Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with exercise

My pants are falling down!

Slarty Bartfast — Sat, 18 May 2013 11:45:08 -0800

You know that loop of string on the front of bathing suits and exercise pants? What am I supposed to do with that?

How do I stop my desk job from destroying my health?

Ragged Richard — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:26:32 -0800

In February, I got a full time job after six months of freelancing, and seven years of grad school before that. I like the stability, but I think I underestimated how profoundly a 9-hour desk job was going to affect my activity levels. I'm a little alarmed at how quickly I've fallen out of shape, and I'm looking for some suggestions as to how to go back to being a reasonably healthy person while still having this job. Before I started working full-time, I wasn't in awesome shape, but I was in ok shape. I tried to go to the gym three times a week, and while I didn't always succeed, I did manage to make it there twice a week at least. I didn't pay a ton of attention to what I was eating, but I tried to make reasonable choices. Since I started working here , I've been to the gym maybe four times. I'm gaining weight at a pretty steady clip, and I'd like to reverse that process. Possibly relevant details:

Exercise has always been something that I loathed, and just did because I knew I had to.
I wake up in the morning between 7 and 7:30, which continues to be a struggle for me.
At the end of the workday, I'm often pretty tired, or someone wants to do something fun, which is hard to turn down for something I dislike.
I live in Brooklyn and work in Manhattan. My commute is 45-minutes, and my gym is a 20-minute bus ride from my apartment. I work 9-6.
I don't have the kind of control over my office furniture that would be necessary to get something like a standing desk.

I have a feeling you guys are just going to tell me to suck it up and wake up at 6:30. If that's the case, I'd appreciate any tips for how to make myself do that. Thanks!

Exercising with my pre-teen?

monster max — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:37:40 -0800

I'm a dad and my oldest - now a pre-teen, who this year started at high school - is always tired and hates exercise. She was very active when she was younger but pressures of long school hours and homework have squeezed all that out of the calendar. Plus of course she's the age when children's bodies dramatically change size and shape and that's perfectly normal. Given all that, what's the best way I can help her to stay as fit and healthy as possible? What has helped for your kids? With a long journey to and from school, plus homework and music practice plus some clubs, there's not much time left for being active and healthy. What have you found has helped with your children? Something we can do together - whether it's changing our diet or adding in exercise - would be ideal.

We went out running together a couple of times (I'm not especially fit but I do run a couple of times a week) but she found it really hard and says she hated it. Any ideas for making it more fun / less intimidating?

She used to have swimming lessons and is a good swimmer but I don't think either of us much fancy the whole ploughing-up-and-down-the-pool-with-eveyone-else thing. Is there something different we could do?

We could go cycling but the drivers in our town aren't very considerate of adults on bikes and I'd be seriously worried about her inexperience + impatient or thoughtless idiot in a car ending up in an accident. There's nowhere very nearby for trail riding - we'd have to drive there, which would make it so much hassle that realistically, we'd just not do it. I'm not sure that's the answer either.

(Mum isn't very active and little brother is thin as a rake and muscly as a ... erm ... muscly thing from martial arts, so I'm not sure a Happy Family Activity would be the thing either - he'd just run rings round her and drive her mad!)

Thanks in advance for any ideas from more experienced parents. I'd love us to find something we could enjoy together.

Looking for GPS-workout tracking app with many features

blub — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:35:46 -0800

I currently use Endomondo to track my skating workouts. I like it a lot, but miss two things: 1) I would love to be able to analyze part of the workout as if it was an entire workout. Say, if I skated from point A to Z, I want to see the average speed over part L to R. 2) I would love more personal bests. For skating, Endomondo starts the personal bests at 3 miles or 5 km. I want to see my personal best 1 km or mile too. With time, they track most kms in one hour, but I rarely skate one hour, I want to track half hours. I know that I could switch my activity type to a different one for which they do track other distances/times, but I don't want to do that. I am looking for either a web application that accepts .gpx files that I can export from Endomondo, or a new app (should work on both iOS and Android) that can also export to .gpx.

Best Fitness Apps

annabellee — Fri, 03 May 2013 13:12:42 -0800

Recommend the apps, websites, technological gadgets for exercise that you can't live without. I'm looking for amazing apps and sites that will help me stay fit. I'm a youngish woman and have found so many sites and apps (there are 64 from the past year on this site alone) but I am wondering which ones are actually good, that you'd recommend to a friend.

I know and like Couch to 5K and Nike Plus. I found some old posts where people suggested Gym Hero and Fitocracy but haven't tried either. I'm partial to fitness apps, but am also interested in goal-setting/healthy living websites, gadgets--whatever works.

Red-faced runner

greta simone — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 09:11:01 -0800

How can I prevent or shorten the time that my face is beet red after going for a jog? I have been working on the Couch-to-5k program which, for those not in the know, is a jogging program that very slowly and gradually has you walking and running in increments until after many weeks, you're running and no longer walking. Each session is only 30 minutes, and you do it 3 times a week. It's simple and I like it, which is the first time in my life I can say I like any kind of exercise for exercise's sake.

Problem is, a normal person would have to carve out only an hour or so to run and them come home, shower, and be on their merry way. But no, not me. My face is unbelievably beet red, so much so that it looks like a sunburn. And it stays that way for over an hour after I'm done running and showering.

I'm not running strenuously.
I'm running in 45-65 degree weather, usually in the morning, so it's not too hot.
I'm running mostly in shaded areas.
I wear sunscreen.
I take a cool shower immediately upon returning.
I stay really well hydrated.
I run a fan when I get home.
I'm a white, but not pale, 30 year old woman.
I have a good diet and am in good health.
I don't feel over-exhausted or over-heated.
I currently take a birth control pill and Wellbutrin, but the red-face thing has always been the case throughout my life and before these medications.
Make-up won't cover it, and I wouldn't want to do that anyway.
I can't pay for a gym membership right now, and I probably wouldn't use it anyway.

This is only a problem because my schedule does not allow me 2-3 hours of consecutive time, three days a week, to stay out of public and 'cool down', and I'd really like to be able to give myself the time to stick with this program to the end.

What can I do to cool down my face quicker so that I can get on with my life after I run?

How can I inspire my partner to be a healthy, fit person with me?

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 10:20:11 -0800

I want to be a healthy, fit person, and I want my partner to want that, too. What's the selling point? How can I convince my SO to make this change with me and notice how our generally very sedentary life is sucking the life out of our relationship? Help! My partner and I have been together for years. We have occasionally been active together, but it's few and far between. I would love for us to be more active, but I have significantly less time than my partner, whose behavior is impeding my ability to make time for this personally. I work full time and I am also completing some necessary schoolwork that takes up a lot of my time. My partner doesn't have this additional responsibility, but I still find that we are contributing unequally around the house (I contribute more). This is obviously frustrating for me, but even more so when it causes me to have less time to take care of myself (and it's showing, which makes me feel even worse). I frequently work 10-12 hour days and come home to find that my partner has been home for hours and hasn't done anything, when I was planning to workout. Of couse, I don't have time for that because if I don't clean or make dinner, it won't happen. This is is definitely a separate but similar problem re: energy and commitment levels, which is why I'm including it here.

So my goal is to get us both working out, but not necessarily together. We in our early thirties and although we are within normal weight range, we are really "fat skinny". We pass for thin but would not consider myself or my partner as physically fit (highly sedentary at this point). I think many aspects of our lives, mostly our energy levels and hopefully our sex life, could be improved by being fit and feeling well. I am definitely doing my best to keep up with my health despite my time limitations, but my partner is really "no thanks" on the whole idea of being fit and exercising. How do I make it clear that this is important to me (you know, other than saying this, which is definitely something I've done)? We have no plans for a family (this would be very difficult for us anyway) so "being healthy for a family" isn't really a good place to start. We do have a gym membership; my partner just never goes. And I don't want the "start small" stuff like taking walks... We have pets and are (short-distance) velo commuters, so that stuff's already happening.

Also, I realize that I sound very negative, but I love my partner and don't want to be overly pushy about this. This isn't a matter of "you are really unhealthy and this is a dealbreaker" either; I just think we could both be in way better shape and be much happier for it. Thoughts?

Help Us Get Our Butts Moving!

Crystalinne — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 21:13:17 -0800

My husband and I have made a pact to get in shape. It hasn't happened that often even though we both want to! What are some goals that have helped you (and a workout buddy) actually get out there? My husband and I started wanting to jog about a month or two ago. Since we have gone twice. Both times were in the same week.

I have tried to motivate myself by promising myself new workout gear for every month that I jog at least once a week, then I can move up from there. I also bought myself some proper gear so I can actually jog (sports bras and shorts) although I could use some new shoes.

We have an on-site gym that we have yet to go to, because we like to jog outside. We want to go out at least twice a week, but it seems that sitting on the couch doesn't help. We want to be each other's motivation too!

To answer possible questions:
-We have an onsite gym at our complex - we can use it in bad weather
-We have a good amount of running sidewalks and nice hills for exercise and jogging
-We try being accountable to each other but then we both laze-out because we are very similar people and can agree with each other's excuses
-I (we) both feel great after jogging!
-I don't need to lose weight, but I get winded walking to the mailboxes and back up 3 flights of stairs because I work from home and am not active otherwise. So we don't need weight training or things like that, mostly jogging.

On another note, I would rather not jog by myself - one for safety as I don't want to run around random neighborhoods even though we are in an extremely safe place (I don't take my phone with me which is why I don't want to go by myself.)

I could potentially go to the gym by myself, however I would be much more comfortable not looking like a total fool as I pant for breath after a half mile on the treadmill.

What's a good way to schedule in exercise and stick to it on a regular basis?
What has helped motivate you for regular - non strenuous exercise?
How do you help keep each other accountable?
Is there a good fitness scheduling app that just bugs you until you jog? (I tried the Reebok app but it has a buch of weird exercise that we don't want to do. We just want to stretch and jog.)

Also, I may do Yoga by myself during the week so motivation for that would be great too.

Again our main problem is that we find each other's excuses as totally valid because we are two peas in a pod. When we do go out and jog we really do help motivate each other. He especially helps me get through it as I am not a good runner and out of shape. So once we get out there it's not much of a problem.

Resources for desiging a fitness room for our public safety building.

maleru — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 16:54:44 -0800

Can anyone recommend resources for designing a fitness room for a public safety building? Including: blueprints for room dimensions equipment recommendation anything else I can't think of? I have been tasked with developing a proposal for our city council as we move forward with the design of a new public safety building. This building would be a functioning Fire Department, Police Station, EMS, and 911 Dispatch.
Seeing as the building serves the needs of two different departments, we would need to account for physical fitness training for all responding Firefighters/Emergency First Responders and Police officers. The requirements I know of now include an area for takedown drills for the Police Department, enough space for up to 4 people to work out, various aerobic stations for the Fire Department, as well as upper body strength training.
I am not looking for a lot of single purpose machinery, we are working on a fitness program with a minimal fitness routine (pushups, pull-ups, sit-ups, squats, dips, etc.), would want basic free weights, a treadmill or two (or equivalent cardio trainer that is NOT a stationary bicycle).

More information, our city has been fighting funding this every step of the way! Our current fire department floods when it rains or snows, we don't have enough space to park our apparatus as it. In the winter we get months at a time with sub-freezing temperatures, with regular winds around 60mph.

If anyone has designed a space for this purpose, or works in a fire department with an adequate fitness room, PLEASE advise me. Thanks!

Biking for the uninsured.

Wordwoman — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:38:26 -0800

I do not have adequate health insurance, am self-employed, and any injury that might prevent me from working steadily would be economically problematic (ok, disastrous). I also would like to begin riding my bicycle again as a form of exercise and enjoyment. Would the health benefits of biking outweigh the risk of injury? I would be primarily riding on designated bike trails, not public roads. I'm somewhat paranoid because a friend (with good insurance, fortunately) had a mishap on a bike trail that required surgery. I don't know how common such mishaps are. What would you do in my situation?

The best cardio machine for an apartment?

dede — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 10:56:53 -0800

I live in an apartment on an upper level unit. I wish I could buy a treadmill to use at home, but I think the noise will bother my neighbors too much. I'm looking for a good alternative. Do you know of any? I'm lazy. The only times I ever exercised regularly happened when I lived in apartments with gyms in the building (and those gyms were always empty, clean, nicely air conditioned and private). I could just wander down there whenever I felt like it, work out, go straight back to my apartment and shower. I've tried joining a gym--that was just money down the drain. Just thinking about gathering all my workout clothes/water bottle together, walking/driving to the gym, waiting for a machine, walking/driving back would demoralize me before I even got started. Like I said: Lazy.

My current apartment doesn't have a gym. So I've decided it's time to invest in some in-home exercise equipment. I want something that's as intense a whole body/cardio workout as possible where I can be sweating profusely out of every pore in 20 minutes. But I'm in an apartment. And I live on an upper floor with folks underneath me.

Some other factors to consider:

-Ideally, I'd want a treadmill. I really like how they force you to keep moving even when you're tired. But I REALLY don't want to piss off my neighbors, either. If you have a magical solution that really, truly gets rid of all the thumping noise from running on a treadmill on a hardwood floor, please let me know. Otherwise, treadmills are probably not a possibility.

-I don't think I want a bike. I don't want to just be pumping my legs in circles over and over again--I want to feel like my whole body is moving.

-This leads me to believe that an elliptical machine is my best bet. It's not perfect, but I'm okay with it. Do you have a favorite apartment-friendly elliptical? And if anyone has any other ideas for other kinds of machines, I'm definitely open!

-Willing to spend around $1,000

-Don't need any fancy doodads or gadgets like built in fans or speakers or fancy programming/memory options. Bare bones is fine.

-While I don't live in the 200 sq foot studios I once did, I don't have unlimited space, either. So something that's foldable and with the smallest footprint possible gets the most points. And...I won't be living in this apartment forever, so it will have to be moved eventually. Crazy bonus points if there's something that fits all the requirements above and is still somewhat portable!

Thanks everyone!

I hate exercise I love punching

dysh — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 20:04:44 -0800

Please help me find a way to combine my love for punching things with my need for exercise, for cheap, in NYC. As I creep into my late twenties, my metabolism isn't what it used to be, and I would like to expand my exercise habits, which currently consist of walking places, occasionally picking up toddlers, and a dance party or mosh pit here or there. But, I find exercise so terribly boring.

However, a recent bout of play fighting with my partner has reminded me that I really like punching. I know next to nothing about martial arts, so please bear with me. Boxing seems prohibitively expensive, and I'd rather not show up at my next nannying job with a black eye. Kickboxing, I hear, involves punching air, which seems...unsatisfying. Am I correct in my assumptions? What am I not thinking of?

Can anyone recommend some cheap (preferably under ten bucks a class, though maybe that's insane) exercise classes in NYC where I can punch away to my heart's content, and maybe get a bit more fit?

Help me decide on a DDR metal dance pad

Pontifex — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 12:49:50 -0800

(No I can't build my own pad at this time, graduate school). I've found two dealers that sells hard / metal DDR pads from Poland: maty-taneczne.pl and rd.sokolka.com. They seem to be the only / one of the few reputable dealers out there that sell DDR pads for home use that aren't generally crap. Can you post here with reviews of their merchandise if you've purchased from them? Otherwise alternate dealers / solutions are welcome (if some other outfit can make a good DDR hard pad - in the US - I'll gladly buy it). I like DDR for exercise. I have horrible allergies, so going out of doors to do any sort of exercise lays me up for a few days afterwards with horrible symptoms (this is even on meds!).

I used to have a local place where I could go to use their machine, but the pads have finally given out and they can't be used except for the simplest songs.

My best bet appears to be StepMania coupled with a hard dance pad (metal / plastic / wood / etc).

First I'm going to invest in a PS2 game and a Red Octane soft dance pad just to get something going.

Other quality retailers for dance pads are out of business (CobaltFlux, MyMybox, RedOctance, etc) and / or their products don't appear to be for sale anywhere I've checked (Amazon, Ebay, Craigslist, etc).

Other retailers (that are not so quality) I hesitate to buy from (DDRGame.com, FutureMax, Play-Asia, etc) as their reviews on the forums I've checked are generally poor and / or they no longer sell pads I'm interested in.

I have not found a thread / subforum I could use to do a "WTB" post (Want to buy) for a hard pad.

There may be on Zenius-I-Vanisher, but I found the site generally unsearchable (no search function worth the name, no sub-forum search, very poor search engine allowed indexing, etc).

DDR Freak has some reviews but these appear to be horribly out of date.

The "recommendations" page on the StepMania Wiki also appears to be quite out of date.

Weirdly DDR is now known by the term "Exergaming", a much more marketable term as they seem to apply mostly to schools, etc. As the price point for their pads ($1000 a piece!) seems to reflect.

How do I lose weight in specific areas of my body?

wolfdreams01 — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 09:07:11 -0800

I'm having more trouble than I thought I would in getting rid of these love handles and my usual methodology is proving ineffective. I'm a reasonably fit guy. I stand 6'1" and used to weigh 185 lbs, which (according to the BMI scale) crosses the line into just slightly overweight.

Most of this is upper body mass - I have a broad, muscular chest, to the extent that it's hard to get dress shirts that fit me. This V-shaped build build helps conceal a physical flaw that I don't particularly like, which is my love handles. However, I decided a couple of months ago that even though I'm pretty fit, I can do better. I decided to lose the love handles and maybe bring my weight down to 180, which would put my BMI into the completely average range. This did not work out the way that I thought.

I assumed that the love handles were simply extra weight, so if I ate less and started exercising more they would disappear naturally. My exercise routine now is 15 pushups each day, 30 situps each day, cycling on my exercise machine for half an hour, and lifting weights for half an hour. I also run a 5k once each week. Also, I never eat breakfast anymore - I just eat an apple in the morning to get my metabolism going.

However, instead of losing weight, I have gained it. When I last stood on the scale, I saw that I am now 195 lbs. Based on observation, I'm confident that this added weight is mostly muscle rather than fat. However, my love handles are completely unchanged. Completely. All this exercise has not made the slightest dent in them.

How can I get rid of these damn love handles? Adjusting my diet and exercise routine has altered the rest of my body, but hasn't seemed to make the slightest bit of difference in that area. Are there any specific exercises that I need to be doing?

Daring to pick three of good/cheap/fast

andrewcilento — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 13:46:51 -0800

I'm looking for a fitness watch I can use for interval training. I don't need anything fancy, but I do want something that'll vibrate in place of beeping. Can anyone recommend something? I've been looking at fitness watches, and I'm not looking to break the bank--something like the Forerunner 610 sure is nice, but it's probably overkill for my needs. All I'm really concerned with is something that's lightweight and durable...and, as I mentioned above, I absolutely 100% want something that can vibrate at a set interval, as I usually have headphones in when I'm exercising and probably won't hear something beeping.

That said, if there is a really great top-of-the-line-does-everything watch you love, I don't mind saving up and getting one down the road. Kinda want something I could order off Amazon today and be using by the end of the week.

(I did a search before asking this and saw some recommendations for the Gymboss, but I do want something that's designed to be strapped to my wrist without having to buy extra parts.)

Sweating is Fun

oceanview — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 11:49:31 -0800

For athletes, and people in general who have exercised consistently for many years, can you describe what it's like to experience working out as an enjoyable, rewarding activity? Despite bouts of fitness here and there, I'm usually a couch potato of a person. I find the thought of working out extremely unappealing and am never at a loss for ways to psych myself out from going for a jog. For those of you who can say that you enjoy exercise--what motivates you? What are your thoughts and attitudes about fitness and exercise?

I figure there is something faulty with the way I inherently think about being active, so I just want to peer in your head and see what alternative, healthier thoughts I might learn to adopt for myself.

Best combination food/exercise log app?

Halloween Jack — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 09:26:46 -0800

iPhone user; I've experimented with exercise logging apps such as MapMyRide+, Cyclemeter and Fitocracy (most of my exercise is cycling-oriented, but I'm also looking at Kinect exercise games and, potentially, weightlifting). Is there a good combo app that logs both exercise and food intake? Or one site that could possibly accept input/imports from both? Pluses include:

- Suggested calorie counts for relatively common prepared foods (e.g. pizza) so that I don't have to depend on stuff with nutrition labels

- iOS, although I do have an Android 7" tablet

- Either free or one-time fee; would look at subscription services if they're really good

Mobilize me

downing street memo — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 18:47:54 -0800

I've been working out, lifting weights, on and off for five years, but I've never paid any attention to mobility/stretching. This is dumb. Please help me come up with a defensible plan. Workout details: Three times a week I do a 3x5 style workout (Rippetoe's "Wichita Falls", to be exact). I follow that with one round of Tabata sprints on a stationary bike. I play soccer once a week, and I'd like to eventually add in long-ish runs (no more than 5 miles) twice a week. In the next few weeks as it gets warmer I'll begin riding my bike to work as well - 3 miles one way, not much in the way of hills.

My question is, what should I be doing to prevent injuries and to ensure I'm moving in the most efficient way? I know about (and like) MobilityWOD, but I'm having a hard time generalizing the advice and workouts shown to a routine. Happy to hear about pre and post-workout exercises as well as stuff done standalone.

Enstrengthening for the unenlightened

Pomo — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 15:54:32 -0800

I need some ideas that are dead simple and un-screw-up-able for how to balance my cardio program with strength training...at home, without equipment. I think I've got half of my exercise routine sorted out: I go running most days, at different distances and speeds and elevations. However, I assume I should probably also be doing something in the strength department, both to avoid injury and for my overall fitness. I'm a mid-thirties female with something like 15 to 20 extra pounds on my frame.

The difficulty is that for the life of me I can't really wrap my head around that stuff. I never know what to do, and I am also terrible at keeping a proper form. Worse, I have let my gym membership lapse and will have to do these exercises at home without any special equipment. I have seen body weight exercise charts online and assume that's what I want, but the missing element is a step-by-step routine to tell me when to do each movement, how long, and how often. I would also prefer to avoid things that require rigorous attention to form since I will likely fail at that.

So: does anyone know of a good resource (or even have a ready-made plan you could copy and paste here?) that sets out in the simplest terms what routine a person could do to maintain a minimum level of fitness and balance out the muscles worked by daily jogging? I would prefer to have something online if at all possible, as getting books is not convenient in my current circumstances.

Bonus question: should I also be stretching? Before or after running and/or strength training?

Bike Trainers, Bike Rollers and Exercise Bikes : What is the Max Load?

Chasuk — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 06:24:39 -0800

I need a bike trainer, bike roller, or an exercise bike. The problem is, I weight 132 kilograms / 290 pounds. I can afford $350, at a stretch. Is there a model of any of these which will both accommodate my weight, and be affordable? My googling turns up nothing.

Barky humpy puppy is making me a little crazy!

chatongriffes — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 08:20:43 -0800

My puppy barks at me if he has too much energy, but he's been so humpy at the dog park that we can't stay long enough for him to burn it all off. Please help by recommending some training we could use! Some of you know my adorable rescue pup, Franklin. He's about 10 months old and because he was a rescue, he was neutered really early--around four months. I got him around 8 weeks. He's super snuggly, friendly to every dog or person he's ever met, a quick learner of his tricks, and generally just an awesome little guy. This new habit is making me crazy and it has been getting worse lately.

I usually get up around 6 to let him out and give him his breakfast. Often after that I want to go back to bed, check my email, or read. Lately after breakfast, he's taken to standing a few feet away from me, looking me in the eye, and barking at me. Or he'll steal something he isn't supposed to have and prance away with it. (Usually either some delicate beautiful scarf that he could destroy in seconds or something that could be dangerous to him.) I know he's totally doing this because he wants attention. He never does it when he's alone in the house or when he's properly tuckered out. He also never does it if other people are around.

I've read up a bit on training and I know that any reaction is feeding into this behavior, but that's sort of challenging. I would ideally just ignore his barking and then give him positive reinforcement when he's quiet to teach him the Quiet command. But I live in a densely populate apartment complex and I don't want him disturbing the neighbors. I've also tried telling him no or interrupting him when he's about to bark, but it didn't do much good. I even squirted him with the kitchen sink sprayer once. He stopped, but it seems mean. I also don't want to let him destroy my stuff or hurt himself. He's tall enough that if he jumps, he can get stuff off counters and high tables.

Usually after trying to deal with this for a bit, I'll walk him a mile to the dog park, let him play for about an hour, then walk him home. He's usually perfectly well behaved for the rest of the day after that. Recently though, he's been super humpy. As I said, he was neutered a long time ago and I know it's not a sexual thing, just a dominance thing. The dogs can usually sort it out themselves but the other owners freak out. I'll pull him off and make him do a sit and stay, but as soon as I let him go play again, he races directly back to the object of his affection and launches right back into it. If the dogs do have the chance to sort things out themselves, he'll usually spend the rest of our time romping around and wrestling and chasing--all good non humpy playing!

I've talked to other dog owners and they say it's just a phase that dogs, especially males, hit at this age. Many of them are totally understanding and say it's just what dogs do. But other people freak out. One guy hit Franklin for trying to mount his pit while I was distracted picking up poop. He got an EARFUL.

We are weekday morning regulars and he always gets along fine with that crew, but if we try to go after work or on the weekends, he's just a mess. I usually give him one chance to stop, but if he continues and the other owners are wigging out or if the other dog seems unhappy or too submissive, we just leave and walk around the lake, and back home.

Here's the kicker. That doesn't tire him out enough, so after a couple hours of napping, he's back to yelling at me!

Relevant information: I work from home 3 days a week, but I've been on a bunch of business trips lately with more to come. I always hire someone to stay at the house with him, but I am wondering if the worsening of this behavior is related to some kind of separation anxiety.

This is my first time raising a dog myself and my first time ever having a boy dog around.

So, dog-owning MeFites, help! What should I do?

If nothing else it feels good...

PuppetMcSockerson — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 05:28:07 -0800

There is a steam room at my gym and I am considering putting it to use. Please tell me as much as you can because I have no fregging clue what I am supposed to be using it for or what I am supposed to do while I steam. I work out every morning before work (5 days a week), doing cardio and strength training. This morning after my work out I went and sat in it for a bit for the very first time. It felt really nice and relaxing, especially after my big workout and since I'm coming off a pretty bad case of DOMS in my quads (damn you, squats!). The steam seemed to loosen things up and my legs are feeling pretty good, though that could just be from my workout. I am considering using the steam room more regularly. I don't know a whole lot about them, though.

1. What are their benefits?
2. What should I be careful/wary of?
3. How long should I spend in there?
4. How often should I do it? Is steaming after my workouts (5 days a week) okay?
5. Do you just sit and chill? Meditate? Count the tiles on the floor? What do people usually do while they steam? (Am I overthinking this?)
5. What are your personal experiences with them?

In case it matters, my gym recently built a brand new facility so everything is new. Even when we were still in the old building they were always very diligent in keeping everything is extremely clean, well maintained and they were/are really good about keeping things in excellent repair.

Who wears short shorts? We wear short shorts!

mrfuga0 — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 15:45:35 -0800

What do women wear under workout shorts? I work out by doing heavy lifting and some conditioning work (fast workouts that involve lots of movement -- pushups, sprints, etc. -- essentially CrossFit workouts). Sometimes I do yoga or light running/hiking. Whatever I do, there is a considerable amount of bending/lifting/stretching and a good chance I could flash someone. To combat this, I usually wear running shorts from Target with the built-in underwear. If it is cold, then I wear yoga pants without underwear.

Right now, all I can find (in South Africa) are workout shorts without inner liners -- what do people wear under these? I would be pulling my underwear out of my crack all workout long if just wore regular underwear and the amount of bending and such like (with a trainer in my face) makes me wary of no underwear.

Halp?

I want to take a walk up the street and find a place like the YMCA.

orange swan — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 17:18:38 -0800

I've been thinking of joining a gym for the first time in my life, primarily because I live alone and work from home and it would be good for me to have a place to go to be around other people once a day. So, I am looking for a gym to join. I just checked out the one nearest me tonight but was discouraged by the fact that the facilities seemed dirty and smelly and crowded. Buffed Toronto Mefites, what gyms can you recommend for someone who lives in west end Toronto (between Lansdowne and Dundas West subway stations), and wants a convenient, clean, and inexpensive gym to join? I'd like to do weights and the occasional exercise class in whatever (pilates, yoga, or kickboxing are all fine). I'd love to be able to swim too, but realize that isn't compatible with inexpensive.

Define "moderation." How much exercise is "too much"?

polymodus — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 02:27:13 -0800

My parents think I've been exercising too much. I think they are being well-meaning but a little out of touch. This is also forcing me to question prevailing notions about appropriate exercise. Help me process this. So my parents expressed shock and concern when I casually mentioned that during my exercise routine at the gym today, I pedaled the stationary bike at a heart rate of 150 bpm for 12 minutes (that's 80% my max heart rate). Their main point, as I understand it, is that I shouldn't exercise so intensely or so frequently. They made several comments. "150 bmp is double your resting heart rate, which is obviously excessive!" "Marathons are known to cause heart damage and even fatalities!*." "2x a week at the gym should be enough for you." "It is better to stick with light exercise activities, like jogging or walking." I was taken aback by these nagging, "shoulding" comments. Being 1st-generation Asian immigrants, I can see how American-style fitness norms and standards are a very alien concept.

I know that I'm not doing anything out of the ordinary compared to other young adults. But their comments got me wondering about scientific evidence for the intrinsic safety of my favorite training activities, namely cardio, weightlifting, and high-intensity interval training. It seems entirely plausible that exercise, if done at a certain level, becomes detrimental to your long-term health. Clearly, my parents and I disagree on that threshold. What information is there that cuts to the heart of the issue?

*nytimes has been writing about new research showing less or moderate levels of exercise being, counterintuitively, more beneficial than previously thought.