Oliver's blog
B.O.W.C. Updates
Tee Minus Ten Days, And Counting
Attention dear B.O.W.C.s: You are two thirds of the way home. 20 days down, ten to go (or 240 hours, or 14,400 minutes.) Metaphorically speaking, if the Challenge was a work week, you've made it to Friday evening. Nothing but the weekend in front of you!
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From the Editor
B.O.W.C. By the Numbers
Day 14 of B.O.W.C. (and 28 of SocialWorkout.com!) and we thought it time to break down the Challenge numbers to date, answer some questions, and generally offer massive encouragement.
We will refer you to adjacent graph, and make several salient points: Two weeks in, and of the nearly 300 challengees at our virtual start line April 1st, we are left with roughly 100 still in the hunt. The few, the proud, the achey.... Despite malicious rumors to the contrary, we are not yet half way through the Challenge. There are 18 shopping days to go. Thus, if you've logged just eight workouts to date, you're still mathematically in the running to hit the Big 26.
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Rebirth
Hello to Count.It!
It's been a long journey, but this old blog, once known as SocialWorkout.com, has moved through all of the karmic cycles of life, and also passed through several circles of the Inferno...and it has (some time ago) been reborn as a gleaming, loved-filled, high tech online platform called...COUNT.IT. Got a moment? Come on over!
Big News
Social Workout Works Out
Five years ago, two people connected in the comment threads of this site. They were part of our original crew of literate, urbane, fitness nerds. Pretty soon, he was inviting her to costumed mud races, and she was writing warm odes to him. In hashtags, she denied her love, but it wasn't long before they discretely made public their mutual hearting. From the start, they've been a force for the good, and together they flogged thousands of pushups, crunches, and burpees, and even co-produced an extraordinary short film.
This weekend our old friends msh258 and killercadoogan were married. We smile and salute them. At Social Workout HQ today, we will all hold a ceremonial two minute plank in their honor.
Onward friends and lovers!
Sacred Sweat
Does the Pope Sweat?
It's Day One of a new papal regime. This got us to thinking: What's the Pope's daily routine, and does he go to the gym? Dawn Patrolers will recall that we also covered the daily routine of the Dalai Lama. Call it the Sacred Sweat series.
It's early to know how Pope Francis will spend his days, but we do know that he will not be running any marathons. Turns out Francis is working with only one lung, having had the other removed due to dangerous teenage infection. Outgoing Benedict wasn't much of a cardio fiend, either. He limited his daily exercise to a 10 minute walk around the Apostolic Palace, but he also kept a strict and healthy schedule: Up at 5AM after six hours of sleep, a Mediterannean diet, sans alcohol, and plenty of prayer.
The public record suggests that fitness, in the conventional sense, has not been a major preoccupation of the Vatican. True, Pope Pius XII, a controversial pontiff who presided over Catholicism during World War II, used a rowing machine in his youth. By the time he was Pope, however, Pius' routine was strictly 15 minutes of "knee bends and arm flexes" timed with a gold Swiss watch.
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Innovation
The Complete, Unabridged List of Social Fitness and Wellness Sites, Apps, and Devices
We've been compiling an exhaustive list of interesting products in the "social fitness/wellness" space. We're now well over one hundred, and it's clearly time to start sharing the love. If you'd like to make additions or changes, please tell us about it!
Videos
Vintage Physical Education Propaganda
Thanks to Meret H. and Jared R. for digging up this video of days gone by in a sunny, very clean-cut California....
i heart sw.
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