(Updated Oct. 30, 2008)
I'm not going to have much time to keep this site current; I got an on-site job starting tomorrow that's going to
take up a lot of my time. It's a really great job where I'll be not only working in exactly the areas I want such as ASP.NET, C#, and Ajax,
but also DotNetNuke, Linq, and other technologies where I have little or no experience to date.
Most people promoting physical activity have fitness as their 'thing' and are
motivated to do the exercise to achieve it; they don't understand people, like
me, who just really don't like to exercise, or exertion in general. My 'thing',
it turns out, is enjoying myself. I know that about myself now, and I accept it.
Fortunately, I finally encountered computer programming which people actually pay me to
do, and JumpRock which actually keeps me in shape and able to maintain a high level of
energy most of the time.
I'm not a 'be all you can be' kind of a guy. But I discovered
through a bizarre series of incidents starting with the army drafting me in
1969 - in basic training they actually made it official that I'm not a 'be
all you can be' kind of guy, but I'd do - that fun is more fun if you
have plenty of energy. The
euphoria incident in basic was the first and only clue
until years later, and I was effectively clueless when I got out of the army
weighing 237 pounds twenty-two months later.
I finally, without really knowing it, put the knowledge to use eight years
later at age 32 when I stumbled on a motivation technique I now call 'Energy
Focused Exercise'. I was trying to get myself to go beyond good intentions and
actually ride a stationary bike every day - just
knowing about the
energy reward wasn't enough. I was doubtful the simple approach I came up with
would work, but it did, and I realized later, not for the reasons I thought it
would. Over the next twenty-three years short-lived and infrequent diets and
workout programs came and went, but the bike was there through it all. The bike
wasn't about fitness or weight or health. The bike was about energy and mood
within the next hour.
At age 55 I discovered an activity that I enjoy rather than just tolerate -
JumpRock. It's so much fun that I don't have to force myself to do it every day
- I have to force myself to cut back when I overdo it. You can't believe the
euphoria of the music and jumping and endorphins combined. The better you get
the more fun it is and the more creative - although it may not look it - I
can't judge.
The most amazing thing is that I myself am amazed at the results in agility,
stamina, and muscle tone - even now. So my message is that if I can do it
starting at 55 and it was never really difficult beyond the initial frustration
of trying to learn, then it's probably true for most people. Most who try jump
rope and give up just don't get beyond the boring part to find out how much fun
jumping to music is. That's the only way I can explain it. And you don't have
to take my word that it's
easy to learn.
Even if you're not all about fun, or if you can't or don't want to jump rope,
you can use Energy Focused Exercise techniques to internalize the links from
good mood to energy to physical activity. Best of all, they don't involve
drudgery, because drudgery kills both internalization and visualization.
Drudgery is why I came up with the idea in the first place; Energy Focused
Exercise is visualization combined with activity which can be used in other
ways, as I'm finding out more and more.
I'm not selling anything, because my goal is to become famous as the sedentary
old guy who introduced the world to Energy Focused Exercise, JumpRock, and
Heavy Hula Hands. My ultimate goal is to become famous for being famous so I
can be on
The Late, Late Show
on CBS with TV's host Craig Ferguson and enjoy
all the perks that go with that. It's a little known fact that Drew Carey and
David Letterman would be
nothing without Craig's help. He's
so modest (and dreamy).
Oh, there
is one other little
thing
I could use help with.
Energy Focused Exercise - For my people, the sedentary, everything else is
drudgery and angst until you quit or die.