Study Finds We Exercise Half as Much as We Should

Photo: JSmithPhoto/Flickr

We’re a nation of fatties, in no small part because we get half as much exercise as we should.

The typical American spends just two hours a week exercising, according to researchers at Penn State and the University of Maryland, even though the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends adults age 18 to 64 get four hours of exercise per week. That could help explain why a separate study by Duke University finds 42 percent of the population could be obese by 2030, adding nearly $550 billion to the nation’s healthcare tab.

Ideally, the CDC says, we should get 2.5 hours of moderate exercise — brisk walking, riding a bike on level ground, that sort of thing — each week. We ought to spend another 75 minutes per week engaging in vigorous activity like running or shooting hoops.

Continue Reading “Study Finds We Exercise Half as Much as We Should” »

Tags: , , ,
Back to top

Olympic Torch Goes Up Against the Elements

The Olympic torch, under conditions far less severe than it was subjected to in BMW's tests. Photo: BMW

More than 8,000 people will carry the Olympic Torch on its ceremonial relay across the United Kingdom, running about 110 miles a day through biting cold, searing heat, stiff winds and drizzle. So much drizzle. This is England, after all. And through it all, the torch must stay lit, which is why the Olympics looked to BMW for help.

The German automaker knows a thing or two about keeping cars weather-tight in even the nastiest conditions, so the torch went off to BMW’s Energy and Environment Test Center in Munich to see how it held up against the elements.

The ETC is where BMW tests its cars against brutal weather and road conditions. It’s home to three wind tunnels and two climactic test rooms that can emulate everything from the Arctic to the Sahara and produce wind speeds of around 175. Such things proved quite useful as BMW and TECOSIM, the company that engineered the torch, put the torch to the test.

“The London 2012 Olympic torch project is quite a unique opportunity and something which we are proud to have been involved with,” said Stuart Hawker, who managed the project for TECOSIM. “The project did have many challenges.”

Continue Reading “Olympic Torch Goes Up Against the Elements” »

Tags: , ,
Back to top

Epic Cardboard Tube Battles Delight Around the World

Weird Sports sometimes have tragically short lifespans. They can be internationally viral one moment, virtually forgotten the next. Cardboard tube fighting comes to mind.

Cardboard tube fighting is exactly what you think it is. Fighting with cardboard tubes. We all did it as kids. It’s a sport. Well, it was a sport, once upon a time.

Robert Easley is the genius behind the league, called, appropriately, the Cardboard Tube Fighting League. A social worker from the San Francisco Bay Area, he lived and worked for various periods of time in Seattle. While there, he read about the Emerald City’s booming roller derby league (RCRG, holla!) and the Pillow Fight League in Toronto. That got the creative juices flowing.

“Everyone has some fun fighting with cardboard tubes,” said Easley, who started the CTFL about five years ago with a goal of creating something fun for the masses. “Sometimes I get some crazy weird idea and just do it.”

As he explains on the CTFL web site. “While training often takes place during childhood, the art is discarded by adults who are ignorant of its cultural value. The goal of the CTFL is to provide organized cardboard tube based events that help spread cardboard awareness.”

Continue Reading “Epic Cardboard Tube Battles Delight Around the World” »

Tags: ,
Back to top

Study Reveals Joggers Live 5 Years Longer

Get out and run. You'll live longer. Photo: Sangudo/Flickr

Jogging is good for you. So good, in fact, that it may extend your life by more than five years.

Jogging regularly increases the lifespan of men by about six years and women by about five and a half, according to data from a Danish study that has tracked the cardiovascular health of 20,000 people since 1976. You don’t have to be Usain Bolt or Shalane Flanagan to enjoy the benefit, either. The data, being presented Saturday at the EuroPRevent 2012 meeting in Dublin, shows running as little as 20 minutes three times a week at a slow to moderate pace will do the trick.

“We can say with certainty that regular jogging increases longevity,” Dr. Peter Schnohr, chief cardiologist of the Copenhagen City Heart Study, said in a statement. “The good news is that you don’t actually need to do that much to reap the benefits.”

Continue Reading “Study Reveals Joggers Live 5 Years Longer” »

Tags: , ,
Back to top

Two Amazing Real-Life Spider-Men Defy Common Sense

Photos: Boris Roessler/Corbis; Suzanne Vlami/AP

Skyscraper climbers Dan Goodwin (left) and Alain Robert.
Photos: Boris Roessler/Corbis; Suzanne Vlami/AP

Also in this issue

American Dan Goodwin and Frenchman Alain Robert have a lot in common: They’re both skyscraper climbers who have defied common sense (and the law) to ascend some of the tallest man-made structures in the world with no safety nets—and occasionally while dressed as Spider-Man. So who’s the bigger superhero of the architectural climb? Here’s how they measure up.

Alain Robert age 49

When he was 19 Robert took a 50-foot fall while rock climbing that fractured his skull, shoulders, chest, and hands and left him in a coma for five days. Nonetheless he went on to become one of the most famous rock and urban climbers in the world.

  • Buildings climbed: 120+ (above, Robert on the Skyper, Frankfurt, Germany)
  • Arrests: 100+
  • Tallest building climbed: Burj Khalifa, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (2,716.5 feet, the tallest building in the world)
  • Death-defying moment: Twenty stories from the top of Sears Tower, a thick fog covered the building in moisture, turning its surface into a superslick “vertical ice rink” that nearly sent Robert skating off the side.
  • Inspirations: Zorro, Robin Hood

Dan Goodwin age 56

In 1980 Goodwin witnessed a hotel fire claim 85 lives. After suggesting rescue techniques to a fire chief, he was told that he had no business giving advice until he had climbed a high-rise building. Six months later, Goodwin scaled Sears Tower.

  • Buildings climbed: 10 (No. 6, the World Trade Center, left)
  • Arrests: 5
  • Tallest building climbed: CN Tower, Toronto, Canada (1,815 feet)
  • Death-defying moment: After fire commissioner William Blair threatened to “kill” him if he climbed another building in Chicago, Goodwin claims, he was blasted with a fire hose on the 37th story of the John Hancock Center until the police and mayor intervened.
  • Inspirations: Bruce Lee, Carlos Castenada, John Lennon, Steve Jobs
Tags:
Back to top
« OLDER POSTS