I was clueless a few months ago when my son, Chris, asked me if I wanted to ruck. He and his family were quarantining with us at the lake during the early days of COVID-19 and he had decided to take advantage of his new work-from-home arrangement to adopt a healthier lifestyle. He was starting to see results from his improved diet and wanted to focus more on his workouts. That’s where this rucking idea surfaced.
Chris explained that rucking was a cardio workout with military roots: you simply load up a backpack (aka rucksack) with weight and walk. Continue reading “Wanna Ruck?”
This trip was years in the making and like most weekend jaunts, just as we picked up the pulse of the city it was over. But then I never have enough time in New York City. Fortunately for my daughter, Stephanie, it was everything she had dreamed it would be and since this getaway had one specific purpose – to celebrate her thirtieth birthday – having it live up to her expectations was all that mattered. 
I rolled over and looked at the clock: 3:52 a.m. The grumpy stomach and foggy brain that awakened me Monday morning was unmistakable; it’s a hangover. . . a food hangover. It doesn’t take long to realize going back to sleep is not an option; my head is throbbing but it’s mostly because I’m pissed at myself for ruining the start to what I expect to be a very special week. 
“You give me the next three weeks, and I’ll give you the body you’ve always wanted,” promises the twig of a fitness instructor leading the upper body workout I’m streaming this morning. In sixty-one years, I’ve never had the body I’ve always wanted, so I have serious doubts anything this video Barbie is going to throw at me in the next 21 days will get me there. 
Like most relationships gone bad, we had our good times. Abby – yes, my Fitbit has a name – and I go way back; she’s been my trusted ally in my quest to stay fit for years. It’s no secret I’ve struggled to maintain the consistency I’d like in my exercise routine, so it made sense that daily monitoring of my activity level was a good strategy to keep me on track. And the added accountability to my “Fitbit friends” was even more incentive to get moving and hit my daily step goal.