Physical fitness.

[ohio jones]

i’m very hopeful about the 48 hour day experiment.

On the positive side, birthdays come around half as often.

[temporal1]

i’m very hopeful about the 48 hour day experiment.

On the positive side, birthdays come around half as often.

yes. and. right in the middle, you get a really long nap nobody criticizes.

[temporal1]

Page 2 / Jan 3

i’m walking EVERY OTHER DAY, which is working well in all ways but one:
i want to eat the same on my “off” days, which amounts to too many calories total.

not sure how to deal with this.
i decided i would try to walk 5 miles every other day!

2.5 miles every day?

Try listening to podcasts during the walk, if you're into multitasking.

By Jan 20, i managed to walk 5.12 miles. With wrist weights.
Every other day. Trying to live the 48-hour day experiment.

5 miles is my goal.
i think that’s enough. so far, it’s varied 5.12-5.42 miles. that’s ok.
my path varies, i’m not trying to be a stickler. but: 5 miles min., every other day.

i’m unsure about wrist weights. i stopped using them. i may begin again, using them for half the distance. the reviews on whether they’re a good idea are mixed.

i’ve gone in all weather so far. wind is the worst.

today it was icy-slippery in places. i slipped a few times on the “north loop.”

i expected the “river loop” would be worse, it was not. not nearly as bad for traction.
it was sunny+pretty. overall, we’ve had much worse Januarys!! - now for February!!
Feb can be a beast. i hope not. March is right around the corner.

[temporal1]

After returning from my family visit in WA, i discovered something new.
UNWRAPPED Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.



Not helpful. To anything.
i’m not sure why they taste SO GOOD at bedtime, then keep me awake all night.

Not good. Not good at all.

[steve-in-kville]

I can eat a piece of dark chocolate at bedtime and for the most part, I'm fine. If I have too much I tend to have some wild dreams

[Grace]

I can eat a piece of dark chocolate at bedtime and for the most part, I'm fine. If I have too much I tend to have some wild dreams

I have found, sugar at bedtime makes for a wild dream night.

[Ken]

Regarding physical fitness.

My HS daughter is currently writing a paper on comparative religions for her AP World History class. She is comparing and contrasting Hinduism and Buddhism.

One of the things that she pointed out to me is both religions have serious health and fitness elements to their theology which is something that she believes appears to be lacking in Christianity. Hinduism practices vegetarianism and fitness through yoga. Various forms of martial arts and fitness exercises like Tai Chi as well as fasting have emerged out of Buddhist and Taoist traditions. In fact, most eastern religions have something of a focus on the fitness of mind and body.

I have to wonder if these sorts of traditions once also existed in Christianity and have more or less been lost over the centuries. Or were never there to begin with. At least with respect to the modern European and North American versions of Christianity where things like dietary rules and fitness are largely lost or absent.

[Josh]

One rather interesting thing is that, in the west, physical fitness is a huge industry. The physical fitness industry of just health clubs alone is about $87 billion globally (out of an $87 trillion total global economy). If one includes nutrition, health drinks, etc. the industry is even larger.

What is interesting, however, is that people are less fit than ever - particularly in the west. Despite spending lots of money and effort and time on physical fitness, people are quite unfit. The amount of health problems from lack of fitness is eclipsing the amount of progress we make from cures from advanced modern medicine; health care was 5% of the U.S. economy in 1960, but was 20% in 2020, and estimates are that in 2021 it has expanded significantly. Yet people are not four times healthier than they were in 1960, and we are now in an era when life spans are health outcomes are declining versus last year and the year prior.

I do think religion has a part to play in this - including Christian faith. Monastic orders and Catholicism / Orthodoxy used to place a lot of priority on fasting, depriving one's self of carnal pleasures in the form of food, and viewed gluttony / sloth as sins, even deadly sins. This tradition seems to be entirely lost in Protestantism.

[Ken]

One rather interesting thing is that, in the west, physical fitness is a huge industry. The physical fitness industry of just health clubs alone is about $87 billion globally (out of an $87 trillion total global economy). If one includes nutrition, health drinks, etc. the industry is even larger.

What is interesting, however, is that people are less fit than ever - particularly in the west. Despite spending lots of money and effort and time on physical fitness, people are quite unfit. The amount of health problems from lack of fitness is eclipsing the amount of progress we make from cures from advanced modern medicine; health care was 5% of the U.S. economy in 1960, but was 20% in 2020, and estimates are that in 2021 it has expanded significantly. Yet people are not four times healthier than they were in 1960, and we are now in an era when life spans are health outcomes are declining versus last year and the year prior.

I do think religion has a part to play in this - including Christian faith. Monastic orders and Catholicism / Orthodoxy used to place a lot of priority on fasting, depriving one's self of carnal pleasures in the form of food, and viewed gluttony / sloth as sins, even deadly sins. This tradition seems to be entirely lost in Protestantism.

I agree. Church for me growing up was about big potlucks and huge Sunday dinners after having done zero physical exertion all Sunday morning. I suspect some eating habits were legacies of a bygone era when most life was really physical. Our physical activity has declined but our appetites haven’t.

It would be an interesting research topic to track health and fitness traditions in the early church and see what has been lost over the centuries. People were probably also just a lot more fit when they had to walk everywhere and meet most of life’s necessities through physical activity, from gathering firewood to collecting water to growing crops. A century ago, being overweight was a sign of being rich. Today it is more of a sign of being poor.

[steve-in-kville]

Both Josh and Ken have some very valid points. To that end, I have heard it preached that Hollywood dictates fashion, and I also think it dictates fitness and body composition. Hence the "body shaming" movement we had a few years ago. I witness this in my own workplace every day: "humble bragging" about being sore because it was "leg day" at the gym yesterday or diet restrictions because of an upcoming marathon.

This said, I have nothing against the above activities, provided it doesn't become an idol. I walk a lot and often carry a weighted ruck. In fact up until a few years ago, I rode bike to work 11 months out of the year. A healthy body leads to a healthy mind