Saturday, April 27, 2013

Return of the Heat, and Insanity



It is hard to believe, that only a few weeks ago, we were concerned about freezing Chuck's water lines.  Today the expected high temp is 89F  with humidity around 50%.


It is only going to get warmer, and more humid from here, at least on the coast.  Inland Mexico is at a higher elevation, and experiences milder spring/summer temperatures.  I will admit, that I am beginning to find the weather a bit too warm and humid for my taste.  Reminds me of Oklahoma summers, oh the terror....
Of course, our motto is to make life's challenges all the harder...  Jen decided to start the Insanity guided workout program.  60 days of jumping, running in place, and more jumping....  Oh, there is a few kicks, and some random 8-pack sporting dude screaming at you.

Of course these workouts are filmed in a air-conditioned gymnasium.  We are doing this native, usually on whatever section of clear ground we can find.  It is an interesting experience with sand, bugs, and dried grass sticking to the sheen of sweat.  In a nutshell, it sucks, hard. 


If you can imagine jumping in place and doing push ups for 25 mins straight, that's pretty much what insanity boils down to (of course there are at least 5 variations on the push-up). There are also these pure cardio days, which I would liken to running four 7-min miles back to back.


After 3 days, I will say that the jumping has taken its toll, I am having problems standing, sitting, bending over, and pretty much doing all the things that I would expect easy up until my mid 70s.  If I don't look like a 8-pack wielding lethal weapon in 57 days, there will be serious questioning of the morality of for profit workout video production.

On the exact opposite front, Mexico in general does not seem to have such exercise related afflictions. The most obvious indicator is how much gawking from locals we get when exercising. This is reflected by that fact that type-2 diabetes and its complications were the largest single killer of Mexicans in 2012.  I can say this does reflect my observations thus far.  I have a found a mean method of gauging the age of a Mexican, this is done by their body fat percentage.  It seems that gradual weight gain starts right after high school and continues unchecked until the late-middle years.  Its a different country, so I will refrain from any blanket statements about health and nutrition, but it is important to note that the health figures in this area are not much worse than the US.


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