Exercising My Body and My Franchise
This morning was the second half of my initial consultation at Anytime Fitness. Rick, the head trainer and chief bathroom cleaner (his words) dislikes strength machines because they don't work the entire body. You can do a hundred leg presses, but if you're sitting on your butt, that means your gluteus maximus is just sitting there. So, to that end, he's set me up on the TRX Suspension system and showed me several exercises to do with them. Even after only a few sets, I could really feel how this was working my core as well as my extremities.
The second thing he wants me to do, and this is related to what I told him about needing to lift things for Burning Man, is what he calls the landmine. I think it looks more like home plate. What it is is a metal plate that holds a pipe section on a swivel. You insert a standard barbell into the pipe and do lifts. You can lift from the front and go from a semi-squat to full extension, lift from the sides, or straddle the barbell and do short lifts from a squat. You can also do an exercise where you lift the bar from your shoulder to full arm extension using your whole body.
These two things and an hour doing cardio will be my work out three days a week. The really nice thing is both can be ramped up. You can add weight to the barbell, and increase tension on the TRX by changing your stance. Good times coming. My goal is simply, better all-around fitness and build up core muscle strength. Anything I can do to improve my health is likely to help extend my life. I see this as a good thing. On nice days I can do my cardio by walking around Central Park.
After the workout, I changed into street clothes and drove across the street to the library. Early voting is in full swing here in Santa Clara County, and I wanted to vote while dropping off![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kshandra's ballot. The room at the library was pretty busy, which made me happy, and cheerfully young ladies helped me get signed in and over to a booth. I was smart this time and remembered to bring my sample ballot, on which I had marked all my choices.
Here's how I voted in a couple of important races.
Governor: Delaine Eastin We all know that odds are that Gavin Newsom will be the next Governor, but I wanted to vote for a candidate I believe in.
Lieutenant Governor: Eleni Kounalakis LtGov is an important position in California. The LtGov heads several commisions and boards and has the full power of the Governor when the Governor leaves the state. I like what she has to say, and he name looks like she could be a Vilani spy.
United States Senator for California: Kevin de León There are 32 names on the ballot for Senate, and some of them are pretty amazing kooks. But I'm voting for de León because he has a long history in California politics and I agree with him more than I agree with Feinstein. It's time for new blood in that Senate seat.
United States Representative for California's 17th District: Ro Khanna I'll admit, I didn't vote for him the first time, but he's won me over. What I really admire his how connected he is to his constituents. He always holding town halls, meeting with business groups and PTA assemblies. He's done good work and deserves another term.
Recall of Judge Aaron Persky: YES This asshole has a long history of letting Stanford students, especially jocks, off with insufficient sentences for felony convictions. He also foes lighter on white criminals. Throw his ass to the curb. California has elected judges for just this reason, so we can remove the bad apples when we see them. A recall is a rarely used power when it comes to the judiciary. The last time I remember it being used was in 1986 when the voters removed Rose Bird from the state Supreme Court
I can now ignore all things election-related until after Burning Man. But not you. Yes, you, get out and vote! Mail your ballots in, or drop them off. Go to the polls and do it old school! We need to get every single progressive voter to the polls both in the primaries and in November. Blue Wave coming, and we can have a Congress ready and able to stop Trump.
The second thing he wants me to do, and this is related to what I told him about needing to lift things for Burning Man, is what he calls the landmine. I think it looks more like home plate. What it is is a metal plate that holds a pipe section on a swivel. You insert a standard barbell into the pipe and do lifts. You can lift from the front and go from a semi-squat to full extension, lift from the sides, or straddle the barbell and do short lifts from a squat. You can also do an exercise where you lift the bar from your shoulder to full arm extension using your whole body.
These two things and an hour doing cardio will be my work out three days a week. The really nice thing is both can be ramped up. You can add weight to the barbell, and increase tension on the TRX by changing your stance. Good times coming. My goal is simply, better all-around fitness and build up core muscle strength. Anything I can do to improve my health is likely to help extend my life. I see this as a good thing. On nice days I can do my cardio by walking around Central Park.
After the workout, I changed into street clothes and drove across the street to the library. Early voting is in full swing here in Santa Clara County, and I wanted to vote while dropping off
kshandra's ballot. The room at the library was pretty busy, which made me happy, and cheerfully young ladies helped me get signed in and over to a booth. I was smart this time and remembered to bring my sample ballot, on which I had marked all my choices. Here's how I voted in a couple of important races.
Governor: Delaine Eastin We all know that odds are that Gavin Newsom will be the next Governor, but I wanted to vote for a candidate I believe in.
Lieutenant Governor: Eleni Kounalakis LtGov is an important position in California. The LtGov heads several commisions and boards and has the full power of the Governor when the Governor leaves the state. I like what she has to say, and he name looks like she could be a Vilani spy.
United States Senator for California: Kevin de León There are 32 names on the ballot for Senate, and some of them are pretty amazing kooks. But I'm voting for de León because he has a long history in California politics and I agree with him more than I agree with Feinstein. It's time for new blood in that Senate seat.
United States Representative for California's 17th District: Ro Khanna I'll admit, I didn't vote for him the first time, but he's won me over. What I really admire his how connected he is to his constituents. He always holding town halls, meeting with business groups and PTA assemblies. He's done good work and deserves another term.
Recall of Judge Aaron Persky: YES This asshole has a long history of letting Stanford students, especially jocks, off with insufficient sentences for felony convictions. He also foes lighter on white criminals. Throw his ass to the curb. California has elected judges for just this reason, so we can remove the bad apples when we see them. A recall is a rarely used power when it comes to the judiciary. The last time I remember it being used was in 1986 when the voters removed Rose Bird from the state Supreme Court
I can now ignore all things election-related until after Burning Man. But not you. Yes, you, get out and vote! Mail your ballots in, or drop them off. Go to the polls and do it old school! We need to get every single progressive voter to the polls both in the primaries and in November. Blue Wave coming, and we can have a Congress ready and able to stop Trump.