Hooray hooray!

The kiltlifters are coming to play this Friday! They are a great ska band, as well as a bunch of great guys - so thanks boys for giving me something to look forward to.

Helps me get through a lengthy and challenging week.

I went to a deep-water aerobics class last night. Now, a couple of years ago I used to teach these type of classes so naturally I thought " No problem - this class will be easy." Halfway through the class my leg muscles were burning and I was getting my ass kicked by this workout. Keep in mind, that I do land aerobics and other forms of excercise at least 3 times a week. I'm in pretty good shape and not one who usually has trouble making it through class. So what gives?

My body (and every one else's) Is a highly tuned adaptable machine. When I was teaching deep water classes two years ago it WAS easy for me because my body was used to the movement of exercise against the water. However, get me out of water and into a land class at that time, and I was toast. Now, by not doing water excercises for a while, my body has forgotten what it was like. My muscles were "woken up" last night when I used them in a different way- and I got a better workout. When exercising, experts recommend you vary your routine once every 6 weeks or so to see better results. That is precisely because your muscles are more likely to develop if they are consistently challenged.

Where is this story going? People (and their brains) like muscles, are MORE LIKELY TO DEVELOP IF THEY ARE CONSISTENTLY CHALLENGED. When we are not challenged we start to atrophy - are much less productive and certainly not satisfied (a happy muscle is well worked).

Evolutionarily speaking, our brains have evolved to learn and be challenged. To deny that is to take away our Raison d'etre. (or at least mine, anyway).