Actually, unfortunately, this thing is a bit of a monstrosity.
Jeannette hates it.
I'm coming around her to her point of view.
Bummer.
On the upside, I finally have a chin-up bar.
Showing posts with label Exercise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Exercise. Show all posts
Monday, October 26, 2015
New Exercise Equipment
Finally, years after leaving Halifax and a nice chin-up bar behind, I have managed to hook myself up with a nice new set up.
Sunday, January 02, 2011
A Few Quick Notes 491
-As has been standard so far this winter, today saw us get some rain and have temperatures hovering just above freezing. Talk about fun weather.
-As suggested by our last post, we had salads with our dinner tonight. This means that everyone had at least one salad today and some of us had two. It should also be noted none of us over-indulged in the main course, which was chili. Of course, all of this salad consumptions means that I am likely going to have to make a run to the carrot store tomorrow to pick up a few more carrots and some celery (which happens to be on sale this week).
-I have been doing a fair bit of studying today, though I guess I could have been a little more diligent.
-It seems that there is some new graffiti on the cement wall across from my bedroom window. I guess none of us noticed this going up yesterday.
Unfortunately, this new addition to the wall, at least in my opinion, isn't as nice as what is to be found under it. That the graffiti has taken a turn for the worse is unfortunate as I have to spend a fair bit of my time looking at it. I guess at this point I wouldn't mind if the building decided to remove everything and start from scratch.
-Oh, and I should note that in addition to increasing my salad consumption I am trying to put a little more emphasis on doing more chin-ups, a pursuit that fell by the wayside this summer shortly after a accidental self-inflicted rib injury.
-As suggested by our last post, we had salads with our dinner tonight. This means that everyone had at least one salad today and some of us had two. It should also be noted none of us over-indulged in the main course, which was chili. Of course, all of this salad consumptions means that I am likely going to have to make a run to the carrot store tomorrow to pick up a few more carrots and some celery (which happens to be on sale this week).
-I have been doing a fair bit of studying today, though I guess I could have been a little more diligent.
-It seems that there is some new graffiti on the cement wall across from my bedroom window. I guess none of us noticed this going up yesterday.
Unfortunately, this new addition to the wall, at least in my opinion, isn't as nice as what is to be found under it. That the graffiti has taken a turn for the worse is unfortunate as I have to spend a fair bit of my time looking at it. I guess at this point I wouldn't mind if the building decided to remove everything and start from scratch.
-Oh, and I should note that in addition to increasing my salad consumption I am trying to put a little more emphasis on doing more chin-ups, a pursuit that fell by the wayside this summer shortly after a accidental self-inflicted rib injury.
Saturday, May 08, 2010
New Advances in Pull-up Technology
A few weeks ago I happened to come across this video.
[Embedded video]
Not surprisingly, I was quite impressed with the star's athletic ability.
More recently, but still a few weeks ago, I finally got around to trying clapping pull-ups and was pleasantly surprised to learn that I was able to do something in the same family (though maybe not quite as nice and crisp as the original).
Yesterday night I finally got around to going over to the park across the street from our apartment to try and see how many I could do. As you can see, I can't do many and they get worse as I progress.
[Embedded video]
Wow, I feel like an internet superstar now.
[Embedded video]
Not surprisingly, I was quite impressed with the star's athletic ability.
More recently, but still a few weeks ago, I finally got around to trying clapping pull-ups and was pleasantly surprised to learn that I was able to do something in the same family (though maybe not quite as nice and crisp as the original).
Yesterday night I finally got around to going over to the park across the street from our apartment to try and see how many I could do. As you can see, I can't do many and they get worse as I progress.
[Embedded video]
Wow, I feel like an internet superstar now.
Friday, March 12, 2010
She's gunning for me
So word on the street is that Kirsten has a PB of 8 full-fledged chin-ups. How did this happen? I had heard nothing about her continuing to work on this front. I presumed, wrongly, that my commanding lead had scared her away from even trying to go head-to-head with me on the chin-up front.
Anyway, this was a bit of a wake-up call. Kirsten being at 8 meant that she was only one away from my PB of 9. As it is known that I am not particularly keen on the idea of my younger sister being able to do more chin-ups than I can, this result put me in something of an awkward position. This was definitely a little too close for comfort.
Fortunately this news provided the necessary motivation for me to head over to the chin-up bar and crank out 10 chin-ups. While this puts a little more room between us, I don't think it is enough for me to let my guard down (as happened over the past few weeks).
Both of us are just lucking that we are residing away from each other, otherwise the temptation to pull a Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan on the other might just be a little too strong.
Anyway, this was a bit of a wake-up call. Kirsten being at 8 meant that she was only one away from my PB of 9. As it is known that I am not particularly keen on the idea of my younger sister being able to do more chin-ups than I can, this result put me in something of an awkward position. This was definitely a little too close for comfort.
Fortunately this news provided the necessary motivation for me to head over to the chin-up bar and crank out 10 chin-ups. While this puts a little more room between us, I don't think it is enough for me to let my guard down (as happened over the past few weeks).
Both of us are just lucking that we are residing away from each other, otherwise the temptation to pull a Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan on the other might just be a little too strong.
A Few Quick Notes 407
-We are in the midst of another beautiful day in Halifax. At the moment the sun is shining and the temperature is well above zero. Hopefully I will get to experience some of this weather first hand not simply as mediated through my bedroom window.
-I am now down to 2/5 for this year's Roll Up the Rim to win. Though my last rim wasn't successful I don't feel so bad about the loss as I normally would. In this case, before rolling up the rim I sold 50% of the outcome to Rebecca for 50 cents. The final negative outcome, at least as far as I was concerned, was somewhat tempered by the fact that I had reduced my risk made 30 cents on top of the crudely calculated expected value of the rim. I may have to start collecting my rims and then selling some of the action to make up for the fact that I will otherwise likely get nothing from the experience.
-Last night all three of us attended a talk by Jorge Cham of Piled Higher and Deeper/Ph.D. Comics organized by DAGS. I was pleased to see that quite a number of math grad students made the trip, as did a number of political science students.
Afterwards most of us (meaning math and political science) made our way to the Grawood, the campus bar, for a few drinks, some food, socializing, and trivia. While the food, drinks, and socializing were great, the trivia was a bit of a dud. I am not sure exactly what it is, but they really don't know how to write good trivia questions at the Grawood. Not surprisingly, not having good questions makes the whole thing rather unpleasant.
-We have two Ultimate games tomorrow. We have this unusually large number because of our scheduling problem last week.
-My PB is still 9 chin-ups. It seems that I haven't made much progress in the past day or so.
-I am now down to 2/5 for this year's Roll Up the Rim to win. Though my last rim wasn't successful I don't feel so bad about the loss as I normally would. In this case, before rolling up the rim I sold 50% of the outcome to Rebecca for 50 cents. The final negative outcome, at least as far as I was concerned, was somewhat tempered by the fact that I had reduced my risk made 30 cents on top of the crudely calculated expected value of the rim. I may have to start collecting my rims and then selling some of the action to make up for the fact that I will otherwise likely get nothing from the experience.
-Last night all three of us attended a talk by Jorge Cham of Piled Higher and Deeper/Ph.D. Comics organized by DAGS. I was pleased to see that quite a number of math grad students made the trip, as did a number of political science students.
Afterwards most of us (meaning math and political science) made our way to the Grawood, the campus bar, for a few drinks, some food, socializing, and trivia. While the food, drinks, and socializing were great, the trivia was a bit of a dud. I am not sure exactly what it is, but they really don't know how to write good trivia questions at the Grawood. Not surprisingly, not having good questions makes the whole thing rather unpleasant.
-We have two Ultimate games tomorrow. We have this unusually large number because of our scheduling problem last week.
-My PB is still 9 chin-ups. It seems that I haven't made much progress in the past day or so.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
A Few Quick Notes 406
-We had another nice day today, though it was a little cooler than it was yesterday. Amazingly, though it is still only early March, people are starting to act as though we are through with Winter for the year (which would be fine with me if it is the case).
-I am now 2/4 with regards to Roll Up the Rim to Win cups. I am pretty sure that the added pressure of playing for someone else is really helping me pick up my game.
-Today I attended a political science/public administration seminar. Unfortunately, someone, in the atrium adjacent to the seminar room, was holding a fashion show of sorts. This relatively disruptive (and presumably relatively base) event included not only loud club-appropriate music, but also live commentary on the models and their attire. Considering the enormity of the distraction the presenter did a very good job of powering through and getting his points across.
-Neil has been on the prowl for the past day or two. The target of this prowling has been below retail price Brier tickets. Thus far his rate of success has been relatively low, though he did manage to score a $20 ticket for tomorrow morning (the regular price would be $29 plus fees).
-Our chin-up progress seems to be chugging away nicely. As of tonight I am up to 9 'proper' chin-ups. While I know that Neil has been practicing and generally getting better I don't exactly know what is current PB is. (For those of you who are curious, though it is not apparent in the comments sections these chin-ups reports seem to be shockingly popular among our mid-20s female readers. I find this pretty funny because this is some of the content that I have felt the most hesitant to post, at least that was the case until I knew that one or two of our dedicated readers were following our progress with baited breath, or something approximating baited breath.)
-I am now 2/4 with regards to Roll Up the Rim to Win cups. I am pretty sure that the added pressure of playing for someone else is really helping me pick up my game.
-Today I attended a political science/public administration seminar. Unfortunately, someone, in the atrium adjacent to the seminar room, was holding a fashion show of sorts. This relatively disruptive (and presumably relatively base) event included not only loud club-appropriate music, but also live commentary on the models and their attire. Considering the enormity of the distraction the presenter did a very good job of powering through and getting his points across.
-Neil has been on the prowl for the past day or two. The target of this prowling has been below retail price Brier tickets. Thus far his rate of success has been relatively low, though he did manage to score a $20 ticket for tomorrow morning (the regular price would be $29 plus fees).
-Our chin-up progress seems to be chugging away nicely. As of tonight I am up to 9 'proper' chin-ups. While I know that Neil has been practicing and generally getting better I don't exactly know what is current PB is. (For those of you who are curious, though it is not apparent in the comments sections these chin-ups reports seem to be shockingly popular among our mid-20s female readers. I find this pretty funny because this is some of the content that I have felt the most hesitant to post, at least that was the case until I knew that one or two of our dedicated readers were following our progress with baited breath, or something approximating baited breath.)
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Too much exercise?
I wonder if I have possibly indulged in too much exercise today?
I started things off with a few chin-ups and whatnot this morning. Though they went relatively well I don't think that I achieved a personal best of anything of that nature. The major impact seemed to be diminished motor control (a rare side-effect) when I was cooking my lunch moments later.
This afternoon we had a relatively intense, sweat-inducing Ultimate game. I feel as though I was working hard all game.
This afternoon I then spent a little time on our newly acquired exercise bike (and imagine that I will spend a little more time there later this evening).
These behaviour patterns don't seem like me at all. What is going on with me? Am I going to run the risk of being in shape?
(What a whiff of a post, but I guess that posts such as these are the expected outcome of a competitive blogging set-up that rewards quantity rather that quality.)
Blog-off Score
Neil: 3
Cameron: 60
(Edit: I noticed that our numbers weren't adding up and I traced the problem to a scoring screw-up I made a few days ago. I have fixed the problem in this post, but I am disinclined to head back through the last number of posts to correct the scores embedded in each post. Sorry for any confusion.)
I started things off with a few chin-ups and whatnot this morning. Though they went relatively well I don't think that I achieved a personal best of anything of that nature. The major impact seemed to be diminished motor control (a rare side-effect) when I was cooking my lunch moments later.
This afternoon we had a relatively intense, sweat-inducing Ultimate game. I feel as though I was working hard all game.
This afternoon I then spent a little time on our newly acquired exercise bike (and imagine that I will spend a little more time there later this evening).
These behaviour patterns don't seem like me at all. What is going on with me? Am I going to run the risk of being in shape?
(What a whiff of a post, but I guess that posts such as these are the expected outcome of a competitive blogging set-up that rewards quantity rather that quality.)
Blog-off Score
Neil: 3
Cameron: 60
(Edit: I noticed that our numbers weren't adding up and I traced the problem to a scoring screw-up I made a few days ago. I have fixed the problem in this post, but I am disinclined to head back through the last number of posts to correct the scores embedded in each post. Sorry for any confusion.)
Friday, February 26, 2010
Winter Rain: 14
We are back from our somewhat damp trip to Quinpool. It turns out that the wind and rain when combined as they are today are pretty unpleasant.
Just to reiterate a previous statement, the rain is definitely not heavy. If we somehow managed to remove the wind from the occasion I am quite confident that both Neil and Rebecca would agree with me that it is just regular rain, which feels amped up because of the wind.
The reason for the trip was for Neil to buy an on-sale exercise bike, which we succeeded in doing. Neil is now in the midst of assembling it in the living room. So now that we have the exercise bike and chin-up bar I presume that we have no excuse to not be in top physical form, though I somewhat doubtful that we will both be sporting sexy six-packs in the not-to-distant future.
I should also mention that carrying a somewhat heavy, large box in heavy wind and regular rain is something a little less than pleasant. At times the gusts, into which were headed, both pushed down the box and blew into our faces. It was quite a feeling to have the box feel as though it was being pulled from our hands and also as though we were dealing with some kind of frontal gravity that was impeding our progress.
Of course there are no signs of abeyance so I presume this means that none of us will be making too many extra trips outdoors.
Blog-off Score
Neil: 3
Cameron: 53
Just to reiterate a previous statement, the rain is definitely not heavy. If we somehow managed to remove the wind from the occasion I am quite confident that both Neil and Rebecca would agree with me that it is just regular rain, which feels amped up because of the wind.
The reason for the trip was for Neil to buy an on-sale exercise bike, which we succeeded in doing. Neil is now in the midst of assembling it in the living room. So now that we have the exercise bike and chin-up bar I presume that we have no excuse to not be in top physical form, though I somewhat doubtful that we will both be sporting sexy six-packs in the not-to-distant future.
I should also mention that carrying a somewhat heavy, large box in heavy wind and regular rain is something a little less than pleasant. At times the gusts, into which were headed, both pushed down the box and blew into our faces. It was quite a feeling to have the box feel as though it was being pulled from our hands and also as though we were dealing with some kind of frontal gravity that was impeding our progress.
Of course there are no signs of abeyance so I presume this means that none of us will be making too many extra trips outdoors.
Blog-off Score
Neil: 3
Cameron: 53
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Chin-ups reset
Because I have so much time on my hands, last night I decided to go to the great reference sources Wikipedia and YouTube to get more information on chin-ups and pull-ups.
One of the first things that I learned is that both pull-ups and chin-ups, as frequently defined in these sources, imply that the individual goes all the way down until their arms are straight, not just to a 90 degree angle (which is what we had been doing). This means that I have been significantly over counting the number of chin-ups I am capable of. So my count went from 27, which sounded rather respectable, to a paltry 7.
Secondly, I was able to finally figure out the difference between pull-ups and chin-ups. It seems that pull-ups are the version of the exercise done with one's palms facing away from one's body. Chin-ups are the version of the exercise with the palms facing towards the body.
Thirdly, this is one of the amazing pull-up/chin-up videos available on YouTube:
[Embedded Video]
Blog-off Score
Neil: 0
Cameron: 30
One of the first things that I learned is that both pull-ups and chin-ups, as frequently defined in these sources, imply that the individual goes all the way down until their arms are straight, not just to a 90 degree angle (which is what we had been doing). This means that I have been significantly over counting the number of chin-ups I am capable of. So my count went from 27, which sounded rather respectable, to a paltry 7.
Secondly, I was able to finally figure out the difference between pull-ups and chin-ups. It seems that pull-ups are the version of the exercise done with one's palms facing away from one's body. Chin-ups are the version of the exercise with the palms facing towards the body.
Thirdly, this is one of the amazing pull-up/chin-up videos available on YouTube:
[Embedded Video]
Blog-off Score
Neil: 0
Cameron: 30
Monday, February 15, 2010
More Chin-ups
A few weeks ago I mentioned that Neil purchased a chin-up bar and that we had been practicing regularly. Since my last update a few days ago we have managed to keep up our chin-up practice. Fortunately, this practice has lead to increases in the number of chin-ups that we can each complete. While I don't have a precise number for Neil, I can say that my new personal best is 26, which is about twice as many as I could do when we acquired the chin-up bar a few weeks ago.
As I haven't recently heard from either my sister or father about how many they can do I am a little worried that I may still be coming up short. Hopefully with a little more practice I will be able to reach a number that is decidedly higher than either of their personal bests, cementing my position as family member capable of the most chin-ups in a row (a very important distinction).
Blog-off Score
Neil: 0
Cameron: 29
As I haven't recently heard from either my sister or father about how many they can do I am a little worried that I may still be coming up short. Hopefully with a little more practice I will be able to reach a number that is decidedly higher than either of their personal bests, cementing my position as family member capable of the most chin-ups in a row (a very important distinction).
Blog-off Score
Neil: 0
Cameron: 29
Monday, February 01, 2010
A Few Quick Notes 389
-A few days ago I think I welcomed the onset of Winter. It seems that my wish has been granted. It has solidly below freezing for the past few days, and doesn't seem to be ready to let-up anytime soon. Fortunately, so far it is basically as pleasant as I would have expected, though maybe a little chillier than I would like (it is presently -15). Thus far we haven't had much additional snow, though it seems that that too may change in the very near future.
-We managed to pull off a rather impressive Ultimate victory on Saturday. While I believe I scored a point or two and managed to make complete passes for a few more I don't think I can really take much credit for our win. Our friends John and Rebecca were able to sub for us, which was fun (they then came over for dinner afterwards).
-On Friday night, prior to attending the Dal math grad students' once-a-term Martini party, I had Neil give me a quick buzz. This means that I am back to a nice, short, and respectable no. 3 length haircut. In retrospect I probably should have let it grow out and allowed myself to get a regular haircut, but the fact that I could take immediate action was appealing, and, in the end, too powerful and urge to ignore.
-Over the course of the past few weeks I begun to notice that Tom Flanagan is really wailed on by many other Canadian political scientists. It seems that his name acts as a stand-in for the Reform Party/right-wing populism (given his past association with the Reform/Alliance/Conservative Party this is not completely without reason).
Because I was thinking about this topic I did some googling and learned that Flanagan was born and educated in the US. Last year, as the result of a similar process, I learned that F.L (Ted) Morton was also born in the United States. This means that a rather significant chunk of the 'Calgary School' is American in origin, which may help explain why some of the ideas most associated with them give off an American vibe.
-Neil and I are continuing to work away on the chin-up bar. I was able to complete 15 or 16 (I lost count near the end) this evening. At this rate I should be able to claim my rightful place in the not too distant future. I just hope that I can keep this up long enough so that when I head back to St. John's for next Christmas that I will be able to remain the in-person family champion.
Blog-off Score
Neil: 0
Cameron: 3
-We managed to pull off a rather impressive Ultimate victory on Saturday. While I believe I scored a point or two and managed to make complete passes for a few more I don't think I can really take much credit for our win. Our friends John and Rebecca were able to sub for us, which was fun (they then came over for dinner afterwards).
-On Friday night, prior to attending the Dal math grad students' once-a-term Martini party, I had Neil give me a quick buzz. This means that I am back to a nice, short, and respectable no. 3 length haircut. In retrospect I probably should have let it grow out and allowed myself to get a regular haircut, but the fact that I could take immediate action was appealing, and, in the end, too powerful and urge to ignore.
-Over the course of the past few weeks I begun to notice that Tom Flanagan is really wailed on by many other Canadian political scientists. It seems that his name acts as a stand-in for the Reform Party/right-wing populism (given his past association with the Reform/Alliance/Conservative Party this is not completely without reason).
Because I was thinking about this topic I did some googling and learned that Flanagan was born and educated in the US. Last year, as the result of a similar process, I learned that F.L (Ted) Morton was also born in the United States. This means that a rather significant chunk of the 'Calgary School' is American in origin, which may help explain why some of the ideas most associated with them give off an American vibe.
-Neil and I are continuing to work away on the chin-up bar. I was able to complete 15 or 16 (I lost count near the end) this evening. At this rate I should be able to claim my rightful place in the not too distant future. I just hope that I can keep this up long enough so that when I head back to St. John's for next Christmas that I will be able to remain the in-person family champion.
Blog-off Score
Neil: 0
Cameron: 3
Friday, January 29, 2010
Chin-ups or how we fell into a pit of shameless competition
For Christmas, which was about a month ago, my father received a chin-up bar. This is something that a number of us have been talking about acquiring for sometime, typically with the hopes of using it to sculpt and enhance our flabby and feeble upper bodies.
Within a few days the apparatus had been assembled, and temporarily placed in Neil's bedroom doorframe. Almost as soon as the device was installed we all had to take a turn to determine our base level capabilities. For the most part, I think people were pleasantly surprised with how many chin-ups they could do with no practice. While I can't remember how many everyone could do, I do happen to remember that I completed the most chin-ups with about 10 (of the regular variety). Unfortunately, I think that this was really pushing it and I ended up feeling the negative consequences of my exertions for the next day or so.
The device was used rather intermittently throughout the rest of our stay. I know that I was a little less than excited to try to beat my record, particularly as no one had even approached it.
In the weeks since our departure my father has been sending us chin-up reports, usually just outlining the advances that he and my sister are making. For the most part he has been able to stay ahead of her, which is his goal, but they have both been upping their numbers through regular practice.
The reports made clear to Neil and I that our twentysomething PBs were being shattered by a teenage girl and a fifty year-old man. At one point my father and sister both seemed to near 17, which is about 7 ahead of my Christmastime PB. And at this rate of progression we weren't even going to be in the same league in a few weeks. As should be clear, neither of us were particularly fond of this situation.
To rectify the situation, and hopefully to allow us to reclaim our preeminent positions in our family's chin-up hierarchy, Neil boldly purchased a chin-up bar for our Halifax apartment.
For the past two days we have both been logging regular work-out sessions on the chin-up bar (typically while dinner is cooking). While I am only at a PB of 13 (I think Neil is at about 7), I feel that my multiple repetitions of 10 will allow me to make good progress in the coming days. I am hoping that within a few weeks I will be able to overtake both my father and sister and reclaim my rightful position as the family capable of completing the most chin-ups.
Stay tuned for future updates.
Within a few days the apparatus had been assembled, and temporarily placed in Neil's bedroom doorframe. Almost as soon as the device was installed we all had to take a turn to determine our base level capabilities. For the most part, I think people were pleasantly surprised with how many chin-ups they could do with no practice. While I can't remember how many everyone could do, I do happen to remember that I completed the most chin-ups with about 10 (of the regular variety). Unfortunately, I think that this was really pushing it and I ended up feeling the negative consequences of my exertions for the next day or so.
The device was used rather intermittently throughout the rest of our stay. I know that I was a little less than excited to try to beat my record, particularly as no one had even approached it.
In the weeks since our departure my father has been sending us chin-up reports, usually just outlining the advances that he and my sister are making. For the most part he has been able to stay ahead of her, which is his goal, but they have both been upping their numbers through regular practice.
The reports made clear to Neil and I that our twentysomething PBs were being shattered by a teenage girl and a fifty year-old man. At one point my father and sister both seemed to near 17, which is about 7 ahead of my Christmastime PB. And at this rate of progression we weren't even going to be in the same league in a few weeks. As should be clear, neither of us were particularly fond of this situation.
To rectify the situation, and hopefully to allow us to reclaim our preeminent positions in our family's chin-up hierarchy, Neil boldly purchased a chin-up bar for our Halifax apartment.
For the past two days we have both been logging regular work-out sessions on the chin-up bar (typically while dinner is cooking). While I am only at a PB of 13 (I think Neil is at about 7), I feel that my multiple repetitions of 10 will allow me to make good progress in the coming days. I am hoping that within a few weeks I will be able to overtake both my father and sister and reclaim my rightful position as the family capable of completing the most chin-ups.
Stay tuned for future updates.
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