Keeping fit

[Walking Paradox]

For my first post here, I am going to discuss something off-topic, since it's easier than getting into the hardcore gaming discussions right off the bat.

Gaming is a very sedentary activity. Unless you are LARPing, most of it is done sitting down and even LARPing isn't very physically demanding. How important is keeping in shape, keeping fit, or keeping physically active to you? Do you make a point of working time in for exercise? I've met many writers who do, and unfortunately, quite a few who do not, so I am curious.

 

[Umbran]

Would that I spent enough time playing RPGs that the sedentary nature of the activity were an issue!

Modern office work, and modern commuting, is pretty sedentary stuff, though. My most recent approach to the problem is simple: walking. I could drive to work, or I could hop a bus to the subway. Instead, I avoid the bus except in extremely inclement weather, and I walk to the subway. That adds about 4 to 5 miles of walking to my workday routine, which has done a lot to improve my general health.

 

[IronWolf]

I've been slacking of late. I was cycling a lot last year, but got hit by a car late fall last year and while okay physically have had a hard time braving the roads with any frequency at the moment.

So... after a lazy summer I am starting to participate in work's walking challenge for the upcoming quarter. Better than nothing for the moment.

 

[IronWolf]

For my first post here, I am going to discuss something off-topic, since it's easier than getting into the hardcore gaming discussions right off the bat.

And welcome to the boards! It is a great community here, so don't fear posting in the gaming discussion stuff either. I am sure you will fit right in.

 

[Morrus]

Fairly important to me. I'm not obsessive about it, but I think about what I eat and make sure I get a good amount of exercise.

I do handicap myself somewhat by smoking, though.

 

[Water Bob]

I about to set off torturing myself on the P-90X.

Looking forward to it and not, at the same time, if you know what I mean.

 

[nedjer]

Smoking, tequila and extra doughnuts for me. Doctor's orders I presented with several sports injuries, (ripped stomach muscles, torn knee ligaments, multiple lacerations and various neck injuries), on the same day - and it was suggested I might want to take it easy for a while.

Seems to be working out just fine:

 

[Jack7]

Don't take this the wrong way WP, or as a criticism of your post. I'm merely commenting on the assumption underlying the post, and unfortunately rather common among certain groups in society, that one kind of activity precludes, or excludes another. (I think this is actually more of a pop culture assumption, rather than a truly valid proposition.)

When young I gamed, a lot. Started out as a wargamer, later moved on the RPGs and other types of games.

But just because I gamed didn't prevent me from playing football. Wargaming didn't exclude soccer, or running distance, which I also did, or playing baseball. And RPGs didn't stop me from hiking or being a woodsman. As a matter of fact gaming enhanced many other activities I did, and vice-versa. And being interested in science didn't suppress my religious views, in my opinion science and religion once again enhanced each other. And my jock friends didn't stop me form having (what at the time we used to call) brainiac and nerd friends. Matter of fact I was called both a jock, and a brainiac, as well as just a regular guy. I hung around all kinds of folk, did all kinds of things, and never saw the contradiction nor the need for contradiction in any of my activities. Or different kinds of friends for that matter.

So gaming never interfered with my athletic endeavors, any more than my scientific experiments ever interfered with my praying and meditating. I just did different things at different times. At that kept everything running smoothly. And still does.

As for exercise and keeping fit, I have a modified P90X program which I follow, I do Raja Yoga, run, cycle, swim, and hike. And I train for my squadron and so forth. Occasionally I run obstacle courses, and I have a very careful diet I follow. I also throw discus, not because I'm really any good at it, but because I just love to do it. To me it's very relaxing, and I'm thinking of getting a new bow and taking up archery again. (I used to shoot a lot, and still practice a lot with my guns because I need to stay practiced for casework, but archery was always more fun and more challenging to me.)

I am a writer by trader, among other things, and although I love to write, I am also a physical person, and it bothers me from time to time to catch myself sitting for hours at a time before a screen and keyboard. It used to bother me badly, and was what I hated most about my job as a writer. But I've redone my schedule to make it work better and to break up long periods of sedentary activity and intersperse those periods with more physical activity.

If you're a writer, and it seems by implication in your initial post that you might be, then my suggestion is just schedule different types of activities for different interests and time-slots. Physical, mental, psychological, social, spiritual, I think we should make some time for all types of activities.

Anywho, good luck to ya. And as others said, welcome aboard.

 

[Oryan77]

Do you make a point of working time in for exercise?

Well, like Jack7, I pretty much make time work around my schedule instead of working my schedule around time. When you keep yourself as busy as we do, time is but a number on the clock.

He already gave you a good glimpse into his life, which I agree would keep most men fit. But I tend to think that a person needs to have a lot more interests than he does in order to stay in good shape unless you hit the gym 8 days a week.

For example, for building muscle, I work part time as a Crocodile Wrangler. I make good use of my experience as a Carnie back when I was dating a Rodeo Clown. She milked snakes as a side job and taught me how to handle venomous Cobras, Kraits, & Mambas from the Elapidae family. This lead to me starting my own snake milking factory where I learned to produce a non toxic venom that a lot of South American physicians use to this day for various cancer treatments. The venom actually works as a homebrewed nutrition bar that I take regularly while tending to my Ostrich farm.

For cardio, if I can't make it to my summer home in Pamplona, Spain for the annual Running of the Bulls festival, I usually try to take off of work for two weeks to go cross country ice skating after a business trip in Greenland. Although, sometimes my current job at Kinetic Concepts doesn't send me to that part of the world, I'll make due at home with my custom built skating rink that I hand chiseled myself with tools that I got from a wiry old man I met when I worked as a lumberjack for a year in Sweden.

I know we're just talking about physical fitness at the moment, but remember, being mentally fit is just as important. You may not be aware, but stress and depression are both major factors of weight gain. I have no problems in that area though since I am usually up late translating Mandarin into English for various manufacturing companies of fortune cookies. Being a fortune cookie writer was an important mental skill I picked up at the Zhenjue Temple in Beijing during assignment when I was an Israeli fighter pilot in the 90's. I was the only converted Jewish pilot in the squadron until I also started to practice the teachings of the Nation of Islam which some find to be contradictory, but I digress.

If you can work in a lot of interests and hobbies like Jack7 and myself, then you can play D&D as much as you want and your health will not be an issue whatsoever! I sure know I'm fit!

 

[Morkul]

i am in the renovation/landscaping business, so i stay in shape while i make dough. i have a Bachelor's in Fine Arts, so after two years of listening to pseudo-intellectual hipsters talk about conceptual art, i was ready to do something practical. i have been working off and on as a substitute teacher and doing the construction thing on the side ever since. i like the freedom both jobs afford: when i sub, i just sit behind a desk and read; when i do manual labor, i can think about whatever the hell i want. i have never set foot in a gym. im not a vain person, am somewhat on the lazy side and love to eat, so if i didnt work physically, i would gain a lot of weight...