June 22, 2015

No Greater Gift


By Jan Bono

We're all grownups here, right?  Because this post by Jan Bonoauthor of Back from Obesity: My 252-pound Weight-Loss Journey concerns adult subject matter. But I have every confidence that mature and worldly Cranky Fitness readers can handle it!

As for the contentious crustacean, she will be back soon, hopefully early next week.  She is very much looking forward to finding out how everyone is doing!--Crabby

Although I consider myself a “healthy weight” today, I spent more than a decade weighing above 370 pounds. Back then, it had been literally years since I’d felt like any kind of sexual being, and I considered that perhaps I had “outgrown” the wanting to feel sexy and desirable.

Perhaps all that extra estrogen lurking in the fat tissues had taken away my libido. Truth be told, it had been about a decade since I’d gotten naked and horizontal with anyone. I wasn’t just hormonally challenged—I was hormonally comatose.

Nevertheless, in June when I wrote my “birthday resolutions,” I haphazardly penned “have sex” on the bottom of the list. Not “fall in love,” mind you, but simply “have sex.”

June 15, 2015

Antioxidant Supplements: Bad Idea?

By Tiffany Reiss


This is a post by Cranky Fitness contributor Tiffany Reiss, a university professor who, unlike the slothful Crabby McSlacker, actually knows a lot about nutrition and bothers to go beyond the headlines with some actual research and thoughtful analysis. As I've mentioned before, Tiffany is one of the innovators behind the website The Hub Edu, which lets users to build a digital library of resources and share with others.  (In beta but very cool, and free!) More about Tiffany can be found by scrolling down on our info page.  --Crabby

Antioxidants: the pros and the cons: This concept is something that more often than not confuses my students, and at the very least is very eye opening for them.

We have all heard it, read it, been bombarded with it over the past couple of decades. Aging is bad. And what causes aging?  Why it's those little free radicals (or Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) flying around in our bodies that damage cells and even our DNA that in turn, cause aging and possibly any number of physiological dysfunction (including cancer).

June 08, 2015

Time to Change Up Your Game?

photo via x-ray delta one

By Crabby McSlacker

So when it comes to health and fitness, I'm generally a big advocate of showing up and doing a shitty job of things rather than not showing up at all.

Something is almost always better than nothing.  A grudging, sluggish 10 minute workout that you actually DO is way better than the 90 minute kick-ass workout you can't motivate yourself to tackle, right?

And yet, other times, we may have to take a look at our goals, and what we're doing to accomplish them, and ask a tough question:

June 04, 2015

Gettin’ Fitter Diggin’ Dinner


By Jan Bono

"Exercise" doesn't always have to involve pounding out miles on a treadmill or slogging through squats and pushups at a crowded gym. There are sometimes tasty alternatives! So please welcome back contributor Jan Bono with more tales from her amazing 252-pound weight loss journey.--Crabby  

Living at the edge of the continent along the southwest Washington coast has its distinct advantages, not the least of which is the ability to get out there and “catch” your own seafood dinner.

Salmon, sturgeon, surf perch, oysters, crab, steamer clams and razor clams are all seasonally available here, and I’m not one to pass up the opportunity to enjoy them “so fresh, they’re still squirming in the skillet.”

But along with the hunt, there’s also the added element of utilizing various muscles (not to be confused with mussels, which are also plentiful here) that can often appreciate a new and/or different workout.

I’d been on my recumbent bike for almost two hours when the phone rang unexpectedly one morning a couple weeks ago.

“You’ve got your clam license, right?” my friend Eddie asked me.

“Right.”

“It’s two hours before low tide. How fast can you get over here?”


June 01, 2015

Save Your Strength

photo: David Mark
By Crabby McSlacker

So this is just a strange little post about a sneaky motivational trick that's been working well for me lately, but it may be Absolutely Useless for a normal person.

The tip deals with a persistent problem that can derail the most sensible, well-researched, brilliantly designed exercise program.

The problem?  In order to work out, you have to show up.  Often at a specific place, and possibly at a specific time, and generally wearing some sort of appropriate clothing. There may even be equipment and gadgets and gear to haul along.

Even if it's as simple as standing in front of your own television set in your spare room with the intention of doing an exercise dvd... you still have to get yourself in front of that tv and turn the damn thing on.