age of ignorance

I don’t really like making New Year’s resolutions. For some reason, that mentally seems to set me up for failure. I do, however, see the beginning of a new year as a time for some personal adjustments. Sometimes, that takes the form of personal goals (I seem to do better with “goals” than I do with “resolutions”), sometimes it looks less formal and involves tweaking some lazy life spots, and, sometimes it is a mix of both.

Rarely has that ever been in the form of physical health.  Oh, maybe getting motivated to take a few more walks... or, the time I was going to work up to doing 100 pushups (yeah, that didn't work!), but not much beyond that.

I think, though, as Backside of Forty is almost three-quarters nigh unto fifty, it may be time to start paying this area a bit more attention.

My personal health strategy through the majority of adulthood has been one characterized by the motto "ignorance is bliss".  I look healthy.  I act healthy. I feel healthy.  I must be healthy.  Fortunately, it appears that I have done okay with it.  But, since high blood pressure and high cholesterol runs in my jeans genes (and my jeans seem to be shrinking), maybe it's time to turn in my youthful "Ignorance Club" membership card.

So, in preparation for the new year coming, I did something in mid-December that is VERY unusual for me... I went to the doctor without being near death!  No... I wasn't even sick... imagine that!  And, guess what?  Yep, borderline high blood pressure and borderline high cholesterol.  I partially attribute these issues to some stressful life situations over the past five, or so, years. My life is still very stressful, and, while I can't eliminate much of the stress, I need to focus more on managing it as part of an overall health maintenance strategy.  His recommendation is a low salt, low fat diet (and, of course, come back in 6 weeks).  The good news is that he is not concerned about those moles sprouting on my back! (Isn't aging wonderful?)

He also didn't mention weight, but I think it is approaching "borderline" as well... at least the out-of-the-shower mirror view of the expanding belly bulge suggests that it is.  Many would disagree that I am overweight, and I never really considered myself so, either.  But in researching ideal height/weight ratios, I think I could stand to drop a few pounds... just a few (which tends to positively affect blood pressure and cholesterol).  I viewed myself as underweight when I graduated from high school, and in the 28 years since (has it really been that long?) I have only accumulated an additional 40 pounds.  Not bad, but I'd like to split the difference and drop about 20 of those.  For those of you who have lost weight, it may seem a relatively small goal, but for a guy who, for much of his life could eat anything with very little visible negative effect, it seems like a big one.

To accent this, I recently had the opportunity to complete a day and a half elective course, sponsored by my employer, titled Energy for Life.  The course, developed by the Human Performance Institute, was originally formulated for athletes, but has been adapted to the business world.  It focuses on physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health, and how each area works together to benefit the whole person.  It was a very beneficial course, but it was a lot to absorb in a day and a half.  I plan to go back over the material in the next few months, digest it more thoroughly and start incorporating more of it into daily living.

My initial strategy is a relatively informal one involving some lifestyle tweaks.  I plan to try to eat more sensibly, watching content and portion size (but still living and enjoying eating); snack more (sensible snacks throughout the day, rather than a BIG evening dinner); drink more water; move more; and, monitor more.  I may even purchase a blood pressure cuff and learn to monitor that at home... after all, one of the things I very much dislike about doctors is the "see me in six more weeks" line.  Yeah, I may start going more often than once every seven years, but let's not get ridiculous about it, huh?

While this may not be the most interesting of blog posts, putting it in writing helps me hold myself a little more accountable.  And, who knows, perhaps someone reading this should schedule that much needed physical?  After all, the age of ignorance only lasts so long, I guess.

scary cool

I started a new job this past September in the Underwriting Department of one of our nation's major insurance companies.  It's a new experience for me to be working for a larger company, but I'm settling into the "cuberhood", and striving to excel in my new position.

My company is pretty proactive with various health initiatives throughout the year.  Whatever they are doing must be working.  My health insurance benefits commenced immediately, so I began paying my contribution toward the premium in September.  October was our open enrollment period, so I had to re-select my coverage options, even though I had just made the selections a month before.  Guess what... the premium decreased!  Decreased!  Yes, that's right, it got cheaper!  What the heck...

So, proactive health initiatives look pretty good to me... sign me up!

One of the initiatives is Destination: You, in partnership with GobalFit.  It involves a step tracker that attaches to your shoelaces and records the date, time and number of your steps throughout the day. For incentives to get out and move, my company has established goals, contests and prizes centered around the step tracking program.  Since walking and hiking are among my favorite activities, this is right up my alley!  I signed up and my tracker was delivered to my cubicle last week.

It's a pretty cool setup.  There is a data access point at the entrance of my building.  Every time I walk past this access point, wearing my tracker, the data stored in the tracker is automatically transmitted and downloaded to my account on the GlobalFit website.  I can log on at any time and see my activity and compare it against the average of the company participants.  It's all automated... all I need to do is walk.

Cool... but, scary at the same time!  I find myself wondering how else this technology could be used?  Am I the only one that thinks this way?  With all the technology that we carry around these days, what information about us does it contain, and who could potentially download our information "automatically"?

I'm pretty sure my step tracker is harmless fun... and I am having fun with it.  The main company goal is 2,000,000 steps from July 11, 2011 to July 11, 2012.  Since I was hired in September and got my tracker in January, I'm just a little behind... OK, I'm half a year behind.  So, my personal challenge is to see how close I can get to the goal in just half the time. (I DO like to walk!)

doing the 100

For my age, I consider myself in fairly decent physical shape, and I think my lifestyle affords me a fair amount of exercise.  Walking is my exercise of choice.  I often take evening walks (in all four seasons) to burn off some stress and clear my head, and I also sneak in some short walks on my breaks at work.  Some of my favorite activities, hiking and geocaching, also involve getting outside and moving.  I've never had a gym membership, and I'm not involved in any formal exercise regimen, per se, but I figure I'm doing pretty good just by staying on the move.

However, most of this activity involves cardio and lower body.  I consider myself to have pretty decent leg strength, but I have always been disappointed with my upper body strength.  I have always been a little self-conscious of my stick arms, making me feel like a girlie-man (to be read with the appropriate Austrian accent, of course)!

At risk of sounding conceited, between Jen and I, I always viewed myself the more physically fit of the two... until recently, that is!  With Jen's recent discovery of Zumba, her fitness level has undergone a pretty extreme makeover, leaving me sometimes feeling middle-aged, spongy, and balding.  I'm okay with the balding, I can't do anything about the age... but I can follow her inspiration and work on a little more fitness.  (No, I don't think my body is made to Zumba!)

With that in mind, one of my favorite radio stations recently caught my attention with their "website of the day", when they featured the site titled, "one hundred pushups".  Intrigued, I visited the site and it is just what it sounds like... an online fitness program to build you to 100 consecutive pushups.  I liked the site design.  It is pretty simple, and it isn't written for some muscle-bound jock-type, but the average girlie-man (or woman), like me.  It offers various training levels for age and abilities, and it is designed around a six week (three days per week) schedule (although some training levels may require longer than six weeks).  It discusses variations on the traditional pushup for those who may have physical limitations, and it assesses your starting level with an "exhaustion test", which is simply, "how many consecutive pushups can you currently do?"  Throughout the program, a retake of the exhaustion test is built in, to make sure you are continuing to train at the appropriate level.

Now, I don't know about you, but I can't drop and do 100!  And, frankly, (no offense) I don't think I really know many people who could.  But, it would be kinda cool...

So, I decided to take the 100 challenge!  Why not?  Pushups are a natural exercise, you can do them anywhere, they're free, and they target my girlie-man lack of upper body strength.

I'm in my second week.  I figured if I went public with my pushups, it's harder to quit, right?  I won't tell you where my starting level was... but it was a long way from 100!  I think it may take me a little longer than six weeks, but that's okay... I've already increased my number, and I'm only investing a few minutes, three days per week.

So, how about you, blog reader... can you drop and do 100?  Wouldn't you like to?  Any takers on the 100 pushup challenge?  Let me know in the comment section if you decide to take the challenge!  I'll let you know when I complete my 100!

By the way, there is also a site for two hundred situps.  Hmmm... after I reach the 100 pushups, maybe I should work on some ab flab...