I’m a sucker for animal memes. I mean, aren’t we all? This week I happened on a FB page (this one) with familiar-yet-new-feeling animal advice for getting through life, or the next meeting, or the next minute. I think we can all use this from time to time. So herewith life coaching from domestic animals.
First, let’s hear from the sheep on getting through difficult days.
You don’t need to feel inspired; rather just let yourself get through things without throwing yourself into the hedge.
Let stubbornness help; spite can carry you surprisingly far at times.
The cow is here to remind you that you don’t have to do everything now, or all the time.
Some things can wait; the field will still be here tomorrow.
Also, you needn’t keep chewing on (or ruminating, if you will) on the same thought. The cow knows from this.
And finally, the goose has things to say to all of us.
My watch beeped with a ba-bing! My walk with Lucy had just posted to Strava and the notification read “You reached a 2 year streak!”
A screenshot of my Strava feed showing my morning walk with Lucy on Sep 7
I guess that means two years of having a smart watch. My love of my watch’s data gathering and analytics ebbs and flows.
I value the heart rate monitoring. I’m annoyed by the calculated secondary measures as well as the word soup “analysis” both Strava and Apple Health provide.
A screenshot of my September Strava calendar showing 104 weeks of tracking and 1,225 activities
I do appreciate the effortless logging of steps, breathing rates, hours of sleep – as well as the swimming, cycling and strength training tracking.
Since all of that requires no additional effort from me, I have reliable data and am able to analyze my own trends, thank you very much.
Ignore the sleep analysis
Aside from telling me how long I slept, and even that is suspect, I want to find a way to turn off the sleep narrative.
I know what time I went to bed, that I fell asleep quickly, or not, if I was awake for long periods and when I got up.
I absolutely despise the chastising about what time I went to bed. Worse, the tone about my “awake time”, as though it is something I can directly control is annoying.
A graph of my sleep score on a given night. The text reads “Your recent score was a 77 due to the number of times you woke up.”
I wake up at night, every night. Hot flashes, sleep apnea and toilet breaks. It’s my normal. I’m looking for variations from that norm, not a measure against a made up goal of not waking up.
There are reports of people going to their doctor with their smart watch sleep analysis because they think something is wrong.
There is no magic REM, deep sleep or core number to hit. Plus these are calculated and derived from other metrics. Having been to a couple of sleep clinics, I can tell you that the number of sensors required to truly analyze your sleep cycles is staggering.
Aggregate numbers are impressive!
1,225 activities in 2 years means I’m recording, on average, one or two activities a day. This is the active lifestyle I’m looking for.
While I strive for 2 to 3 activities a day, there are some with none and that is ok. My goal is over my lifetime, not 1 day or even a week.
In early June I drove down to New Brunswick and back. A solid 5 days of not doing much other than driving or resting and I’m ok with that.
Celebrate!
So here’s to 2 years of reliable metrics. Yay!!! It’s important to take a moment when you accomplish something.
Every day we are bombarded with new advice on how to dial in our exercise regimen for optimal efficiency. This advice include things like exercise snacks, short duration workouts, combining strength with cardio, not worrying about cardio but making sure to get the strength workouts in, and for the love of all that’s holy, don’t forget to balance on one foot 4–5 times a week!
Yes, there’s new-new research coming out, but honestly, I think we don’t know exactly what sorts of movements are best for us, other than the fact that movement itself is good.
So, in honor of throwback science, here’s a post I wrote two years ago, comparing measured steps counts vs. measured-time workouts. Check it out, and then do whatever works for you.
Sam’s post about her new knee’s fourth anniversary reminded me I have a small anniversary of my own. In a few days, I’ll be celebrating five months since my heart valve repair.
Sam’s posts about the importance of pre-hab and rehab helped me be as fit as possible before surgery, though they didn’t fully prepare me for the frustration of not healing as quickly as I wanted.
My cardiologist tells me I’m doing just fine and need to be patient with myself. Yeah right. Like that’s going to happen…
I still get out of breath when walking, but it may be because I’m going faster because now I’m passing people on the sidewalk. I am back to work, having passed all my fitness tests (I even knocked a second off my sprint time).
Diane, wet from the pool and suffering from goggle eyes, but with a happy grin on her face.
As promised, I have started doing exercise snacks at work. Those little swims between times of active lifeguarding are turning out to be rather addictive. I’m also back to weekly swim practice with my club, as well as ballet, Pilates and jazz classes.
Sleep remains a challenge. It is finally starting to be restful but now that I’m back to all my activities, I need to work on getting to bed early so I can sleep longer. I no longer have the luxury of sleeping late or having an afternoon nap.
An alarm clock showing it’s almost 7:00 in the foreground, with an out-of-focus woman sleeping in the background. If this were actually me, I would be late for work.
Hopefully this will be my last health update for a while. The cardiac rehab folks told me I don’t need to do rehab with them because I’m already doing plenty. My cardiologist wants to see me in about six months, but anticipates releasing me back to my family doctor for regular care after that.
Maybe I can knock a few more seconds off my sprint time by then. That’s the goal, anyway.
On September 22, Car Free Day encourages motorists around the world to give up their vehicles for a day. Car Free Day aims to see what life would be like without cars on the road.
Part of this day will be easy for me.
On October 22nd I’m taking part in the Parkinson’s Ride from London to Stratford, Ontario. You can join our team or sponsor us here.
But the bit I can’t do is the car-free part, which is kind of the whole point. Because we need to get back to London to get our car and then drive home to Guelph.
But you? Are you in Toronto? You should go to the bike ride and picnic advertised above!
“We are partnering with Chosen Chain and the Bicycle Mayor of Toronto. They will be guiding us along a 15 km route through the heart of the city to discover some amazing car-free spaces which are connected to bike lanes and transit. Thanks to our sponsor Leone Murray LLP, food and refreshments will be provided.”
What: 3rd Annual World Car Free Day bike ride and picnic.
It’s organized by Femmes & Friends.
“Femmes & Friends is a collective of women who enjoy riding bikes and want to share that joy with others. Our events aim to create a welcoming environment for women of all ages, abilities, identities, incomes and mobilities to gather for fun bike rides without fear of judgment or competition. Allies are welcome.”
Maybe you’ve heard (or more likely seen) actor Sydney Sweeney featured in a new one-minute ad for Novig, a sports betting app. She’s not wearing jeans this time (read here for a peek at the 2025 American Eagle ad and the controversy surrounding it), but appears (in the company of sports equipment) in her birthday suit. That is, butt naked.
Let me state for the record that we here at Fit is a Feminist Issue are nothing if not body positive. We’ve written about boudoir photography, being naked in locker rooms and other fitness spaces, the experience of women with larger bodies wearing tiny bathing suits (TLDR: it can be freeing and fun), to name a few.
What makes me grit my teeth about this ad (I’m not linking to it, but you will not be able to enter the Internet without tripping over a story about it) is three things:
Thing one: It’s using sex to sell, or rather a particularly narrow notion of sexiness in women to gin up business for a sports betting app.
Yes, sex has been selling all kinds of things effectively since time immemorial. And sexy images are fun, sometimes provocative, and yes, actually sexy. Also, sexy images get used to sell many decidedly non-sexy things. This 1929 ad was considered sexually provocative, using a woman to sell shampoo:
This ad said loveliness would ensue after application of shampoo. Wow.
Of course, the ad folks have come a long way, baby, since then, using very particular images that promote particular body types, exploiting racialized notions of beauty or sexiness for the purpose of commerce. Doing so sends all sorts of negative messaging about who is sexy or attractive and why. Honestly, it’s unimaginative and kind of mean, and ultimately not very interesting or creative.
Thing two: this ridiculous ad is selling out women in sports by presenting a set of caricatured images (of Sweeney e.g. posing naked with footballs against her breast, or perching atop a basketball goal), ignoring the rich, beautiful and magnificent array of women who actually participate in sports at all levels. And the women athletes are responding in force. Here’s Gracie Kramer, a former gymnast, from this New York Times article:
On Friday, Gracie Kramer, a former gymnast, posted a video montage on social media with the caption: “idk what Sydney Sweeney was doing, but this is what a woman in sports looks like.” It inspired waves of others in a range of sports to do the same.
“I’ve been over-sexualized my whole career, I’ve dealt with men only focusing on how I look and not what I’m capable of,” Kramer, the former gymnast, said in an interview, referring to comments some had made about the size of her legs or arms. “Women put in hours and years to build something that they’re proud of, and when you’re reduced to the way that you look, it’s dehumanizing.”
Her response video, which was viewed millions of times, became a kind of rallying cry for other female athletes to post videos of themselves too, skiing, running, playing basketball, water polo and more. On Monday, the British sprinter Amy Hunt, after finishing a 200-meter final, addressed Sweeney on the BBC, adding that “this is what women in sport look like.”
Yes, companies get to decide how to design ads for their products, and they make choices within legal boundaries. And in a society where there are outlets for voices to be heard, women in sports are raising those voices, expressing their displeasure and offering good reasons why they’re so displeased.
Thing three: let’s take a moment to turn to what the Sweeney ad is selling: sports betting using a phone app. I’m not going to mince words here: sports betting apps promote gambling addiction and result in disastrous economic effects for lots of people. Here’s an article from Johns Hopkins school of public health about the public health risks posed by sports betting apps.
“We’re referring to it as the largest and fastest explosion of gambling the country has ever seen,” says Cait Huble, MA, MBA, director of public affairs for the National Council on Problem Gambling . “We’re a decade behind other addictions in terms of public understanding, which is going to lead to a lot of real-world harm.”
I’m going to say it: shame on you, Sydney Sweeney, for associating yourself with a sports betting app. I think you should explore nicer options for your career. Shame on you, Novig (sports betting app company), for creating this publicity-grabbing ad to raise your market share at the expense of vulnerable consumers. Shame on you, Novig, for existing at all– in my view, your founders ought to rethink their business plan and maybe sell shoes instead of facilitating widespread addiction. And thank you, women athletes and sports writers and commentators, for staying out there, doing your work and play, and reminding us that sports are fun and open to all of us.
…and the other good stuff about heading back to class.
Thursday night was just as good as I hoped it would be.
I thoroughly enjoyed the familiar routine of walking into class, talking to my friends, and doing our warm-up.
My body and brain were utterly soothed by the rhythm of the beginning of our class.
You know how it is – you can be a bit addled or off-kilter and then start some familiar routine and the momentum of that routine (making tea, preparing a meal, working with a partner in a project, following your morning plan) carries you forward and you soon realize that you have left that weird feeling behind.
And when we started our patterns, my relaxed state allowed me to access my muscle memory with ease.
I still made mistakes, of course, but my errors felt a bit funny instead of frustrating.
I swear I made up several new movements – perhaps I should consult with the technical committee? Ha!
And along with my amusement at my mistakes, I was thrilled to discover that my summer exercise plan was making a real difference for my mobility, my strength, and my flexibility.
I already felt encouraged by my fitness progress but seeing how my exercise efforts were positively impacting my ability and capacity at TKD made me even more determined to continue with the Hybrid Calisthenics program.
I’m travelling at the moment (I taught a storytelling workshop in Nova Scotia last night!) so I am missing our second class of the year but I am definitely looking forward to class on Thursday night.
Next step: set some personal goals for TKD for this year.
The test, “The data comes from a large ongoing study called Generation 100, which was open to everyone between the ages of 70 and 77 in the Norwegian city of Trondheim. Participants were originally randomized into three groups and either told to follow public health guidelines by getting half an hour of moderate exercise per day, or enrolled in twice-a-week supervised sessions of moderate (70 percent of max heart rate) or intense (80 percent of max heart rate) exercise. The program lasted for five years.”
The findings, “Everybody lost fitness. This is the reality of being in your 70s. But the people who were doing high-intensity training (HIT) lost less fitness than those doing moderate intensity (MIT).”
Why I’m thinking about it: Regular readers may recall I was diagnosed last year with a hiatal hernia and intense exercise is one of the triggers for acid reflux. I started to think about changing my fitness identity on the bike, moving into endurance efforts instead of sprinting. I blogged about that here. Biking for sure triggers reflux when I try to go fast, unless I’m very careful about what and when I eat. Rowing is definitely out. The ski-erg is out too.
So I’m looking for an exercise that’s upright for intense efforts. Not running, because of knees. Maybe the elliptical?
It’s a vivoactive 5 and does things my previous watch, the 4, didn’t. I’m finding the sleep reports useful, but there are other measures I’m not so sure what to make of.
One of those is heart rate variability, or HRV.
What the heck is heart rate variability? Heart rate variability, according to Garmin, is the tiny, constantly shifting gap between one heartbeat and the next. Counterintuitively, more variability is generally the healthy sign: it means your autonomic nervous system is flexible, shifting easily between “go” mode and “rest and digest” mode. Less variability — a heart ticking along too metronomically — tends to show up when you’re fatigued, stressed, sick, or under-recovered.
Mostly mine is balanced which means that my recent average is within my normal range — and my body’s handling its mix of training stress and recovery well. Occasionally, it comes out as unbalanced. Garmin says that means my average has drifted just outside my usual range, which can mean anything from a hard training block to poor sleep, a stressful week, or the start of getting sick. It could also read “low,” but mine hasn’t done that yet. And that’s supposed to be worse than unbalanced.
Balanced is the boring-but-good outcome: it means my body is absorbing whatever training and life stress I’m putting on it and bouncing back. Yay! What factors send it into the unbalanced range? Not enough sleep, working out too hard without enough recovery, too much stress, and for others, but not me, too much alcohol.
I guess it’s useful as a tool for managing sleep, stress, and workout recovery. I’m also guessing I will largely ignore it! You?
I read Sam’s post this morning, the one about gradual loss of fitness due to aging. Or perhaps not exactly driven by aging. What is the reality?
I guess I get to speak as one who is definitely older (soon to be 75). My own experience strongly suggests that you don’t have to lose much.
As I may have mentioned before, I enjoy reading bicycle tour journals on the website, crazyguyonabike.com. At the moment, I am following a woman in her 70s who, with a group of friends, is riding the famous Land’s End to John O’Groats route. They have, so far, ridden 865 miles and climbed a total of 59,101 feet. Four days to go. Yes, I typed that correctly. There are four who joined this organized tour together; three of them brought their e-bikes, and one is riding a road bike with no assist. The e-bikes are limited by the restrictions airlines put on the batteries: apparently you can bring a spare battery, which has a much smaller range, but cannot bring the main battery (fire risk). So they are confining the pedal assist to climbs, some of which are close to 20% grade. Are these women professional athletes? Well, I don’t see anything like that in the journal. Looks to me like they are just women close to my age doing a seriously challenging tour.
In my own case, so far my only real restriction is bone-on-bone arthritis in one knee. It was diagnosed 13 years ago, and with good PT, it is only recently that I have had to adapt anything. I can’t do anything that requires me to bend that knee much. It has recently pretty much ruled out running. But in terms of strength & effort, things haven’t changed much. My heart rate seems to be about what it has always been. I can climb the hills on my bike – can let that go for a while & get it back. My activity schedule – I don’t think of it as a workout schedule, although there are plenty of workout elements – is my idea of fun now that I am retired. So, last week I rode my bike 100 miles, am working back to having at least one 60-mile day most weeks; walking with friends several hours most weeks; bird watching; some yoga; some specific strength training; a couple of replacements for running, including some rowing machine time and some fast walking up steep slopes; and dance classes, 4 1/2 hours in a typical week.
I think back to my parents and grandparents. Fitness as we now consider it was nothing anyone talked about. Especially for women. One change that’s almost hard to believe now: my father felt he had to give up tennis (never played much anyway) after one of his friends had a terrible heart attack. No doctor told him vigorous exercise was a good idea. They were in their late 40s. But he was always a brisk and enthusiastic walker until he suddenly was unable to keep his balance (after he died, we learned that he had several minor strokes; they must have hit the spot that controlled his balance). My grandparents on one side travelled a lot, must have walked a lot, but never did anything like the gym time we now do, and running had not yet become a common activity. My other grandparents, well, my grandfather was never active, but my grandmother was always busy, always scooting back & forth between our house and theirs. Again, nothing we would recognize as fitness-related, but definitely more activity than most her age and era. She lived longer than the others and was active until within a couple of months of her death.
I look at their various activity levels when I think about my own. They make me realize how much difference our activities can make in our ongoing ability to maintain and improve our health and energy levels. When I launched my major fitness endeavour, over 25 years ago, my doctor asked how I found the time & energy for all I was doing. “Using energy creates more energy,” I told him. “May I quote you on that?” he asked.
Does aging even exist? Well, yes. There are definitely some changes I don’t love. For me, it is drier, more sun-sensitive skin, and a pickier digestive system (not bad, just don’t get along with a couple of things, mostly garlic). And flexibility has never been good for me & it is a bit worse, but workouts can really help that. My current assumption is that, as long as I am feeling well, keeping it up is the best choice. I feel stronger than I did 30 years ago.
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.
