How exercising every day positively effects my work...

When I think about the many benefits that I receive by exercising everyday, I mostly think in terms of improved health and fitness.  And while doing research about daily exercise and the physical benefits, I realized that there are many great reasons to exercise, that are specifically related to improving my work performance.

Exercise has many positive mental benefits: reducing stress and anxiety, improved focus, better mood, increased energy, and better sleep quality!

Every one of these mental benefits translates to better performance at work.  When exercise reduces my stress and anxiety, I go to work more relaxed and calm, and enjoy my interactions with co-workers and clients even more than usual!  When exercise improves my focus, I'm better able to efficiently complete the tasks at hand and helps me to innovate effectively!  And when exercise improves my sleep quality, I arrive at work more alert and feel rested throughout the day!

I exercise everyday, and I have since I turned 40, over 8 years ago.  It has had a positive effect on my work and my family life.  Consider pushing yourself to break a sweat every day!  It is amazing what you might accomplish!

Here is a video showing off what I have accomplished over the last 3000 days of exercising everyday.

Even the US Government has done research to prove the benefits of exercise in the workplace.  Read more about it here.

Thanks for watching!

Find more at www.earlyworkingretirement.com
My youtube channel is /footbagenlightener
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2,500 Days in a row and still going strong!!!

Please watch my new video which summarizes my 2,500 day journey of exercising every day.  Specifically, exercising in Footbag Freestyle, a high-impact aerobic sport that requires focus and dexterity, and provides a constantly challenging, constantly unique athletic experience.

None of this would be possible without the constant support and understanding of my wife and son, who give me the time it takes to play everyday, they tolerate me dominating the computer to do the video editing and publish videos, blog and maintain my website: EarlyWorkingRetirement.com, they help me with laundry and they feed me.  I could not have maintained this kind of focus over this long of a period of time without their help. THANKS!

Today is 2511 in a row.

-enlightener

Transitioning to indoor jam sessions, EARLY AM and daily.

The fall weather inspired me to lower my outdoor temperature threshold to 45f degrees. That is assuming low wind and lots of sun. Even with the lower threshold, the temperatures are frequently forcing me indoors. The problem is that my normal double-secret shred site is occupied by a bunch of burly construction workers building-out a new store in the mall. Tons of dust and not a friendly space. Since my workplace switched to a later schedule, I had to find a way to make all this work, and continue to shred everyday. Here is a recent video called PhobicFly, an innovative and tiny flier... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMXZc3riAsk&sns=em (you may have to copy and paste that link in a browser, as I can't seem to figure out how to make it into a link)

I now get up at 4am, and by 5am I am shredding. The problem with early shreds are that A) they take place in my living room so there can be no filming, B) my living room is small so my string length is shortened and C) shredding early in the morning makes it more difficult to shred later in the evening, when most people play. So in addition to doing an hour and a half every morning, which is a 50% increase in time from my 'recess' shreds at skool, I now do a light jam session when possible at recess during the early afternoon, where I can film. On days where I do a double shred session, it will be over 2 hours of jam time those days, and helps me to stay used to kicking later in the day, so when people come to town I can jam in the evenings with them.

Whatever you do, play everyday!

See ya!
Scott.


Shred notes: I've been innovating while moving indoors and early. I've hit Spinning Ducking X-Body Pincher many times. Also, Phobic Vortex on film and publishing today. And Nuclear Paradox Drifter and Nuclear DaDa. Still playing everyday, 2148 days in a row today.

Spinning & Ducking & Phobic & more!

Specifically: .. Phobic Gyro Symposium Whirl, Phobic (opp) Blender and Reverse Twirls. 

I am fluent in many spinning tricks, and in many ducking tricks. And until recently, the only trick I had thought to combine spinning and ducking on, was SDButterfly, as featured on tricks of the trade 2. 

Tuukka challenged me last week to hit a spinning or a ducking twirl, and it got me to really skool those tricks.  This week so far, I have hit Spinning Ducking Whirls on both sides, Spinning Ducking Barfly's (ducking scorpiontail) both sides.  



This movie has: Phobic Gyro Symposium Whirl (from 2 angles), Pixie Same Swirl, Reverse Twirl (thin), Phobic (opp) Blender.  The movie was filmed with my iphone4, using apps ranging from 'camera' to 'slomo' to 'imovie extras' (for titles) and of course 'imovie'.





Keep inspiring me!  It seems to work!
Thanks!
Scott!

BarFlakes and triple-dex blurs

I came across these tricks that I have visited before, but never got on tape or even discussed them that I can remember.  The Barfly has always been a challenge for me to do solidly, and I have been working on them for literally 20 years now.  I've been doing a lot of Rakes lately, especially cross-body Rakes.  This past week, my peanut butter got into my chocolate and I brought Barfly together with Cross Body Rake and made a BarFlake.  I know this has another street name, as I know it has been done before, but because I live in a vacuum I don't know what it is called.  I didn't stop there, I have also done versions starting with Fairy, Pixie, Stepping-opp, Stepping-same and spinning.  All on this film, and with slo-mo to reveal the thinness.  All kind of thin, they look good from above.  It is especially noticeable since I had to use an up-angle when I was filming.

I also hit a Blur that has an extra Symposium Mirage before the toe pickup.  Also in slo-mo.  It was suggested that this is a stepping paratoxic (backside symposium) blur, I don't know what to call it, which is why I put it online for peer review.

BarFlakes & Paratoxic Blur?       



Shred notes: 1st two weeks of August...
Played through my injury from last week of July, it is no longer effecting me at all, thank goodness.  I've been obsessed with these new tricks.  Been lucky with weather!  Totally lucky, like cloudy-icky mornings turning to sun literally as I arrive at the Mammoth Springs Training Center.  Mosquitos everywhere near the river, but not on the asphalt playing surface that I utilize.  I'm going to Funtastik and I have been getting some NICE run-thru's of my routine!  I'm gonna be ready again this year and I look forward to a great event!

Rooted, and the Pure Solo modification

This is a concept that has been literally stumbled upon by many, but until now, not fully embraced as a concept in the Footbag freestyle community. I think Rooted tricks deserve a Body add, much like Symposium gets... and Pure Solo tricks definitely should get an extra add.  Not that I really care about adds.
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Definition of 'Rooted':
When a player both catches and lands with the same foot at the same time while the other leg does not touch the ground.


Modification of 'Pure Solo':
When a player shows balance and control after a Rooted catch by freezing position, ideally with a difficult balancing position, like grabbing the non-rooted foot with other hand.

Almost every trick that ends with a toe delay can be Rooted.  Possible that clippers could be Rooted, but unlikely.  Well I did experiment with that and found it is possible, but since I needed to step down almost immediately after the Rooted inside and walk over it, there was no chance of a Solo modification to this, and it was really hard to see if it was even rooted.  So I'm not going to break my ankles over this.  I suppose someone with complete 'crankle' can pull it off, but no rush there for me.


Today I hit some more new ones:
Paradox Solo DLO,
Nuclear Solo toe pickup

The ultimate would be to do all of them Pure.

Rooted is not a new concept, but up until now it has only been stumbled upon by players as a bail.  For instance, even when I do a clipper set step plus extra mirage and end with Rooted it 'feels' like a bail.  When it is done intentionally, it adds an element of difficulty to the tricks that have been modified by it, and deserves an add when being counted.   It can be applied to any trick ending on a toe.  Pure Solo Rooted indicates a grab and frozen balance position at the point of the Rooted maneuver.


Watch the movie above to see many examples of Rooted and Pure Solo.  Ran out of battery today, but added a few new tricks to this concept.


-enlightener



Shred notes: 5/23/10
Been xooting at every chance, no time to blog.  Too bad, as I've been skooling hard.  Today is 1250 Days in a row shredding!  I'll be at Great America all day, so it should be fun.  I've been alternating indoors and out, as weather is still unreliable.  Indoors I skool new tricks and experimental stuff, outdoors I skool routines.  I've been through routine with 1 and 2 drops and 80% accuracy several times, and on tape.  I've hit many new tricks recently, at least new for me... 
Phobic symp rooted mirage. 
Rooted atom smasher
Paradox Rooted DLO,
Nuclear Rooted toe pickup

Ever get the feeling you've hit a trick before?

Yesterday, I hit Nuclear Paradox Twirl and Fairy Symp. Mirage on film, many times.  I am not sure that never before in the world of footbag freestyle (hacky-sack) has anyone hit Nuclear Paradox Twirl, NOR am I certain that it deserves the Paradox (but I know it should)... just note it is the opp twirl I do from the side I nuclear set on.  So L clipper set, L let nuclear set, R leg Twirl ending in L clipper again.  I think symposium might be possible too.

Sometimes I wonder if I have hit this move before.  I'm going to search my archives here and my notes otherwise, but I remember Allan H. hitting this before.  Somehow this feels familiar, but I love it!

See ya!
Scott 'Enlightener' Davidson


Shred notes: 5/13/10
Today I nearly hit what I can only describe as: "Pixie set, backside symposium toe blur"  Battery ran out, and I had only gotten close, not quite hit it.  I think I need to finish the 2nd dex faster to get time for the pickup.  If I obsess for too long on any one trick, I risk injury so I have to move on for now.

Note: Epic Fail technical error due to 'fat fingers' on iphone accidentally causing premature publication of a blog post that was barely a draft.  Then no known reason, when I try to type in my browser view of blogger.com on my iphone, it makes every character a capital letter, very strange.  Sorry.

Sometimes Innovation results from 'playing around the pain.'

(New trick - Phobic Symposium Mirage) I have had some weird pains this past week.  The top of my left foot hurt like I had bruised it, but there is no visible bruise nor injury that would explain it.  Before that my right hamstring has been in pain, so I was playing around that pain.  Soon I should be back at 100%, but I still haven't missed a day.  Today is 1234 days in a row shredding hard!  1234 is one of my favorite numbers, it is also one of my favorite times of day.  I like the way this number looks and 'feels'.

I was playing around the left foot pain, which was there especially when I landed hard on that foot, so a lot of tricks hurt.  I decided to skool tricks that didn't stress that foot.  I got into some phobic sets, and stumbled upon a new trick.  Phobic symposium mirage.  So this sets from my left toe, fairy-style but I turn to the right as the footbag travels behind me, then plant right foot and do a symposium mirage ending back on the same left toe I started on.  It sure was fun to get to a new trick (at least, new for me) and I got it on tape too.  I was able to skool it a lot without even stressing the left foot 'bruise'.  This pain has occurred before, so I hope it doesn't come back.

See ya!
-enlightener

Shred notes: 5/7/10
I've been listening to my music over and over during my workouts, and at least half the time skooling my routine for worlds.  Trying to keep a balance between working on advancing my game and still being prepared for worlds.  Not taking it easy because of the little pains I have, just playing around them and taking a bit longer to get warm.

Practice is the mother of innovation in footbag freestyle, Muted (Solo) & Zoid (Rooted)

I practice everyday, and this I believe leads me to innovation in such a natural fluid process that it seems to happen frequently!  I'm very happy about this.

Over the past few days, I've been practicing some concepts that are new to me. Someone told me that one of these concepts was "Muted" but I don't think he was correct after looking at other videos on youtube that mention Muted tricks.

What I have been doing is best described as: "Landing and catching at the same time on the same foot ending a trick" which I would rather call "Solo" or "Soloing" as verb.

I hit Gyro Muted (Solo) DLO and Phobic Muted (Solo) Mirage and tons of other muted (Solo) family members.

I also combined Zoid sets (otherwise may be known as Rooted) with Muted (solo) tricks, on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcciFv21gzA

Another day, another shred... maybe for most people, but today I definitely innovated!

I love the sport of footbag freestyle!

Sometimes clothing determines content for a Footbag freestyle session

Today I forgot to bring shred shorts to Alex's TKD tourney, so I had to shred in board shorts. It's not devastating, but it is a departure from my normal strategy of doing anything I damn well feel like doing. Not to mention that I am playing in public so I have to do longer strings.

Playing in long shorts keeps me from doing most tricks from the ripwalk family so alot of my bread and butter moves get blocked because the area that represents the upward path the Footbag has to take is clogged with fabric.

Today in addition to hitting some nice strings I rehashed an old concept... To set tricks with little mini pendulums. I have done this with many trix in the past, osis, torques and DLO's, and today I added swirl to the mix. Sweet.

Shred notes: 4/25/10
long rake strings, pendulum set swirl. Yesterday I hit Muted Gyro DLO and Muted phobic mirage on tape, film will be on YouTube tonight or tomorrow AM.

Near-innovation! New for me...

After another week of cool temperatures. Making the call between kicking at the low end of my temperature spectrum outdoors, or kicking in the double secret location which is temperature controlled but limited on space and has slippery floors. The results were mixed, but when I did go outdoors yesterday I stumbled on a concept that I had never tried before called "Muted."

Of course, I thought I had innovated again, but in the back of my head I thought I had heard of this before. It is when you land and catch the trick on the same toe, no support leg. I hit Muted gyro mirage first, which led me to:
Muted Blur, Muted DLO both sides, and all kinds of tricks that I thought were innovations.

I did have one burst of freshness when I combined a Muted Blur with an immediate Zoid set butterfly. Now that I think about it, the ultimate would be a Zoid set trick ending in a Muted delay. I'll try that tomorrow. Today was 1220 days in a row shredding!

Shred notes: 4/23/10
I have been getting some great runs through the routine, very promising. Also have had some successes getting warm in the cold outdoors, against all odds.

-This is not your fathers' Hacky Sack!
Footbag Freestyle

The day of the duck!

Today I skooled Ducking related footbag freestyle tricks. I got warm and then started doing ducking butterflies and I decided to dedicate this session to ducking and diving, today was the day of the Duck! Glad I did.

I have been skooling my routine lately and I feel like I have been neglecting the 'pushing my game' part. And today, while skooling ducking tricks, innovation struck again. Well, I bet a few others have hit this, but not many. Zulu Paradox Symposium Whirl! That is L clipper set up past left ear, down over right ear and symposium paradox whirl in the remaining time ending on rt. clipper. The zulu makes the diving part happen quickly. I think I'll publish a video on this, gotta get it on video tomorrow then.

Shred notes: 4/19/10
Ducks, Zulu Paradox Symposium Whirl.

Clearly focused on ambiguous goals!

I've established that I get more from a jam session when I have a clear goal. But that is not always the case, sometimes I just flow with the music, get warm and see what happens. Kinda like the funky chicken method... just get into the music and it will be good.

For example, today I am still sore from a past injury, not sure where I'd be able to get to today. I got warm and worked on a few phobic sets and two innovations came to me. Phobic spinning cross body rake, and Phobic spinning paradox whirl (same). I have now hit both of them, AND both sides "Fairy Reverse swirl." As I shred every day, I've noticed that I approach every jam differently. Sometimes based on my mood, and attitude. While I'd love to have a specific goal to work on each day, I'm just not that structured of a person. I'd rather jam, let it flow and see what happens when I don't have specific goals. So while I love the experience of shredding, sometimes just playing is the reward, and some of those times lead to the greatest moments of innovation. Today is 1,182 in a row of serious shredding. Happy for every moment.

On another note:
A funny thing happened a few weeks ago, I kicked my most recent freedom footbag (orange and blue) onto a light fixture out of reach of my shortness. So today, after my jam session, I went on a break and ducked into my double secret shred spot to make a call and eat some grub. I knew if I waited long enough, it would still be there, and I had clearly waited long enough. There was a leak in the ceiling and a worker left a ladder just 20 feet from where I needed it. So I got my footbag back, just had to be patient.

Footbag Freestyle - This is not your father's hacky sack!

Shred notes:
Fairy (same) Whirling X-body rake, both sides! Plus everything mentioned above happened in the past few days. Also wore a pedometer for 3 days, had 4000 steps on day 1, but on day 2 I xooted to work and wore it while I worked out and hit 6000. On day 3, I xooted to and from work, and wore the damn thing during my jam and still only hit 6600.

New Trick? Blender ending in cross-body sole? "Splendor"

In the process of working on Whirr sets, I realized it is the perfect set to do a blender ending in a cross-body sole! Hit it my first two tries. Has anyone hit Blender ending in X-body sole? I call it "Splendor," that is if I have the right to name it. I think it is a perfect name. I'll film it and post it soon. I love this sport.

Shred notes: 2/15/10
Got two jams in today. Skooled the hell out of soliosis, both sides. Small area, living room cluttered, still had some good strings. I don't know what made me do the 2nd session, just felt like it. And as it turned out, that was when I hit the first "Splendor" tricks. Side note, during the second jam, felt the lower back pain I have been getting every morning if I sleep more than 6 hours. Solution, don't sleep more than 6 hours at a time.