Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Much Sorry with Delays
Birth, Death and All That Stuff in Between
How to Honor Labor Day, Every Day
My Yom Kippur Miracle (Repost from 2010)
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Easy for you to say: To the elites on mass immigration
For NYC on 9/11, Sailors' Snug Harbor
Pickled Peaches
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Labor Costs in U.S.
Your "identity"
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Uses of Hot Pepper Jelly/Sauce, Chutneys, and Jams
A Saturday Drive to Litchfield County, CT
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Sunday, November 11. 2012

The Maggie's Farm "Gettin' in Shape for Winter" Cheap and Easy Fitness Program

Winter sports are the best ones (shooting, hunting, Paddle, skiing, Squash, indoor tennis), but you have to be in shape. The Official Maggie's Farm Fitness Program (no TM) is neither for big muscle building nor a rigorous fitness regime to regain a neglected physique but is cheap, time-saving, and highly-effective for those in decent shape who want to tighten up for the black diamonds (but ask your physician whether it is appropriate for you before suing Maggie's Farm or me):


1. Want to lose flab? Go on a no-carb, or almost-no-carb, high meat diet. Carbs are the devil, the delicious fat on the meat is not. Salad is for rabbits, anorectics, or for fun. Fruits are pure carbs. A few kinds of vegetables are low in carbs and tasty, but not necessary except to fill the tummy. Little to no nutrition in them. If you are a food-worrier, take a multivit to relieve your anxiety.


2. Aerobics: 30-40 minutes/day (running, treadmill, spinning, erg, swimming, or especially elliptical), pushing it as tolerated


3. Lower body: Several sets of lunges and squats as tolerated.


4. Abs: Several sets of bicycle crunches, as tolerated.


5. Upper: Push up sets and free-weight (not heavy) military press sets


6. Back, etc: Sets of The Plank, pushing sets as tolerated.


This is fun, only takes an hour/day, and gets your head ready for a good day of mental work. To save time, you can alternate days, aerobics on one day and the rest on the next day. That's enough to tune up an already-fit body.


I wonder what our readers do to keep themselves from going to pot in an America in which fewer and fewer people do real labor.

Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss in Our Essays, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 15:03 | Comments (11) | Trackbacks (0)

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Ah - well I'm slightly out of shape, although for a guy my size, I can still jog two miles fairly consistently around 16 minutes - that's only two minutes off Marine Corps standard of 7 minute miles. :>)

I don't lift as both rotator cuffs are torn (shredded really), but I've compensated for them somehow over the years - I do maintenance "lifting" - five pound weights with bicep curls and shoulder muscle groups very slowly - hey, works for me and I don't have to be operated on.

Walking uphill and stairs two at a time are my leg exercises. When I head down to the boat, I take the up hill legs of the complex both there and back using the stairs part of the way.

My only other exercise is sitting on the porch with a good book and a tall glass of sweet tea - currently reading "Quantum: Einstein, Bohr, and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality" by Manjit Jumar - very interesting if you are into that kind of thing.
#1 Tom Francis on 2011-09-28 14:54 (Reply)
different genre completely but Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman is a hoot and a half.

I run regularly, although "run" is an exaggeration, considering the pace. Some stretching, gym equipment stuff when I can stand it.
#1.1 Bomber Girl on 2011-09-28 19:31 (Reply)
Free weights. Dark meat MWF, white meat TThS. Sunday off.
Dark meat=squats and dead lift
White meat=pull ups, overhead press, bench.

45 min to an hour a day. Working through an online physics class between sets.

Protein powder after the workout. Keep carbs to a minimum. Sweets only on Sunday.

Keeps me pretty fit. I walk for aerobic exercise but probably should do more.
#2 John Lien on 2011-09-28 18:21 (Reply)
35 lb kettlebell for swings and Turkish get-ups - 20 minutes and yer done (if not done in). Works everything and aerobic as hell, if done properly.

www.dragondoor.com
#3 steve in CT on 2011-09-28 19:04 (Reply)
For me, it's diet. I worked for two years (until a couple of months ago) in a non-climate controlled warehouse. I was on my feet for 8-hours a day, pulling pallets of materials around, lifting 25-pound boxes, etc. Not strenuous, but what folks at an earlier time would have considered a normal work load. I lost nothing as long as I ate anything more than the tiniest amount of carbs.
#4 Juan Paxety (Link) on 2012-11-11 17:19 (Reply)
Powerlifting a la Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 program.

A few sprints, prowler pushes, KB swings and MMA for conditioning.
#5 Jeff on 2012-11-11 18:42 (Reply)
"I wonder what our readers do to keep themselves from going to pot . . . "

Heck, as a suburban lawyer in my fifties, it's hard to even find anyone who sells it anymore.
#6 bobby b on 2012-11-11 22:29 (Reply)
Just tried on a pair of jeans in high school size today. BOOM! In HS my kung fu was pretty good, too.

I'll be joining a gym later this month for the first time in over thirty-years. I'll be working to strike a balance between strength and flexibility, as has always been my wont. I'm not sure how my workout will evolve at the gym, but these are the things I've been doing:

Sharking, which is just a constant motion game. I'll lift weights for three hard sets and then vacuum the house or run up and down stairs. Run on the treadmill and then stand on a balance board and fold laundry. Anything...and I get stuff done.

I dig a Vew-Do rocker board with some good tunes on the box. That's fun.

Working my way through a Core Exercises book. I want to try everything in it. I don't like routine core workouts. Doing core is more like a game for me. I dig me some balance ball. (If you don't have one you're missing out. BB's rock.)

Writing. I pace like crazy when I write.

I like to dance. I'll turn some music up and just have a blast.

Getting some hockey skates and snowshoes this year...used to do both of those a lot.

Beach or city fast walking....

Watch football. I usually end up walking through the house and running stairs when I watch a game.

Count calories, count calories, count calories...I'm breathing down the neck of long anticipated weight goal. I thought I'd have to finesse the deal in a second phase to drop my body fat, but it's just been burning up in the process. I'm going to go straight to hitting my overall fitness goals and then fall into a maintenance routine, which will basically be just what I've been doing with more calories. What a blast!
#7 Jephnol (Link) on 2012-11-12 03:30 (Reply)
The dog requires a walk several times a day, which forces me to go out in any kind of weather.

I go to the gym for weight lifting 2 - 3 times a week, my work travel schedule permitting. A simple push / pull series (shoulder press / pullups, etc) that takes about 30 minutes. I go to the gym because it gives me more variety in the exercises I can do.

I run 2 - 4 times per week. Once the dog is a bit older (he's only a puppy of 9 months, although at 80 pounds nobody believes he's a pup) I plan to have him run with me to give me company and, frankly, to force me to be more consistent.

Although with Sandy's recent visit to the Jersey Shore I've been remiss in both the gym and the running; starting back today.
#8 Hamlet's Fool on 2012-11-12 09:35 (Reply)
I finally decided to do 'something' this past spring. Basically, I cut out all white foods -- flour, potatoes, rice, pasta, and sugar. I ride a "FitDesk" [great invention of exercycle with a platform to hold my laptop] twice a day for 30+ minutes each time [seems to burn around 4-500 calories for real in I do an actual hour total].

So far, since early May I've lost 35 pounds and I'm never really hungry. I have very bad knees and a bad back, and bad shoulders, . . . ;->=

Anyway, I eat all the meat I want, but it's rarely more than 8 ounces a day. Since I was raised on a hog farm I eat a lot of pork of various kinds. I eat practically no prepared foods, and luckily I like a lot of low-carb [or slow-carb] vegetables.

My salad usually consists of a combination of cauliflower, broccoli, red cabbage, green onions, radishes, and maybe mushrooms topped with either bacon grease or malt vinegar, or both.

Anyway, I don't really count calories and I weigh myself in the nude about every other week. No stressing out. Dropping just over a pound a week still.
#9 JorgXMcKie on 2012-11-12 09:55 (Reply)
calorie counting is a heck of a lot more fun/easier using one of several iphone apps; especially "lose it!" or "myfitnesspal". I think both of these are free and they are great. Made eating just a bit less so much easier than its ever been...
#10 Tom on 2012-11-12 12:56 (Reply)

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