fajrdrako | (no subject)

Last week I read another fitness book, this one being Five-Factor Fitness by Harry Pasternak. It certainly wasn't well written but it had an interesting approach and good information, and it seemed appropriate for me. What really hooked me was when he said "all you need is a bench and weights" and I thought, "well, I have weights, but no bench, and no place to put one in this apartment even if I had one." Then I thought, "Wait a minute, there are benches and weights in the exercise room and I can use them for free."

So this morning I got up at 6 and followed his instructions for week 1, day 1. It's set up for 25 minutes of exercise 5 days per week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday) for five weeks, then the whole system gets raised a level but is still 25 minutes, 5 days, 5 weeks. Each session of 25 minutes is divided into 5 segements, so you do 5 exercizes each day - following a certain pattern, so it's 5 different things each day. The first five minutes is a cardio warm-up. (I walked up and down stairs and hallways.) Then weights to work two different sets of muscles for five minutes each - chest and thighs today - the chest exercises were easy and I accidently did too many reps - the thigh exercieses were hard and I was struggling. Then "core" exercises, which means abs, which was a piece of cake. In this week anyway, the repetitions aren't enough to be onerous.

Then the fifth five-minute segment is anything aerobic (except running) as for as long as you like as long you do it for at least five minutes. I went back to my apartment and danced for five minutes to the opening songs of the musical version of "La Cage Aux Folles". I wouldn't dance if anyone was watching, but it was just the budgies, who usually enjoy my exercising and chirp encrouagingly. This morning they didn't chirp. They were too sleepy. They looked at me blearily as if thinking, "What's she doing, up and moving around this early?"

It was still early enough to do fifteen or twenty minutes of yoga, so I did. I'm still having trouble with headstands (why?) but the rest is going well and feels good. I've discovered that I like the yoga program that's on TV at 6 am so I might get up to do that tomorrow, then do the "Five-Factor Fitness" thing from 6:30 to 7.

Afterwards I walked to work. It was a nice day. We had a huge snowfall on Friday, but the sidewalks were ploughed and salted and it isn't like last year, when everything had a huge underlay of ice. It was a little more exertion than usual, but I don't think I was any slower in walking than in summer.

Maybe this weekend I'll get out the snowshoes.

So: my first reaction to the Pasternak program is nicely positive. I didn't think his explanation of what to do each day was as clear as it might have been - but it wasn't too difficult to figure it out. His 'how to eat' section made me smile - he starts out by decrying all the 'fad' diets, naming a few like Atkins and the South Beach Diet, but in the long run his isn't all that different - eat five meals a day or three meals and two snacks), avoid sugar, wheat, and dairy fats, and eat whatever you want on Sundays. Eat protein and fibre not sugar and starches - really, it's a lot like the South Beach diet and many of the others, so I didn't see the huge difference he implied. He says this eating plan is easier because it allows a lot of freedom, but anyone who has tried to cut out or minimize sugar and wheat knows how difficult that is. Interestingly, he recommends skim milk rather than soy milk.

He also says that breakfast is important and that one should eat it as soon as possible after getting up and showering - but he also says to exercise as early as possible and not to exercise within an hour of eating. This sounds contradictory to me. I decided to ignore the first part, do my exercises first, shower second, breakfast third.

Not much time for Pilates left after doing this; I'm not exactly abandoning it, but it won't be on my daily schedule for a while.

I mostly skipped the sections of the book where various weak, old, fat and infirm clients lost weight and gained strength and energy on the program, but I did enjoy one anecdote (probably the only one in the ook). Pasternak was going through an airport and passed two women looking at pictures of Halle Berry s "Catwoman" and saying to each other that she must do hours of workouts per day, and starve herself. Pasternak couldn't help himself - he stopped to explain to them that no, Halle Berry only did 25 minutes per day of weights and cardio-vascular workouts, and she ate 5 balanced meals every day, and whatever she wanted on Sundays. "How do you know?" the women naturally asked, and he said, "I'm her trainer."

Will this make me look like Halle Berry? I wish.

Wish me luck for tomorrow! Tomorrow is back and hamstrings and "dumbbell lateral flexion/extension",
whatever that is.

Interestingly, most numerological systems seems to choose the number 5 as representing sensuality and self-indulgence, but this site had a more interesting eastern approach:

FIVE
Five is the symbol of human microcosm. The number of the human being. Human forms---the pentagon when arms and legs are out stretched. The pentagon is endless ---sharing the symbolism of perfection and power of the circle. Five is a circular number as it produces itself in its last digit when raised to its own power. The pentacle, like the circle symbolizes whole, the quincunx being the number of its center and the meeting point of heaven, earth, and the four cardinal points plus the center point.

Five is also representative of the Godhead - Central Creator of the four fours plus itself equalling five. Five is the marriage of the hieros gamos as combination of feminine and the masculine. Feminine being even, as 2, in frequency and masculine being odd as 3 in frequency = 5.

The number five symbolizes meditation; religion; versatility. It represents the five senses (taste, touch, smell, sight, hearing) everywhere except in the East. In the East there are six---the extra being Mind. We find meanings to five in the five petaled flower, five pointed leaves--especially the ROSE. The Rose has much symbolism, but also the lily, vine, all of which represent the microcosm.

The five pointed star depicts individuality and spiritual aspiration, and education when it points upward. The five pointed star pointing downward represents witchcraft, and it is used in black magic. Noted: There is a very broad difference between witchcraft and black magic.

The number five formed the first counting process from which all else came.