December 28, 2009

New Start to a New Year?


So it's almost the beginning of a new year. Some of you may have made new year's resolutions; others of you may be shaking your heads muttering "screw that!" You're just hoping all the enthusiastic newbies who are about to crowd in to your gym or fitness class will get the heck out of your way and leave you some room to exercise in these next few weeks. (After that, you can bet that most of them are going to disappear again, just as suddenly and mysteriously as they arrived).

But even if you're not the resolution sort, a new year is sort of a handy milestone. And we're about to start off a whole new decade, isn't that exciting? It seems as good a time as any for us to stop and reflect on our commitment to living healthy lives, and to formulate or refine our goals, and to reacquaint ourselves with basic truths that we may "know" but that we tend to forget.

In that spirit, for the next eight weeks my posts are going to focus a bit more on the fundamentals than they usually tend to.


So there may be a little less of the subtle stuff, like the relative merits of DHA vs EPA vs ALA Omega-3 fatty acids. Instead, I'll have more nutrition basics, or motivation tips on how to get your reluctant ass to the gym, or ideas on what to do with said reluctant ass when you finally get it there.

Um... is anyone suspicious yet? That whole "milestone" and "reflection" stuff... that doesn't sound all that much like the usual crab, does it?

So yeah, that's a bunch of hooey. Sounded good though, didn't it? Wanna know the real reasons I'm going "back to basics" a little more over the next few weeks?


1. Googlers!

Yep, we tend to get a number of new readers in January and February, who are just starting out on their health and fitness quests. They don't give a crap if DHA is a better kind of Omega 3 than ALA. They're more curious about what we mean when we say a "plank" since we don't seem to be talking about building materials or pirates.

And since Cranky Fitness tends to get such friendly, helpful commenters who know all kinds of stuff and have great advice, I'm hoping you old timers will stick around and share your tips with those who are new and less well-informed.

2. Reminders!

There really are a LOT of motivational tricks and health and fitness truths that everyone has probably seen before, but that bear repeating because we forget to apply them. Sometimes I'll read something on someone's blog that totally inspires me, even though I may have written essentially the same thing myself. I figure if I can use the occasional helpful reminder, other folks might benefit too.

3. Blogonomics!

So I'm doing an 8-week Get-Healthy thing called the 10x Club over at Blogher, and I discovered that I'm allowed to cross-post the same stuff here. So rather than write two sets of posts, I can take the same information and tips, and put it two different places and actually get paid for it!

And it is a weirdly interesting concept they've got going at the "10x" club if you want to check it out. In addition to regular blog posts about health and fitness, there will be forum posts with daily challenges and rewards. The "rewards" are fun or silly links that you watch AFTER you do your challenge. Curious? The basic info on 10x is here and I hope a few of you will join us over at the 10x group and help me out with some fitness advice and suggestions.

4. I'm Actually Making A Few Fresh Starts Myself!

Those of you who have been bearing with my whining about injuries and cross-training lately know that I've been trying to change up my exercise routine. Plus, over time my eating habits tend to get a bit sloppier, and I'm due for a little more rigor and a little less "whatever." So while I'm not actually in full-on "resolution" mode, I do seem to be a bit more motivated to take a fresh look at topics such as portion control, strength training, various cardio options, high intensity intervals, healthy cooking, nutritious snacking, stress-reduction, etc, etc, etc.

But What About Breaking Health And Fitness Research?

Don't worry, if it doesn't fit in with the 'back to basics" theme, I can still pass along interesting health and fitness studies and articles to you--I may try to use that silly Twitter thingy I keep forgetting I signed up for. So check in with that doohickey on the left sidebar occasionally, or go follow me on Twitter, and if I see something good I'll be sure to pass it along. (Although you could catch a silly day like yesterday, when I was tweeting about Crabinars and Men's Classic Incontinence Briefs).

Also, Jo and Gigi are under no requirement to go "back to basics," so I'm sure they'll have plenty of cool stuff to pass along as well.


Got some good info to share?


Part of what I plan to be doing more of, both here and at Blogher, is sharing links to helpful "how to" health and fitness and weight loss information that other bloggers post. This is actually a good kick in the pants for me, because I've gotten so terribly lazy lately about linking! What happens is that I visit other blogs, and think "Gosh, what a great post, I'll have to make a note of that and be sure to include it next time I'm writing about... oh new mail just came in! I haven't read email in at least 4 minutes and... Chicken soup! I think we have some left in the freezer and that would make a nice little lunch. Wait, what was I just going to remind myself of?

Anyway, the upshot is that if you are a blogger or know of some good recent posts with some helpful health, fitness or weight loss "How To's," please email me suggestions and links or leave them in the comments and I'll try to pass them along.

And thanks for your patience as I try something new for a few weeks!

Anyone else making any sort of "Fresh Start" this coming new year?

29 comments:

  1. Looking forward to this. I totally agree that even those of us who have been at it a while can use a little refresher every now and then. I'm not making resolutions this year. Just trying to do the best that I can do every day and see what happens. Can't wait to read what you've got for the next few weeks.

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  2. Hey... maybe you should write a post on... Great Tips to Getting a Flat Stomach?
    Oh, all right.
    It was just a thought ;)

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  3. McCrabby, I'm in! Today, here and now, I commit to joining your 10% club! I am SO looking forward to this. I, too, am starting my own back to basics thing by getting to the CORE. I have been asked to facilitate some groups on weight loss and the emotional stuff! My stopping block usually is the exercise (that's changing with the Wii) and healthy recipes. But I raise my glass and toast you for your plan!

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  4. A new decade? Already? But I still haven't partied like it's 1999, yet!

    It's good to repeat stuff. That's how most of us learn. Besides, we're on world-wide information overload, so repeating the good stuff is important.

    I'm looking forward to your posts, as always.

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  5. I like what you are doing here. This is the time of the year when people start getting serious and it's good that they get reliable information, there is just too much misinformation out there.

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  6. I'm all over the fresh start. And I recognize already it's gonna be a tough one. 9 months of being preggo and 2 months of lazy maternity leave have left me totally out of shape and with some pretty wicked eating habits. Time to change that! Headed over to the 10X club to check it out.

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  7. Looking forward to this as I need the reminders - shoot, I forget about doing certain exercises almost as soon as I've done them (hmmm, maybe that's intentional?).

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  8. Great post! For me 2010 is not necessarily a fresh start ... just a continuation of my hard work starting in September.

    I'm ready to get annoyed, however, at how busy my gym will be in January and how hard it will be to get a treadmill until all the firecrackers are burned out. That should happen about the third week.

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  9. I've got a fresh start of my own that I'm cooking up, but it's definitely not the norm. But honestly, yeah, some of us need the reminders, and it's a great way to incorporate new people into the fold without being intimidated. And if you're writing them anyway for money, then bonus!

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  10. Reminders are always helpful. With so much new info and research, it's easy to forget the basic stuff. And I'm sure those Health 101 posts will be fun to read as always!

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  11. This sounds great... as a relatively new reader to Cranky Fitness, this will be a great recap of what I may have missed at the beginning... plus reminders are always good!

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  12. Ahahaha giggling especially over the part about getting distracted and forgetting what you were going to remind yourself about. That's got me written all over it.

    It's so strange that we're starting a new decade already!

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  13. I want a Crabinar! (I seriously think you ought to get that domain name while you can!)

    I'm the Grinch of Resolutions: never had any interest in them, and when they were first explained to me (early in elementary school?) I could not think of anything I wanted to change about myself. (Possibly my parents and teachers could...)

    Mary Anne, still smug in Kentucky

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  14. You are totally right that thesse new year resolutions get broken almost immediately. I think its just best to be realistic and not take things too seriously.

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  15. You lost me at "whole new decade". I'm now looking around for a walker and some orthopedic socks.

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  16. I have to read the x10 or 10x blurbage. If it has nothing to do with weighing 10 times what I should weigh, I may not be into it.
    Will let you know.

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  17. I think this is great & can't wait since I love this type of stuff & blog about it alot too! I would do it all the time but the readers like other stuff too so I have to change it up!

    Very exciting! Will stop by blogher & see what is up there too!

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  18. Yeah Crabby my friends, who are certified gym rats, were just saying the other day how they're not looking forward to the ocean of people who are gonna be swarming the gym next month. I just told them to use that time to get into another fitness activity to switch it up a bit.

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  19. OMG! word verification is BLESS.
    It's a sign!

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  20. The Crabinars were just a joke? C'est dommage.

    I already started my "Fresh Start" and am going to continue. The one thing I will be increasing is exercise.

    I have been doing minimal daily exercise (at least 15 minutes) and need to get in great shape for vacation. No more making the BF rest while I recover consciousness. Yay me!

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  21. I am planning a new start this New Year. But I'm not going to focus on making Resolutions. Going to be doing something a bit different.

    I think it's a great thing, what you're doing. Getting back to basics. I've forgotten a lot of the basic health stuff I read up on when I was starting out with my health quest. This will be a wonderful refresher.

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  22. Oooo! Does this mean I can post links to scientific feeds that have words like alpretadiethylcoambino-9-reductal-H6^3-ooeyramalama in 'em?

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  23. Wow - lots of changes! It's always good to be reminded of the basics:)

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  24. yeah.
    I'm not a resolution-y person either.
    But this year I'm full of it (heh heh).



    and I'm due for a little more rigor and a little less "whatever."

    ME TOO.

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  25. For some reason, I thought I had commented on this post??

    Is that a photo of Charlotte and her new baby lifting weights :-)

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  26. Refreshers are aways good :) And, it helps to keep people motivated.

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  27. onward and upward... we're in
    gp

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  28. great keys to a healthy weight loss!

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