Why so many visitors?

On Wednesday nights, I take a cardio bootcamp class that’s heavily based on kickboxing. Last week, our regular instructor “R” was out of town, so “L” filled in for her. L can be utterly brutal, and I appreciate that.

One thing amazed me, though. Attendance was unusually high on that night, as a lot of ladies apparently chose to attend because L was teaching. I don’t understand that. L is a tough instructor, and she provides an intense workout, but I don’t think that’s the reason why she has a fan following. I say that because almost none (if any!) of these folks were able to keep up with her. Heck, most people have a hard enough time keeping up with R, so it doesn’t make sense to me that so many of these folks would attend L’s class but not R’s.

I’m just glad that the loud barking guy (let’s call him “Harley”) wasn’t at that class. I remember that he joined in once when another lady (“F”) filled in for L. He was such a poser, whooping and barking enthusiastically even though he was barely working out. To be fair, he does work hard on some moves, such as flutter kicks and certain step aerobics moves. He punches and kicks like a teenaged girl though, his jumping jacks are pathetic, and his high knee raises aren’t high at all.

Another guy's comments

Here are some comments from another fella about community dances.

Going to a non-specific dance can still be a disappointment. e.g. I went to a 40s themed event where everyone knew how to dance to some extent but there were many clashing styles and few women who could follow a lead without knowing the specific moves. I wouldn't expect anyone to, for example, be able to tango without having had specific lessons, but I would expect anyone who can follow a lead to be able to cope with the dumbed-down simplicity of modern jive. The fact that so many dancers cannot follow a lead is down to poor teaching, I think - although, obviously, inexperience or lots of experience of poor leads could be the problem.

Comments from a dancer

I just wanted to reproduce the following comments that I saw on a public discussion board about dancers. This gal had some wisdom to share.

It can sometimes be impossible to avoid the bad dances, since there is no way to know if it is bad or not until you try it out. Unless of course it is a weekly event and you have already heard word, but those are not what you seemed to be talking about.
...
As for attending socials at dance studios. Those, to me, have a very different feel than just attending a regular social event. From my experience, at the studios people are very willing to dance, but are constantly trying to fix how you are dancing or how they are dancing. They paid money to learn and want to make sure they are doing it right! And often many have the exact same style as the others there (since they are all learning from the same person). When going out socially you never know what you are going to encounter and I love that! From new dancers to people who are incredibly experienced. Each person has their own style, and each feels different to dance with.

Harley, go away

That Harley guy pisses me off no end. He's a loudmouthed jerk, he's a poser, and he's all talk.

I usually don't mind the folks who struggle in the gym. Some of them work really hard and want to get back in shape. (Admittedly, a lot of them don't. A lot of the just coast through the workouts and have no determination, no fighting spirit. Some of them genuinely want to undo years of poor health though, and they work hard to do so.) What I don't like are the folks who just talk the talk and don't walk the walk. The ones who hoot and holler like idiots, trying to make themselves sound all bad*ss, even though they're working out as though they were nine-year-old girls.

These folks aren't quite girly men. They can actually be in halfway decent shape. It's just that their mouths get much more of a workout than their bodies do.

And Harley is the worst offender by far. Shut up or go away, jerk.

Jobs in China

I found a site called "Jobs in China." What in the world is that about? It doesn't seem to me that a whole lot of people would be interested in finding jobs there -- certainly not the kind who would be drawn to an all-English site. So what the heck is that about?

Rachel from "Cardholder Services"

You suck. You dishonest, robocalling scammer. You thief. You deserve to be kicked out of the country.

More on laziness

Oh, and speaking again of lazy people in the cardio bootcamp class... I've often spoken about the loudmouthed poser who keeps whooping and hollering during the class, even though he's barely doing the moves. Well, he was in exceptionally rare for this week -- and by that, I mean that he was exceptionally lazy. He kept doing the moves in a wimpy, girlish way, even as he kept on hollering "Whoooooo!"

Go away, fella. You're trying to impress the ladies, but only an idiot would be taken in by your tactics.

Miggy and Migdalia

I'm not a big fan of "The Biggest Loser," but I sometimes tune in. Why? Because the physical challenges and last-minute workouts help motivate me to work hard at my own physical training regimen. Also, quite frankly, I sometimes find myself astonished at the ways in which people rationalize their obesity or their poor exercise and dining habits.

I normally fast forward through a lot of the show. It just doesn't capture my attention that much. However, I was riveted to some of the drama that surrounded Miggy and Migdalia, this mother-and-daughter team. Talk about delusional. Talk about unhealthy suppression. These folks are quick to blame other people for their own failures and they don't understand how much they're hurting themselves.

Miggy protested that they were there to exercise and learn proper eating habits, not to have their personalities changed. She failed to understand that when your personality traits foster obesity, then you MUST learn to change those traits. Suppressing one's emotions will make it vastly more difficult to trim down, due to the way one's body handles stress.

Speaking of lazy...

Let's revisit yesterday's blog entry.

Speaking of lazy folks, I remember when we were lining up outdoors to start the exercises. We were instructed to form a straight line. Instead of going to the end of the line though, a couple of stragglers decided to squeeze themselves into the other end. Why? Because that way, they could stand under the shade of a tree.

Get this? They packed themselves tightly into that part of the line, just so they could stay out of the sun. This was at around 6:45 p.m. Oh, boo hoo. Talk about being wimps.

What's more, it was pretty obvious that we were going to be moving around on the grass; otherwise, why bother going outside? So even if they could stay in the shade for a few moments, that wasn't going to last for very long. So what was the point of trying to squeeze their way in there -- and by necessity, squeeze other people out?

Lazy, lazy, lazy.

Lazy gym folks

Okay, get this. I take a cardio boot camp class every Monday. It's a class that's designed to push people hard so that they can get real results. This week, the instructor decided to take the class outside. We were to run around on the grass, spring, perform various calesthenics, and more -- all for the sake of varying our routine.

Things did not go very smoothly though. First, it took a long time for the class to get going. We performed the warm up routine indoors, after which we headed outdoors for the main exercise routines. Some of us headed straight outdoors, but we wound up standing around for nearly ten minutes while waiting for the stragglers to get out there. Apparently, a lot of people decided to slooooowly saunter their way outdoors instead of moving briskly. Another guy and I couldn't help but wonder, "Do these people want to get a workout or not?"

Second, a lot of people weren't paying attention to the instructions. As a result, we had long waits while the class instructor tried to explain the instructions everyone.

Third, a lot of folks did not push themselves very hard at all. A few of them gave up after just one sprinting exercise. Others moved very slowly, which meant that the people who were working hard had to stand around waiting for them to finish, for pity's sake. (Me, I decided to do squats and lunges while waiting for these folks.)

I realize that some of these folks were probably going as hard as they could. Looking around though, I don't think that many of them were. There was no look of determination about them, no expressions that indicated they were trying to push themselves. Heck, I'm not a fast runner by any means, but even with a 20 lbs weighted vest on my person, I still moved faster than just about any of them.

It's sad. These folks are not going to see results if they keep lollygagging through the exercises.

Nearly ran out of gas

I look at my gas gauge this morning and discovered that I had burned nearly a full tank of gas last night. Yeow.

At first I thought that somebody might have been siphoning off the gas. I have a locking gas cap though, which made that unlikely. After crunching the numbers, I realized that this amount of gas consumption was not unreasonable.

Still, it was a lot. Yeow. I'm glad that I didn't run out without realizing it. What can I say? It was late at night.

Sage

It is a wise man indeed who appreciates the value of sage.

Mental Floss

This page mentioned this Mental Floss book. A great book, and the magazine is great as well.

I wish that I had more time to read these things. Sigh.

MS PowerPoint

I've probably ranted about this before, but... I really, really hate it when people read their PowerPoint slides out to their audience. It's ineffective, it's stupid, it's insulting, and it's a sign of both laziness and incompetence.

The thing is, this SHOULD be common sense. For whatever reason though, a lot of people don't realize that.

Cage Fitness

I love the Cage Fitness program. It's tough, it's demanding, and I wish that I could do it every single day.

On a related note, I was going to take this Zumba class today. Unfortunately, the regular instructor was away and the previous instructor was filling in. Her moves tend to be way too feminine for my tastes, though, and she doesn't break the moves down as well.

Yeah, I like the regular gal a lot more.

More lindy moves

A few more lindy hop dance moves that I've been taught:

- RJ with a turn. The key here is to start the turn at the tail end of the "5" count.
- RJ with a follow (I'm not sure how this should be most properly called).
- Outside turn with a dramatic pause at the end of the "6" count. Shift your weight into the normal position during the "8" count.

It was also good to see Dan and Stephanie at the lesson this week.

Vinyl siding -- cruddy tactics

I remember when I was trying to solicit quotes for having vinyl siding installed on my garage. One of the people I spoke to was a Sears representative. His quote was outrageously expensive, so I told him that I couldn't afford his prices.

His reply? "Sure you can. You can take out a zero interest credit card if you need to."

Now that was a scummy thing to say. You don't advise customers to go into debt unnecessarily, and you certainly don't assume that they can afford something. Frankly, that's none of your business, bozo.

Fat acceptance

I came across the following statement which has been reproduced on a variety of "fat acceptance" blogs.

[Y]ou do not have anything interesting to say to someone who is struggling with obesity. You do not have better willpower than they do. You do not “care about myself” more. You are not more “serious about a healthy lifestyle” because you took off the eight pounds you gained at Christmas. You are no more qualified to lecture the obese on how to lose weight than I am qualified to lecture my short friends on how to become tall. You just have a different environmental and genetic legacy than they do. You’re not superior. You’re just somewhat thinner.

My reactions?

First, I'm somewhat sympathetic to the whole fat acceptance movement. I think that fat people are unfairly marginalized and aren't treated very well. I must confess that I'm guilty of that as well, as I occasionally realize that I tend to treat more attractive people better than I treat the chubbier ones. It's not fair.

However, I think that a lot of people in the fat acceptance movement go way too far. The aforementioned quote is a perfect example. For example, the author insists that skinnier people are NOT "more serious about a healthy lifestyle." Now that's just foolish. Sure, some fat people are doubtlessly more serious about health than some skinnier folks. To say that trimmer folks are absolutely not more serious about their health, however, is sheer denial.

Ditto for the steadfast denial that trimmer folks care about themselves more. I realize that combating obesity is not simple, and that some people will struggle far more than others. People who deny this are oversimplifying greatly. However, when somebody denies that trimmer folks do, on the average, care about their physical well-being more... well, that's simply over the top.

Those are two objections to what the author said. Both of these can be chalked up to exaggerated rhetoric. On the other hand, when this person says that thinner folks "just have a different environmental and genetic legacy than they do," then that's completely wrong. Environment and genetics do play a major role -- a very significant role, in fact -- but so do physical activity and dietary habits. Let's not deny that.

Therein lies the problem. Fat acceptance proponents are absolutely correct to demand better treatment of the overweight. However, this does not justify denying that one's eating and exercise habits play a major role in their condition.

Ace Ventura

I remember when "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" came out. I thought about watching it, largely because of Courteney Cox. She had faded into the background at around that time, and this was her first prominent role in a while.

An acquaintance of mine said that it was a pretty good movie and that I should watch it. Well, I was disappointed. It was a piece of crap with utterly idiotic humor. What was this woman thinking, recommending this piece of tripe?

New dancers

I've been asked to keep an eye out for the following newly minted lindy dancers. I could use the practice, and I'd like to help them feel welcome. Of course, I'm only going to dance with the ladies.

Zdenka, Deb, Heather, Shannon, Caroline, Allie, Chandra

Bill, David, Norm, Steve, Michael, Chris, Kirk

Let this serve as a reminder for myself.