Most of my local meetup groups are still avoiding group hikes, but one here in Morgan Hill usually has small groups like 5 or less, so we decided we could go again and do social distancing. So yesterday was my first group hike in months. It was very enjoyable, with delightful weather and clean air … Continue reading Hiking With Friends Again (Carefully) →

Lots of Cardio Makes Your Muscles Waste Away and Makes You Get Fat? Hmmm... what about "Ultramarathon Man" Dean Karnazes? The "Too Much Cardio is Harmful" Controversy I promised, in my recent post about shorter more intense training, to talk more about controversies over excess cardio. Much of the discussion is about too much volume of … Continue reading Is Cardio Useless Or Harmful? Will It Make You Fat? →

I recently discovered a book I highly recommend: Strength Endurance: Reflections on the Legacy of Dr. Leonard Schwartz  by Chuck Huckaby, on Amazon. Like me, Chuck is a long time fan of the late Dr. Schwartz's work and the "heavyhands" approach of simultaneously exercising the upper and lower body with hand weights (which I described … Continue reading A Nice Find- More on Heavyhands Pioneer Dr. Len Schwartz →

An example of an isometric exercise Isometrics is a strength training technique in which the muscle being loaded does not actually move, such as if you stand in a doorway and try to push the frame apart. Or you can try to flex your arm and resist with your other arm as shown in the … Continue reading Isometrics Revisited →

Wind is coming from the West today, bringing in nice clean air from the giant Pacific ocean only a dozen miles away. The air quality, at least for now, is good! As soon as I checked the air quality I couldn't grab my bike fast enough. Today's workout was about an hour outside, with lots … Continue reading What a Difference a Day Makes! →

As I mentioned in my previous post, the bad air in large parts of California is persisting because of all the wildfires, and we are advised not to exercise strenuously outdoors. The August Complex Fire In the Mendocino area is now close to 900,000 acres (360,000 hectares) and 28% contained. This is the largest fire … Continue reading Shorter More Intense Training →

Trail runners and hikers like to set the fastest known time (FKT) on various routes, some of them quite elaborate. More famous ones include through-hikes on the Appalachian trail, and rim-to-rim (or rim-to-rim-to-rim) in the Grand Canyon. Because of Covid19, a lot of formal races and other events have been postponed or cancelled, so FKT … Continue reading Another Side Effect of Covid19- A Proliferation of FKTs →

Recently I reviewed Tim Davis's inspiring book Tripolar. I was then fortunate enough to ask Tim some questions in an email and got some great responses. Here are the questions along with Tim's responses (in italics). 1. Did I get the story right in a nutshell? For your recovery, the 12 step program and support … Continue reading Follow Up On Tim Davis, Author of Tripolar →

The air quality was still ok yesterday morning. CalFire the fire that's affecting us now 86% contained. Go firefighters! So I rode out Redwood retreat rode to Mt. Madonna road, which leads to the back entrance to the county park of the same name. This took about 2 hours and 45 minutes round trip on … Continue reading The Beautiful Mt. Madonna Park →

I just finished the excellent book Choosing the StrongPath: Reversing the Downward Spiral of Aging, by by Fred Bartlit, Steven Droullard, and Dr. Marni Boppart. Fred is 85 years old, and vigorously pursues various athletic activities, including downhill skiing. His story alone is inspiration enough to make it worth reading the book. Stephen is closer … Continue reading Take the “Strongpath” for Successful Aging →