Fitness gadgetry

They've added a second fitness center at work, as part of the overall expansion of our campus. It's smaller than the existing gym, but it has some new pieces of equipment that our original gym lacks. I got to try out a few today.

The first was a self-propelled treadmill. Instead of having a motor that drives the belt, the motion of the user's feet drives the belt. This means that it adjusts automatically to the user's speed and stride length, which I found was both an advantage and a disadvantage. Lengthen your stride a bit, and you can suddenly find the belt going a lot faster. I think it'll actually take a bit of practice for me to be able to run at a nice steady pace on one.

The second was a VersaClimber. Which is a bit like a stair-stepping machine, but with handles that you can grab so that it sort of mimics the motion of climbing a ladder. This is potentially a great full body aerobic workout and great cross-training for climbing if I can get the hang of it. Keeping your body stable on a machine where all four of your limbs are hanging on to things that are moving requires both coordination and core strength, which are not things I have in abundance. I'll have to practice with it.

They opened the new fitness area before they actually moved anyone into the offices in the building it's in, so right now it's also blessedly uncrowded. I figure I ought to be able to enjoy at least a couple of weeks of being able to VersaClimb to my heart's content before everyone else figures out it's here.

Music Monday: Lacuna Coil

On Saturday, I went and saw Candlelight Red, Lacuna Coil, Coal Chamber, and Sevendust at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco. I might get around to posting a longer review later, but it was a great show all around, though I particularly enjoyed Candlelight Red and Lacuna Coil.

I got a couple of halfway decent photos of Lacuna Coil. Here's my favorite:


The sound at the show was excellent, but also very loud, so unsurprisingly I haven't seen any audience-shot footage that sounds remotely bearable. So, instead, I'll include the official video for "Spellbound", a Lacuna Coil song that has actually never been one of my favorites, but which I found myself really enjoying when they played it on Saturday.