Fitness Goes Social

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There's a plethora of fitness apps out there today, and many of them have a social aspect to them. After all, it can be motivating to see see what your friends are doing to stay healthy and fit. Do you ever wonder how that super athletic friend stays in great shape? Follow them on a fitness app and find out! Many of these apps allow for challenges and competitions between you and your friends as well, whether it be who gets the most steps, runs the furthest, or bikes the longest distance, etc. In addition, you can often earn some digital bling like badges, virtual trophies, etc. to commemorate your achievements. Garmin Connect  is probably the one I use most often. I use a Garmin Fenix smartwatch to track my fitness activities and it automatically syncs my activities to my Garmin Connect account. I think the mobile app could still use a little work, especially on the strength training side of things. It's kind of odd that it limits you to 1,000 connections as well. But overall,...
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Fit for Adventure - Balancing Strength, Endurance & Agility

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I'm often referred to as a man with too many hobbies... and that is probably true. I love everything from technical rebreather diving to rock/ice/mountain climbing. It doesn't matter if I'm paddling rapids or hauling ass down a trail on a mountain bike, my level of physical fitness has a direct impact on all of my adventures.

The impact isn't always as obvious as not running out of breath when riding that gnarly mountain bike trail, but the benefit is still there. Think about it, if my breathing is more efficient when scuba diving my air will last longer and I'll literally get a longer dive than others who are out of shape. If I'm carrying my gear into the wilderness while backpacking, my body will better handle the load and allow me to focus on the beauty around me instead of cursing every step while lugging my pack up the switchbacks. I could go on and on about the benefits, but if you're reading this post you probably already realize there's a relationship between fitness and adventure sports.

This is more of an introduction to what motivates me and my fitness objectives. I'll tell you right now, I despise treadmills and things have to get pretty bad before you'll see me get on something like that. I'd much rather go for a run in the rain and mud than sit on the hamster wheel.

I'm also not some fitness unicorn with bulging muscles and rippled abs. I'm an average person who is constantly working to improve to fitness. Over the last few years I've been juggling a full time consulting job that sent me all over the country while I was also trying to run a small retail store that I sunk my retirement into. This left me overweight and out of shape. Beyond that, last spring I had a neurological event that laid my up for a couple months. Nothing makes you weak like laying in bed 23+ hours a day for months at a time after playing workaholic for a few years.

Well, between my personal health issues and COVID wreaking havoc on small business in America, I ended up closing my retail store. I'm back to working one job for the most part, and I'm back on my feet health wise. Now I'm working to get myself back to a "healthy state" so that I can do the things I love again.

That being said, over the next several days/weeks/months I'll be sharing what how I get and stay fit, including workouts, nutrition and so on. Keep checking back for new posts. You can subscribe to the RSS feed as well. For day by day updates, feel free to follow me on Garmin Connect or Strava. 

Location: Tampa, FL, USA

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