Tag: fun

fitness

Underwater Hockey – Kind of Like Ultimate Frisbee but …. Goofier?

Diane Harper1 Comment

This Fall my friend Aimee decided to give underwater hockey a try so I decided to go watch a game. I watched the game, I looked up the rules, and I’m still not sure what the heck was going on!

It is similar to ultimate frisbee in that it’s a mixed gender game, with a minimum of two women per team. There wasn’t an obvious coach or referee. You try to move a round object so it goes through a goal marked by a couple of bricks or similar objects on the ground (or bottom of the pool). There is no goalie. You can have extra players who sub in. People of all ages and shapes seem to play. It’s officially a no -contact sport.

There is minimal protective equipment: goggles with ear protectors like water polo players use, a gardening or similar glove to protect the “stick” hand is optional, and some players appear to have a mouth protector thingy on their snorkels.

Aimee is in the water at the side of the pool. She is wearing her black cap, goggles and blue glove. There are three little “hockey sticks” on the deck along with her red water bottle and a construction cone I cannot explain.

I looked up the rules and that’s where things got wild. Some rules say 6 players per side with two spares per team. Others say four spares. There can be two 10 minute halves with a 5 minute break. Or two 15 minute halves with a 3 minute break.

The puck weighs about 1.5 kg apparently, but I never actually saw it in the water. Instead, what I saw was something that looked a bit like a fish feeding frenzy moving around the pool. Does the puck get passed? I have no idea! Who won? Also no idea, and judging by how the players came out of the water, winning was the least important part of the sport.

A group of swimmers in a swimming pool. Some are floating, others are diving with their flippers in the air, and at least one is completely under water.

Update: cleanup afterwards involved a bunch of poles that maybe marked boundaries and to keep the puck from sliding out of bounds? The pool was shared with a fitness class on one side and a swim class on the other. The metal things in the picture below are used for the goals, and the red discos with handles are the pucks. Why did they have so many? I haven’t a clue.

It looks like fun though. I’m always up for a bit of goofiness in the water. It looks like I can sign up for three trial sessions before making a commitment, so I might just do that in the Fall.

Spooky, Scary Workouts (no, not really!)
fall · fitness · fun

Spooky, Scary Workouts (no, not really!)

Christine HenneburyLeave a comment

Happy Halloween!

To help you celebrate, here are seven Halloween-themed workouts for you to choose from.

Why so many?

It’s like my new favourite T-shirt says ‘Witches Gotta Have Options’

A close up photo of the front of an orange T-shirt that has been place on a flat surface. There are the silhouettes of six brooms of different styles and below the brooms there is black text that reads ‘Witches Gotta Have Options.’​
A close up photo of the front of an orange T-shirt that has been place on a flat surface. There are the silhouettes of six brooms of different styles and below the brooms there is black text that reads ‘Witches Gotta Have Options.’

(If you don’t celebrate Halloween, you might find these fun anyway.)

Bu the way, these videos are NOT about ‘working off your candy’ * they are about maximizing your fun.

So, don’t be scared, just pick whichever one appeals to you and do as much or as little of it as you want.

Here’s a dance workout set to the Addams Family theme from DanceFit. They have a whole playlist of Halloween workouts.

A Halloween workout video with dance choreography set to the Addams Family theme song. The still image is a blonde woman standing on the left side of the image facing to the left with her arms crossed. She’s wearing a black lacy shirt.

Next up, a waking workout to Halloween music from Kyra Pro

A walking workout from Kyra Pro. The still image features the instructor in the center facing forward with her arms held out in front of her in a ‘zombie’ pose. The background is mostly orange with a yellow moon in the centre and black bats all around. The word ‘Halloween’ is written in black at the top.

This is another fun workout from Wheelchair Wellness 4 U . She has a whole Halloween playlist too.

A Zumba dance workout from Wheelchair Wellness 4 U. Still image is the of instructor from the shoulders up, she has long blonde hair and is wearing a tank top that says Zumba in pink letters. The edges of the image are decorated with cartoon Halloween things, spiderwebs and a Haunted House.

And here’s Bride of Plankenspine from Yoga with Adriene – bonus points for a kooky name!

A yoga workout for back pain from Yoga with Adriene. In the still image, she is in yoga clothes doing a side plank and her hair is in ‘bride of Frankenstein’ style – stuck up high on her head with a white streak down one side.

This one is for kids but I like the straightforward set of movements from Pediatric Therapy Essentials

A set of Halloween themed movements from Pediatric Therapy Essentials. still image shows a cartoon image of some kids in costumes (dinosaur, ghost, skeleton, mummy), black cat, and a dog in a ghost costume. There are three cartoon pumpkins in the centre.

Dance Along Gal has a fun seated Chair Yoga Dance workout:

This video from Dance Along Gal is a seated workout to Monster Mash by Bobby Pickett. Still image shows the blonde instructor seated on a chair surrounded with cartoon Halloween images of pumpkins and bats.

Yo-yo’s Halloween Freeze Dance for kids is pretty cool, too.


Halloween Freeze Dance from Yoyo. Still image shows her in front of a Halloween image of a full moon and a spooky house and in the foreground there are a variety of goofy cartoon monsters.

I hope you had fun with these.

Gertie the ghost is offering you this gold star in celebration of your efforts:

A cartoonish drawing of a happy ghost holding a gold star with a speech balling above their head that reads ‘Go you!’​
A cartoonish drawing of a happy ghost holding a gold star with a speech balling above their head that reads ‘Go you!’

*Check out Sam’s post from yesterday about how irritating the ‘work off your candy’ mindset is.

fitness

Possible Link Between Cycling and Dental Health

Diane Harper2 Comments

Doesn’t that sound all science-y and official? Fellow blogger Catherine Womack would be horrified, since my data set is just me, with nothing but anecdotal evidence.

I recently went to the dentist, who commented that I have a lot more plaque than usual. She said that a possible cause is mouth breathing (whether from allergies, snoring or something else), since that creates a perfect environment for plaque bacteria to grow. What had changed since my last cleaning six months ago?

I have mild allergies. And I sometimes snore. Both those things have been true since I started seeing my dentist 30 years ago. Those can be eliminated as probable causes.

What has changed is the amount of time I spend on my bicycle, and the joy I get from riding. I have been a 3 season bike commuter for 20 years, but those rides were generally 5 km or less. I never rode for fun and rarely to do errands.

This year I have ridden my bike everywhere. My goal has been to use my car no more than once a week. I also ride just for fun, with various groups. Safer cycling infrastructure has turned my rides from harrowing to pleasurable.

I ride with a huge grin pasted to my face, just like one of my favourite Twitter cyclists, Miss Omar (@AuntieKay28). She has written about the joy, happiness and freedom she gets from cycling, and how it puts a big smile on her face.

Woman in a long black robe and bike helmet, holding up her black bicycle. She is near a cliff with water below, under a cloudless blue sky.
Miss Omar with her Brompton and a huge smile. Photo taken from a September 22 post on Twitter.

Since the plaque diagnosis, I have been trying to ride with my mouth closed, reserving big grins for pedestrians and other cyclists. But it’s hard because I’m smiling so much on the inside that it wants to break through to my face.

Diane Harper lives in Ottawa.

fitness

Summer, by the Numbers

Diane Harper1 Comment

Back in the spring, I joined up with an app to track my cycling efforts for Bike Month. I decided it was sufficiently fun that I kept going even after the count ended. Since June 1st, which is technically late spring, but a convenient place to start, and leaning slightly into fall by counting up to September 26 when I drafted this post, here’s how I have done:

Km ridden on my bike: 1,059

Greenhouse gases averted: 270 kg. A round-trip flight to Ottawa to Berlin creates 2 metric tons of GHG, so I’ll need to cycle at this rate for at least 2 1/2 years in order to offset a single trip to Europe. I am assuming I’ll cycle less in winter and use my car a bit more. This is the calculator I used.

Money saved by riding my bike instead of driving: $643. Honestly, this seems a bit low to me as most estimates have car costs per month in Canada at nearly $1,000, when you include financing, fuel, maintenance and insurance. I’m guessing this amount is just fuel and maintenance.

Critical mass rides to advocate for climate change and safer streets (including Kidical Mass and Fancy Women rides): 5

Organized social bike rides: 11

Km swum: 19.743. This is way lower than past years, but between shoulder issues and general busyness it was all I could manage. Next year!

Activities for a cause: 5 – apple picking for the food bank; helping on various rides; census of transit at various locations around the city for the annual Pedal Poll; swim Angel for Bring on the Bay, which is itself a fundraiser for Easter Seals; 15 km swim fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society

Personal cycling goals set and achieved: 4 (18 km each way for a bike swim bike at Britannia Beach, feeding my friend’s cat 20 km away, visiting my parents 25 km away, and visiting my horse 24 km away).

Walks: I didn’t add them up but there were lots, mostly as a way to catch up with a friend, but sometimes for a history tour or to go to the grocery store with my rolly cart.

What did I get out of all this? I discovered that I can do a lot more than I imagined. I have gone from being a steady short-distance commuter to the office to being the person who thinks nothing about using the bike for all kinds of errands – from medical appointments to picking up groceries, going to shows and concerts, to checking on my community garden plots or joining others for a swim, drink or to check new cycling infrastructure. And that I love being social for a good cause.

Kidical Mass Ride, with a range of bikes and people of all ages in a park
My bike loaded with purchases
Me in the river, wearing a white swim cap and goggles
Friends checking out the new pedestrian/cycling bridge between Ottawa and Gatineau, folks at a social bike ride, and a group of people packing up boxes of freshly harvested apples in an orchard

Diane Harper lives and swims and bikes in Ottawa.

ADHD · fitness

Seeking Some Core Fun

Christine Hennebury

Given that a lot of exercises for your core are 1) repetitive 2) tricky 3) hard, it’s no wonder that my brain hates them and finds them boring.

I can do plank…if I can also read at the same time (it’s hard to turn pages though) because plank is booooooorrrrring.

I can do dead bugs but there seems to be so many variations that my brain always insists I am doing the “wrong” ones. Besides that, they’re boring.

I flatly refuse to do crunches because they feel bad, no matter how careful I am with my form. Oh, and they’re boring.

Yeah, I know that exercise is about exercise not about being fun or interesting.

But I also know that I have ADHD and if I don’t make it fun or interesting, I won’t do it. In fact, it will barely be a blip on my to do list radar.

Baby Jump GIF by ProBit Global - Find & Share on GIPHY
This looks fun, do you think it would help strengthen my core? Image description: A GIF of a big round brown seal bumping down a path on its belly while two people walk along behind

So, I’ve been trying to find core exercises that feel good, are kind of interesting and that have the possibility of being fun.

The video below from Heart and Bones Yoga looks promising but I’d like to find some more ideas.

Got any suggestions for me?

Clearly I am not the only one who finds this stuff boring, Brea from Heart and Bones Yoga thinks lots of people feel that way. Image/link description: A video from Heart and Bones Yoga’s Instagram account. In the image, the instructor is wearing black shorts and a black tank top and crawling on a wooden floor on her hands and on the balls of her feet.

Just For Fun with Christine and Khalee
fitness · fun · self care · walking

Just For Fun with Christine and Khalee

Christine Hennebury2 Comments

I’m in the middle of writing several think-y posts but none of them are quite done yet so, instead I offer this:

While I care deeply about all kinds of important issues, on a day-to-day casual basis, I am known for being strongly in favour of three key things:

I am pro-snack.

I am pro-nap.

And I am pro-fun.

These photos from two recent walks with Khalee fall in the latter category.

Go Team Fun!

A sunset photo of branches of a tree with shadows of a person and a dog. A gap in the tree branches creates the illusion of a short monster behind the dog.
Here we are as shadow creatures. No, nothing is lurking behind Khalee, that’s just a gap in the trees below that looks like a monster with outstretched arms. Image description: a photo of mine and Khalee’s shadows taken as the sun is setting. We’re standing on a sidewalk that is higher than the path below and our shadows are falling onto some trees next to the path. Our shadows are clearing outlined and behind Khalee’s shadow is a gap in the branches that looks like a very short monster with its arms sticking out to either side.
A nighttime photo of a person’s shadow next to a dog on a leash who is also casting a shadow onto the sidewalk ahead.
And here we are as creatures of the night. For the record, we are not actually vampires, it was just too warm to walk her during the day. Image description: a nighttime photo of my shadow, Khalee, and her shadow being cast on the sidewalk ahead of us by a streetlight behind us.
My Own Mini-Triathlon
fitness

My Own Mini-Triathlon

Diane Harper

On Saturday, I participated in a couple of activities that fall close to the category of Elan’s Silly summer fun. But they also supported causes dear to my heart.

Swim: the day started with a 3.2 km swim as a swim angel for my friend Sarah from my master’s swim club at Bring on the Bay, an annual swim in the Ottawa River that raises funds for Easter Seals. This year, there were 651 swimmers. Swim angels are “buddies” for swimmers with anxiety, disabilities, or medical issues who want someone with them in case they need support.

This year about 20 of us were paired with a swimmer. A few more people act as “sweeps” available in case someone swimming alone needs assistance. It’s a great program and I benefitted from it years ago when I was anxious about cramping up following foot surgery.

Me in a white cap, multicoloured goggles and a swimsuit, with Sarah, who is wearing a red cap, black goggles and a wetsuit.
Swimmers heading out into the river with their angels. Two of the sailboats, a kayak and SUP that mark the route and provide support are in the background. Sara and I are in the front of the group, on the left, closest to the green channel marker.

Sarah did great! She is actually a bit faster than me, but this was only her second open water swim and she had never swum this distance. She’s a musician, so my job was to be her metronome. I set the pace and she drafted behind me until we got close to the end. Then she moved up beside me so we could finish together. I was a good metronome: we finished within 3 minutes of the time I had predicted.

Bike: this was pretty straightforward as I biked to and from Bluesfest, a 10-day long series of concerts in Ottawa. Even though I have lived here for nearly 40 years and have been a commuter cyclist for 20, I’m still learning new ways to get around. My friend Florence showed me a couple of changes to the route I would have taken, which minimized car contact. 12 km done and dusted.

Run: technically walk, but 9.6 km worth of walk according to my phone app. This was the silly fun part. I’m a member of Bike Ottawa, a group that advocates for safe infrastructure for all people who bike. Every year at Bluesfest, volunteers run a free bike parking service to encourage people to bike to the venue rather than driving a car. This year, they parked their 100,000th bike. Any donations received are split between Bike Ottawa and Blues in the Schools.

The volunteers were a mixed group from teens through to seniors. The supervisors were dressed up in all sorts of bling for visibility. It works just like a car valet service, except we weren’t allowed to ride the bikes. We did get to admire some beauties though.

This was an incredibly smooth operation, but there was a LOT of wheeling bikes to their designated spots and retrieving them for their owners at the end of the night. We cleared out roughly 800 bikes, scooters and skateboards in about half an hour after the last concert ended.

A field filled with orange construction horseshoes, with hundreds of bike leaning up against them. A few volunteers in blue shirts are walking more bikes to their designated spot.

At their base, none of these activities was really silly, though I thought they were a lot of fun. So, because I can’t figure out any other excuse to share, here is a photo of my friend Gwendolyn and I, just after winning the teacup obstacle race at a friend’s 40th birthday party. The race involved running around a tree and then shooting a croquet ball through a hoop while holding a teacup full of water. Then you were blindfolded and turned around five times before being guided by your partner to pour your water into a container. The winning team was the one with the most water after each person had gone through the course.

Two white women, wearing flowered dresses and hats are standing in a trees park. One is blindfolded and holding a croquet mallet and ball. The other holds a teacup.

Night Kayaking in Costumes
fitness · fun · kayaking

Night Kayaking in Costumes

elan.paulson1 Comment

Wonder Woman and a boy of about 11 paddled by on light-bedecked standup boards. “He’s never done this before” Wonder Woman shouted proudly. From their also light-bedecked kayaks, Green Lantern, Poison Ivy, and the Joker cheered.

This was a scene from a free event called “Light Up the Night” kayaking in Stratford, Ontario. Folks meet monthly around 8:30pm to paddle together after decorating their non-motorized water craft with lights. There’s also an optional theme for each outing, including Canada Day, Romantic Evening, and (of course) Superheroes.

It was silly fun to transform this daytime activity into a water-based costume parade of about 40-50 “floats.” I should mention our audience: because we were in town, folks watched and took pictures from the banks of the Avon River as they picnicked or waited for their theatre show.

Participants were instructed to put in before dusk, then paddle together at the same time around a tiny island. So while it was a very leisurely pace, we did end up paddling for quite a while as it got dark. Here is part of my friend’s recorded route.

We were to paddle around the island 3 times, but because we dressed as superheroes and supervillains, we had the strength to do a 4th.

A few of our friends supporting this silliness took pictures from atop the island bridge while we paddled underneath. Afterwards, folks shared their snaps on the group’s Facebook page. Alan Hamberg used a drone to capture in video the paddle as well.

Kayaks and other watercraft on the Avon at Stratford as night falls.
Screen capture of drone footage of light up the night kayaking. The video is available on the FB group.

Overall, this night kayaking event offered outside activity, happy folks, and lots of pretty lights! Next time, my friends and I will likely picnic again before decorating our kayaks, as doing so made the activity into a whole fun evening. We’ll bring bug spray and headlamps for re-packing kayaks in the dark. I may also buy better quality lights and avoid the dollar store glow sticks that ended up glowing in my garbage the next day.

FIFI bloggers: what silly summer fun will you get up to and share about?!

fitness

Renaissance Dancing for Fun and Fitness

Diane Harper

Last weekend I went to an event sponsored by a local medieval club and found myself sucked into the rabbit hole of dancing. I’m usually too busy in the kitchen or working on crafts to think about dancing, but this time it was a small event, I had plenty of time, and someone was teaching the dances – so I joined in.

I danced a lot! Don’t believe anyone who claims that very old dances are staid and stately. While some were slower-paced, many were very lively. I got sweaty and breathless. We needed to take water breaks.

I danced in pairs, in groups of threes or fours, in lines, in circles. I danced with men and women of all shapes and sizes. There was even an adorable six-year-old. I really loved how people paid minimal attention to traditional gender roles in the dances. Some male-female couples preferred to dance together, but most of us had no life partners to dance with, so we paired up with whoever was available. The people dancing “male” parts tried to remember to hold hands from below, while the “ladies” put their hands on top. It helped us keep track of whether we were a “man” or a “woman” for that dance.

Three photos of people in Renaissance and medieval clothing dancing in a modern hall. Top left is a circle dance, top right is a group of three dancers, bottom is a line of couples dancing. Photos courtesy of Todd Fischer.

It was an unusual contribution to my 223 workouts in 2023, but a lot of fun.

Sometimes downhill all the way is okay
fitness · hiking · motivation · traveling

Sometimes downhill all the way is okay

elan.paulson1 Comment

I am in Alvarenga, Portugal, a small town of just over 1000 people, about an hour and a half outside of Porto. It’s in the hilly countryside, filled with vineyards and orange and almond trees. I am with 5 other women, traveling on holidays.

Map if Arouca, Portugal
Arouca, Portugal

There’s a big, award-winning tourist attraction nearby in the town of Arouca, which was developed in 2020. After traversing the world’s largest pedestrian suspension bridge (516 metres), there’s a hikeout out on the Paiva Walkways. It’s about 8 kilometres, almost entirely downhill, on a series of wooden staircases and boardwalks that follow rocky faults on the left bank of a rushing river.

We are 6 relatively healthy middle-age women, wearing multiple merino layers and carrying full water bottles. We are traveling with 40 litre backpacks rather than suitcases. The day we went to Arouca, it was overcast but warm for an average February day in Portugal—perfect for a vigorous hike.

The suspension bridge and part of the wooden staircase and hikeout below
The suspension bridge and part of the wooden staircase and downhill hikeout below

We crossed the bridge just after 11:00am and started out on the downward hike, enjoying the green and rocky scenery. Used to day hikes of greater distance, many of us expected to refresh briefly at the end, then walk back up. As long as we arrived in time the final bridge tours that day, at 2:00 or 3:30pm, once back at the top we were free to recross the bridge at no extra charge. What a fun challenge!

Some of the staircase portion of the hike
Some of the staircase portion of the hike

We took our time on the way down, stopping to take photos and to watch rafters and kayakers navigate the white waters below. We nodded at the hikers who passed us going back up the walkway: that would soon be us! Then, suddenly, we were within a kilometre of the hike out exit, and noticed it was nearly 1:45pm.

Would we reverse course and start back up the hilly hike, returning to our start point? Would we shift gears from our leisurely pace and “hoof it” to make sure we would arrive on time to re-cross during the last bridge tour?

Some of the boardwalk portion of the hike​
Some of the boardwalk portion of the hike

We did not, because we knew that we have nothing to prove—to the trail or to each other. Instead of turning around to ascend, we continued downhill at our enjoyable pace, then had a celebratory beverage at the end. Rather than hiking back up, which we probably *could* have done, we took a cab back to our residence to celebrate our achievement—a beautiful day out walking in the Portuguese countryside.

Some days, you can hike downhill all the way and still have a great day.