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.
Mrs. BD and I signed up for a local co-ed Pickleball league. Seems like a fast game. They said you didn't have to have any experience with it. We don't.
As ladder drills become more complex, and as you become speedier with them, the brain sometimes conks out and you have to start over. Icky Shuffles often mess me up.
You can get some driveway chalk and just make a ladder on the driveway. I can't do them as quickly as athletes, but as usual I do my best.
Calisthenics+Cardio, with agility and balance challenges. Excellent warm-ups and cool-downs.
Mrs. BD and I took a 5-mile woodsy hike last weekend and passed many vernal pools and small ponds with the early springtime chorus.
Like owls, you hardly ever see these critters but they let you know they are there in April. Mating calls of common early Spring frogs of vernal pools and shallow marshes:
The tiny Spring Peepers dominate the chorus. Man, have I loved that sound since earliest childhood:
You will probably hear a few Wood Frogs:
You might hear a Cricket Frog:
And the mating trill of Mr, Toad: Bufo Americanus:
Large natural fresh-water ponds with marshes are scarce in the northeast US. If you know of one, where is it and what is it like? I've seen a few in MA, but most were post-glacial and have since filled in as bogs or wetlands or grass, if not trees.
With the return of the beaver populations, fresh habitat is available for all of these critters. I like man-made marshes too.
Funny - I've never seen a Mallard in a tree before.
15:1 Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand,
15:2 through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you--unless you have come to believe in vain.
15:3 For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures,
15:4 and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,
15:5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
15:6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.
15:7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
15:8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
15:9 For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them--though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
15:11 Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.
It has an interesting and pleasant flavor. There is no alcohol in it. All you do is to put a splash into plain bubbly water, with some ice. Very refreshing.
I learned about the difference between castles and the later forts, the evolution of gunpowder use in the 1400s, the evolution and then disappearance of armor, the Hundred Year War, throwing down the gauntlet, siege warfare and assault warfare, the use of cavalry, the role of peasants and farmers in warfare, the reasons many tried to avoid being knighted, and why Henry Vlll was a great king.
And lots more about their Civil War. It was a bloody history, over all those years, for no good reasons. I suppose it has been like that everywhere. Power, money, land, glory.
People who do Soul Cycle and similar programs, if done daily, might exceed those sprint warnings - if you believe them. Still, sprinting is like flying. It feels good.
As we have discussed before, HIIT is true Cardio exercise, meaning that it is designed to stress, not just use, the heart muscle. The goals are to improve or maintain heart function and to increase your odds of surviving your first unfortunate "cardic event" by developing collateral blood supply.
As we have also discussed here, it is sprints which have this effect. Exertions commonly grouped as "cardio" - like biking, swimming laps, jogging, rowing - are worth doing to maintain general endurance but do not get the heart rate to the 70-90% max that efficiently stresses the heart to the point of heart muscle development. Same idea as curls for the biceps.
Assuming you have a well-balanced fitness program(weights, calisthenics, and both types of cardio), two 20-minute sessions/wk of HIIT is good. Most calisthenics circuits include bits of HIIT too, such as speed rope, heavy ropes, or row sprints.
Obviously, all of this depends on age and level of fitness.
What is a typical 20-30-minute HIIT session? It's 30-60-sec. all-out sprints followed by 60-80 seconds of slow recovery. Rinse and repeat. The sprints are anaerobic.
The way I do it is to include sprints in one weights recovery day, which is like an hour of treadmill jogging, fast-walking, or elliptical, interspersing sprints in it. It keeps it interesting. On another day, I do 20-min of HIIT and then 30 minutes of weights or accesssory weights. You do not need to monitor your heart rate, because you know dqrn well when you are going all-out.
Funny to be mentioning the Urban Hike. It's been a long time. We were trying to plan out an Upper Manhattan/Bronx hike last year (much more technically difficult than it may seem), but if we do get to have a hike again, maybe it will be in the fall of 2021. I hope so. I'm thinking movie sites or movie-related sites - which could be very engaging.
I told Mrs. Bulldog that I had found this and decided it was a place we had to visit. Normally, Mrs. Bulldog isn't very interested in this sort of thing, but one thing made me realize she had to go with me.
Basically, this is the real-life story of The Heiress (or, if you want the modern version Washington Square). The Heiress had a great cast, a great story, and was very well done (not that Washington Square was awful or had a bad cast).
Untapped New York struck a chord today, by publishing this little item, which we could have "visited" on the last Urban Hike. Those of you with us on that hike may remember standing on the hillside of Coogan's Bluff, just north of 155th Street, which leads to Macombs Dam Bridge, and hearing the brief commentary about walking down to the Polo Grounds from that spot.
The Urban Hike is very much on my mind and I hope we have a chance to run another one this Fall (and then get back on a Spring schedule in 2022). Movies, and movie-related, sites may be a fun source of material. Any thoughts or suggestions from our regulars - or from anyone hoping to join?
The Deadlift - the King of Lifts - is not really about Body Beautiful. It is for sturdiness, in my view. You can call it strength, but I prefer to think in terms of sturdiness.
My new weights trainer is more of a high-rep guy (8-12) than my previous guy was (more 5X5). I think it's because it's what he feels I need for right now. All I can say is that he makes it damn difficult. And no, I do not really need to use a mask in my gym. People fake it.
A video is not really a substitute for a trainer who can critique your form right at the moment, but this guy is good. Best mental trick: Push the floor away from the bar.
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It has an interesting and pleasant flavor. There is no alcohol in it. All you do is to put a splash into plain bubbly water, with some ice. Very refreshing.
Image via Bookworm Beat 3/31/21 —
I learned a lot from this book. 
The NYT