Hi folks, Every time I turn around someone is telling me to loosen up my shoulder blades, which are pretty stiff. I must admit that they were essentially 'stuck to my back.' Several years of massage, Gyrotonic, Pilates, Feldenkrais, and recently Continuum, have improved them a great deal. I now include thoughts about my shoulder blade motion into my training and dancing, to good effect. I made a short movie today, ... Read more
A Continuum Dance Lesson Video For FitOldDog By Rebecca
Hi folks, As a component of my approach to exercise for better health and Ironman training, I have incorporated dance lessons using Continuum. Today I enjoyed my lesson so much that I wanted to share it with you in the form of a video prepared by my teacher, Rebecca, of Evolving Therapies, Chapel Hill, NC. This approach is fascinating, much more difficult than it looks and it takes a strong core, ... Read more
11 Tips On Exercise For Better Health From FitOldDog
Hi folks, With over 200 posts under my blogging belt, I thought it might be useful to my readers if I went through and pulled out pieces of key exercise advice, with links to the respective posts. Then I thought, "but I love prime numbers, remember that great book about the Reimann Hypothesis that I referred to ages ago, Prime Obsession?" So I decided to select 11 training tips, instead. Here they ... Read more
My Trip To The Dermatologist As A Pathologist Ironman Athlete
Hi folks, I've seen cancer in many guises during my scientific career of over 40 years, including material from domestic animals and research studies, and clinically as it took loved ones from my life. I know this beast pretty well, so when I go for a health screen I wonder - is it my turn? My recent visit to my dermatologist, Dr. Robin Thompson of Chapel Hill Dermatology, was no exception. I was aware from ... Read more
How An Aging Scientist Athlete Deals With Arthritis Pain
Hi folks, Our bodies are like an old car. We accumulate physical damage as we age, but we don't let that stop us. It is just part of the game of life. One thing that happens is arthritis in joints that have undergone surgery, in my case my knees, and body parts that are frequently exposed to minor traumas. My major area of arthritis pain is limited to three joints of my left hand. They will ache or even ... Read more
Invited Post – Habits: You Can’t Live with Them, You Can’t Live without Them
This is an invited post by my esteemed Feldenkrais instructor, Karen Dold of Move with Elan Try this. Interlace your fingers, look at your hands, and note which thumb is on the outside. Un-interlace your fingers, then interlace them again. Same thumb on the outside? This would be your habitual interlacing. Now, un-interlace your fingers, and interlace them in the opposite way, so that the other ... Read more
Athletes Need Effective Sunscreen And A Good Dermatologist
Hi folks, I'm off to my dermatologist again tomorrow. Being fair-skinned and frequently sunburned as a kid, potential cancers pop up all the time, usually in the form of solar keratosis. These are rough patches, sometimes scaly, and tend to become white after swimming in the pool. If not removed they can progress to form a deadly kind of growth, the squamous cell carcinoma. These tumors can invade locally and ... Read more
Play Is Much More Fun Than Work And More Effective
Hi folks, A mathematician friend of mine wrote a letter years ago, in response to a request for advice, in which she said that she couldn't address the question until she had "played with the equations." Her boss, a statistician (an odd but interesting breed), was required to edit the letter for some reason or other and he added a single edit. He crossed out 'play' and substituted 'work.' Boy, did he ... Read more
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