Workout maniacs

Here we are working our core group. Tonight was three sets of 15. Roll the ball together back and forth equals one rep. I'm certain that there is a webcam somewhere and our workout is being broadcast into cyberspace for someone's viewing pleasure. If you zoom in closely, you can see that this exercise evidently requires the use of one's tongue.

Exercise - where's the record player???

In the 60's, there was a national fitness program where we had a theme song of "Chicken Fat" that helped us exercise our way to fitness. It consisted of touching our toes, pushups, situps, jumping jacks, marching in place, etc. We performed this "Chicken Fat" fitness ritual nearly every morning during the country school years. I don't remember when it started, or when we stopped doing it, so I can't swear to time frames. There was not one exercise machine that we used for this ritual other than the "record player".

In today's world at the local YMCA, there are specific exercise machines that concentrate on specific muscle groups in your body. They are very expensive and I'm sure quite effective. I have given them nicknames. The one pictured above is named the "Childbirth Machine". It concentrates on the lower gluts and legs - it causes pain in the sitting region. When I got in it the first time and the PT told me to "Push", I thought, "Push what? What is he expecting to come out?" Then I realized that I was to push my entire body up and away from my feet - a much different pushing skill than I used during the childbirth years when people told me to "push".

There is no record player at the Y. Here is a link to the "Chicken Fat" MP3 in case you want to put it on your iPod. http://www.clubcourtyard.com/ChickenFat.html

I heart IKEA

I've always been very proud of my Danish Heritage. Both of my parents and all their parents and all of the parents before them that I know of are of Danish descent. I also claim all of Scandinavia as my homeland since Denmark at one time ruled all of it. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.) I am a "Black Dane" - not your typical tall lanky blonde Danish babe. Our side of the family was from the South where they were routinely "invaded" by the dark skinned people from Spain and regions beyond. Hence the brown hair and dark brown eyes.
I know enough Danish to be able to tell when people are talking about me, but not enough to be insulting when I get really mad. The worst Danish phrase I know is skidder ekke (sp). Which means "shit ass". I learned that when I was nine years old when my 18 year old "kissing cousin" (son of my mother's cousin) was working on his broken motorcycle. He swore he said some innocent phrase and I misheard and repeated it incorrectly ....... sure Paul.
There are a few things that Danes do that they learned from other countries. And their neighbors, such as the Swedes, encourage this behavior. Like open prostitution on Stroget (popular street in Copenhagen's retail district). The "girls" sit naked in picture windows above the 1st floor retail establishments and "offer" their services. Ick. This has lead the general Danish population to be very open about their sexuality while my family and I are all sort of shy.
Companies who want to attract Danish customers to their websites have to use different advertising techniques to make the Danes feel at home. This is evidenced by contrasting the United States website for IKEA http://www.ikea.com/us/en/ and the Danish IKEA homepage http://www.ikea.com/dk/da/ The headline states that 31% of Danes prepare meals in their underwear. If you click on that headline, you'll hear (if you can hear in Danish) that people also blow up food in the kitchen, always cook in their underwear and 16% have sex in the kitchen. There's also a survey to see which category you fit in. Give it a try, Roxie, and let me know what the other two categories are - I can't understand it. There's also a link to the Gallup Internationale survey of the Danes sex lives in the kitchen. http://www.ikea.com/ms/da_DK/about_ikea/press_room/press_release/national/kitchensurvey_051108.html I'll have to get Grandma Anne to translate this page.

Thanks Whitney for finding inspiring this topic when you stumbled on this site. (What the hell were you looking for?)

*****late note*****

For those of you who missed it, IKEA has changed the Danish website. No more men in bras and garter belts. You can still get to the survey and if you can read Danish, you are still in luck.

Give that chicken fat back to the chicken....

I'm on a mission. It's time to get fit. Well, it is long past time, but there's no time like the present, right?
So, I joined the Y. That is the Norm Waitt, Sr. Siouxland Y in South Sioux City, NE. http://www.siouxlandy.org/ My former boss, Norm Jr., gave a small pile of money to the Y to get it built and some to keep it running until it is on its feet. Very generous of him. It's a beautiful building and a wonderful addition to the community.
I'm really enjoying the workouts. I've been spending time at the pool as well as on the machines and am seeing some progress. All of my fat is sore. Must be a good sign. My favorite workout is the water aerobics class that is held at 6 AM MWF. It's quite early in the morning, but once you are up, what does it matter? It does make for a long day after a hard workout.
Stay tuned for progress reports.