October 29, 2012

Keeping a Journal: Kick-Ass or Kinda Barfy?


Do you keep a diary or journal?

Research says keeping a journal fights stress and depression, plus it can be a powerful tool for sorting things out, achieving goals, solving problems, arriving at insights, and improving relationships.

And yeah, I recently offered some tips for keeping food and exercise journals, but that's not what I'm talking about. This time I mean the old-fashioned, Dear-Diary-here's-what's-on-my-mind sort of thing.

You would think as a neurotic, over-thinking, narcisstic blogger, that journaling would be a no-brainer, right? Something I would have started when I was 6 years old? But no. Way too damn self-conscious.  It's only been about 9 months, and it's been... well... interesting.

So does anyone else feel like a total ass keeping a journal, or is it just me?

October 25, 2012

Cranky Fitness, Heading West!


Back soon!

As regular blog readers may remember, Crabby and the Lobster live a very odd bicoastal life, spending half the year in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and half in San Diego, California. 

This time we are not driving but flying!  So no excuses about not posting because of a cross-country trek.  Just excuses about packing and unpacking and not being able to find stuff and internet screwups and just generally being lazy and disorganizized and distracted. 

But hey, notice how the Lobster is getting all clever with the photoshop??

Anyay, hope you all have a great weekend, and  I'll be back soon with more of the usual nonsense!




October 23, 2012

Barefoot /Minimalist Running, Should You Try It?

Is anyone else totally confused by the conflicting advice out there on what the hell we should be wearing on our feet to run, walk or otherwise work out in?

Probably Not a Good Idea


As with most other fitness debates, this seems to be one of those questions where there may be no universal best answer; everyone is different and you may need to (carefully) experiment. But after much research, pondering, vacillation, hair-pulling and cursing, I've reached a tentative decision about what may be best for me.

Here's what I've come up with, and I discovered a couple of magic tricks which may only work for me, but what the hell.  But I'll be quite curious to see what you all do about the question of appropriate footwear.

October 19, 2012

Giveaway Winner!



Dang, I so wish I could find some giveaway where EVERYONE wins; loved the comments.

The random number generator bestowed the Les Mills Combat DVD's upon...

October 18, 2012

Clueless Gym Behavior: Ask the Personal Trainers

Who is THIS moron? Oh wait...

Welcome to our first installment of  "Ask the Personal Trainers!"  We have four personal trainers lined up to answer your questions, and they're a diverse, knowledgeable, and amusing bunch.

Plus, since I can't keep my mouth shut, I'll weigh in too! Sure, I have absolutely no qualifications whatsoever.  But when has that ever stopped my from offering advice before?

This time, since we have introductions to make, there's only one question and it's mine.  This is because it's my blog and I'm a greedy control freak I wanted to start off with a general question that could reflect each trainer's overall fitness philosophies.   

However, we gotten some great reader questions! I haven't forgotten them, and some of these have already been submitted for next time.  (These involve rotator cuff problems, core work and post-hysterectomy recovery, and unmotivated clients, so stay tuned!)

What's today's question?

What is the most clueless thing you see people do in a gym, and what should they be doing instead?

But first, let's meet our trainers!

October 15, 2012

Les Mills Body Combat Giveaway; Introducing the Fit It!

A couple of product announcements today, both of them rather cool.


So first we've got a reader giveaway of a 5 DVD martial-arts style workout video from the Les Mills folks called Les Mills COMBAT.

And next up, I thought I'd let you know about a brand new Pinterest style photo-sharing and pinning site aimed at the fitness community called The Fit It


These both look like promising ventures, so wanna find out a bit more and see how you might win the DVD set?  This time, Canadians are eligible too!

(And I swear more "real" posts that are not reviews or giveaways are on the way. I'll spare you the usual 10 paragraphs of apologies and rationalizations and philosophical thoughts about health blogging and commercialism).

October 11, 2012

Need Sleep? Can Zeo Help?



So, do you get enough sleep?

Many Cranky Fitness readers have probably come to loathe that question. You guys tend to be well-informed, health conscious, and busy (not to mention clever, kind and adorable). And the answer to "do you get enough sleep" may frequently be "no, goddamn it, I don't!"  Yet you've already read the grim statistics on how screwed you are, in 87 different ways, if you're prone to insomnia.  And you've googled for sleep hygiene tips and you've tried most of the suggestions at some point or other and you still can't sleep.

Yet strangely enough, scaring the pants off of people by detailing all the dire health consequences of not sleeping is a really crappy way to help them drop off when they are staring at their ceilings at 3 a.m.!

So fear not, those of you who are sleep-deprived. This review of the Zeo sleep coaching system is custom-crafted to avoid making you feel any worse if you are not sleeping, and it will not pester you with suggestions you already know.

Now what the heck is a Zeo, what does it do, and should you think about springing for one? 



October 08, 2012

Teaching a New Dog Old Tricks

So hang in there, this will eventually be a post about exercise, but first off, meet Seashell, the new Cranky Fitness spokesdog!


So who is Seashell and what the heck is she doing here?

October 03, 2012

Got Fitness Questions? Plus Gaiam Giveaway Winner

The Random Number Generator has spoken!

And the winner of the Gaiam TV subscription plus Yoga mat or other comparable accessory is...

Oh wait! A brief pause first before we get to that for Yet Another Blog Announcement!

A new feature which may or may not be called "Ask the Personal Trainer" is coming up at Cranky Fitness, which will probably run once or twice a month.  Since Crabby is decidedly NOT one of these well-informed creatures, she has recruited a panel of 3 actual Personal Trainers to answer your questions. Crabby may also contribute her thoughts, a fake question or two, some whining, a completely irrelevant picture of an adorable animal, and probably some swear words, just on general principle.

I'll wait to introduce them until we get started, but it's a fun, well-informed panel.

So if you've got a question for a Personal Trainer, either leave it in a comment below or email me (email address cleverly concealed on the schmooze page). 

And if you're a Personal Trainer yourself, we can always squeeze in more expert opinions, so feel free to inquire and we'll see if it's a good match!

OK, and NOW let's announce the Gaiam giveaway winner, who is.....