The Many Forms of Fitness

Don't be fooled, fitness doesn't simply mean grinding out workouts in the gym. There are many activities that provide great health benefits. Recently we did a day trip to go skiing to Mt. Peter. It was a lot of fun and nearly everyone was feeling some muscle soreness in places they didn't know they had muscles! Add to the fact that a long day at the slopes where we are active and interested and less likely to be munching on junk food and it really makes for a great workout! We are always looking for fun ways to incorporate fitness, plus, when you have an event or a trip in mind, it helps to give you a goal and more motivation in your regular gym workouts. For me, that means I'll be working hard on my legs the next 3 weeks as I gear up for our next daytrip, our Breakneck Ridge Hiking Trip! Details to be posted soon!!!! In the meantime, you can check out "Shaky Legs" duCille snowboarding here! Big thanks to my friend Jason, who I didn't even know had a video camera with him until I fell on my ass and heard him say "Hey Dave, Smile!"

Injuries

So I've been stepping up my workouts a little bit preparing for spring and the upcoming season of our Starving Artist Bootcamp. It's not like I have to be the fastest person around the reservoir, at 6'3" 240, i'm built more for intermediate bursts of speed than a mile and a half race. Nevertheless, I need to post some respectable times and keep my all around performance on par. Of course, I can't help but notice a few old nagging injuries trying to creep back up. But this year, i'm older and wiser! I've started my training gradually! I'm not trying to build Rome in a day. Your body knows itself better than any doctor ever will, so you should listen to it. At the same time, you can't let injuries become an excuse; doing nothing is almost the worst thing you can do for an injury. Muscle injuries often simply need a little bit of rest followed by a gradual reintroduction of intensity. Joint injuries often don't need much rest, but they need a proper strengthening program for the muscles surrounding the area as well as anti-inflammatory treatment after exercise in the way of Ice and Advil or Aleve.

Injuries are bound to slow you down, but they don't have to stop you! Work smarter, not harder and you'll probably avoid most injuries but when they do happen, make sure you take action. Action is almost always better than doing nothing, be it life, or in the gym!