For the past fifteen years I've been spending 8-12 hours a day in front of some screen of some type. My work alone involves 6-8 hours sitting in front of a computer (coupled with approximately about 3-6 hours daily entertainment and infotainment screen time).
Its this digital life coupled with my flawed to begin with personality that almost made me hopelessly fat, slow and sloppy. It couldn't go on, I didn't like what I saw in the mirror and more importantly couldn't afford the ballooning insurance premiums. (the final straw was when my Doc told me to give up sweets, cheese and alcohol)
I also started feeling (almost) that all this tech was some how constricting me.
Since I couldn't give it all up I decided to figure out ways to make all this "connected" time and technology work to get me fit.
I call this the "Zen of Digital fitness"
'Zen' because most of it is a collection of really simple ideas but it helps shed stress, burns calories and makes you feel a lot better about yourself while you are at it.
Note: It has worked for me (I’ve shed inches, regained stamina, fixed my cholesterol and had loads of fun and can eat and drink what I want :D) but you may need to tweak it to suit your own pace and lifestyle. Also be smart and ask a professional if you have medical conditions or special needs etc.
Now finally presenting;
The 7 Steps to the Zen of Digital fitness:
- Get some pumping Music
- Change the way you watch TV
- Kit up with the latest tech in sports and exercise gear
- Find great tips and techniques online
- Use your smartphone as a personal trainer
- Use your body to play video games
- Go social with your effort and progress
Zen step 1 for digital fitness
Get some pumping music
This one is the biggy (do this even if you don't do anything else I say)
All research (and common sense too) says listening to up-tempo music while performing light to moderate intensity workouts not only improves performance but also decreases our perception of fatigue.
Loads of studies have shown the positive effect of music on exercisers. Here are two interesting findings:
- In a typical study, from 2008, cyclists who rode in time to music used 7 percent less oxygen to pedal at the same pace as when they didn’t align themselves to the songs.
- In another study upping the tempo of the music improved performance of the participants in a 30 minute workout. Even when they didn't know the tempo had been increased, they were working harder and felt that they enjoyed themselves more.
The digital age has made music truly pervasive and accessible. If you don't own one already do yourself a huge favour and get yourself an MP3 player. You can even get your smartphone to play music (almost all makes do). I prefer a dedicated player because then I don't have to worry about getting stranded without a charged phone.
Digital music is available at various bit-rates 128 is 'good' but 320 is 'great'
Next time you go running, biking, gymming or simply walking take some peppy music along to improve your performance without extra (perceptible) effort.
Fast fact: Our response to music is subliminal and higher volume (past clearly audible) doesn't mean better performance. As listening to music at high volumes for prolonged periods of time damages hearing its better to exercise to low to medium volume sound. On the road or working with heavy equipment lower volume is also much safer.
Link to a more detailed article about music and exercise in the links section at the end of this article.
Zen step 2 for digital fitness
Change the way you watch TV
Let me put it this way an average person spends 70 calories while watching TV for an hour while sitting. A can of coke has 200 plus calories. If your life was just drinking a can of coke and watching TV every day for an hour you would gain a half a Kg of weight in a month. (chips, chocolates, cookies, ice-cream etc all have more calories than coke)
This one is different from the rest because I am going to say 7 things about TV watching and you probably are not going to listen. If you do you will see results in just one month and you will somehow contact me and tell me you love me:
- Never eat while watching TV
- Don't ever watch TV in bed!
- Its best to never lie down or sit and watch TV at all, ever
- Get up and walk at every commercial break if you do sit and watch TV (logically don't buy commercial free subscriptions for your TV for then you wont be able to track how long you have been watching). You can drink excess water while watching TV and run to the loo ever so often to force yourself into the habit (there are 4 two minute long commercial breaks on most channels for every 30 minutes of programming).
- Never watch TV for more than an half-hour at a stretch (ever notice how almost all TV content is in 30 minute blocks)
- Logical extension of the above watch Movies only at halls and only buy the smallest pop-corn lightly salted and without butter (if your hall provides it or skip it all together) and forgo the free drink.
- Put a cross trainer or exercise bike in front of you TV and only watch while working out at medium intensity. (I don't recommend a treadmill because of a greater risk of injury) You can break the fifth rule doing it though.
Now go try it and love me or ignore me and weep!
Zen step 3 for digital fitness
Kit up
Okay this isn't truly digital but its way up on my list because it really is about cutting edge new age technology and has a huge impact on performance and comfort during exercise.
Get the right gear and you will find yourself doing more, performing better and feeling less tired. Do this especially if you are not very motivated and don't intend to become a professional athlete because it will also save you a lot of pain and discomfort.
Ever notice how almost all professional athletes nowadays wear "Spandex" lookalike materials while competing. While Spandex even sounds painful (especially if you experienced it in the 80s and 90s) and hot and uncomfortable the new stuff is awesome.
Amongst this new stuff Athletes don is something called compression gear which along with everything else is now affordable even for amateurs.
Check these awesome facts out:
- Compression clothing assists in the removal of blood lactate from exercising muscles. Lactates are what make us feel tired and give us cramps etc.
- Unlike Spandex the new compression clothes are sculpted to the human body's muslecature and are available in various specialized size ranges. They can therefore match the contours of your body and not feel excessively constricting in places where they aren't meant to.
- Muscles alternate between tension and recovery during exercise to create motion. Compression clothes assist the muscles at the end of the recovery phase reducing the possibility of an injury. Further injury prevention is afforded via the reduction in muscle oscillation such as on landing from a jump.
- In addition to the above specialized compression clothing improves exercise performance by reducing the impact of hot and/or humid conditions on the body’s thermoregulatory (heat control) system.
- Compression clothing assists the rate of evaporation by facilitating a faster transfer of sweat from the skin to the fabric which has moisture wicking properties. This makes athletes feel cooler during exercise and perceive the activity as being less difficult.
Aside from from compression there is a whole range of specialized gear available for all types of exercise from gymming (safety and support) to swimming (better buoyancy and speed) to cycling (most especially extra padding for the glutes) etc.
There are also specialized goggles, helmets, shoes and gloves and other accessories for all kinds of activities and environment conditions. Safety and lighting and reflective equipment for night and low light conditions, gear for protection from rain, snow you name it and its there.
There are some nifty isotonic drinks and carbohydrate gels for long stretches and all kinds of bottles, packs and utility belts to store all the stuff you may need on the way. (including a full sized towel that folds into handkerchief size and dries quickly)
I want to make special mention here of sweat resistant friction reducing gels for feet, inner thighs etc. (Trust me its more important than you think) and fingered (as they are called) socks that prevent the smelly and uncomfortable condition called the athletes foot.
The point I want to reiterate is that with the right gear not only will you be more comfortable and safe while you exercise than in your regular sneakers, tshirt and shorts attire but also perform better, do more and recover faster.
Nike, Addidas have some cool stuff but the best stuff comes from the specialist companies such as Zoot, Sugoi, Speedo etc.
I can't possibly list all the stuff that is available for all the activity types and will therefore ask you to read the point number three in this post.
Link to a detailed article on just compression in the links section.
Zen step 4 for digital fitness
Get help Online
This one is less obvious than it sounds (even in this Google age). We are all used to using web for work and reference but have you ever tried using it to get fit?
I have discovered awesome tutorials for running and walking. Whatever new activity I am going to start I begin with searching on Google. Over time I have found some great stuff like;
- Jeff Galloway's website helped me complete my first marathon (link below)
- Chi running and walking videos on youtube helped me improve my gait and make recovery less painful
- Wikihow and youtube and many other sites have great tips on stretching.
- There are many blogs talking about problems faced and overcome by people with similar of greater handicaps than mine. I was so inspired by one 56 year old guy that I was able to begin doing pull-ups for the first time in my life at the age of 32.
- Nutrition tips and DIY health food recipes abound on the internet.
There are also forums like the silverfish long-boarding forum for long-boarding (duh) where you can post queries and ask community members for advice. (This is how I got into long-boarding in the first place)
What I am trying to say is that good advice (especially on how to begin or improve) is abundant on the internet just waiting to be found. What I do is to try and corroborate everything I read from a few reliable sources before I attempt it myself.
The internet is also a great place to evaluate, compare and buy stuff you may need for your activity. I have found product reviews by other people and independent domain publications a very effective tool for not only selecting what I need but also figuring out how best to use it.
Fast Fact: Searching stuff on the internet burns about 110-160 calories an hour and stimulates development of your pre-frontal cortex.
Zen step 5 for digital fitness
Use your smartphone as a personal trainer
Do you know that smartphones are really versatile (I mean really really). This one gadget is like the Swiss army knife of technology and can do lots of things for you including getting you fit.
IPhone, Android, Windows Mobile and Blackberry all are all members of this category. Its not very smart not to own a smart phone nowadays. I know some people find them irritating and battery guzzlers but I think they are really worth having. I mean look at all the stuff it can do for you just for fitness:
- Potable Sports computer (most phones can connect to heart rate monitors and other such performance measuring and safety equipment) and works like a:
- Stop watch and timer
- Speedometer (for real time pace and speed info)
- Distance covered measuring device
- Altitude meter (for accurate reporting of effort consumed in climbs and descents)
- Calories counter (most phones can do this with no added hardware)
- Steps counter (for measuring pace and intensity in walking and running)
- Heart rate reporting (vital for people suffering from cardiovascular issues and useful for wannabe athletes)
- Exercise schedule planner (you can even set it to nag you at the appointed time)
- Exercise goal motivator (allows you to set short and long term goals for yourself and monitor your progress towards those goals)
- Route planner and tracker (A fairly accurate mapping of your route using GPS and Cell triangulation)
- Safety device (records and allows 'rights' based real time access to current location to friends and family)
- Emergency help signal (Lets not forget the 'call' function)
- Portable Music player (for motivation and focus)
- Daily nutrition planner and tracker (including barcode based calorific value indicator)
- Social exercise tool (for sharing progress and competing asynchronously with friends. More on this later in this post)
So much and I don't think that even this is the complete list.
Check out the link to one of my favourite fitness apps 'Map my run' in the links section. Its available for almost all smartphone types.
Zen step 6 for digital fitness
Use your body to play video games
If you like to play computer games you should get yourself an XBOX 360 with Kinect. (You could get a Wii too but I think the Kinect is way cooler)If you don't like playing games you should start ASAP. Believe me I work in the field of education innovation and research and despite the bad press games get all neuroscience studies are showing loads of positive effects of games on the brain.
Without digressing to far from the topic at hand I will briefly mention a few benefits of responsible gaming:
Games today are a pervasive, social and multi-sensory experience that fire up most of the sections of the brain and give it a great workout
- Most especially games require a lot of meta-cognitive skills and are a great workout for your pre-frontal cortex (the part responsible for creative thinking)
- Games are also a great way of practising multi-tasking
- Games are great for practising time-management and resource management
- Games are great for improving reflexive decision making
- Games are also emotionally rewarding and promote greater self worth
- Games on the Kinect are also good for practising hand-eye/eye-body co-ordination and spatial intelligence
- Games can prevent the onset of dementia
You can read more about games in education, healthcare etc. in my company's blog (link in the links section ;)
For those who may not have heard of the Kinect (living in a secluded cave somewhere) this is an awesome and affordable new technology from Microsoft for homes that makes your body into a controller.
It forces you to move out of the couch and play games on your TV by moving about. Its a lot of fun for the whole family and a healthy way to play video games. You can burn anywhere between 300-500 calories just playing games on the Kinect. (almost as much as you would burn in an intermediate aerobics class).
Just try something simple like Fruit Ninja and you will find that you will get a good workout while having a whale of a time. If you like dancing there are great games like Dance Central and for hardcore fitness peeps there are even programs like Zumba and Yourshape which offer proper professional grade workouts with feedback (The Kinect can see you doing the exercise and tell you what you are doing wrong).
The best part about playing on the Kinect is that you can do it at home (just make sure you can have about 6-8 feet of clear space in front of your TV. If you have kids it can become a great 'do together' family activity and they will be growing up healthier too.
Zen step 7 for digital fitness
Go social with your effort and progress
One of the greatest gifts of today's technology to mankind is social networking. Sites like Linkedin, Twitter, Google+ and most especially Facebook allow us to share our lives with a large social net.
While it is true that we are still struggling to form a good sense of what is good or even acceptable online social ethic and behaviour it is inarguable that this phenomena is increasingly becoming an indispensable part of our lives.
Active social sharing of your aspirations and progress can be a great motivator towards achieving your fitness goals. I think it started with people who shared with their friends their updates about or desire/decision to take part in, events such as charity runs or marathons and quickly evolved to include life changing announcements like 'I quit smoking'.
I have friends who have committed to get fit enough to climb a mountain, run a marathon participate in a triathlon and also friends who simply seek that extra push and encouragement to go to the gym when they are feeling lazy.
I have seen online competitions like who can run more or more regularly and even collaborations like lets asynchronously run X thousand kilometres together for some cause.
I have found that people in my connections actively encourage, inspire and applaud my efforts. I have personally found that the anticipation of having to post my progress online to my friends motivates me to make that extra effort I would otherwise shirk.
Take a look at some great support I get from my friends that keeps me going:
I have also seen that my friends also get charged up and happy when I 'like' their efforts and endorse their efforts with positive feedback.
Going social with your efforts and getting your friends involved in your progress also makes it harder to slack or quit. The best part is that it you don't always need to post big feats. If you have a good friend circle even baby steps and first attempts get as much support and also make great narratives.
Times when I couldn't finish a run and was disgruntled with myself or circumstances my friends provided hope, help or sometimes even just humour to make me feel better.
Conclusion
If used right new age technology can provide comfort, motivation, scaffolding, monitoring, safety and instruction to help you achieve your goals. Devices, resources, networks and media that are now part of our everyday work, social and private lives can also become tools of self improvement.
Even simple changes in our lives and seemingly ordinary things can have a huge impact on our health and well being.
My own digital lifestyle has changed dramatically and it has had a huge positive impact on my self perception. Being physically fit has enabled me to do more at work and also somehow given me more time to pursue my hobbies and interests.
I hope you are also able to find something useful in this article and I welcome any inputs and feedback.
Wishing you luck!
LifeScholar
Links
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/phys-ed-does-music-make-you-exercise-harder/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compression_sportswear
http://www.jeffgalloway.com/
http://www.mapmyrun.com/
http://seriousgamessingapore.blogspot.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment