Body By COVID

I've never been more fit. I've never spent more time sitting on my bum.

By serendipity, my shifts this month and last were batched together, providing long stretches of time off. The upshot was that I have done some form of exercise (weights, cycling, walking the neighborhood) every single day for several weeks.

I feel good about this turn of events. Where friends in college lifted weights to grow big and gain muscle mass, I've always pursued a more modest goal of being lean but fit. I'll never be hired as a bouncer, but my self-esteem goes discreetly up a notch when I notice definition taking hold in sinewy arms and ropy calf muscles.

We are fortunate that even while beaches and hiking trails were shut down, the outdoors have remained accessible to us. I've spent time driving to new neighborhoods in order to park and walk residential streets I'd never seen before. I've even changed up my cycling route to include some of these new areas. Our kids have walked to the school a couple of blocks from our house, where they shoot hoops, ride bikes and run laps. The physical outlets exist, and we use them.

The down side is that after my daily hour of activity ends, I become functionally immobile.

Some of my sedentary day can be attributed to age. My back has a low grade, chronic pain that has led me to discontinue sea kayaking completely over the past year because shlepping a heavy polyurethane watercraft takes a greater toll than it once did.

Cycling is easier on my back and starts my day with delight, but it leaves me with a similarly low grade plantar fasciitis. Maybe being a dirtbag who cycles in hiking shoes has something to do with it. More likely it's my introductory course, Aging 101: the indignities of getting older.

Even weights have taken on new meaning as they help me combat my geriatric future. I've started to incorporate small exercises like swinging dumbells to encourage better posture. Like my late grandfather, and now my father, I've seen insidious slouching taking place where I once sat upright, as if some cosmic joker reversed the order of the famous primate evolutionary diagram from chimp to homo sapiens.

We've been eating home-cooked meals every day (the exception: take out Thai to celebrate Mother's Day), meaning our diet has been mostly plant-based with occasional fish. To counter this seemingly healthy diet, carb intake has exploded (flour tortillas, soft Greek pita, wheat bread, hamburger buns, home-made chocolate chip cookies and pancakes).

My pre-COVID plan of many years has been to keep temptation (ice cream, fresh baked bread) outside of our house, indulging infrequently when we went out to eat. Now that eating out is not an option, it's harder to keep the rest of the family at bay. The kids inherited my wife's moderate sweet tooth, meaning I am on the losing end of the discussion about reducing the carbs we keep at home.

How am I coping with food intrusions? Sometimes well, sometimes poorly. Case in point on the latter, I tried suggesting that we were baking too many desserts and perhaps we ought to stop. This had an effect akin to separating a mother bear from her cubs in the ferocity of the response I received. The most helpful feedback I received came from my daughter: You're a disciplined guy, just don't eat the cookies I bake! She was completely right. I have stopped eating her cookies, and more importantly, stopped trying to prevent others from keeping them in the house.

I've mentioned before the concept of the pathology with utility, a trait that if channeled properly can bring great achievement, but if channeled improperly is destined to wreak havoc. The desire to exert control over chaos is my personal pathology with utility: Great in the ER, lousy in a family setting.

Another large element of a life that's "full of sit" has to do with spending a significant part of each day on computer. On the more successful end of the coping spectrum, yesterday I received what I am testing out as a standing desk.  I wanted something adjustable, unobtrusive, and that could be easily put away when guests stay in my office. I don't use a desk, so that ruled out many of the adapters. I don't own a desktop computer, so I needed something light and sturdy enough to work with my laptop, but stable enough to earn my trust. Being frugal, I also wanted a cost effective solution.

At under $50, I ultimately decided on a tripod with an adjustable height/angle platform, and so far it's very promising as an alternative to sitting all day. It resembles the sort of music stands my kids use on days when they perform with the school orchestra, but far sturdier. I'll keep you posted as to whether or not it remains comfortable in the long run...