Zeigen

The truth is, since having kids I’ve not been exercising regularly.

The real truth is, I stopped exercising regularly even a year before Sammy was conceived.

The sad, genuine, unvarnished truth is, my weight is not where I want it to be.

Technology perhaps to the rescue? After reading reviews and testimonials about Wii Fit, and seeing the Wii in action at my brother Phil’s place, I managed to find a Wii and Wii Fit (thanks to Zoolert), ordered online, and all three boxes arrived today.

Setting up the Wii involved surprisingly large amounts of waste packaging and cardboard recycling, but the process was easy. My wife was quite skeptical at first, but a quick game of bowling won her over. (”This is fun, isn’t it!” Sure is, especially when she beat me 126 to 95.) Then it was time to get going with Wii Fit.

Much has been written elsewhere about Wii Fit itself. There are some curious UI decisions, an odd mix of a cartoon aesthetic on some screens and 1970s fitness brochure aesthetic on other sections.  I agree that there’s a bit too much time spent loading and explaining when I’m standing there tapping my foot and just want to get going with exercising. I’m also extremely skeptical of the “Wii Fit Age” (took the body test twice today, before and after exercising, and was first put at 49, +8 from my actual age, and then put at 52. Kimi was put at +11 years. If repeating a test generates results that vary wildly, how accurate can that test be?

But the activities seem (after day 1 at least) to have some variety, and the format is perfectly suited to appeal to my desire to unlock things and complete things.

Some may feel the constant unlocking of hidden exercises and activities combined with the corny motivational screens and dubious emphasis on balance is just so much rat-maze navigation, but to me it’s like a game, and anything encouraging me to view exercise as a fun activity can’t be too bad.

Microsoft has reportedly claimed that 60% of Wii Fit users try it exactly once. Seems like sour grapes to me.

So, my poor long-suffering reader, I’m about to embark on the most banal of all blogging activities, and keep track publicly of my progress against my Wii fit goals.

My BMI is at 26.06, which is overweight. My goal is to reach a BMI of 22 (normal) in two months, losing twelve pounds in the process.

Day 1: After setting things up, I tried a couple of exercises in each of the four areas, starting with Aerobics. The step exercises impressed me immediately. Running seemed less well implemented but the scenery made it interesting — my problem was that I kept trying to game the system by trying to shake the remote in order to figure out how it calculated my pace. In the Strength category, the first activity, leg raises, made me feel very uncoordinated. For Yoga, I tried just the breathing and half moon poses; it seemed fine but I’m unlikely to put a lot of emphasis on this section. I did notice that just doing the half moon made me sweat. Finally, for balance, I was terrible at soccer ball headers, but not too bad with the ski slalom. And then I rounded things out with some hula hooping. I have to say I enjoyed myself.

Day 1 stats: 30 minutes of banked exercise, Wii Fit age 49, BMI 26.06.

A simple one for Friday (especially because I’m busy unpacking, leaving little time for the blog; I hate unpacking).

Next week, when driving to work, I resolve to take a different route every week. Different scenery, different traffic, a different view of the world.

At your favorite restaurant, order something completely out of your comfort zone, something that you’ve always wanted to try, something you don’t know if you’ll like.

Worst case, you don’t like it (and can order something else instead).

Best case, you’ve got a new favorite dish.

I sometimes find myself repeating the same clichés, expressions, and verbal shortcuts. The exercise for the rest of the week is to take one word or phrase you overuse or would prefer not to use, and not say it all.

(You can go to extremes here — consider, for example, the E-prime movement and their goal to avoid using “is.” Don’t make this too hard or you won’t do it.)

Here are some ideas:

• “Sucks.” While English desperately needs a one-syllable verb that means that something is awful, “sucks” is a pretty repellant choice, and isn’t very professional. No fair replacing it with “blows” or “bites.” Instead, consider “fails” (popular lately) or a verb phrase such as “is truly awful.”
• Swear words. Especially while at work, there are good and well-documented reasons not to swear. (Alternately, if you already never swear, then take this week as a chance to start.) I hate the traditional substitutions (such as “sugar” and “fudge”) but there’s an opportunity here to be creative and unique. My nearly-three-year-old son Sammy’s favorite word right now is “swoppy” (which has no fixed meaning to him) and I think it would make a marvelous swear. Battlestar Galactica has popularized “frak.” The 1980s film Johnny Dangerously featured Joe Piscopo’s character’s unique vocabulary, including “farging icehole.” If you’ve ever read a Tintin comic, Captain Haddock may inspire. And Shakespeare always had a curse ready.
• “You’re kidding.” Many times when people say something, the automatic response is a not-very-reassuring statement of disbelief: “Oh really?” “No way.” “Get out of here.” Instead, try the opposite: “I believe you!” “Thank you for telling me.” “That sounds right.”
• “Fine.” Someone asks you, “How are you?” Don’t answer with the rote. Be distinctive! “I’m ecstatic.” “Fair to middling.” “Better than tomorrow, but not as good as yesterday.”
• “Bless you.” Whenever she hears someone sneeze, my sister never says “bless you” in English. Instead, she uses a foreign language: Most people know the German gesundheit, but there’s a wide range traditional responses around the world.

Everyone hates some kind of music. Maybe you can’t stand rap. Or dislike classical music. Or really despise country. Or think electronica is boring and repetitive.

But it’s really more about the artist, not the genre. If you open yourself up to new experiences and try to appreciate a genre with “new ears,” you might surprise yourself.

I normally can’t stand country, but there are a few songs that have really changed my mind. Certainly classics like Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” and Kenny Rogers’ “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In).” I wouldn’t have guessed that I liked the Dixie Chicks until a friend made me listen to “Cowboy Take Me Away.”

Your mission today, should you choose to accept it:

• Head to Pandora (or install their app on your iPhone) and try out something top-rated in a new genre. You might prefer Last.FM. Even iTunes has radio stations. It’s all free.
• On your TiVo, try out the Rhapsody 30-day free trial and explore some top picks, or search using a letter at random and try out a new artist. Or download a top-rated music video from Music Choice from an artist you’ve never listened to before. (Or fire up Live 365 too.)
• Go to muxtape.com and click on someone’s name at random, then click on artist you’ve never heard of. (Odds are it’ll be something gothy, in my experience.)
• Get your rap-loving friend to play her favorite rap song and explain why she likes it. Note how infectious her enthusiasm is.
• Try a classical radio station for your drive home.
• Stop by a café with a folk artist or jazz combo playing. Live music always sounds a million times better than recorded music, anyway. Give it a try.
• Your cable or satellite company gives you free music. Head to the end of the guide and try out their electronica Chill station. Give it 20 minutes while you do some web browsing.
• Insert your idea here.

As we get older, our routines become hardened habits. Some recent data suggests mental stimulation (through new behaviors, brain-teasing exercises, and different patterns of behavior) has important benefits (for example, in fighting Alzheimer’s).

In poker, when you get predictable, you lose. If you’re always bluffing or always playing tight, the other players pick up on that and can easily use that pattern against you. When you change your strategy mid-game, the poker term for that is “changing gears.”

So, this week, I want to change the gears of my life a bit. Each weekday I’ll post what I’m doing to “think different” — please join me, or suggest some additional ideas.

For the first gear change, I will practice some brand disloyalty. The idea of “brand loyalty” has always been a bit repellent to me, since it implies that you will slavishly use a particular product (a victim of brain-washing from its advertising, perhaps?), no matter if a better quality or cheaper alternative is available.

(Nota bena: It’s perfectly acceptable to have brand loyalty to TiVo over all other DVRs. That can be an exception to today’s exercise.)

Here are some ways I’ve thought of to be disloyal to the brands normally used:

• If you drink Coke, try Pepsi. Or vice versa. Or drink a Calistoga instead. Hell, try a V-8. But just once, because that stuff’s disgusting.
• Skip your usual chain restaurant for lunch, and try a mom & pop place.
• Mix up the words to a jingle. “Why ask why? Drink Miller Lite.” “My baloney has a first name, it’s T-Y-S-O-N.”
• Next time you’re in the grocery store, eschew a few of your regular brands and get a few products that are on sale, or better packaged, or healthier, or from a different country, compared to the ones you normally buy. Especially good for cereal, jam, bread, and snacks.
• Wear a t-shirt promoting the competition.
• If you’re a PC user, go up to a co-worker with a Mac and get them to spend 10 minutes showing you why they prefer their computer over yours. And more importantly, vice versa.

If you try this and really miss the brand you swear by, have someone help you perform a blind taste test. For example, have someone secretly pour two different brands of ketchup on your plate, then try them both with your fries and see which one you prefer. You may be surprised. Or try this blind taste test challenge on someone else in your life.

(I was interested to find via Freakonomics a study that showed that almost no one can tell the difference between a cheap wine and an expensive wine in a blind taste test.)

Did you try it? What did you find?