The words good on a shop winder. By Jon Tyson for Unsplash. A good week. Yes, definitely a good week.
fitness · functional fitness · habits · self care

A good week. Yes, definitely a good week.

catherine wLeave a comment

It’s been a good week.

My courses are settling into what they’re going to be, which is a smooth-ish and pretty amiable set of class meetings on topics I’m into and the students are enjoying/tolerating (so far).

I’m organized enough to vary my going-to-work footwear more than usual, color coordinating it (yes, I have shoes in many colors– sue me) with my more-colorful-than-the-average-person’s clothing. And jewelry, too. Ain’t I fancy…

I acquired three baby spider plants from my FB Buy Nothing group. They are joining my indoor aspiring jungle and appear to be getting along well with everyone.

On Wednesday morning, I went to yin yoga with my friend Kathy, joining Norah, who goes (almost) every week. I usually sign up for the zoom recording, leaving it for later (or not), but I thought to myself, I can make time for this. So I did.

Afterwards, eating sandwiches with Kathy, I got a preview of what it might be like to be a lady who lunches (well, I am a lady who has lunch but you know what I mean). It’s pretty damn good.

On Saturday I went swimming with Rachel and her 3-year-old Teagan. We (Rachel and I) traded off hanging out with Teagan in the kids’ pool so the other could do some laps in the lane pool. It worked out well, each of us doing 4 laps (8 pool lengths). Rachel said afterwards that it would be nice to work up to 50 laps. I corrected her, saying 20 laps was a more pleasant-sounding goal. She agreed (for now).

The swimming was at a local indoor pool and it cost the three of us $10 total. A bargain.

I’d really like to a) re-establish a weekly in-person yoga class; and b) go swimming once a week. Both feel really good. Can I do this? Yes, I think so. Okay, let me rephrase that:

Yes We Can.

Bob says “yes we can!”

By “we”, I mean me plus my friends, who support me in most/all of my social and physical activities. It’s much more fun and happens more often when I enlist the company of others. Of course you all know this. But it doesn’t hurt to remind oneself from time to time.

Who are you heading out the door with this week for physical activity, fun, or frolic?

Nat’s surprised by what drops her resting heart rate
Sat with Nat

Nat’s surprised by what drops her resting heart rate

natalieh (she/her)Leave a comment

Thanks to my smart watch I’ve got a lot of data about my daytime resting heart rate. I think about trying to wake up enough to take my pulse in college as our Triathlon coach Jake asked us to in 1994.

It’s 1994! Before you turn off that alarm you best be taking your pulse!

The instructions were to try not to move and just open your eyes enough to see your watch. Measure for twenty seconds and times by 3. Then quickly scribble the results in your training log book.

We monitored resting heart rate for evidence of improved physical condition, recovery from races…all kinds of things. But it was just one data point a day, taken under ideal circumstances and only when we remembered.

Now I get daily data of my daytime resting heart rate and I’ve seen some interesting results.

My “up and about” resting heart rate has averaged 63 beats per minute for two years. After a big effort it goes up and then drops after a few days.

Outlier data

Asleep my heart rate dips to 44, rest is a wonderful thing.

But one day really stood out. It was a day of my usual baseline walking and household tasks. But it was also a day I chose to dedicate the afternoon to knitting and listening to a podcast. My feet were up and I was in the zone. Knitting quiets my mind in a really lovely way. My resting heart rate was 59. Huh.

This human gets how happy knitting time is!

I shared with my crafting friends. Then I started looking at those days with dedicated reading, sewing, and tending to my aquarium. Equally chill days and wonderfully low resting heart rate.

The biggest surprise

I was out Thursday night at a pub with a friend. It was loud, we ate greasy food and laughed so hard.

I got a notification at 7pm that my heart rate was 52 bpm. I texted my friend before I went to bed telling her she was literally good for my heart.

It all counts

I was surprised that the biggest factors were not time since my biggest workout effort or my overall activity level on a day or week.

Yes, physical conditioning is supporting my cardiovascular health AND so is all the other stuff.

Having hobbies that are engrossing and enjoyable have an immediate and direct effect on my heart rate.

Spending time with dear friends relaxes and connects me. These are the most impactful things in my well being.

I am surprised by how much my hobbies are helping me be my best self, heart rate and all.

Taken care of our tender hearts is wonderful.
A black coffee mug with splashing coffee from Unsplash. Research focus: is coffee really good for you in every way? If you ask the Finns, they’ll say yes
fitness · Science

Research focus: is coffee really good for you in every way? If you ask the Finns, they’ll say yes

catherine w2 Comments

Honestly, I checked and rechecked the date on this research article blurb, making sure it wasn’t from April 1. Vice magazine broke the news about a new study out of the University of Oulu (in Oulu, Finland, of course) with the results that higher coffee intake groups showed lower total and visceral fat and higher skeletal muscle mass, among other desirable metabolic features (although BMI didn’t change between coffee drinkers non-drinkers). Here’s how the Vice folks put it:

Vice headline saying "Study Finds Coffee Drinkers Have Less Fat, More Muscle, and Are Better Than You in Every Way". Whoa.
Vice headline saying “Study Finds Coffee Drinkers Have Less Fat, More Muscle, and Are Better Than You in Every Way”. Whoa.

Could this be true? Who wants it to be true?

Me-- I do, I do! Thanks Naomi H from Unsplash for the picture.
Me– I do, I do! Thanks Naomi H from Unsplash for the picture.

The researchers noted a bunch of sex-specific hormonal effects, although many of them were transient. Which just goes to show that steady consumption of coffee throughout the day and night might just be the ticket to some improved health metrics… 🙂

Might as well set out enough for the next couple of hours to avoid too many trips back to the coffee machine. Thanks again Unslpash for image.
Might as well set out enough for the next couple of hours to avoid too many trips back to the coffee machine. Thanks again Unslpash for image.

Hmmm. So does this mean all the tea-drinkers out there will need to throw it into the nearest harbor (sorry, that’s a Boston joke) and embrace the bean instead? Not really. What the researchers concluded was what is often (read virtually always) concluded after a finding like this: it merits further study.

No food or beverage can actually work miracles on our health, fitness, appearance or mood. Coffee has its place and its devotees, among them a bunch of folks in Finland and me. We should feel free to drink it or not, given the information we have about it and about us and about its effects on us. And if it makes us feel very very good on occasion, we should feel free to do a little coffee dance.

I'd be dancing if I had that fancy coffee machine in my kitchen. Thanks Travis C from Unsplash for the pic.
I’d be dancing if I had that fancy coffee machine in my kitchen. Thanks Travis C from Unsplash for the pic.

Happy coffee Friday, all!

fitness

Strength and Mobility for Grandparenting

Diane Harper2 Comments

If you do an internet search on strength and mobility for aging, you will get many recommendations for exercises, and explanations about the importance of maintaining muscle mass or preventing falls, get up off the floor or reach objects that are stored up high.

Then there are all the social media “influencers” pushing “seniors” (often defined as people in their 40s and 50s) to lift heavy. They rarely define what they mean by heavy.

Personally, I just want to be fit enough to keep up with my grandson. I have had the pleasure of babysitting him for extended periods twice in the last month.

He weighs about 35 lb (14 kg). It’s not super heavy, but it is a wiggly, unstable weight to lift, carry upstairs or in and out of the tub, onto the change table, or just up onto my lap for a big hug and a story.

Then there are the aerobics: chasing after him in the playground, pushing him on the swings, climbing play structures.

Plus I have to work on mobility to get down on the floor to play cars and clean up all the messes- and be able to stand up quickly when he dashes away.

And walking! So much walking and pushing the stroller! I don’t even know what kind of fitness goes into wrestling a child-filled stroller on and off the bus without stumbling, but I felt like I used almost every muscle in my body (kneeling buses are great).

A happy grandson slides down a large curving red plastic slide.

I can’t wait to go back to Toronto and be that tired again.

The Spinning Wheels Tour, London to Stratford, with wind and a trumpet fanfare
charity · cycling · fitness

The Spinning Wheels Tour, London to Stratford, with wind and a trumpet fanfare

Sam BLeave a comment

Sarah, Mallory, Rob, Susan, Sumaya and I were all part of the Parkinson’s Spinning Wheels Tour ride from London to Stratford. Mallory, Susan, and Sumaya drove support vehicles and Rob, Sarah, and I, and about ten other riders, rode bikes.

Here’s Susan in Stratford Today talking about the ride and her role in it.

“Susan Fullerton is a former cyclist who helped with the logistics of the event. She was diagnosed with Parkinson’s nine years ago, and she says it’s really impacted her life.

“I’m no longer able to work. I moved out of Toronto to Guelph, to be close to my family, as I don’t really drive very much,” she shared. “I have quite bad tremors, and something called dystonia, where I freeze; my toes curl, and I have trouble walking, but I’m fairly well managed on medication.”

She was a part of a clinical trial where they opened her brain and put drugs in the brain to help stop the progression of Parkinson’s, and she thinks it really helped.

“I used to not be able to smell very much at all. And I can smell some things now,” Fullerton said. “I came home from the surgery, and I could smell my cat litter, something I hadn’t been able to do for a number of years, so one of my friends sent me flowers because she said I should smell something better than cat litter.”

When it comes to Parkinson’s, there are a lot of misconceptions.

“I think most people think of old men with tremors, and they don’t think it’s happening to, people in their mid-30s, so it’s not just old people; it’s young, middle-aged, and old people,” Fullerton said. “People think it’s only tremors, and there’s so much more, and the other thing is, it’s not just physical symptoms. There’s the anxiety, depression, and the other thing is that stress is one of the biggest contributors to the progression of your disease.”

See more here: https://www.stratfordtoday.ca/local-news/spinning-wheels-tour-cyclists-arrive-in-stratford-to-raise-parkinsons-awareness-12809123#

The ride is really about raising awareness of Parkinson’s and celebrating community, but it’s also a fundraiser. You can donate here if you like.

“More than 120,000 people live with Parkinson’s in Canada, a number expected to grow significantly in the coming years. At Parkinson Canada, people with Parkinson’s are at the centre of everything we do. Parkinson Canada funds critical research, provides information and support, increases awareness and advocates for improved healthcare outcomes for people with Parkinson’s across Canada. With the support of our sponsors, partners and the Parkinson’s community, we continue to invest in research dedicated to finding a cure and improving the quality of life for all people affected by Parkinson’s.”

The route was about 65 km and the day was gorgeous. There was sunshine and temperatures starting out at about 10 degrees and ending at about 15. There were also hills, but rolling hills mostly, so fine. And wind. The wind was less fine.

We regrouped for the final ride into Stratford and our highlight of the day was riding into the park, complete with trumpets and a fanfare. Thanks Mary, Larry, and Phil for the welcome!

Video of our arrival at the park, with a very Stratford welcome and a trumpet fanfare!

man sitting beside bicycle Winnie’s thoughts on cycling and distance
cycling · fitness

Winnie’s thoughts on cycling and distance

Sam BLeave a comment

I rode about 40 miles the other day. That used to be a shortish ride.

Today it was, then suddenly, it wasn’t. I got too hungry & hadn’t packed any reasonable amount of food. I had a cookie, but somehow, that just wasn’t going to take care of things. So I stopped at the grocery store after calling my husband & sister to come along & rescue me, along with stuff for a very early dinner. I’m not sure why I couldn’t get this right; it’s not all that hard. I travel with a medium-sized Camelback, which helps me drink enough, and has plenty of room for nuts (and cookies) and, if I expect to be out at a regular mealtime, a peanut butter sandwich or something like it. And perhaps a nice sparkling water. 

Right now I am trying to get back to longer rides of 60 miles or more. We are seriously considering two different tours next spring/summer: a couple of weeks exploring Japan, probably free-form, mostly organized by a friend who has been there several times; and/or, a ride along what Adventure Cycling calls The Transamerica Trail. That one could be quite a challenge. Although I have ridden the northern cross-continent route and the southern one offered by Adventure Cycling, I have chosen not to ride this one. I still don’t want to ride the whole thing. Why? Well, up until recently, it was because I didn’t want to take on the winds, mostly in Kansas, and because I am frankly scared of the dogs in eastern Kentucky. The winds on that open prairie state are almost constant, but can change directions quite a bit. I am small, my bike is light; my bike touring doesn’t include camping, so I don’t need to carry all that equipment. I have already experienced winds strong enough to push me a foot or more from where I thought I was riding, and in one case, 90 degrees from where I’d been heading. I just don’t want a sudden gust to come along and send me out into the traffic lane. I have ridden in Kansas, loved it in many ways, but all the way across? Nope.

The dogs are notorious among touring cyclists. There’s an area where there seem to be no restrictions on keeping them behind a fence, and they act as if they’ve been bred from Prohibition-era dogs that were schooled to keep the inspectors at a good distance from the stills hidden in the Appalachian hills. Bloggers write of using horns, water sprays from bottles, shouting, bear spray (but what if the wind is heading your way???), getting off & putting the bike between you & the dog (but if there’s more than one dog…). Anyway, I choose not to take that one on. I have ridden in western Kentucky. It’s lovely.

There was one other concern. The pass across the Rocky Mountains is high. Over 11,000 feet. I have ridden up Haleakala on Maui, a bit over 10,000 feet, and I really feel it when I get above about 8500 feet. How can all these people make it across? Why do none of them even talk about the reduced oxygen?

I read lots & lots of journals on crazyguyonabike.com. I finally realized: they spend a week or two on the ascent. I do the beach-to-summit in one day on Haleakala. Oh. Maybe I could do it. So we are seriously considering giving it a try. We would ride from somewhere in Oregon (Coast? Bend? Doesn’t matter much; we’ve ridden both those areas quite a bit) and finish in Pueblo, Colorado, where the land flattens & becomes the Great Plains.

Which explains why I need to remember my peanut butter sandwich on my longer rides starting now.

Bio: I am a lifelong Californian. My mother and father were not born here but moved to the state as small children. I have two grown daughters and five wonderful grandchildren. I spent my working life working at, and eventually running, the family insurance business. My father had introduced many employee benefits – sabbatical starting in 1970, optional four-day work week in 1972, elimination of all official work time rules in 1974. Adults like to be treated as adults, and people tended to stay a long time, so it was a very pleasant working environment with key elements of trust and respect. I also served on a couple of independent school boards, one a strong academic school serving grades 6-12, one a school designed to start helping city kids who had suffered the ongoing effects of racism & poverty to find opportunities they might not as easily discover without support. I live at a Lifetime Care Community where I serve on the finance committee and chair the sustainability committee. I also plan to join the newly formed fitness committee. And for fun, I have ridden my bicycle across North America. Twice.

fitness

Bike to Work Day

Diane HarperLeave a comment

Or is it? I was sure I had seen a post about saying it was, but can’t find it now. No matter: I rode to work anyway, for the first time in over a year.

It’s the beginning of fall, and a perfect time to ride. No heat, no bugs, and the leaves are just starting to turn where I live.

A woman cycles along a path with golden leaves on the nearby grass. She is wearing a backpack. Does it contain her lunch, computer, or maybe a change of clothes for the office?

Now that one little “day” has me back on my bike, I am planning to “ride the thermometer down” so that I can be sure to do International Winter Bike to Work Day on February 12, 2027.

A small painting of a shiny gold star Go Team 2026: Forge Ahead, Pivot, Restart!
advice · fitness · Go Team · goals · habits · motivation · self care

Go Team 2026: Forge Ahead, Pivot, Restart!

Christine HenneburyLeave a comment

Hey Team,

Here’s your semi-regular reminder that you are the boss of you.

Soooooo, it is up to you how to proceed with your plans. 

If your current plans feel good and you are getting where you want to go, then forge ahead. 

I mean, it’s good to check in every now and then but you are under no obligation to examine every single detail of your fitness plans over and over. 

And you certainly don’t have to keep changing them to match trends or to prove a point. 

Basically, if your current plan is working for you then… FORGE AHEAD!

But what about if your plan sort of works but there are stil rough spots, friction, and/or you often find it hard to get going.

In that case, it may be time to make a few changes.

You may want to switch up your plans a bit, change the exercises you’re doing, find some company, take on a different challenge, put in some extra effort or maybe dial things back a bit. 

Basically, if your initial plan is getting on your nerves you don’t have to keep frustrating yourself (and you definitely shouldn’t be hard on yourself), instead, you can… PIVOT!

But what about if you started out strong but your enthusiasm waned? 

Or if you hated your plan from step one?

Or if you love the plan but life got in the way and now you just can’t?

Or if your plan worked when you made it but then your schedule changed?

Well, in that case, the only thing you *can’t* do is be mean to yourself about it. (Ok, I guess you can but I will give you a stern look about being mean to my friend.)

After all, finding a fitness plan that works for you isn’t about doing the perfect thing as your perfect self on your most perfect day.

Instead, it’s is about finding ways to keep doing things that you want to do (or achieving things that you want to achieve) so it only makes to make your plans appeal to the most important person in the equation – YOU.

Basically, if you aren’t doing the things you want/need to be doing then change your plans and …RESTART.

And yes, I know there is great value in starting something new on a significant date (New Years, your birthday, September 1) but there is also value in starting wherever and whenever you happen to be. 

(In fact, with a little imagination you can turn anything into a significant date. If nothing occurs to you, feel free to post in the comments and I’ll wrangle any ordinary day into an auspicious occasion for restarting you project.)

So, Team, the key information here is that it is ok for you to do the things you want to do, in the way you want to do them, on a schedule that works for you.

You can work hard or proceed gently or do anything in between. As long as you match your expectations to your efforts, your intensity is up to you.

You can have a strict schedule or something a bit more loose and responsive to your day to day plans. As long as it works for you, it’s a good way to proceed.

Basically, as I said at the beginning, you are the boss of you.

AND your needs are the most important factors in your fitness plans. 

So, whether we’re going to forge ahead, pivot, or restart, let’s do all what we need to do to help us stick with the things that help us feel the way we want to feel. 

Oh, and please collect your gold star for your efforts below.

Go Team Us!

colorful paint set with brush on numbered canvas Sam moves a post to the trash after learning that the expert quoted was an AI generated hoax
blog · blogging · fitness

Sam moves a post to the trash after learning that the expert quoted was an AI generated hoax

Sam B3 Comments

We get a lot of email here at Fit is a Feminist Issue mostly from people who are offering advertising or to write sponsored posts that contain product links. If I reply, I say no, but mostly I ignore these offers.

Today I got a different sort of email telling me that one of experts quoted in one of our posts, a Dr. Eleni Nicolaou of Davincified, is actually not a person but an AI generated persona, a hoax.

A news outlet called Press Gazette reported that Dr Eleni Nicolaon was found to be an AI generated persona, tricking various publications into being featured as an expert. The persona was featured in dozens of articles and media outlets and Press Gazette’s exposé also explains how fabricated experts are used to secure links to commercial websites, in case you were wondering why anyone would bother to do this. I wondered.

See Prominent art therapist quoted by Vice, Forbes and others is AI-generated.

“Dr Nicolaou, who purports to be an expert in residence for paint-by-numbers kit selling website Davincified, claims to be an art therapist from Cyprus – but there is no sign of her practice online.

Instead, in her various online profiles on Facebook and Linkedin, everything links back to her profile on Davincified. ‘Dr Nicolaou’ did not respond to requests to verify her identity by email or sent via social media.

She has opined on everything from low-effort self-care (on Forbes) to how to retire (Parade) to ‘crying therapy’ (Glamour) and which colour to paint your wall to calm your dog (Vice).”

I was quoting Dr. Eleni Nicolaon on the Sweish tradition of “Fredagsmys” or “cozy Fridays.”

Here’s my two cents on the cozy Friday tradition, from the now deleted blog post: “While I am a big believer (for me, I know it’s not best for everyone) in working when I’m working and taking weekends off, and I like the idea of rituals to mark transitions, this sounds too cozy for me. What am I doing this Friday? Going into the big city for dinner with friends and a concert. Saturday I’ll ride my bike and go to a play. Sunday might be anti-gravity restorative yoga. There will definitely be dog walks. Barring an emergency on campus, there’ll be no work work, though there will be some cleaning and housework. Maybe what this tells me is that I don’t need help shifting into weekend mode. Weekend mode comes pretty naturally. I think if I could pick one summer Friday ritual it might be an after work bike ride and a backyard BBQ with friends after. How about you? What do you think of the cozy Friday idea?“

The article I quoted was Feeling Burned Out by Friday? Why “Fredagsmys” Is the Cozy Swedish Ritual Everyone’s Embracing on the Real Simple website.

I’ve taken my Cozy Friday piece down but the Real Simple article which lists Eleni Nicolaon as “PhD, art therapist and creative wellness coach at Davincified” is still standing.

So we’re doing our best to keep comercial ad-directed content off the blog-there are no sponsored blog posts here–I’ve learned that we’ll need to be more careful quoting from other websites. As far as we can tell Dr. Eleni Nicolaon isn’t real. But the people behind her trying to make money from traffic directed to the Davincified website certianly are.

Apologies.


person holding whiteboard Small, Weird, and Good: A #ThreeGoodThings Round-Up for World Gratitude Day
fitness

Small, Weird, and Good: A #ThreeGoodThings Round-Up for World Gratitude Day

Sam B1 Comment

World Gratitude Day is September 21st, and so instead of a month in review, here’s a different kind of round-up: a look back at what this blog has had to say about gratitude and #threegoodthings.

Where the #ThreeGoodThings habit started. Sam’s version of the daily practice goes back to a rough November, when she wrote about making a conscious effort to acknowledge gratitude, sharing personal examples alongside research on what noticing good things actually does for mental and physical health. A few weeks later, Catherine turned the same impulse into a group project, inviting the blog’s contributors to rewrite a Julie Andrews classic verse by verse in these are a few of our favorite things — proof that gratitude doesn’t have to be solemn or serious.

Why bother, and does it work? Cate took the research question seriously in her post is there a relationship between gratitude and health?, digging into the evidence that a regular practice does something measurable, partly through motivation and partly through the social connection it builds. Elan comes at gratitude sideways, through appreciation for other people and other things: Elan’s in praise of rec sports volunteers is a thank-you to the unpaid labour that makes community sport possible, and her later post on grace and gratitude in mindful eating reworks the old habit of saying grace before a meal into something more reflective and less doctrinal.

#ThreeGoodThings, the practice itself. By 2022, Sam had folded the daily habit into her recovery from knee replacement surgery in three good things: the fit feminist edition, using it to notice weekly milestones instead of daily ones and to push back against the seasonal slump. The following November brought happy Planksgiving, which links gratitude season to the blog’s long-running plank challenge and confirms the #ThreeGoodThings habit was, by then, just part of how Sam moves through the fall. A year after that, she made the case for spreading it further in share your #3GoodThings: join the movement, noting that the habit had stuck for years and had already caught on with friends and fellow bloggers.

Bringing it up to now. Last summer, gratitude got tested rather than celebrated: gremlins? Sam’s weekend with six weirdly small, bad things catalogues a run of minor technical disasters and still lands on “there were also lots of good things too” — a good demonstration that the practice can hold both at once. Then, on the day itself last year, Sam marked Happy World Gratitude Day with a version of the daily list — a song that gets stuck in her head every September 21st, a bike ride with friends, a walk through Rockwood Conservation with her daughter and the dog. And Sam’s three good things, the coccoon edition finds three good things in a restorative yoga pose, a hard trip to Montreal, and a Duolingo streak — which is to say, in the small stuff, same as always.

The practice, explained. Most recently, Elan turned interviewer for positive is practice: Sam’s 3 good things, asking Sam directly why she’s kept posting daily good things for six years running. Sam traces it back to that same 2020 November post, describes how it went from a seasonal habit to a year-round one, and Elan connects it to a Hidden Brain episode on negativity bias and “gain-framing” — the idea that we’re wired to dwell on what went wrong and have to work at noticing what went right. Sam is candid about the limits of the practice, too: she also posts bad news and rejections, worries about seeming like it’s “all good things all the time,” and admits she’s skipped days when things were too bleak. But mostly, the good things are just simple and still real: light on the water on a canoe trip, a hummingbird, loons, hot tea and cookies. As she puts it, “the world is a beautiful place.”

So: Happy World Gratitude Day. What are your three good things today?

This round-up was assembled by Claude with prompts from Sam and edited by Sam. If you spot any errors, let us know.