Wednesday, September 14, 2011

SNAP to it

As the seasons morph from summer into fall each year, we've noted a proclivity to re-energize ourselves.  September always seems to be an annual time of transition for us.  It's always a time when our thoughts turn to getting back in shape or organizing the household.  Most people think those thought following the Christmas-New Year's Holidays.  For us, that time comes in September.  For example, Two years ago we started on the Atkins low carb diet and lost 30 pounds. Last year we tackled a lot of homeowner projects including the west porch overhang.

This year the annual phenomena expressed itself once again yesterday when....are you ready?.....we joined a health club!  No kidding.  It's not the city's ritzy, taj mahal club.  It's a place called SNAP Fitness and it might be a stretch to call it a health club.  However, we actually signed on for a 7-day free trial and spent 30 full minutes on a treadmill, huffing and puffing and working up a righteous sweat in the process.  You can click here to see the SNAP Fitness website.

Treadmills have come a long way since simpler days of yesteryore.  They now look like a cross between a video game and a slot machine.  Their many functions and programs and truly bewildering.  There are more buttons to ponder and push than you'd find in the cockpit of a small aircraft.  The treadmills are monstrous machines that probably weigh a quarter ton at least.  Luckily, a novice user can still decipher the complex dashboard by finding a simple "START" button and then making manual in-flight adjustments as the machine whirs away.  You can adjust the belt speed to the tenth of a mile-per-hour.  You can adjust the angle of the tread plane by degrees.  You can activate the onboard heart monitor and then actually watch your pulse displayed digitally in front of your eyes.  You can track calories burned per hour or by the step.  You can see elapsed time and distance and many other parameters, too.  The units are really quite amazing and 30 minutes seems to fly by much quicker than a normal half-hour.  Anyway, we have to do something to work off the pounds we've gained by being largely sedentary this summer.  So, we're Snapping to it and we shall see how it goes.

Many Cheers, jp

9 comments:

The Goatherder said...

The Missus belonged to Snap for a year or two before switching to a killer home DVD workout that makes me sweat just watching her. If you sign up, keep in mind there's a Snap in Sedona. The one in Ctwd closed though. I should really get moving too. I'll go get another cup of coffee and that should do it.

Marti Spudboater said...

I saw this snap thing and wondered how we can convert the concept into something more like Goatherder coffee getting combined with extreme croquet aerobics? I think I see some variation for out City of Rocks camping weekend. You're in charge of bringing the croquet set. I envision a cross of running bases, like in baseball after whacking the croquet ball with a wine cooler in hand.

The Goatherder said...

You do know, don't you Marti, that coffee was discovered by an Ethiopian goatherder whose goats developed a particular liking for some bushes with little red berries on them? The goats danced and played all day. He decided to try their little berries and made tea and the rest is history. Dancing goats. The little known connection between Caprus Aegagrus Hircus and the elixir of the gods. Only one of the contributions to civilized man made by goats. ;-)

Marti Spudboater said...

Brad: I did not know that story of Ethiopian goats, but surely they were on to something very important. Were it not for coffee my life would be impossible. I must go look for some good Ethiopian coffee for my Wheeler Peak/ Great Basin NP trip next week so I may honor your coffee wisdom and of course, you and your Arizona goats.

John Parsons said...

Hum...very interesting coincidence that Spudboater is going to WHEELER Peak with her Ethiopian coffee.

Marti Spudboater said...

Johnny, that coincidence was entirely lost on me till you brought it to our attention. It's a harmonic convergence of "sages" from across the wide expanse of the universe.

John Parsons said...

Spudboater, you need to get yourself a "Goat Totem" and take it on a hike. Put it down with a great view in the background put some Ethiopian coffee beans in the foreground and take a great photo for your blog. Too cool.

The Goatherder said...

Speaking of sages, I'm feeding sage to my milkers in the hope that it'll dry them out. Whoever told me it would work did NOT give me sage advice obviously. Marti, if you would bury a little goat totem and some coffee beans there atop Wheeler peak, I'd be forever grateful.

JM, maybe you oughtta turn this post into it's own forum. ;-)

John Parsons said...

Actually, sequential commentary is a built-in forum feature of blogs. Hardly anyone ever uses it as such but that's precisely what it is. The blog post becomes the "thread," so to speak and then the comments carry on the unraveling of the thread, if you will. So, fire away, this use of blog comments has been long overdue. Even if it is the first, last and only such usage here, it's a lot of fun and we are enjoying it immensely. Thank You GH & SB, JM