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Tahoe Family Guy: No New Years resolution |
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Written by Morgan Kriz - View Profile
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Sunday, 23 December 2007 |
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Happy, um … ChrismaHanaKwanzakah — or something like that.
Hanukkah is over, the Christmas holiday is still rolling along, at least for students, and Kwanzaa is just getting started. It is time to make a New Years resolution — NOT.
I am not pledging to loose weight, or stay fit, two of the most popular resolutions, according to the Web site, USA.gov.
Know why I refuse? Because I live in Lake Tahoe, I stay fit just by being cold.
When I take my dog for a walk around my neighborhood, I pull a sled with a 40-pound 4-year-old up and down the icy hills of Tahoma. My child is usually yelling at my back, “faster daddy, faster.”
Before I walk out of my front door in the morning to head off to work, something you might take for granted if you live in the flat lands, I sometimes have to shovel a five-foot wall of snow to reach the snowblower.
Snow blowing is no physical picnic either, but it is sometimes necessary to get your car out of the driveway. Then, about twice a winter, when the county snowplow is late, the snow is deep and I have to get to work; I decide to charge the steeps and deeps of my neighborhood street powder with my Subaru, causing me to get stuck in a mound of hardened snow clumps.
When I did a Google search for calories burned while shoveling an automobile out of hardened snow clumps, it yielded no results. Trust me, digging a car out is a lot of work, because I’m always sweating when I’m done.
Locals who burn wood to stay warm know that stacking and restacking wood is not romantic, it’s work, if done correctly it is just as good as circuit training at the gym. Then, there is the exertion of shoveling a roof if the load gets to deep, which it usually does.
The inherent recreation of the place offers additional opportunities to stay fit, while not thinking about staying fit. Downhill and cross-country skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing and sledding, all take effort and burn calories.
No, I am not going to make the effort to vow to become fit this winter, I’ll save that for the dog days of summer when the living is easy.
Winter workout tips
Don’t make up excuses to exercise just because it is cold outside. All that is required for Winter-time workouts is some planning and employing all safety precautions. Keep the following tips in mind:
• Get warm first. A proper warm-up is critical.. Cold temperatures can make your muscles tight and therefore they are more prone to injuries.
• Insulate your body. Layering provides the most effective heating method, plus it allows you to remove the top layer if you get too hot. The layer closest to your skin should allow moisture to be wicked away. The top layer should be both wind and water resistant.
• No sweat. Don't assume that you have to sweat in order to get a good workout. Monitor your intensity through a heart rate monitor or the Rating of Perceived Exertion, not by how much you sweat.
• Don't strip the second you get inside. Give your body time to adjust. Post exercise hypothermia is possible. This happens when your body rapidly loses its heating stores.
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