7 Exercises to do while watching TV
This post is not at all about endorsing that you spend a lot of time in front of TV’s or screens but I’m also a realist. At least an hour of my day, especially during the Winter, darker months, is spent watching TV. I don’t have cable or satellite so I usually end up watching a documentary I can stream online, or I queue up a few videos during the week using Vimeo or Youtubes “Watch Later” feature and then watch them all at once. I’m not a fan of sitting for long periods of time so I started looking for stretches and exercises I could do that wouldn’t be so distracting as to make trying to watch and learn something on the TV redundant. I am also not recommending that these should become your only stretching and exercise regime when not engaging in your chosen activities. For me these exercises are merely supplemental to my own regular Yoga and exercise schedule. It’s an alternative to statically sitting or lying for an hour. I run, climb, ski and hike mainly so these exercises are geared more towards those activities. Still, everyone can do them and you will notice improvements over time if you stay consistent. 1. IT Band Stretches: If you run or even hike and backpack long distances then IT Band stretches are excellent. I used to suffer from stiff and sore knee joints before I started to stretch my ITB on a regular basis. Here are a few I do on a regular basis. Seated IT Band Stretch: If you have a foam roller and Yoga mat you can also do the following in front of the TV if you have the floor space. 2. Hip Flexor Stretch: Similar to the IT Band, Hip Flexor stretches are not only great for the legs but also for nagging lower back pain which I sometimes suffer from. This whole Yin Yoga video is excellent, but skip to minute 39:20 to see a pose I do if I’m lying on the couch to give my hip flexor a stretch. 3. Squats: Trusty Squats. I do as many reps as I can or few sets a minute or two apart. Do what works for you. 4. Thigh Steering Exercise: Skip to minute 1:40 to see the exercise. It may look simple but trust me, if you don’t ski regularly it will start to feel pretty difficult around the 25 to 35 rep mark. 5. Heel Raises: Pretty straightforward exercise. Good working on calf strength, endurance and flexibility. I primarily do them for ice climbing as I get...
Mount Baker: Ice Climbing
“Did you see the BCMC call out for a trip to the Mt Baker seracs to do some ice climbing? Do you want to sign up?” This was the question I received in a text from Leigh one morning in October. I texted back within seconds saying “Anniversary at Baker!” It just so happened that the Thursday before the trip we would see our 8th year wedding anniversary come and go. This seemed like the perfect way to see in another year of adventure together. We signed up for the trip and started dreaming about climbing ice again. The only type of ice that Leigh and I have climbed before has been waterfall ice, some in the Rockies and some in the Coastal Range, so climbing glacier ice was going to be a new experience for us and it was going to take some time to knock the rust off of our recently acquired ice climbing skills. We set up top-ropes at the first wall of ice we could walk up to on the glacier. These first climbs proved to be more difficult than anticipated, and everyone, albeit 1 or 2, had to shout “take” more than once on their way up. There were several bulges and overhangs to contend with and the density of this ice was proving to be very hard and made for some very ginger tool placements, as no crampon or ice pick was really sinking in. All part of the learning process and also part of the beauty of ice climbing, no two walls of ice are ever the same. Once we had our fill of these climbs we decided to make our way over to an area where 2 from our group set up a few more ropes. We had to weave around gaping crevasses, jump over cracks in the ice and down-climb some sections just to get to the climbing area. It was unnerving but so much fun at the same time. It was really starting to feel like we were on another planet with such an other-worldly almost eery feeling. The only sounds apart from the odd shout of “on belay” or “climb on” was the groaning and cracking of the glacier. I walked the final narrow ice bridge towards the crevasse where the top-ropes were set up to see that you had to rappel into the hole if you wanted to climb. I felt a reluctance at first, as my first instinct is to always avoid being inside a crevasse, but I had to find a way to push through it and I joined Leigh and our friend Scott down below. Did someone say...
What gets us Stoked, VI
Something tells us we’re going to regret using Roman Numerals for these video posts. “What’s the symbol for 6 again?” Anyway, here’s a cross section of what we’ve watched this week. We’ll definitely need some stoke for this weekend as it will involve Crampons, Ice Tools, no Ice and wet rock. Dry Tooling baby! Mountain Biking: Climbing: Mountaineering: Skiing: ...
Tantalust, Part III: Finding Jim
< Tantalust, Part II: Dreams and Reality “Spring… we have a problem…” I slowly inched my way back from the edge, my body stiff, my heart beating up out of my throat. I turned to Spring and I could tell that she understood from my body language that something was wrong. I scanned around for options and couldn’t see any, today was not supposed to be like this. “Thanks Ron” I whispered in reply as I came down the ladder from the sleeping area in the Cabin that morning. Ron was gesturing towards a fresh pot of coffee he had brewing, instructing me to help myself. It was some time after 5am. Myself and Spring had been lazy stirring awake, but when we heard Ron in the kitchen getting coffee ready for us, we got up quickly. We got our breakfast ready and sat down to eat it. I couldn’t tell yet if it was still dark out or if there were just dark clouds low in the sky. As we ate breakfast, relatively slowly, Ron shared a little anecdote with us, he said “You know, when I used to climb Mountains, the time we set to get up at, was the time everyone got up. There wasn’t any waiting around either, we got going right away”. I understood the moral of his story. There is a maxim in mountaineering that goes “It’s later than you think” and Ron was right. If we had a hope to accomplish our lofty goal of summiting Mount Alpha today and then traversing to the Haberl Hut then we needed to get moving asap, but I was stalling as I still wasn’t sure about the weather as it was too dark out. As the dull light of the morning spread I could see across the lake that the clouds were still hanging low on the peaks that rose above it, obscuring their summits from view. Ron returned from a trip outside and said that it was raining now. Myself and Spring made the decision to forgo our attempt on the East Ridge of Alpha. The rock would likely be slick from the rain and the low ceiling of clouds would mean that visibility would be poor, similar to the conditions we had encountered the previous day. We still needed to make the Haberl Hut by that night though so we set out as soon as we’d finished breakfast. After a few minutes of hiking away from the Tantalus Hut we paused at a fork in the trail. Turning right would put us on the route to the East Ridge of Alpha. We took one...
What gets us Stoked, III
Check out this weeks selection of video clips that we’re loving here at Pebbleshoo. They really motivate us to get outside and moving. ...
