Month: August 2013

cycling

Bike boxes? London, I love you! Thanks

Sam B2 Comments

I said in my post featuring bike safety and Grumpy Cat that I wouldn’t turn this into a bike safety blog–it’s feminism and fitness, really!

But I don’t like criticizing without also giving praise where praise is due and my city deserves praising big time. No more Grumpy Cat, here’s Happy Cat. (Scroll down for Happy Cat.)

We now have bike boxes at some intersections.

What is a bike box? “The bike box is an intersection safety design to prevent bicycle/car collisions. It is a painted green space on the road with a white bicycle symbol inside. In some locations it includes a green bicycle lane approaching the box. The box creates space between motor vehicles and the crosswalk that allows bicyclists to position themselves ahead of motor vehicle traffic at an intersection.” From the city of Seattle web page about bike boxes.

My lovely neighbourhood, Wortley Village, has a lot of cyclists, and a lot of bike racks, and a lot of businesses that cater to cyclists. It’s also very close to the main bike path that runs north/south and east/west through the city. But the connection between the bike path and the main road was not so clear. The road itself wasn’t in great shape.

In fact, I had a pothole induced bike crash on the street a few springs ago that sent me to hospital for the day.

It’s been torn up and under construction for a long while now but it’s emerged, newly smooth and repaired.

In addition to the lovely new pavement there is a bike box at the traffic lights Read here to read more how bike boxes work. Or watch this video:

I first saw bike boxes in Europe and then later in Australia. Most cyclists fear getting hit from behind but those accidents are relatively rare. Much more common is getting hit at an intersection. And bike boxes help prevent that by giving cyclists there own space at traffic lights. We’re visible and out in front of all the cars.

Thank you London! I feel like we’re on our way to being a friendlier city for cyclists.

Uncategorized

Sam takes stock and sets goals one year to go

Sam B8 Comments

We’re almost halfway to our “fittest by fifty” milestone birthday. The blog started in our 48th year, and at summer’s end I’ll be 49, one year to to go to 50. This seems like a good time to assess and evaluate.

What I’ve accomplished so far:

What I’m struggling with:

  • I’m still not as fit or fast as I once was! Read  Fittest by Fifty? Who’s the Competition? She is!  and she’s still faster. Grrr. But I’ve got a year to go and I need to decide how much I care about running. See the next bullet for more on this.
  • I continue to struggle with running. I love running but it doesn’t love me back. We have a complicated relationship. Curious? Read Six things I love about running and six things I wish I could change
  • And I still want to weigh less even though my body composition has much improved.  I want to be the recommended weight for my bicycle’s race wheels!

And I have some goals for next year:

  • I’m going to continue with the Lean Eating program through the fall and work on my slow progress. It’s progress after all. And I’ll stay focused on nutrition and body composition rather than weight loss. That feels much healthier for me even though I get frustrated with my progress at times.
  • I don’t have a testing goal in AIkido but rumour has it I’m getting a lovely wooden sword for my birthday so I’d like to branch out and try weapons classes. That’s a way to extend my range without making the kind of commitment testing for a new belt would require. It will certainly help my Aikido. Here’s O Sensei. I won’t ever have that grace but I can learn some of the techniques.

  • During the fall I plan to start running regularly and try to run through the winter without injuring myself. I also plan to do some cross country skiing over the winter and play with my snow shoes. Generally I want to try to enjoy winter, be more active outside, and play in the snow!
  • I’m going to continue in CrossFit and challenge myself a bit more and try the CrossFit Open. Read Leveling up at CrossFit: Rx versus modified workouts.
  • I plan to do the Friends for Life Bike Rally : “A six-day, 600 km journey from Toronto to Montreal. Riders of all ages and levels of experience and crew supporting a variety of activities along the route unite in their passion to support people living with HIV/AIDS. The Friends For Life Bike Rally is the sustaining fundraiser of the Toronto People With AIDS Foundation.”
  • I’d also like to do some rowing regattas.
  • This isn’t quite a goal since I’m not sure yet how to bring it about but I’d like to improve my soccer playing. I run pretty well but I need to improve my ball handling skills, learn how to get more control, and run with the ball. I think I’d like to play midfield…
  •  I’m scheming for bike vacations next year! This year I only managed a few hours of bike tourism in New Orleans, see “And it’s not even close to exercise….” I’d like to do something where we camp along the way but I like other people to carry the gear! See Cycling holdays, Part 2: Organized tours in which other people carry the stuff. But I’d be happy too with a self organized one, like the rail trail holidays I’ve done. Cycling holidays, Part 1: Rail trails.  Maybe Boston to Provincetown in the summer and somewhere warm over the winter.

I’m a North American academic so thinking of September as the start of a new year works very well for me. How about you? Do you have any fitness related plans or activities for the coming year?

athletes · body image · fitness · health · motivation · swimming · training · yoga

If You Don’t Love It, Don’t Do It

Tracy I10 Comments

Do-what-you-love-whiteIf you search the phrase “do what you love” on the internet for an image, you’ll get many, many choices. It’s a “thing” these days to do what you love and love what you do.

It applies in life and goodness knows it applies in the activities we choose to engage in for exercise or training or physical conditioning (or whatever word you like to use).

And yet there is still that aversion to exercise.  So much so that Sam has even asked whether it’s time to “ditch it.”

The Biggest Loser has a lot to do with this aversion, since it makes losing weight and getting in shape seem possible only under conditions of abuse, a punishing workout schedule, and a severely restricted diet.  As this article says about the recent season involving some children:

Therefore along with being taught that obesity is treatable by means of incredible amounts of vomit-inducing exercise, severe dietary restriction, and never-ending servings of guilt and shame, the medical literature suggests viewers will also be taught that failure is an obese child’s personal choice — something that their bullies have been saying forever.

Dick Falon talks about the “myth of willpower,” that idea that if we want it badly enough and have enough willpower, we will be “successful” at achieving our weight loss and fitness goals.  This makes me think of that photo I saw on Facebook yesterday of a bookstore display with a bunch of diet books, all in the “Humour” section of the store.

diet humorOnly it’s not all that funny because in fact we do load shame and guilt onto people, and people load it onto themselves, when they fail to meet their weight loss and fitness goals. Where the Biggest Loser says we need to punish ourselves, these books make it soud as if it’s the easiest thing in the world. You can have the body you want in thirty days or four hours or just by cutting out wheat!

Falon says the main reason for failure is that people don’t establish a positive feedback loop. The positive feedback loop is established when the rewards of what you’re doing outweigh the pain.  Willpower might get us started on a new program, but positive feedback in the form of rewards will keep us going.

This got me thinking about what would count as a sufficient reward for the postive feedback.  Of course, Falon puts this in terms of results.  You may need to see weight loss or longer distance or heavier weights on the barbells. But above all, you need to enjoy what you’re doing. If you don’t see a “return” you’re not going to stick with it. He says:

Hate running? Then don’t run. Don’t like giving up pizza? Then figure out a way to fit it into your diet. Don’t like salads? Then don’t eat them.

He argues against creating ideologies out of diet plans or workouts.  If Paleo works for you, fine. But it may not work for everyone.  You love running and hate swimming?  Then triathlons may not be for you, but marathons could be your thing.

I like this idea of a positive feedback loop and think it is closely tied to doing what we love.  It’s not only about results. I look back with sadness upon my decision in my twenties to stop swimming–something I adored–because I read in a magazine that it wouldn’t produce the requisite results (i.e. fat loss; and I’m not even sure that’s true, but that’s what I read). I blogged about that here.

Despite doing his best to promote a less painful more pleasant approach for fitness “success,” I think Falon stops short of what I’d like to see included in the positive feedback loop.

Today, my positive feedback loop has to include things like joy, strength, a sense of confidence, a real improvement in my overall feeling of well-being.  These have much less to do with my body than they have to with my attitude towards my body and with the way I inhabit my body (philosophers, don’t overthink this idea of “inhabiting our bodies”).

When I approach activities that have these affects, I feel as if I am really nurturing myself. My motives change completely from “needing to whip myself into shape because I am unacceptable as I am” to “making the time to do things that give me joy.”

And why wouldn’t I want to do things like that? So today my life includes swimming and yoga, walking to work or riding my bike, running in the early morning before the sun turns my pleasant run into an agonizing quest for shade. I’m still searching around for a resistance training routine that I can live with and enjoy. I can’t even contemplate making commitments to things I despise anymore.

What does your positive feedback loop include? Do you love what you do? If not, then don’t do it.

body image · Book Reviews · weight lifting

I love Venus with Biceps

Sam B4 Comments

I love, love, love this book! Venus with Biceps: A Pictorial History of Muscular Women is one of the very few books I’ve bought in the past year in paper rather than on my Kindle.

“Venus with Biceps is an illustrated history of muscular women over the course of more than 100 years. It features a wealth of photographs, posters, line drawings, magazine covers, and film stills documenting the image of the strong, healthy female—an object of fascination, derision, amusement, and fetishization, depending on the era. Unlike their male counterparts, muscular women were historically not considered to be prototypes for the ideal body but more akin to circus freaks.” It’s published by Arsenal Pulp Press and you can read more about it on their blog.

The images are just terrific. So too is the history and I keep picking it and wanting to show to people and share. I might even buy multiple copies to give some away. I like it that much.

In Stronger Than Yesterday, “Venus With Biceps” Do It Nothin’ But Their Way  Meghan writes:

“I love that this book exists because so many people still believe that women need to look a certain way, use their bodies a certain way, be in the world in a certain way in order to be women. Strength is for everyone. Pictures like these serve as a great starting point for conversations about the history of women in sports, about gender performance, about what constitutes beauty and why we create standards for strength based on gender. But more than that, these pictures, and these women, are proof that there have always been women who weren’t afraid to push the boundaries of social convention.”

There’s also a good review of Venus with Biceps in The Atlantic by Maria Popova. You should go read the reviews and then buy the book!

family · Rowing

Sunday busy Sunday

Sam B

Sundays this summer have been super busy. They start with rowing, usually a row around the lake at 830 am, with the London Rowing Club’s masters group. It’s about a 12 km trip. (See Lake Fanshawe above.) And typically Sunday has been ending with soccer. Tonight our game was at 8 pm, complete with lights. Autumn is definitely upon us.

Sometimes I get a nap in the middle but today was busy all day through. Between rowing and soccer I went to the Aikido picnic in Port Bruce, got groceries, and walked the dogs. No naps for me.

I considered missing soccer but when I voiced that plan to my kids they said back to me things I’d said to them in the past about teams, commitments, and how I was probably mostly hungry, not tired. So they fed me vegetarian lasagne and sent me on my way to the game.

They were right. I’m glad I went.

We tied 1-1.

Now it’s bedtime. Night night.

body image · media · objectification

Strong bodies and objectifying images

Sam B5 Comments

This is one of  my favorite posts about images of strong women in the media: Hey, Everyone — Stop Taking This Picture! (No, I Mean It.

It’s got me thinking about the difference between pictures of strong women that show us as agents and pictures that show us objects. The Lean Eating program has participants get themselves photographed, and often participants choose photos that demonstrate their strength and their power.

Some of them work and others don’t (for me) and I’ve been thinking about photos and the relationship between strong and sexy and how the mainstream media sometimes gets it so badly wrong.

 
“So, the most recently released image of Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises kind of got me worked up. The moment I saw it I think I said something to the nature of, “If I have to see one more woman posed with her behind in my general direction, looking smouldering-ly over her shoulder, I’m going to punch someone in the face. And you two [my Tor.com officemates] should be worried, since you’re the closest people at hand.” My co-workers generally prefer a non-violent environment, so I decided to work through this the only way I know how: with lots of photographic evidence.It’s not that we all haven’t noted how prevalent titilation is where women in the media are concerned, but this pose in particular is everywhere. And why should that be?

Well, it typically does a good job of showing off all of a lady’s assets for one. And I’m sure if an actress isn’t quite so curvy, showing off her posterior (wow, how many synonyms for “butt” will I have to use in this?) sounds like a good way of ramping up sex appeal. It’s also a pose that tells you, in no uncertain terms, “I’m here for you to objectify me. It’s okay, you don’t have to feel bad about it.””

Go read the whole thing!

cycling

Cycling and the rules of the road

Sam B8 Comments

Bike safety could be a whole other topic for a new and different blog and sometimes I even think of starting such a blog. But I don’t.

(And yes, I know there are lots of rule disregarding cyclists. And yes, some of them ride dangerously. And yes, they ought to be ticketed too. Next.)

Don’t worry. I won’t let bikesafety take over this blog. But I’ve been riding more lately and I have some pet peeves I’d like to share.

First, there are the drivers who seem convinced that cyclists ought to ride single file. Really, we shouldn’t. We’re not required to by law and when the group is big enough riding double actually allows you to pass us more quickly.

Read Why cyclists ride two abreast.

“Riding two abreast allows the cyclists to legitimately ‘claim’ the lane they’re riding in, encouraging motorists to give them a wider berth, and it also makes for a shorter, quicker pass for the motorist.

Collingwood OPP Constable Piet Huyssen, who will be part of the OPP’s bike patrol in the community this summer, says the rules of the road in Ontario do not dictate that cyclists ride in single file — though that’s a commonly-held misconception among motorists.

The Highway Traffic Act specifies that cyclists must move as far to the right without compromising their safety, and that the overtaking motorist give cyclists sufficient room while passing.

“If (the double paceline) is done properly, and everyone leaves lots of space for each other, it should never be an issue,” he said.

The double paceline has also been proven to be safer, a point emphasized in recent legislative changes to bylaws in both Toronto and Ottawa.”

Second, it’s getting more and more difficult to make eye contact at intersections and 4 way stops as drivers get busier and busier. I used to complain about sunglasses and tinted windows. And then it was cell phones and texting. Now it’s smartphones. Yes, better to check your email or browse the web when stopped than when moving (and I know, I do it too) but please look around first for bikes. Note where they are and where they are going. Nod and smile and let the cyclists know they’ve been seen. It makes us happier and less nervous.

Uncategorized

Bodies, aging, and revulsion

Sam B13 Comments

Last night an older friend said something that distressed me. She said sadly, but emphatically, that beyond a certain age women shouldn’t wear shorts or short skirts. “No one needs to see that.”

What bothered me the most was the sense of agreement with the judgment that age is ugly and best kept hidden. Only youthful bodies are worthy of being seen.

What followed was a litany of the ways in which older legs fall apart even though legs are often “the last to go.”

I hate this kind of talk.

I’m planning my little old lady mini skirts now! I hope I’m still wearing a bikini into my senior years. Be warned and get ready to avert your eyes. No Victorian era beach wear for me! See http://blog.tuppencehapenny.co.uk/2011/05/sailor-style-evolution-part-1-nautical.html?m=1 for more images.

For more in this vein read my previous post on not growing old gracefully. I hate rules about what women young and old can and can’t wear.

And I hate it even more when we internalize the reasoning behind these rules.

fitness · training

Taking the stairs will not get you in shape but you should take the stairs anyway

Sam B14 Comments

The mayor of New York, Mike Bloomberg wants New Yorkers to take the stairs more often but a writer for Gawker wonders why.

“Specifically, Bloomberg has “issued an executive order requiring city agencies to promote the use of stairways and use smart design strategies for all new construction and major renovations.” Going forward, more areas of New York City will have more staircases, and you will walk up those stairs more than you do now. You will, perhaps, take fewer elevators and escalators. You will climb a greater total number of stairs in your day to day life in New York City than you do now. Will this get you “in good shape?” No, it will not.”

Read the rest here: Taking the Stairs Will Not Get You in Shape.

I’m a huge fan of everyday exercise: hanging laundry on the line, biking to work, and yes, taking the stairs. (I’ve blogged about it of course. See In praise of everyday movement.) Tracy too has wondered What “Counts”? when it comes to exercise.

Here’s where some distinctions might come in handy. For sure, taking the stairs is movement. It’s physical activity. But I don’t think of it as athletic training, as helping to make me more fit.

Movement is good and more movement is better and stairs are part of the picture. But getting fitter, like getting faster, requires goals and a plan.

So just where does everyday exercise fit in?

I think the answer is in part, it depends. When I starting working with a personal trainer at the Y in my late 30s I dutifully logged all my exercise including my bike commute. About a year later he asked if I’d started driving to work. No, I said. But without thinking I’d stopped logging the commute. At the time I was training with the UWO triathlon club and in light of those workouts the bike commute was barely registering.

But my bike commuting got a huge reaction from the students, triathletes all. You biked to campus? Um, yes. Before our swim workout? Yes. They were shocked at the idea of doing anything before our morning swim. They seemed to only “train” and shunned everyday movement.

Think back to our friends the sedentary athletes, those who work out and then flop. I had a friend who took the elevator at work because he was saving his strength for “leg day.” Dead lifts and squats, sure, but for now he’s elevating between floors at the university.

I’m in favour of both things: athletic training and active everyday living.

Like many of us I’m struck by the big differences between Europeans and North Americans when it comes to this. In Europe, it seems to me, most people look reasonably fit, insofar as you can read that off someone’s appearance. They take the stairs, walk lots and commute by bike. (They also seem to smoke more but that’s another topic.) In North America, we have the dichotomy between the average person, who doesn’t look fit, and the super fit who look like another species walking among us! Here it seems we either train or we do nothing. It’s North Americans who are mocked for driving to the gym.

So I think we need both, athletic training and everyday movement. Don’t take the stairs at work to get super fit. The Gawker writer is right. It won’t work. But keep moving because it’s good for you.

And here’s stairs I love. Sweden wins over New York, I’d say!

body image

Making Peace with My Body

Tracy I27 Comments

Last week someone posted a comment after my review of Taking Up Space that said that as much as she loves Go Kaleo, Amber Rogers seems “superhuman” to her. What the commenter was referring to was Amber’s first rule, namely, to declare a truce with your body.

The commenter asked whether there are any suggestions for just how to do this. She sounded frustrated and noted that despite wanting to declare a truce with her body, she struggles with it to the point of tears at times.

I can relate. I too still struggle enormously with poor body image. Most days, self-loathing focused on my body is one of the first thoughts I have upon waking up in the morning. I challenge the thoughts when I become aware of them, but they run as a background tape and inflect many areas of my life as a result. I need to pay attention or they can take me down. Still to this day, I have trouble looking in the mirror. If anyone tries to tell me I have a nice body, I don’t believe them. Though I force myself to use the open showers at the Y and walk naked in the locker room, I still feel self-conscious on occasion, not because of the nakedness but because I don’t like my body.

Yes, I have had some successes. I had a real epiphany during a week at a nude resort. I felt free and beautiful that week. I blogged about it here.

But I don’t spend my life in the nude and for some reason the world of clothed people relentlessly messes with my body image.

Amber’s section in the book focuses on the facts about fat and flaws. The main message is that we all have fat and flaws. It’s normal. So let’s move on and use our mental energy in other, more constructive ways. “Be more, not less.” She makes it sound so simple.

Like the commenter, I love the theory of being more, not less. I love the idea of focusing on performance. So much do I love it that I blog about it all the time. But I could use more help on how to achieve that level of self-acceptance.

This is not a new issue for me. I bought a copy of Transforming Body Image by Marcia Germaine Hutchinson back in the early nineties. I can’t even remember what it said, only that it seemed too complicated at the time. And that the authors recommended some strange form of movement that I’d never heard of and didn’t feel drawn to.

I’ve even tried affirmations, buying Louise Hay’s book Love Your Body. It’s full of affirmations like the following, called, “I Love My Body.” It says: “My body is a glorious place to live. I rejoice that I have chosen this particular body because it is perfect for me in this lifetime. It is the perfect size and shape and color. It serves me so well. I marvel at the miracle that is my body. I choose the healing thoughts that create and maintain my healthy body and make me feel good. I love and appreciate my beautiful body!”

Maybe this type of thing works for some people, but it just makes me roll my eyes and feel like a big liar. So I didn’t get very far with affirmations.

I’ve come a long way from where I used to be, so I need to recognize my successes. The week of comfort at the nude resort is not the only one.

My primary motivation for doing the activities I do is no longer that they will change my body. I surprised myself so much when the leader of the running group asked why people were there. In all honesty, my goals were all about running performance. It wasn’t until several other people mentioned weight loss that I realized that weight loss hadn’t even figured into the equation for me at all. Not even a little.

I don’t engage in restrictive dieting anymore. Though I am probably still falling short of what Taking Up Space recommends I eat in a day, I feel pretty comfortable with the Intuitive Eating approach [link] that I’ve adopted since January. I’m enjoying my food and not obsessing all day about what I will eat. That seems self-nurturing to me.

Intuitive eating has also helped me stay in tune with my body and pay more attention to it. That’s something of a truce. At least I’m not ignoring its signals anymore, even if I’m not loving the way I look.

I also have determined that monitoring my weight or even my body composition (as the Bod Pod does) is harmful for me and my body image. So I don’t do it anymore.

And I’m serious when I reject aesthetic ideals as motivators for engaging in the activities I choose or the foods that I eat. That strikes me as an impoverished and self-defeating way to live. I’m not interested.

I’ve read on many occasions that “fat thoughts” aren’t about being fat at all. They are more deeply rooted than that, stand-ins for other demons. From first hand experience, I know full well that losing the weight doesn’t make those thoughts go away. They only leave me when I feel at peace with myself more generally.

How to stop berating myself and instead living with self-acceptance is the real challenge here. For me, it requires vigilant attention to my motives for doing things. If I do things in the name of “self-improvement” then I am probably holding some aspect of myself in contempt.

That speaks to why affirmations could have some power to those who are open to their message. That affirmation about the body says that my body is fine right now, just the way it is. It doesn’t need to be whipped into shape. It doesn’t need to have a different composition. Even if Louise Hay’s specific affirmations didn’t resonate with me, I’m probably affirming something like “I’m okay just the way I am” when I challenge those thoughts of body-loathing that sneak up on me before I’m fully awake.

My 28 year-old step-daughter told me the other day that she really admires my body-acceptance and that it (and the blog) has helped her a lot. That tells me that my actions point to a more accepting stance towards my body even if my sneaky thoughts don’t always sing the same tune.

The real question is, which pattern of thinking will win the day? For me, no longer responding to those thoughts by engaging in body-punishing diets and workouts has gone a long way to improving my quality of life. Not just that, but I no longer spend a lot time talking uncritically about my body image “issues.”

In other words, I spend very little time talking about how much I loathe my body and what I need to do to fix it. It is the body image, not the body, that needs to change.

And slowly, slowly, things are shifting. But to suggest that I can call a truce and then be done with it?For me, it’s been a bit longer of a road than that, requiring several rounds of peace talks over many, many years.