Have Fun Blog

Showing up is all it takes.

Swimming is a terrific way to tone the body and get in shape with very little stress on the joints. This makes it the perfect exercise for any age; all you need is a swimsuit and to find a suitable time at the pool, many have designated adult swim times or family sessions. However, sometimes the prospect of getting in the pool, especially if you consider yourself less than accomplished, can be daunting. The following is my response to a question on how to start on a major weight loss target, and highlights my main mantra which is, “keep on showing up”.

“Let me take your points one by one. The first one about not swimming too well. That means you do swim a bit, and a bit is all you need to get this thing rolling. When I came back to swimming after 30 years off, I started easy, I did what I could because I knew that as time passed I’d get a little bit better and a little bit better until I was really getting somewhere. Now when I say easy, I mean easy, like 25 meters and then a rest, then another 25 meters and so on. Never push it past where it’s fun, and don’t put pressure on yourself, just wait, keep showing up at that pool and doing what you can, and soon what you can will be quite a bit. It’s the keeping on that’s the trick. Forget the “burn”, who needs to be in discomfort all the time, just keep on “doing what you can” and the consistency will win the day. It’s like water on stone, the outcome is never in doubt, and the little drip will go right through that stone.

As for your second point “how do I even get started”, well you have started, you know an exercise you can do and improve on, and you need to focus on the first 5 lbs. not the rest. If you look at too big a task, you’ll say, “oh forget it, it’s too tough to lose 96 lbs.”. But how about 5 lbs. to start, is that do-able? Then let’s do it!! And when we’ve got that wall knocked down, we’ll go for 8 lbs. next time. So take it in little pieces, that’s what I’m doing with my program, I do what I can and I don’t fret over what I can’t, that would be a waste of my energy. Let’s do what we can, set a “do-able” target and GO FOR IT. But don’t tell yourself, it’s “only the first or whatever”, IT IS THE ONLY TARGET!! Focus, keep it in front of you and REACH it before you even think of the next step. Water on Stone!!”

About The Author

Gordon Black is a world-ranked Master swimmer and Canadian national record holder. A member of the British swim team in the late ’60s, after thirty years out of the pool, last year Gordon returned to competitive swimming in the Masters forum. He offers an online weight loss, fitness and motivational coaching service through his web site http://www.gordonblack.com where his competitive comeback is chronicled.

gordon@gordonblack.com

Share This

That most energizing and bold sport - snowboarding! Have
you ever tried it?

Take a mountain of snow, a big flat curved board, step on,
and whoosh! Off you go! You’re surfing the Earth! It’s
exhilarating to the max.

I really got into it when I moved to Colorado. I used to
live in Michigan. Yeah, there’s some skiing and
snowboarding in Michigan, and most of the northern states.
But when you’ve got real mountains, there’s just nothing
like it. Nothing I ever skiied in Michigan compared to the
slopes of Colorado. Nothing.

I’m pretty agile and I’ve got the balance thing down, so
it was easy for me to get the knack of moving my weight
from heel to toe and maneuvering the board against the snow
and gravity. I fell off plenty of times while I was
learning. And I still do it sometimes, but then, that’s
part of the fun.

Just like any sport, you can’t read about it and just do
it. You have to get out there and strap your feet onto the
board. But if you’re really new to the idea, you can get
some information off web sites like www.abc-of-
snowboarding.com.

But what really works is watching the other people on the
slopes and then playing with the techniques yourself.
Experiment. And definitely don’t worry about it when you
crash. In fact, expect it. Wipeouts are going to happen.
It’s inevitable. If you’re not crashing, you’re not
learning. Push your limits and test your skills.

Oh, and if it’s the middle of summer and you’re just
craving that surfing feel, and you’re like, totally bored
out of your gourd, you can go find some online snowboarding
games. Yeah, I know. It’s tough when there’s no snow, but
if you’re into games, you can do the moves in your head for
a couple of months till it snows again.

But right now, it’s early in the season yet and the snow
is just beginning, so get out there and play!

Kathryn Mosely has written extensively on subjects related to sports and fitness. Her articles can be found at Snowboard Max
She also contributes Acer Bike

Share This

When you think of human powered vehicles what comes to mind? Most will think of different forms of bikes. There is the bicycle, unicycle, and tricycle. Did you also consider these vehicles? Consider these the canoe, ice skates, roller skates, kick scooter, skis, trikke and skateboard. All of which are fun to use and our powered by muscular movement on our part.

For most of us the very first vehicle we drove ourselves was not an automobile. It was most likely some from of transportation powered by yourself and not a motor. It was nothing fancy just another way to get from here to there. In most cases it probably wasn’t even faster than we could have done crawling or walking, but it sure was fun. This vehicle was called a tricycle: a simple 3-wheeled contraption that used handle bars atop a rotating front wheel to steer and was powered by your very own legs.

Once you mastered the use of your tricycle you were ready for the big time, a bicycle. Now this was much faster and more challenging than a tricycle. The transition went smoothly as it came with the subtraction of one back wheel, but was accompanied by the addition of two training wheels. Then when you were ready you could remove the training wheels and after a few falls you were off and loving it.

Then you got a car and transportation would never be the same again. That care free joyous feeling is gone. With a car came much more responsibility and more expenses. Now you had to worry about car insurance bills, tune ups, maybe tickets, cleanings, and the most lethal of expenses now gas prices. Gas prices are hovering around $3.00 per gallon.

It has never been cheaper and more beneficial to go back to those self human powered vehicles that we all loved so much growing up. Growing up self powered vehicles were used strictly for recreational proposes. Now as adults why not use self powered vehicles for those short journeys? Not only is it beneficial financially, but also is a good source of exercise.

A recent HPV that was recently invented is the IT Segaway scooter.by Dean Kamen of New Hampshire? This is a human powered transporter which moves by the motion of the person on it. It is self balancing. It only has two wheels it looks like an ordinary hand truck dolly. To move forward or backwards the person leans slightly forward or backwards to go in that direction.

Inventors are very inspired by human powered vehicles. They have been inventing ways to travel using the human muscular motion for years. There is an International Human Powered Vehicle Association which promotes improvement, creativity and innovation in the use of human power vehicles, especially in the design and development of the HPV’s. There are also many contests and races involving the HPV. HPV’s can ride on land, water and even in the air.

TK Healey chief editor for SurfTilYouDrop

Share This