|

An Outdoor Workout

Byrichard
Reading Time: 2 minutes

We are in the middle of a pandemic and governments see no urgent reason to end it by rational means like soft lockdowns. As a result of this we can pay 1100 CHF per year to go to an indoor gym, rebreathing the same air as other people, using the same machines, and the same washrooms or we can go for the cheaper 49 CHF per month option but run the same risk. I found Option three. Some Freetness machines were installed in Celigny by a children’s playground.

These are just the type of machines that I like to use when I am at the gym. They’re not as resistive as I would like. They require workouts using our own body weight. Today, to escape noise pollution I found the motivation to try the machines. At first I did three reps of ten before following their recommendation of 12 reps, 4 times. I could definitely feel the effort by the last machine.

It’s nice to have machines like this outdoors because they can be used at any time of day or night, as long as you’re quiet. The other nice thing, is that if you have your own disinfectant you can clean your hands and the machines, before and after you use them, as well as your hands. There is plenty of fresh air, because you’re outdoors. The sun, rain and morning dew should help to keep them clean too.

The two machines I didn’t really like are the eliptical machine and the rowing machine. The rowing machine only works the upper thigh muscles, not the entire core. The eliptical machine felt far too light for me so within two minutes I stopped.

If the body weight machines are not to your liking then you have the body weight lifting bars where you can work on lifting your entire body while hanging from some bars. I didn’t use them today, because I was blown from the other exercises. If you went every two to three days you would soon see some gains, and you do have variations of excercises, to keep it from becoming boring.

There is an app, but I haven’t looked at whether it allows you to track what you’re doing, or whether it is just video tutorials on how to use the machines properly. I can check that before my next session. I might throw this into my daily walk, rather than driving to it. I feel a double workout would be more advantageous. This workout takes 10-15 minutes for now. That is too short.

Similar Posts

Taking a Break From The Apple Watch

Taking a Break From The Apple Watch

Byrichard

Yesterday I decided to take a break from the Apple watch for up to a week. I am tired of two behaviours. The first of these is the watch’s habit of saying that I did not stand for two or three hours in a row. I know that I have. I need to stand to cook, or to brush my teeth and other tasks. It also annoys me that if you bend your arm it counts that you sat down. Bend your arm to check if you have been standing for at least one minute and it resets the counter.


The second flaw comes from the monthly challenge. The challenge for this month is to do 4900 minutes of exercise if I remember and this is absurd. It will always push you to strive more, to reach further and to work out harder. It lacks flexibility.


If the workout goal is 4900 minutes, then that’s over two hours per day. In theory that’s a nice challenge, but in the long run it leads to exhaustion. Last year, I would let the app tell me to do up to 600 calories or more of exercise a day. That goal led to me exhausting and fatiguing myself because there are no breaks. It pushes, and pushes. It doesn’t think “You need to rest” or “you did sport A rather than sport B so we will adjust the monthly goal. It’s AI, without fatigue built in.


The other challenge, having three watches with three ecosystems. There is little to no interoperability. The steps aren’t transferred from Suunto to Apple from Apple to Suunto. Garmin wants other data than the other two. To feed all three databases you need to wear three watches. It would be nice to sync the data between the three without thought. This would give us the freedom to slide between platforms. This would give us the opportunity to wear a single watch.


Running Up Four Floors at a time, Walking Two Hours A Day


I almost never walk up the stairs, especially a single step at a time. I always run up them. I run up at least two steps at a time and I sprint three or four floors without getting winded. I also walk from one and a half to two hours a day. The Apple watch tells me that I didn’t stand for two hours in a row. If I don’t stand for one or two hours it is because I am studying or working. By telling me to stand the watch is telling me to procrastinate.


For clarity, the watch doesn’t tell me anything. I turn off notifications. I check the fitness app to see how the day is going, and that’s when I see that it says I haven’t stood for two hours. That little light blue bar annoys me. I have a compulsion to have a perfect collection of filled bars, every hour.


That’s why I need to take a break from the watch. It makes me care about something that doesn’t matter at all. Standing is a recommendation, for people who need to get into the habit of working out. I don’t have that problem. I can ignore it.


Turning It Off


I looked for an option to turn off the standing trend but can’t. I can cut it down to six hours a day, but the issue is not standing six or twelve hours a day. It’s wanting to have a “perfect” day, and keeping the trend in the fitness app increasing. This benefits my life in no way, so turning it off would be the ideal solution.

Twenty Seven Thousand Steps in BareFoot Shoes

Byrichard

A few days ago I took twenty seven thousand steps in barefoot shoes. My feet did not suffer at all from walking that far in such shoes. I did some of that walking in the vapor gloves and the rest in the Trail Gloves. The beauty of barefoot walking is that you acclimate to such shoes quite fast. Within a matter of a week or two they become comfortable and feel normal. 


The problem with normal shoes is that they are made of solid parts. They might pinch around the top of the foot near the toes, and the material that protects the back of the heel wears away and begins to cause blisters sometimes. 


For a while I found that most conventional shoes became uncomfortable for one reason or another. I also found that they were uncomfortable twice. The first time is when you just bought them, because your feet needs to get used to the new shoe shape. The second time is when the rear of the shoe gets worn through and the heel rubs against the unprotected plastic. Both of these situations require either blister protection, or just accepting the slight discomfort. 


That I can walk 27,000 steps in a single day, with barefoot shoes says a lot about these shoes. Although they offer very little padding they feel natural within days, rather than weeks. 


They even felt comfortable with running today. I ran a few minutes at a time. I felt no pain or warnings. 


Ideally I would be walking in vapor glove shoes, rather than trail gloves. I don’t. Most of my walking is on tarmac or concrete. Both of these are hard surfaces and an unprotected heel will hit the ground with a lot of force. This causes pain, especially over thousands of steps. With the trail gloves I can walk as if I had not transitioned from one shoe type to the other. I don’t want to change my daily walk, to accommodate shoes. I want to do the opposite. So far I have succeeded. 

Setting Up AudioBookShelf

Setting Up AudioBookShelf

Byrichard

I have been an audible member for years at this point and in that time I have “bought” hundreds of books. I write “bought” because I payed for a Platinum account for years and got credits and got the books with those credits. Over the years I have collected more books than I can read in a year.

That library lived in the cloud, rather than my devices, for years. I would download the books I was listening to but not those that I had finished, or would read later. That’s because laptops and mobile phones have smaller hard drives than I require for my books.

OpenAudible

The first step when backing up audible books is to download them. The second is to strip them of DRM, and before you tell me off for being like a pirate I will correct you. I bought an MP3 player but because it doesn’t support AAX files I had to find a way to make the content that I own, legally, playable on a cheap mp3 player. In the process I stripped the DRM because I had no way of playing the audio files otherwise.

It’s because Apple, Audible and Sandisk do not play nicely that I had to strip the DRM. If they played nicely I would not have stripped files of DRM.

AudioBookShelf

AudioBookShelf serves as a site/service that makes it easy to catalogue your books and listen to them from your phone, laptop, desktop tablet or other. An Android App exists, but the iOS app is only available via Testflight.

The app can be installed as a docker container within minutes, and then you can point it to the folder where you store all your audiobooks. I write audio books, rather than Audible, because you can download audio books or podcasts and add them to your instance of audiobookshelf, to listen to files, streamed, or downloaded.

Listen Tracking

As you listen to books with this app you get to see how many minutes you listened per session, as well as which book, and for how long. If you use the app for more than a year you get the summary of previous years of listening.

Cover Art

The app gives you the option of looking for book cover art from a number of different audible libraries, depending on language and country, but also from open library and other sources.

Multiple Accounts

You can add as many accounts as you like with this app. The admin account can also create libraries either for individuals or to make it easier to differentiate between open audio books, audible, or other providers.

If you have a spouse, or children, or both, or live with others you can share access to this library. You can choose whether people can read, download, upload and more. This enables people to add the books that they want to have available via this website.

Podcasts

The app supports podcasts. If you add the OPML file of your podcasts it will automatically retrieve the latest ones, for you to listen to. I have yet to test this feature.

And Finally

So far I have listened to an hour of audiobooks via this website/instance and it works well. I tested it via firefox on iOS and via the web browser on the laptop and it works very well. As you listen on the phone you can see the progress bar update on the laptop and vice versa. You can seamlessly switch between devices.

The advantage of such an app is that you can share books, without giving people the files. They can then listen to audio books and their progress is kept between devices.

One of the key nuissances with audio players is that they do not usually keep track of progress. With this app you do, so you can switch between books and it will remember where you are.

The other advantage is that each listener is independent so you get listening stats for yourself, but not others.

So far I am happy with my experience.

Forced to Wear Mask Outdoors

Forced to Wear Mask Outdoors

Byrichard

Switzerland is currently toying with the idea of forcing people to wear masks outdoors but it’s not clear whether this would be for cities or whether it would be for villages and even rural walks. If the obligation to wear a mask at all times is enacted then I have two reactions.


The first is that I never leave the house without a mask and that I wear it when I am forced to walk within a few meters of people. Since the end of March I have been staying as far away from people as possible, which is how I discovered all my new walks.


The second reaction is that wearing a mask outdoors in a city makes sense. It doesn’t make sense when you’re out for a two to three hour walk along main roads where you rarely cross paths with anyone. To be forced to wear a mask even when we are kilometres from any other human would really suck. I know it’s not a scientific term, but that’s a step too far.


No one had to say “Don’t socialise, don’t meet friends, don’t go to restaurants, don’t go to pubs, bars or nightclubs.” No one had to say “Walk along rural paths where no one else walks to avoid any and all human contact”. These are things I did of my own free will. It’s not easy, but the documentaries I have watched and the books and articles I have read make this logical.


If I have to wear a mask for the entirety of my three hour walks where my exposure to others may last half a minute or less then I will be quite disappointed. The reason for that disappointment is that we would never breath fresh air if this rule was enacted. We would always breath mask air. We will suffer from Vitamin D as a result of not getting any exposure to sunlight and we will fall sick, for a new reason.


From what I understand in the Le Temps article this will not include my cherished quiet walking routes, luckily. I will have to keep hoping for rain as the only valid reason for indoor training. 😉 (I know an ascii wink is not good form, but I want you to know this is meant to be taken as a joke.)


For Context Switzerland, yesterday, became world leader in highest percentage increase in the number of new cases. “C’est en tout cas le pays qui compte la plus forte augmentation de nouveaux cas de Covid-19 ces 7 jours: +106%,” Within this context Switzerland must take rapid and immediate action to get the number of new cases per day back in control.


“Reduce your contacts by half”


For those who understand French this article presents the situation.


The three points of the article are:


  • The situation is similar to how it was on the 16th of March.
  • only semi-confinement helped to reduce the number of new cases.
  • If the measures were taken today it would take three to four weeks for things to get back under control.


For months I have been saying that people need to take responsibility and that everyone has to do everything possible to reduce the risk of propagation of this virus, and as we see from the current crop of articles the scientific and medical communities say the same thing.


It’s a shame that ordinary people need to be confined for a pandemic to be controlled and then contained. It’s a shame that people can’t take a one or two month break from socialising during a pandemic to get life to return to normal as soon as possible.


The Guardian Article: Inside the Airline Industry Meltdown is an interesting article that looks at the growing number of planes that are being mothballed until better times come, about the removal from service of 30 aircrafts from a single airline etc.


source: https://www.corona-data.ch/ accessed on 24/10/2020


Switzerland got down to 11 new cases per day in June. Yesterday there were 6600 new cases.


Daily Percentage of Positive Tests and Daily Tests per 10’000 (Last 7 Days)
Source: https://www.corona-data.ch/ accessed on 24/10/2020


Newly Reported Cases per Canton
Source: https://www.corona-data.ch/ accessed on 24/10/2020


The amplitude of the second wave is much greater than the first as we can see from the graph above.

Trees Turning Green

Trees Turning Green

Byrichard

Trees are currently turning green on the Jura. Leaves are growing and so the colour of the Jura is shifting from brown to green at last. Trees suffer in Summer at the moment, due to the lack of rain. That lack of rain results in them changing colour sooner.


Yesterday I went for a run in between two lots of rain and I was lucky. As I arrived home rain started to fall on me. Within minutes I could hear lightning and the rain started to fall heavily. I was lucky. I timed my run to be right in between two lots of rain. It would have soaked me if I had been unlucky.


Ultrasound Plants


According to a Tel Aviv university plants broadcast their distress, either from drought or from injury. Imagine the noise during a forest fire or when plants are harvested.


The Hidden Life of Trees


When walking in a shopping centre I noticed a few books about trees. I saw The Hidden life of Trees and started to read it, as an e-book, despite seeing the physical book. I could have bought it in French but English was cheaper. It speaks about how trees communicate with each other, although I haven’t read far enough to understand how. It also speaks about how crops are silent and isolated, due to how they are planted. I will elaborate when I know more.


It’s interesting to consider that plants can communicate with sound, or through networks of fungus under the ground. It’s interesting to consider the wood wide network, the notion that the soil is a means of communicating between trees. I am currently trying to revive a few orchids. After a year or two of thriving they suddenly slowed down and now seem to be struggling for life. I want to revive them.

Cycling With Different Levels of Fitness
| |

Cycling With Different Levels of Fitness

Byrichard

Originally I wanted to write about following route 50 from one village to Romainmôtier. I changed my mind as I created the title for this post.


An old pickup truck and bike
An old pickup truck and bike


Yesterday I cycled with two people on electric bikes on my normal bike. I didn’t feel that I was making that great an effort, especially since I was cycling at a relatively slow speed compared to usual. I actually felt that I was taking it easy.


View of one of the porticos
View of one of the porticos


Calories Burned


It’s when I looked at calories burned that I realised that what felt like an easy ride to me, was actually a huge effort. It didn’t feel that way to me, because it is normal for me to make such an effort, and I usually push myself when I ride alone.


Three Times More Calories


By riding with people with electric bikes I felt that I was having a relatively easy day. I burned three times more calories than them. It shows to what extent being fit affects how we perceive effort, but also how much energy electric bikes save.


Perfectly Within My Comfort Zone


A window seat and table, from the days before planes and trains
A window seat and table, from the days before planes and trains


I was surprised by the huge difference in calories burned because I felt comfortable. I didn’t feel that I was struggling to keep pace with the bikes, or struggling on hills whilst they glided with ease. That’s the beauty of cycling a lot. Effort becomes ordinary, and fitness makes electric bikes harder to justify. Why get an electric bike when you can cycle with people with electric bikes and keep up?


Cyclists and Non Cyclists Riding Together


There are two types of people. Those that invests hundreds of hours over several years to boost their cycling fitness, and those that use electric bikes, to keep up with those with experience. I would argue that the strength of the electric bike is two-fold. The first is that it encourages non cyclists to cycle and experience the pleasure of getting from A to B under their own steam, but the second is that electric bikes allow non cyclists to ride with cyclists, and get a taste of what we enjoy.


Visiting Romainmôtier by bike


Romainmôtier is a nice destination to cycle to. The road takes you through a nice quiet road in the forest. The woods are the Bois De Ferreyres. The route that I took was undulating, with some climbing and some descending, but these ondulations are not extreme like cycling up to La Dôle or up to La Rippe, so manageable.


Cycling Destination


Quite a few people cycled to Romainmôtier and I noticed that a few went into the grounds of the Abbaye and rested their bikes against the wall, before having a drink. By taking the bike parking is simplified, but as well as parking being simplified, you get to experience the landscape first hand. You’re faster than a hiker, but still get to experience the winding roads, the ups, the downs, and the freedom to stop with the bike, more conveniently than with a car.


An old fireplace
An old fireplace


Recommendation


If you are not a confident cyclist, and don’t want to spend hundreds of hours getting fit, then electric bikes are a fantastic short cut because they give you the freedom to explore, without the dread of having to get back, despite being knackered. Electric bikes are more forgiving than cycling without a motor. With an electric bike you just ask for more assistance and you’re comfortable.


Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.