Kings of Convenience

This is my newest favorite song. I like to listen to it when I run. Yes, somehow the sit ups started the push ups and the push ups started the running. Wouldn't it be great if flying came next? 

Paul Newman

Today someone told me that Paul Newman's secret was doing 100 sit ups every day. His secret to what? Success? Beauty? Fitness? Salad dressing?

Not sure. I'm only up to 42. I'll let you know what happens after I do 100. 

Incidentally, today my seven-year-old did 100 sit ups and 50 push ups. Just to show us that she could. She is so strong. Wonder how many she'll be doing at my age. 

Push Ups? Really?

While searching the New York Times for information about the beloved sit up and finding zilch, I came across this article about the exalted push up and why it is the enduring symbol of fitness. Could I have chosen my calisthenic as poorly as I chose my college major, retirement plan, and last three cars? Really, I'm wondering, is this a trend? 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/health/nutrition/11well.html

So anyway, I checked and I can do twelve push ups, girlie style. Tomorrow, though, I now have confidence, I'll do thirteen. 

35 Sit Ups and Change

Yesterday I noticed something. While walking around. A change in the way the center of my body feels. It is stronger, bigger, more expansive. 

Today I noticed something else. While sitting up in my bedroom. Change on the floor under my bed. I picked it up and put it into my pocket. 

34 Sit Ups

I put a dollar in one of those change machines. Nothing changed. 

(George Carlin)

Dangerously Empowered

Yesterday, I watched this video about starting a running program and training for a 5K.

I was taken by the author's assertion that making a change, such as beginning to run, can spill over into the rest of one's life, and the results may be dangerously empowering. 

I love this term and it has been sitting in the forefront of my consciousness ever since. Although, of course, dangerously here means something like deliciously or thrillingly. This is what we are hoping for, right? Not just the sit ups, but also the magical empowerment to live a life that is full of our most desired experiences. 

I wrote at the start that I would like to travel and make the world a better place, as well as be strong enough to do 365 sit ups. I'm not done, I guess that's the point for me. And the stronger I am, the better I will be able to continue existing into very old age--traveling, making art, and maybe even living more than several dangerously empowered decades. 

I particularly love the idea of being dangerously empowered and 85-years-old. 

If Sit Ups Hurt Your Lower Back

Here are two options. First, crunches, said to be safe for lower backs, while still delivering "six pack abs." 

Not surprisingly, this gentleman's abs and mine are very similar after my fifty sit ups the other day. 

And, for those of you still pained by crunches. There's always this technique for getting six pack abs. I think I could do this. I think I could.