Health Promotion Board recommends 150 min/week of moderate workout.
Another recommendation says 30 minutes x 5/wk. Much better.
Speak slowly when…
.. no one speaks too slowly. I remember Roger Lee. Most people including me would speak too fast at least once a while
— In most contexts, it requires skill to speak slowly and in low voice. It’s a learnable skill.
In public speaking, this is the most valuable but challenging because pauses are unusual, and can really arouse the audience. Speaker needs an iron nerve to handle it.
— stutter .. If you have a tendency to stutter, then slow speaking can reduce it. If not eliminated, then slow speaking with stutter is a kind of unique personal style. It’s not perfect but it can be disarming and earn you trust.
k_CAD
Dr Leow suggested 5 to 10km of jogging. If you want to monitor your hearbeat, then buy a sports watch or a chest strap
Avoid HIIT completely.
I believe any jumping acts in an aerobic class is higher risk.
Prof Lee of NUS .. death after a run
Sim Wong Hoo .. ultramarathon runner
A: too much running can be dangerous to some people. Marathon runners may not have low risk of heart failure. The only way to assess heart risk is a medical test.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/cardio-exercises-at-home and other sites offer dozens of short-bust cardio workouts, mostly boring, often tough, hardly sustainable. It was frustrating to push myself to do any of these on a monthly basis. They are useful mostly for
For most of the workouts below, Goal is to increase (through high intensitivy) the heart rate quickly, for a short window like 5+ minutes. The faster you do it, the more tougher. For that purpose, upper-body-only is seldom sufficient. Even rowing requires some lower body.
— [d] downstairs .. I often feel better doing it downstairs, but some are easier to do than others
— [f] concentration needed .. perhaps injury hazards. Often requires counting, therefore harder to do it while thinking
— ex: climb Blk155 stairs
🙂 no shoes requried
🙂 minimal time wasted on commute
🙂 chance to bring kids
🙂 flexible intensity but may need more concentration
🙂 no need to keep count
I often feel climbing a slope in a nice outdoor location is more enjoyable
— [d] ex: jumping rope:
🙁 more boring
🙂 more gentle, can last a longer time to achieve cardio…
— ex: jumping jack
— [f] ex: mountain climbers
— [f] ex: inchworms
— [f] ex: squat jumps
squat is much safer and easier
— [f] ex: Screamer lunges
regular lunges are safer.
Lunges around the playground frees me from counting.
— [f] ex: Burpees:
🙂 more full-body than the jumping or squat workouts
k_semi_kai3mo2
See also my blotposts on coding drill, the wipe_out tag, yoga classes
The “role model” in the guy who ran 70 miles on his 70th birthday has a net negative impact on me. Not a helpful role model at all. It made me feel worthless, weak, guilty … even though (Reality X) I’m stronger, more determined than most people.
— case study: Stephen of Macq. He runs probably 3km each day a few times (4 or 5) a week. He deserves a pat on the back (plenty of self-reward, self-recognition, self-respect). However, when Macq formed a team to compete in some corporate challenge, Stephen didn’t make the team. I guess he wanted to.
Let’s assume that there were 5 other Macq guys fitter than him. That’s the “reality Y”. Every one of us confronts such realities but what counts is how we react. A lot of people are not sensitive or careful enough with the “self”, so they could easily pass hurtful remarks on the self … resulting in subtle , insidious self humiliation and self-mutilation.
In this context, there’s another (more important) Reality X — most folks in the world, in Singapore, or in Macq are way below Stephen in fitness or fitness habits.
We don’t need to benchmark with those 5 colleagues, but it’s possible that some of them actually lack Stephen’s fitness habits, but are younger or more talented.
(Between fitness condition (current) and a sustainable fitness habit, which is the bigger determinant of healthy longevity? )
So Stephen can choose to focus on Reality X and related positive facts, Or he can focus on the negative element and feel belittled, abused, down-cast…
And here’s a Reality Z — no one in Macq did abuse, belittle or down-cast him but his self2 judge. The pain is entirely self-inflicted.
— case study: my coding drill cf Rahul or the college students. Reality X: Most of them lack the stamina to maintain the drill over years.
— case study: my Macq bonus. It worked out to be the biggest annualized amount ever (Reality X) but I tend to brush it aside and focus on the negative facts.
— case study: yoga classes .. See also https://btv-open.dreamhosters.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=12301&action=edit&classic-editor
k_Promethean_struggle
Opening eg: when i stop my regular yoga, the cumulative improvement tends to disappear faster than I want. Promethean struggle.
Too bad you can’t accumulate wellness like you accumulate wealth.
I ought to reward myself for keeping up the effort.
I ought to prioritize easy but regular exercise such as
— jogging? Am (very) lucky that even if stop my 3-run-per-week I still can keep my endurance.
— pull-up … is the toughest strength exercise for me, but still I can “climb up” to 20 within a month or so.
push-up, sit-up … are easier.
Each feat was once thought impossible for my body.
“Right postures are important but Modifications are often necessary.” Saumik told me. Other yoga instructors often help me modify the posture, based on my limitations.
Q: but How do you tell the difference between a poor form vs a modification?
A: I don’t think we need a professional to devise the modifications. I would go with my own modifications.
Those teachers who criticize my flexibility are invariably comparing me to females, never my mere-mortal male peers.
That lady with grade-A flexibility
My self-knowledge advantage helps me put up with the negative peer comparison and keep going on yoga.
I have hypolordosis (reduced lumbar lordosis). I once imagined that if I could surgically sever some connective tissue in my lower back, then I would be able to bend forward “like them”. However, whatever is too short in my lowerback is still vital for my body. I am grateful to that piece, when I can swim, cycle, climb stairs, jog, squat, twist, side-bend, sit-up…