try to improve your run times or anything else unless you have specific bigger-picture goals in mind.
- Seriously–sitting is terrible for you. Get a standing desk.
Invest in yourself. -m