April 2022

Rowing Rocks

Fitness / By

Rowing machines have a lot of advantages as an exercise device. Invented in 1870, the machines can really contribute to all-around health. Here’s a quick summary of a Women’s Health article.

  • It’s a full body workout hitting 85% of your muscles. Something like 90 of them
  • It can be high intensity without the impact. That’s better for Buzzed Boomer bodies
  • You can row more times a week without getting as sore compared to other types of exercise
  • It works your core and glutes. That’s good
  • It can improve your posture. Done right, rowing forces you to sit up straight
  • It works the large muscles in the lower body, which burns more calories, while still working core, back and arms
  • It allows both high and low intensity workouts
  • The resistance can be adjusted to fit you ability and be increased as you progress
  • You can build new skills while working on proper sequencing of movements
  • You can track your split times and effort level improvements
  • You could see fitness level results quicker because you’re using your whole body compared to bikes and treadmills
  • It’s a good counter-balance to bodyweight exercise because it emphasizes pulling versus the pushing involved in pushups and presses
  • Rowing machine workouts don’t need to be long because they use so much of the body
  • It’s accessible to those at all fitness levels and those with low vision
  • The rhythm of the strokes and the flow can be good for your mental health

Some machines have TV monitors that put you on the water with trainers in exotic locations making for a nice distraction from your calorie burn. Jump on the machine and travel around the world!

  • Jet Cannon

Let’s Go Surfin’ Now

Music / By

Sixty years!! The Beach Boys are celebrating their 60th anniversary of being recording artists with a June 17 re-release of Sounds of Summer. The greatest hits compilation will have some re-mixes enhanced by today’s stereo extraction technology. The 80 song, six LP boxed set will serve as a fitting celebration of a remarkable classic rock band’s career.

  • Jet Cannon
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workout Recovery

Caffeine, Fitness / By

We knew caffeine helped provide a pre-workout boost of energy to power through that exercise session. A cup of coffee, or a bit of pre-workout powder (mostly caffeine), can provide a psychological and physical boost. What we didn’t know is that coffee/caffeine may improve recovery after a workout!

This is from Shape magazine.

“Aside from helping you power through your sweat sesh, drinking coffee before your workout could help speed up your recovery afterward, says Abby Chan, M.S., R.D.N., a registered dietitian nutritionist and the co-owner of EVOLVE Flagstaff in Arizona. After about 15 minutes of exercise, the level of glucose in your blood begins to drop, and your body will typically resort to glycogen (the stored form of glucose in your liver and muscles) for energy, she explains. That said, “there’s some thought that caffeine can mobilize free fatty acids, which your body can then utilize for energy, to spare glycogen,” says Chan. “If you can decrease how much glycogen you’re utilizing during sport, then by possibly utilizing more fatty acids, then theoretically you can recover faster and better because you’re not getting so deep into your energy storage tanks.””

It seems coffee is nearly a miracle drug. We suggest making it illegal.

  • Jet Cannon
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They’re Not Good for you, they’re just Good

Food and Drink, Trending / By

An article in New York magazine’s Grub Street by Emily Sundberg observed that twenty-somethings are suddenly on to martinis.  At least in New York.  She suggests a number of theories to explain the new trend.  We just think, well, where have you been?

We loved this paragraph:

“Martinis are also a move away from the whole natural-wine bonanza of a few years ago, a drink that offered some kind of higher moral imperative of being closer to the land and less processed or whatever. Martinis offer no such sanctimoniousness: “They’re not good for you, they’re just good,” posits chef and entrepreneur Jonah Reider. “A martini is judged on the execution: so impossibly ice cold it’s surprising its not solid, one elegant garnish, dangerously filled to the top of the most inconvenient un-ergonomic glass shape of all time — and preferably with leftover martini sitting in a spillover cup sitting on ice.””

Twenty-somethings…. welcome!

– Jet Cannon

 

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Fun Fat Facts

Fitness / By

Not that fun, really. The Daily Mail reported on a British study of how various alcohol beverages affect body fat. Here’s a rough summary:

  • Beer and spirits contribute to visceral fat, or the fat around organs. Not a good fat
  • Beer, no surprise, can also build up that beer belly fat. Double bad
  • Red wine seems to reduce visceral fat. That’s good
  • White wine appears to improve bone density, good, but doesn’t help with fat reduction like red wine does

The British National Health Service reminds us that alcohol, in general, is bad for a host of reasons and the bad probably outweighs the benefits. Less is better. Spreading out consumption is better than binge drinking. Don’t drink and drive……

Well. That was mostly depressing, wasn’t it?! But let’s look for the good. We’ll have a glass of red with a white wine chaser, please.

  • Jet Cannon
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Doctor’s Orders

Good Clean Fun / By

The test results from our annual physical exam came back and the liver results were not good. In fact, the doctor was quite surprised because she only allows us one cocktail per week. Of course, she doesn’t know about the other six doctors.

  • Jet Cannon
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The best alcoholic beverages to pair with potty training

Food and Drink / By

For you grandparents helping out with potty training the grandkids, Alyse Knorr in McSweeney’s offers some helpful, if not graphic, suggestions on alcohol-based coping mechanisms. For example:

Mojito

“Ordinarily, this drink makes the mixer very sticky, but you are already are sticky. Everything is sticky.”

Long Island Iced Tea

“Mixing one of these is about as much a pain in the ass as potty training. It also contains five types of alcohol, and you need every single one of them.”

For more helpful pairing selections click here.

  • Jet Cannon
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Stuck in a Coffee Rut?

Caffeine / By

Yes, you! It’s okay. It’s not a bad rut in which to be stuck. We haven’t found many cups of coffee that we didn’t like but then we know there are folks out there with much more sophisticated taste buds. We’re easy to please. That said, we do have a favorite in Koffi coffee but that may be because we often drink it on vacation in just that right frame of mind. But for you wanna-be coffee connoisseurs who seek new coffee heights, there are subscription services that will provide a wide variety of excellent coffees.

Men’s Health found five services that they like and the article also notes the many health benefits of coffee in case we’ve forgotten. One service offers 600 different types of coffee from 60 roasters. There ought to be a few great ones in there.

  • Jet Cannon
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The Mechanics of Low Cal IPA

Food and Drink / By

Want to know how brewers successfully reduce calories in an India Pale Ale from around 200 to 100 calories?  Ask Popular Mechanics!!  They found ten low cal IPAs that still tasted good.  This is an except from their 2020 article.

“Scaling down the frequently boozy, often hazy, and always pungent ale into a lighter, more refreshing package is an incredible feat of beer engineering.

The biggest portion of calories comes from the typical 6 to 7 percent ABV. All that alcohol makes an excellent solution for extracting aromatic hop oils.  And then there are the calories from carbohydrates that provide a beer’s body and sweet balance to the bitter hop oils.

Cutting down the ABV is a matter of using less grain, but then they have to make up for the lighter hop character. Alternative yeast strains can be used for creating juice-like flavor compounds from the hop oils as the beer ferments to broaden the hop character.

Sadly, not all 100-ish calorie IPAs we’ve encountered were able to achieve the precarious balance of big hop flavor in a light and refreshing package. Our research turned up numerous duds that either lacked the hops to taste like an IPA, or were astringent and unpleasantly bitter.” 

But that was then and this is now and availability differs by area.  Meaning, we’ll have to do some shopping and sampling.  It’s a tough job……

Click here for the 2020 article.  Some of their finds may still be available in your neck of the woods. 

-Jet Cannon

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Weed Day

Cannabis / By

Today, 4/20, is celebrated as weed or cannabis or marijuana day. Why 4/20? Nobody remembers! Ha! Actually, there are various theories on the origins but who cares, really? Celebrate, if you like.

On a negative note, what was once a counter-culture celebration is in danger of becoming a corporate conspiracy. As Vox.com reports, “The big concern is that a big marijuana industry will, like the tobacco and alcohol industries, irresponsibility market its drug to kids or users who already consume the drug excessively- with little care for public health and safety over the desire for profits.”

Nah. That will never happen.

  • Jet Cannon
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rough and Rowdy ways

Music / By

As Bob Dylan announced a west coast leg of his Rough and Rowdy Ways tour, Ultimate Classic Rock ranked thirty-nine of his albums. Blonde on Blonde was considered numero uno. To see the rest, click here.

  • Jet Cannon
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Intaxication

Good Clean Fun / By

“Intaxication: That nice feeling you get when you receive a tax refund until you realize it was your own money in the first place.” — Unknown