Saturday, December 06, 2008

Slacker

In an effort to disallow any more time to pass me by without posting you shall now get a hodge podge of mental detrius for your enjoyment. *cough. The things I intended to do today sort of either fell by the wayside, like so many solitary hitchhiking shoes, or were reimagined, a cosmic "Do This, Not That" editorial if you will.

Here it is bullet style:
  • back to the gym-did not happen. Aha! Slacker! No, I ended up doing a thirty minute kettlebell workout in the warmth of my very own living room. Part of gymming today was our son getting to play in their playroom which he considers a treat. Due to toddler noncompliance with our fascist regime (you know, going to bed and not getting up a million times) I had to revoke this privledge as well as the movie viewing outing that had been proposed the night before. A workout happened to be high on my list of priorities so when he sacked out for naptime I fired up the kettlebell dvd and grabbed Big Blue (the 20 lb 'bell). I did the first two circuits instead of pushing for all three, knowing that yes I could get through it, but it would zap me the rest of the day and I had big plans. A note on kettlebell workouts: I've been doing a modified version of various kettlebell moves with the dumbbells at the gym and yes, speaking from experience now, it is drastically different. I actually prefer the dumbbells now, something I never thought I would say when I started out learning the kettlebell workouts. I won't abandon the real deal entirely by any means and hope to get heavier cannonballs o' fun for Christmas, but I feel much more engaged when I use the dumbbells for the same motions at the gym. Several things play into that: I can use much heavier weights using dumbbells and seem to be able to gauge progress more. I really get a badass workout in a shorter time period, using the kettlebells ends up being a bit more about cardiac performance and less of a strength building experience. Don't mistake me, I did make gains and rather quickly with kettlebells, but it seems to be maybe the movements rather than the hunks of iron themselves. Before my recent hiatus that I am now having to recover from strength-wise, I was up to weights previously unknown to me. I'm digressing and becoming less coherent here, I'll just write an entire post about that bit of business. I also jam out to my own tunes when hitting the gym and when following the dvd kettlebell workout I like to hear the verbal cues and my attempt at playing music over that did not work out well. My vim and vigor vanish. I just prefer to lift heavy for a shorter amount of time and then subsequently have a nice all over drained feeling, shaking limbs etc. rather than repeating many, many reps in order to feel exhausted but not max out my potential.
  • The Persimmon Thing-I bought a persimmon just for the hell of it, I almost didn't when I copped a look at the price for just one but it seemed strange that I spotted it so suddenly and it occured to me, I hadn't a clue what one does with a persimmon. It is squatting next to our clementines and honeycrisps being very mysterious. After finally taking the time to hit up Dr. Google for the answer I see you can eat it raw but that if it is not ripe enough, it might form a bezoar! I thought bezoars were somewhat of a scary dietetics myth, used to frighten young interns. sort of, I mean I know they exist but you just don't run into them I may just wait until the damned thing is almost rotten to try it now. Bezoars! ack.
  • Posting pictures-this one will have to wait for now.
  • Additional frivolous things blog-this is also just waiting for pictures and such, it will be the address http://errysue.blogspot.com/ , titled Brocante which means "junk" loosely in French as far as I know. I l ike the idea of just being able to empty the ol' cranium of fluff and nonsense. What will be posted? Pictures of moi, my family probably, fashion related things I like (meaning what I want or wear not actually following fashion which could not bore me more most of the time), crafty things, projects, just whatever takes my fancy.
  • professional paper-about halfway written, I had to take a break to get this important update tip tapped out, right?

I really wish I had a cool mark the days off graphic thing going like Marla, we are very similarly minded when it comes to having plans and marking things off, etc. I plan to commit to x number of workouts until Christmas, just need to figure that out, but that's what blogs are for and I've got a date with Winkin', Blinkin' and Nod. Bonus points if anyone realizes that comes from something and I'm not just a few marbles short of a set.

6 comments:

Leah J. Utas said...

You made me look up the nursery rhyme. And I'm glad.
How was the herring catch?

Erin said...

Leah,

It makes me happy that you knew what I was talking about, even with the misspelling of Wynken, Blynken and Nod. I could claim that I did that on purpose but it's too nice a day for lying. :)
Herring catching did not go so well, but that is alright. Today is a day to be grateful just to be alive, to enjoy my family, and to appreciate friends from all aspects of life. Time for breakfast!

Marla said...

What a fascinating post - BEZOARS!!! GAAAAHHHH!

Also that is a good point about using dumbbells instead of kettlebells. I did a few workouts that way several months ago and was definitely intrigued - but assumed that the dumbs were far inferior to the kettles. So perhaps I'll just get a video, and stretch my budget farther.

Erin said...

Marla,
Thank you and yes, GAAAHHH BEZOARS! I am havin a staredown contest with the persimmon, afraid to eat it but curious as all get out.
Regarding the dumbbell kettlebell conundrum, I need to talk more about that because the day after I did the kettlebell workout and shot my mouth off about how I like the dumbbells more, I woke up sore all over, barely moving from what felt like a fairly easy workout. Hrrrmmm. A friend of mine told me that there is a local place that makes kettlebells much cheaper than you can buy them commercially so I am wondering if such a deal exists out yonder in your direction?

Marla said...

I will have to look around. I've seen some instructions for make-your-own, but they are clumsy awkward things assembled from bits and pieces, not the sleek form of the real kettlebells. The heck with that, might as well use dumbbells.

Also have looked in the used sports store - nothing there. In a couple years when the popularity has died down, there will be plenty. I think that's why they're so expensive right now.

No big deal; I have PLENTY of other workouts I can do!

Erin said...

Marla,

I feel like I've done KB wrong somehow by talking about using dumbbells, like I'm cheating! After doing an actual kettlebell workout again I am divided, if there is anyway you could try some to see what you think I think that is the best option. We just got a new kettlebell dvd (from Netflix! so if you want to try that one I'll get it back in the mail, ha)so I'll report on how that goes. n The motion that comes from the shape is vastly different than a dumbbell so I am trying to backpeddle somewhat awkwardly getting rug burn in the process. I'm trying to think of some way I could help, will think on it.