Rafe Brox

I’m a geek who’s into fitness, or a fit guy who geeks out a lot (both about computers and fitness stuff). I have my own fitness blog, which is admittedly a bit more \\\"hardcore\\\" than what you\\\'ll find here, but there\\\'s nothing stopping anyone from playing a rousing game of \\\"Try to keep up with the guy in the skirt.\\\" \n\n(IT\\\'S A KILT, DAMMIT.)

Apocalypse Now

Op-Ed 2 Responses »

Aug 052010

Note: This is not The Cat Who Walks Through Walls

Look at infinity. Now back to me. I'm on a spaceship.

We tend to maintain a fairly chipper tone around here, with the occasional good-natured admonishment to engage in healthier behavior. We think it’s good to have fun when you’re doing healthy stuff, because it’s a heck of a lot easier to do something because you enjoy it first, and enjoy the benefits of it second. Mike loves doing stuff in his kitchen, which is why he’s got the fun recipes and his hand-made healthy lunches, which frequently make the office smell really freaking good. I get my fun from picking up and throwing around heavy things for its own sake, and seeing the numbers go up or down on my spreadsheets of doom.

However, this is not a particularly perky post, perhaps peppered and pockmarked perilously by pernicious pedagoguery. (I may be cranky, but I can still enjoy consonance and alliteration.)

So what is it that has my manties in a bunch?

To lift or not to lift; is that the question?

Fitness Programs No Responses »

Jul 222010

This piece spun out of a conversation in the comments on our most recent guest column over at WoW.com, and it seems to be addressing a concern that many people of the geeky persuasion, fairly or unfairly, may have with the picking up of somewhat heavier things than they’re used to. Some folks are concerned about injury, or don’t want to bulk up, or simply have never considered themselves the weightlifting type.

Lifting heavy weights is not, in and of itself, unhealthy, as long as proper form is used. There are actually a lot of benefits to strength training – stronger bones, for instance, in addition to stronger and more balanced muscles. There are the aesthetic aspects, of course, even if you’re like me, and have no designs on becoming a professional, or even amateur, bodybuilder. I just want to look good with my shirt off.

Programming language

Fitness Programs 2 Responses »

Jul 142010

"I just see cardio... weights... redhead...." (Image by Patrick Hoesly)

Settle down, everybody, I’m not going to bust out something like COBOL or, even worse FORTRAN (which, during my one programming class in college, I got a D in). Rather, this goes out to the folks who are ready to take things to the next level and are thinking about coming up with their own workout plan and strategy.

Much like developing a character spec or laying out the route for a road trip, it’s often best to approach things from the far end and work your way back to where you are now, so you know both where you want to end up, and how to get there. As the man behind the Jabberwock (no, not American McGee) said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.”

There are a handful of things you need to build a good fitness program for yourself.

How much is enough?

Food, Health and Fitness Tools, Tips & Tricks 2 Responses »

Jul 062010

It can't be all bad - he can see his feet.

Standing on the scale doesn't burn many calories, however. (Photo by Alan Cleaver)

It’s become something of a running joke around here that “eat less and exercise more” is overly simplistic, and not all that sexy. In that respect, this mantra is kind of like Bejeweled (actually, there is Bejeweled pron out there. Verily, the internet is full of things. Whether those things should exist is left as an exercise for the reader).

However, sometimes it’s useful to know more precisely how much we should be eating. This is especially true if you’re not on any kind of scripted dietary program, or one that gives you a daily allotment of something other than plain old calories.

Handy tool is handy.

Review: Supplement-IT

Review 1 Response »

Jun 282010

A supplement by geeks, for geeks?

A while back, I received one of those ubiquitous “So-and-So is now following your tweets on Twitter” notifications. These tend to be of three distinct types: friends of mine, people who’ve seen something I’ve said that’s been retweeted by someone else, and social media marketing spam accounts. However, this particular item didn’t fall into any of those buckets.

Supplement-IT is the Twitter presence for a supplement made by, and aimed at, computer professionals. As the folks behind it said, “We started in the IT and banking industry by day [Coincidentally, so do Mike and I], but are trying to get the Supplement biz off the ground so we can one day escape cubicle life. It is this motivation that spawned the idea of Supplement-IT in the beginning.”

As someone who enjoys the world beyond my beige employment box rather more than the world inside it, I grok their attitude in fullness. I still have no idea how they found me, but after a brief correspondence, they sent your intrepid away team samples of their product for us to try.

Is it merely Snake Oil, or is there actually something to their claims? Read on to find out.