Be Fit With Biray

The folks over at American Express launched a contest a few weeks ago called Members Project where you submit an idea that you think will make positive impact on the world. People vote. And winning projects are funded. AmEx is giving away 2.5 million dollars! (First place winner gets 1.5 million).

Each submission falls under a category (Arts & Culture, Community Development, Education, Environment & Wildife, and Health). The subcategories under ‘Health’ (which only has 62 submissions as of this post) breakdown further into Disease & Disorders, Education and Outreach, Elderly Care, and Fitness/Obesity/Wellness.

Here is what baffles me: there are only 13 – yes THIRTEEN submissions under Fitness, Obesity and Wellness. I’ve read all of the submissions and I must report that some of the ideas are simply miscategorized, several of them have been done before, and the rest were either too vague or underdeveloped to have any feet. That leaves about 2 or 3 potential ideas in the running for 1.5 mil. A bit underwhelming, don’t you think?

I’ve met plenty of creative health and fitness professionals out there this summer with amazing ideas. There are still 12 days left to submit a proposal. (I think you have to be an AmEx cardholder to submit – which I’m not – so I can only vote on the projects). But when there’s 2.5 million dollars at stake for a health and fitness idea, I’m surprised there aren’t more people jumping at this opportunity!

Go on, then… change the world!

In early May, I convinced my parents to buy a Nintendo Wii (finally!). And after pestering my dad to play a game with me after dinner one night, I ended up getting my ass seriously whooped in a virtual tennis match by someone who twice my age! I knew right then and there, my fitness skills were doing me no good in this arena.

I came across this comic and it reminded me of a conversation I had with Alasdair when he came here for his 3-week visit to US in April. He had worried that his Wii-Fit would also reprimand him upon his return back to Scotland. I’m sure he’ll appreciate the humor in this cartoon.

Although I still don’t have a Wii-Fit (yet), my name is on several waiting-lists and hopefully some 17-year-old kid from GameStop will call me when one shows up at his store. (I’m not holding my breath, though.) In the meantime, I’ll just focus on practicing my virtual backhand swing. Next time I play against my dad, he won’t even see the ball coming!

I came across this video while doing my weekly YouTube rounds; following up on the latest fitness clips.

Although this video comically blends the Jedi lifestyle with traditional fitness culture, it actually hits on a concept that we’re seeing more regularly in health clubs around the world: fusion classes.

People are always trying to figure out ways to motivate people to exercise. And if integrating or fusing two interests into one gets folks excited to workout, I say more power to them! After all, pole dancers and strippers branded “StripTease Aerobics” – why not Star Wars fans?

I interviewed VanRoble, the production team behind this video, and discovered more about the inspiration behind JediGym:

Biray: How many months of training did Darth Vader have to go through to prepare for his role as a fitness master? (Was it as enduring as the Spartans in movie 300?) Does he have a six pack under that black robe?
VanRoble: We’re not sure how long he has trained. He just showed up as himself- he’s actually very scary.

Biray: Will you be doing any promotional campaigns in conjunction with NBC’s Biggest Loser or any other gyms? Will ‘LightSaber’ combat classes be the next big craze to follow Taebo?
VanRoble: Surprisingly, JediGym is real. Go to NYJedi.com and you will meet the real Master Flynn. People really do work out in Star Wars wardrobe. We’re thinking of starting a Harry Potter gym, or maybe Lord of the Rings. We’ve heard that a guy in Iowa just started up a Matrix gym- and that they workout in slow motion.

Biray: Where did the team get the idea for this movie?
VanRoble: The real world- NYJedi is real.

Biray: When will we expect to see the full feature?
VanRoble: No feature, but a tight 6-minute short film will be out soon. We’ve submitted to the Atomfilms Star Wars challenge so stay tuned to see it. I can promise a laugh- which I hear is a good workout.

True, laughing is definitely the best medicine. I’ll be looking forward to getting my dose of health in their upcoming JediGym flick.

Every once in a while Joy of Tech comes out with a health-related cartoon that gives me a good chuckle.
But the recent “Apple’s Lifestyle Companion” happened to crack me up! Enjoy…

(click on picture for bigger view)

The word “wireless” is ironic. When we hear the word, we immediately think of any technology that doesn’t require a physical wire or cord in order to connect to the world. But aren’t we, as human beings, naturally wireless anyway?

Yesterday on my endurance run, I purposely didn’t take my mp3 player, wear my heart rate monitor, or bring my cellphone with me.  I didn’t expect to have an epiphany from doing this, but I did feel a bit vulnerable knowing I had to rely on the world around me to guide my experience.

First of all, I couldn’t route my path on gmap-pedometer prior to leaving my house (which I normally do). Instead, I had to trust my inner compass to guide me through my neighborhood (which, believe it or not, was challenging seeing as I haven’t taken time to explore my community). Interestingly, I ventured into new developing areas that (I was surprised to find out later) are currently not represented on Google Maps.

I couldn’t depend on my music or daily podcasts for entertainment. All I had were the exhalations from my breaths, the ’sloshing’ from my water bottle, the repetitive sounds of my shoes hitting the pavement, the gusts of winds, and other ambient noise, like traffic (which, if you were STOMP, would be enough percussive sounds for an entire production!)

It also occurred to me that if I were to get in an emergency, I wouldn’t have an immediate way to contact my family or the police without my cellphone (yikes!). I didn’t dwell on that possibility too much, but the thought did briefly cross my mind.

And although I made guesses about my heart rate based on my rate of perceived exertion, I settled for knowing that I was alive, active, and moving without pain.

Now, I totally ‘get’ that this was not an extreme circumstance worth ‘woo-hoo‘-ing over. I’m sure many people exercise with minimal tech-weight. However, my short (less-than-an-hour) ‘wireless’ episode did lead me to another hypothetical question: What will this experience feel like 5 years from now? I often wonder about how technology continues to affect our behaviors. As computers continue to keep us ‘connected’ and nanotechnology advances the ways we interact with our world – how much harder will it be to experience the ‘natural’ environment in the future? What will a simple run outdoors even feel like?

So, my suggestion to you today is RUN (or walk, or bike)!! Get out there and experience the world as JUST YOU! Tech-naked and naturally wireless.

A fellow colleague of mine sent me the following “health warning” this morning that I thought I’d pass along to you. (It made me laugh, and hopefully you will too!)

WARNING: AVOID SWALLOWING YOUR GUM!

I know we face a global crisis both environmentally and health-wise. This cartoon definitely articulates how we can better combat both issues strategically (and LOL-ingly)!

Whether it’s cold or freezing outside… enjoy your world today!

Granted, I may spend way too much time drooling over technology. But at least I can step away from it every blue moon to enjoy an outdoor stroll.

(This was the suburban view of the Arizona sunset captured on my cellphone.)

(Okay, so I may have taken my web-enhanced, GPS-equipped, Twitter-capable geeky cellphone with me on my walk. But I only brought it as a safety measure in case of danger!)Have a great holiday weekend everyone!

Another reminder how quickly technology is taking over our lives!
Sometimes you can’t help but LOL about it…

 
Sometimes we all need a good laugh and JOY OF TECH has many cartoons poking fun at today’s technology.  Here’s an excellent one on exergaming – enjoy!