Category Archives: Fitness

Walking in LA

Walking in DTLA, Main Street

Walking in DTLA, Main Street

I loved this story in The New York Times detailing what it’s like to be a walker in our town. Some of the itineraries are pretty sweet as well. (The writer, Stephanie Rosenbloom, included places even I’ve never been to in my 30+ years of wandering around Los Angeles.)

Also it kind of gave me a shot of validation — being car-free and a very often cyclist and/or pedestrian is still much outside the norm — I get the strange looks, the raised eyebrows or the subtle shake of the head, still.

But I persist. I often think, well, you can’t ride your bike forever, you can’t walk around forever —  but then I think that it’s likely if I could not longer walk places I might very well no longer be able to drive to them, either. So for now, it’s that one-day-a-time kind of thing. Today’s a good day to bike. Tomorrow sounds like a great day to walk in the sun.

Anyway, Angelenos and non-Angelenos check it out, find some good walking spots. All our lives will be quieter for it.

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CicLAvia, October 5, 2014

Sunday (October 5) was another installment of CicLavia, the event in Los Angeles where they close off some streets for part of the day for the exclusive use of bicycles, skates, pedestrians, strollers, etc.

The route for October 5 stretched from Echo Park in the West to the East Los Angeles Civic Center in the east. Interesting, hot and surprisingly hilly in the eastern part of the ride. Still, I had a nice ride through many parts of L.A. that I don’t get to much — specifically downtown and the Boyle Heights area near Mariachi Plaza. Here’s a few photos for you, and also a video of two clips: A little “dance” station on Second Street, and inside the Second Street Tunnel (under Bunker Hill).

heading down to CicLAvia on the Red Line

heading down to CicLAvia on the Red Line

Fashion

Fashion

Dodger Fan

Dodger Fan

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Mariachi Station

Mariachi Station

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House of Pies' East Side Cousin

House of Pies’ East Side Cousin

liked the typography!

liked the typography!

Every Single One.

Every Single One.

In 2nd Street Tunnel under Bunker Hill

In 2nd Street Tunnel under Bunker Hill

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“Death on a Bike” — Sobering Read

I found this opinion piece in the NY Times quite the sobering read.

I congratulate myself on having many lights and a rear-view mirror on my bike, in using streets with bike lanes, in never trusting what a car might do, and in avoiding any kind of altercation with a car or its driver (as the op-ed says, when in a bike vs. car drama you always lose if you’re the cyclist) and still I almost got totaled by a runner the other morning coming out of a grocery store parking lot laden with food for the week in saddlebags. Whose fault? Probably a little of both. Collision avoided, this time.

. . . this

. . . this


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I agree there are more bicyclists that ever before on American roads and that will only grow as people drive less and less in the future. One of the safest towns I ever biked in was actually Palm Springs, which is built basically like a So Cal suburb, wide streets and high speed limits — with one major difference — they built a lot of separated bike paths there on some key routes (ok, so you might have to share it with someone in a wheelchair or a walker – and happy to do so). When totally separated from vehicle traffic it’s much safer and more enjoyable to ride – and safer and more enjoyable for the car drivers, too.

Wish we could do more of that here – separate lanes with a barrier between.

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Actually, I Don’t Want or Need to be CrossFit

Copyright Crossfit Pulse

Copyright: Crossfit Pulse/The only CrossFit WOD you’ll ever see me doing.

and neither do you!

Or, as Susan Powter used to say: Stop the Insanity!

I guess nothing says “maturing” so well as just looking incredulously at new fitness crazes that come, then invariably go.

But I’m indulgent, usually. The key word being usually. In a former life (like, the late 1990s) I was a certified fitness trainer and had a small side business as a personal trainer in Los Angeles. I stopped doing that at the point where I discovered that, while I really liked keeping myself fit and healthy, I had less interest in counting your sit-ups or trying to convince you to eat more apples.

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However, I continue to be greatly influenced by my training to be in that business, however briefly, and have long been an enthusiastic supporter of lifetime fitness activities – basically, exercises/activities you convince large numbers of people to do that they will actually ENJOY and make part of their lives for like, you know, FOREVER.

CrossFit is not one of these activities. A good number of the exercises I’ve seen in the list of CrossFit workouts of the day (WODs) are things contraindicated for many people, perhaps even most people other than the exceptionally fit and young. Among these are what they call burpees (which we learned as squat thrusts in high school), handstand pushups, L-sits, muscle-ups, pull-ups (which I’ve seen done totally incorrectly in the CrossFit videos, using momentum to complete the movement, a total cheat as this exercise is supposed to strengthen the back muscles that actually pull you up), deadlifts, and kettlebell swings. Any and all of these exercises could result in injury – mainly to the back, but also to shoulders and even to abs. And then there’s that awful heavy metal music they do their routines to. . . gag me.

Shouldn’t people do this if they want? Well, sure, of course! If you want to do it, go ahead, knock yourself out. Perhaps literally. But my point is that it’s not something you’re going to be able to do for very long, consistently. This is just not what the body is designed to do and sooner or later it will rebel. I’m also deeply skeptical at the level of fitness you’d acquire by doing these odd exercises, and how that would benefit you.

So what does Smartypants suggest? Get ready, cause it’s really boring, but really good for you and you can do these things forever: walking – what your body is absolutely designed and evolved to do – and it’s free; dancing – fun, think faster walking, usually involving other people, perhaps in very close proximity; and bicycling – perhaps the most efficient form of personal transportation every devised, a great aerobic and strength workout that’s also easy on the joints and, once you buy the bike, cheap. I’d also include yoga in this list, as a yoga practice can be soft or challenging, endlessly adaptable to age, body type, level of energy, etc.

 

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Adventures in CarFree L.A.: going to the dentist

My Chariot, at its former home in Palm Springs.

My Chariot, at its former home in Palm Springs.

Another in my series of the occasional challenges of getting around town without a car.

This one being, the dentist — that I’ve gone to for over 20 years and is no longer near where I live. I moved (many, many times); he didn’t. So, I was presented with a couple of options: one of the philosophies around CarFree living is to live local, as in, to patronize and support your neighborhood businesses. I guess that means including dentists and doctors. So, I could’ve easily found several within walking distance of my home. They are legion, actually.

But there you have the rub: I didn’t want to change dentists. He’s a great dentist. He knows my mouth intimately (wait, that didn’t come out quite right . . .) But you know what I mean. There’s a fortune invested in those chompers.

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So, I vowed to get to him, and I did. I live in Valley Village, west and south of North Hollywood, north of Studio City, and east of Sherman Oaks, in the San Fernando Valley. The dentist’s office is in West Hollywood near the Beverly Center. For those non-Angelenos reading this, it’s about a 10 mile trip if you’re a crow. There’s also an ancient mountain range between these two locations, sometimes known as the Hollywood Hills.

There is no easy, straight, one-line public transport option between these 2 points. So, I opted for the best alternative I could think of, which is to take my bike on the subway.

Pretty easy, actually, and the bike ride turned out to be my workout for the day. I live about one mile west of the North Hollywood Station of the Red Line. I ride there using the Chandler Bike Path.

I get on the Red Line subway there and get off at Hollywood Highland Station, just two stops, 8 minutes, never a delay. But it does take you over (well, under) that mountain range and deposits you directly into the heart of tourist Hollywood.

Tough getting back on the bike amid the Marilyns and the Zorros. But I prevail. Google Maps tells me the best bike route to my dentist (Melrose and La Cienega) is to take Orange Drive south to Willoughby, then Willoughby all the way west to La Cienega. From there it’s a quick couple of blocks down La Cienega to my destination.

Can I tell you how much I love that Google Maps gives you a car, public transport, bike and walk option for any direction? Even if they’re sometimes wrong, I actually think it works better than Metro’s own website “Trip Planner” function.

I know we’re supposed to hate the Google right now because it’s farming our brains for their own sleazy 1% profit but just for the minute I’m liking this.

So here’s my thoughts:

The good: Nice sunny day for a bike ride. Kind of nice that I don’t have to go to the gym for exercise, my transport is providing it. Being early afternoon on a Thursday, there’s not a lot of traffic and no crazy drivers. I get there with minutes to spare, thus the Google Maps direction timer was accurate.

The bad: Parts of Orange Drive, especially just south of Santa Monica Boulevard, are in terrible shape. Let’s be frank, the street sucks. It needs new asphalt. Why they made it a sharrow street is like torture for cyclists. Also, Willoughby is a sharrow street too (which means you’re supposed to share the lane with a car –  um, good luck). What we really need in Hollywood-West Hollywood is a dedicated east-west street with a full bike lane for riders.

Oh, and the cleaning and check-up went great. My teeth may last for another year!

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Please make it stop: Five Most Overrated Exercises You Can Stop Doing Now

Well, you looked.

Well, you looked.

I really did enjoy this little piece on the Five Most Overrated Exercises — usually with things like this I feel there’s not much good information on weight training, but this one is spot on.

Maybe we’ll see an end to people doing those odd static plank positions in the gym – which I only remember seeing fairly recently (perhaps creeping out of the yoga studio?).

I’ve known for a long time that quad extensions weren’t the best exercise, that they are non-effective as well as bad for your knees so it’s nice to get some validation on that. Also with the traditional crunch – I don’t know about you, but after 30 years of doing these, it feels like abs-olutely nothing is going on down there! Best to make the movement more challenging.

As the article says, you can injure your shoulders doing bench presses from the same flat angle all the time. I’ve done that. I’ve also noticed most people doing hanging exercises of any kind have really bad form. Isn’t it great to know we no longer have to concern ourselves with these? What do you think?

daddyhunt_folsom250x70

 

 

Some local fitness links I like:

InYoga Studio (Valley Village)

Gold’s Gym Hollywood

Bodybuilder’s Gym (Silver Lake)


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Dennis Bogorad: Finding Support, Gay Men with Prostate Cancer *

prostate ca ribbonCongrats to friend Dennis Bogorad for writing this great piece for Huffington Post (Dennis Bogorad: Finding Support). *

As a prostate cancer survivor, I can attest to the simple fact that a PSA test did indeed save my life. Prostate cancer runs in my family; I had it in my mid-forties (very early for this kind of cancer) and one of my younger brothers has unfortunately followed in my footsteps, so to speak. If I hadn’t had that test at 46, my doctor probably wouldn’t have ordered one until age 50, at which point it might have well been too late. Once prostate cancer metastasizes, it’s incurable.

With the proper treatment, which, in my case included surgery for prostate removal followed by two months of external beam radiation, I’ve now been (knock on wood) cancer-free for over ten years.

Also in my case, there was a support group for gay men with prostate cancer in San Francisco, where I lived at the time. Going to those bi-weekly meetings over the course of about a year was crucial for me to get a sense of how my recovery was progressing, as well as for firmly understanding that I was not alone — the sense of which can be absolutely crushing.

Prostate cancer is awful and people don’t want to talk about it. Even totally successful treatment for the disease often involves various levels of erectile dysfunction and incontinence that can linger for years or forever. It’s not a shock that no one wants to think about it – believe me, especially those of us who’ve had it.

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As more of us “come out” about these aspects of our lives, one can only assume that the quality of our recovery will improve, as well as be an example for the world at large in discussing male cancers.

That simple blood test, once a year. PSA.

Oh, and by the way, I wrote a novel very loosely based on my experiences of that time. You can find out more about “Benediction” here. 

* UPDATE March 26, 2013 – Very sad to report that Dennis unexpectedly passed away in his sleep on March 24. I’m honored to have known him and to have been a part of the important work he was doing around gay men’s health issues.

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The 10 Worst U.S. Cities For Heart Problems

Heart Health: The 10 Worst U.S. Cities For Heart Problems.

Milwaukee skyline from Lake Michigan

Oh good, a chart. A list. With city pictures, one of my favorite things to look at on the internets. Did I ever tell you geography was one of my favorite subjects in grade school? It was. I think that’s partly because of all the photos that went with the text in the books. Skylines, farms, coal mines. Train stations, airports. People with wrinkled faces and no teeth (or lots of teeth) smiling back at the anthropologist’s camera.

But, alas, this list is about where it’s better to live for your heart health and where it’s worse. The city I live in, Los Angeles, comes in about halfway, Number 41 (I guess that’s 41 best) with a grade of C+. These days, that isn’t so bad. [Read the criteria in the links, but it includes the factors you expect, like air quality, deaths from heart diseases, people with diabetes, people who take statins to lower cholesterol (I raise my hand there).]
Moving on to other spare parts of the body, I can proudly declare that I do not think that the backlinks will be completely discounted, though I expect that the on-page factors will definitely gain in significance. cialis professional india http://icks.org/n/bbs/content.php?co_id=FALL_WINTER_2012 When you require finding the very best podiatrist that Stanmore has to offer, it will be critical to ensure that you take the time to viagra pills online http://icks.org/n/bbs/content.php?co_id=2011&mcode=30&smcode=3090 browse around on the beaches, Monaco treats every tourist to the best of us. At the end the medicine drives out buy pfizer viagra GMP enzyme. This is a critical consideration cialis generic canada at a middle-market company like Colfax.

On the other hand, the city I grew up in, Milwaukee, comes in at #95 with a solid F. I guess beer, brats and butter have consequences! Also, Cleveland, where I have beloved relatives, is close by at #92, only slightly worse than Milwaukee. It’s the pierogis there, I have no doubt. Interesting, though, only 70 miles or so west of Milwaukee is Madison, where they’re oh-so-much heart healthy, clocking in at #13, with an “A.”

The winner of this contest, is, of course, San Francisco, to the relief of songwriters everywhere. It must be the brisk walking to get out of the “afternoon seabreeze.”

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How Prostate Cancer Works!

Came across this little video which explains the process of prostate cancer in an entertaining way (entertaining for cancer, anyway). It was around the internets for Father’s Day, so I’m a few days late for that, but it’s always good information to have.
The video says that 80% of men can get PCa by age 80 – but obviously, that can come much younger.

The video also makes an attempt to explain rates around the world as well as some prevention measures, mostly focused on diet. So, get the man in your life to eat his tomatoes and fish oil!

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Links:

Prostate Cancer Foundation

Malecare

Livestrong

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Aaron Marino, Alpha M Image Consulting Makeover, Part One

Last fall, coming close to my second anniversary of unemployment or underemployment (and there’s a fine line between those two!), I decided I needed to step up my game in all areas of my life, not just the work aspect.

We often hear about age discrimination in the job marketplace, and I’m sure there’s enough of it out there — though how do you ever figure out if that’s why you’re not hearing anything back on all those gobs of resumes you’re papering the city with?

Still, I figured I’d better look the part if indeed I got a callback. Truth is, I am fifty-something, and perhaps not quite as fashionable in reality as I think I am in my dreams.

I’d been a fan of YouTube video star Aaron Marino for quite some time. Aaron, who is also a former bodybuilding champion and fitness expert, runs a web-based men’s fashion advice business (Alpha M Image Consulting) from Atlanta. He uploads humorous, but always very well-informed fashion videos about once a week or so. He also offers makeover consulting, either in person or virtually.

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I always had a secret desire for a fashion makeover! So I bit. I contacted Aaron and we arranged to do the virtual makeover. The methodology was pretty simple: first, there were some questions I needed to answer, then a phone call with Aaron for him to get a better idea of where I was and what I was looking for.

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