Badminton

I got an email in response to my post on Monday from Aidan who let me know he plays badminton every week at a school pretty near where I live. I was welcome to tag along even though I'm completely out of shape and don't really have the gear to play. I've decided saying no to things is a bad idea, especially when they're things I want to do. So, off I went!

It turns out I really am completely out of shape. By the end of the first game I was pretty close to complete collapse. I'd brought a water bottle with me, so I took a break, lay down for a bit, and drank a stupid amount of water. I figure I drank close to 3 liters of water by the end of the night. Apparently that's as much water as an average man should drink in a day, and I chugged it down in a couple of hours!

I did end up recovering, and I played 3 more games. I feel like I'm going to pay the price for this tomorrow since my elbow is already sore and I have a skinned knee. (And a melted section of my pant leg to go with it!) I simply don't have an analog setting for how much I'm willing to try at things. I am playing badminton, so I am going to do everything I can! If that means diving for a birdie I can't possibly get to because I'm rusty, so be it! But it was good to actually get out and do something!

I'm reminded of playing badminton in gym class back in junior high and high school. (15-19 years ago...) I tended to hate 'phys ed'. Super book nerd with no physical skills to speak of did not like getting marks based on how many push ups I could do or how fast I could run around the city. But I loved the part of the year where we played badminton. I would team up with Adam Mutch and we were surprisingly good. He was a pretty big boy, and I was super unathletic, but we both wanted to win and we were good complements. He always played far back and had the power to make the deep to deep hits and the foot speed/wing span to cover the whole back of the court. I played up front and made good use of my diving and drop shot skills. Good times in a generally terrible class.

On a similar topic, I decided I should weigh in on the Wii Fit before starting to exercise again. It turns out I hadn't hoped on there since mid October. My memory is a little fuzzy, but I feel like that was around when I decided to go really hardcore into avoiding the glutens. Which meant cutting out most cookies and chips. I was really close to the 'overweight' category back then, but it would seem I've lost 10 pounds in the last 7 months just from eating differently. Woo!

Wii Fat

I don't remember where I saw it, but the other day I read an internet post connecting bad posture with shyness and not in the direction that seems to make sense on the surface. Their claim was having bad posture made people shy. I can't find where I saw it but they didn't have anything backing that claim. However, after a bit of reading I found one site that claimed good posture provides better blood flow which makes people feel healthier which I guess could help. I suspect it's more a vicious feedback loop where being shy causes bad posture which makes you feel worse which makes you shy. Or something.

Regardless, I've been meaning to get back on the Wii Fit bandwagon and get into something resembling shape. Having a stronger core should help with posture too, so might as well get started, right?

I scrounged up some batteries and  set up the Wii balance board. It turns out it had been 377 days since I last 'played' Wii Fit. I did the body test and it turns out I've gained almost 9 pounds in that time and am up over 145 pounds with a BMI over 22. At points in my life I was definitely on the 'too skinny' side of things but that's really not the case anymore.

I then tried to do some of the strength exercises but the 'charged' batteries I put into the balance board died after about 5 minutes total. I'm going to have to find some new batteries so I can get at it tomorrow. I figure if I make a habit of ending my posts here with Wii Fit data I'll be more apt to keep at it this time around so we'll see if that works out or not.