Ruckin' In The Rain

Yesterday after work I drove out and met up with the rucking group.

It had been raining during the day and the gray clouds threatened more to come.

I had just increased my weight to 35 pounds for this hike. For some reason it felt considerably heavier than the 32 pounds I had carried the last time.

Sure enough, not more than 3 minutes into the ruck, the skies opened up. Not a little rain, but not a torrential downpour either.  Still, we all managed to get good and soaked and was glad I had my rain jacket on.

It also got dark while we rucked so we hiked through the woods by flashlight, making it a bit more difficult to see the tree roots, rocks, slippery muddy areas and  other trip and slip hazards to make the ruck more enjoyable and slowed us down a bit as a result.

We did 2 miles in just under an hour under those conditions, which isn't all that bad.

Not a bad bit of exercise with a fun bunch of people. 

Rucking

I have decided to try and get into better shape, so I joined a rucking group.

A friendly bunch of guys and there's all levels of rucking there. It's once every other week and a good way to met up with people and get some fitness in. Done it a couple times now and it has been fun and a good workout.

The group is held at one of Oakland County's parks with a decent trail course with a mix of fields and forest to traipse around in.

I had a backpack with a 20lb plate that I picked up, and I added a 5 pound scuba soft weight that I had around to it to bring it to 25 pounds this week. I figure I'll add more weight as we go.

Tonight was a 2.25 mile ruck with an added surprise. In addition to rucking, we got to rotate carrying a log in teams of three which was a challenge. Kinda fun challenge and I had not been expecting that. 

A very fun activity in the outdoors, good to get out and move around with a  good bunch of guys. We're apparently going to be building up to a 10 mile ruck which should be fun.

Scary things in the Gym

In my efforts to get in half as good shape as Lagniappe's Keeper, among other things I've been going to the gym.

I get there and do my cardio and head over to the weight area and start working out.

There's a felow there with no neck.

Really, NO NECK.

Muscles from the shoulders are touching the head.

He could play head and shoulders, knees and toes no problem, and he'd win as there is no neck between the head and shoulders.

I'm strangely fascinated by this, wondering if some new evolutionary trait has been found - no neck means one less vital area open on a human body to attack, but it certainly cuts down on swivilleng the head to search fro predators so it may be n evolutionary dead end. On the other hand, maybe the Neaderthals didn't go extinct, they just went to the gym.

The guy is doing multiple one-handed pullups while holding a big weight in the other hand.

Quite expresionlessly and without any real apparent effort.

I'm half expecting either the MLB Officials or Imperial Stormtroopers to show up:

"Look Sir, 'Roids!"

At least he wasn't wearing spandex.....

Michigan Dems upset about AG's Proposed Gym make a Mountain out of a Treadmill

Much Dem ado about fitness, signifying how petty Michigan politics continues to be.

The Detroit Free Press Reports in Gym pumps up anger of Dems, that the Democrats are in a tizzy as Attorney General Michael Cox has plans to install a fitness center in the Attorney General's Headquarter's office in Lansing.

But it's Democrats who are exercised over Attorney General Mike Cox's plans for a gym, noting that the state faces a $686-million budget shortfall and that Cox plans to let go of 21 full-time secretarial and clerical workers, effective April 20.

"It's just outrageous that he would spend tens of thousands of dollars on facilities like this when he's laying off attorney general employees," said Mark Brewer, chair of the Michigan Democratic Party.

Talk about apples and oranges, a deficit for the entire state in the amount of 686 Million, a deficit that is certainly not AG Cox's fault nor of his making, but rather than of the current Democrat Governor 9and to be fair others as well), and "tens of thousands of dollars" for excercise equipment for which there is a perfectly good reason:

Rusty Hills, a spokesman for Cox, a Republican, made no apologies. He said the gym would be geared, initially at least, to the 37 gun-toting investigators on staff.

"We buy books for attorneys, we have no problem buying weights for cops," Hills said. "We want the cops on our payroll to be in better shape than the criminals they're chasing."

Hills said the investigators' cases include child support, cold-case homicides, Internet predators and consumer and health-care fraud.

"They execute search warrants, transport prisoners, conduct interviews in the field," Hills said. "They are in situations that are dangerous with people who are very dangerous. We don't make a lot of arrests in Bloomfield Hills."

Hills said the Attorney General's Office has yet to determine where the funding will come from in its budget, or how much the gym will end up costing.

Indeed, excercise facilities for use by the entire Ag's office, not just the investigators would make sense: fit employees equals lower occurences of injuries and health problems and thus lower insurance claims, thus reducing health costs for the department and saving the department money. Given that health care is a major expense statewise and always a large compoent of employee expenses, its amazing Cox is not being lauded for progressive thinking by encouraging his employees to get in shape and offering them an oppotunity to do so.

The tens of thousands of dolaars will likely offer a far greater savings in reduced health costs and lost time from work accidents.

In addition, it appears in the comments accompanying the article in the Free press that the money for the gym may not even be from public funds but from private sources. If so, its not just the Dems making a mountain out of a treadmill, but a wholly false smear by the Dems against a very popular and effective Attorney General.