Ace intro:
"Jessica kicks off her summer series of videos with exercises to effectively train and strengthen the abdominal muscles. Adding the bicycle maneuver, vertical leg crunch, plank, prone walk out and stability ball pull-in to your exercise program will have you feeling good and looking great.

Video Contents -- 2:17 length
0:18 -- Bicycle Maneuver
0:55 -- Vertical Leg Crunch
1:10 -- Forearm Plank
1:40 - Prone Walkout
1:47 - Stability Ball Pull-in "

My commentary:
The road noise is unaccaptable for a professional demonstration by a large organization like ACE, I would expect it from garage guys work out, not someone I pay money to make these videos. However the movements are correct and those are excellent ab exercises for deconditioned people. You can use them to warm up, and/or part of cool down. I use elbow to knee "air bike" warm up in the morning. I would skip plank for reverse hyper extension to warm up the low back.

The best part of this video is how he demonstrated the lying elbow to knee/air bike, that was pretty much perfect. My research shows this to be a big bang for buck exercise.

HUMMMM.. With all the election stuff, seems all over blog land people are asking and thinking about character, morals, & ethics. News reports of "family values" politicians playing around with call girls, and stuff. CEOs looting company assets and retirement plans to line their own pockets.  Politicians making promises we know are bogus, but yet allow them to do their plan, and somehow forget to hold them to their half.

Like with Clinton (the mister) as soon as you think of him, you then go right to the Monica thing.  Though neither he or she ( the misses) will confirm it, some folks who are personally close to the Clintons imply they have an open marriage. That changes the rules alot. Except you should not play at work, geez. 

It seems with politicians, and those who are looking to romantically date or simply befriend someone it is like you are extending "character credit."   Then with a normal marriage the wave of euphoria wears off, and you realized you married a human, who can drive you up a wall.  Then politicians to dumb human things, other do down right dirty illegal things feeling they are above the law. Reality sets in over time no matter what.

Watching westerns character was a big part of the story.  Back then people fought and died over reputation, honor, and the like. Many samurai stories adapted well as westerns because of that theme.  A John Wayne character saying "me and him go back a long ways" said a lot more than just the words. 

Seems the only real truth is action. There is truth in dishonest action. What someone does day to day is the reality of who they are. People do first what is important to them, the rest is just details. Some guy who says his wife and kids are important, but is at the bar until 11 every night, makes you wonder. Where a guy who is at home with his family never has to say anything. 

In fitness you know how much time we spend talking about fitness? HAHAHA! If people could move their bodies as much as they move their mouths we would be the healthiest nation on the planet.  We could run the Kenyans into the ground, and out lift the Eastern Europeans.

I wonder how many stupid sob stories judges get from repeat offenders? How sorry, how stupid, how it will never happen again, three arrests ago.  Maybe I could get on the pop culture bandwagon with my life coaching, and market instant character repair. Here you are now a good person on a silver platter, yippy hurray!  "Here is Betty, she used to do drugs and beat her kids, but after 30 days on my program, she is a saint."  I think part of who we are is the restitution we pay others and to our selves. Like fitness, I have no magic bullets.

As I got older, maybe not wiser, but definitely older, I find it rewarding to walk the walk.  I am so far from a saint it is ridiculous but I do believe there are certain things we must challenge ourselves to do and to become to be human beings.  Pop culture talks of building self esteem, and helping others build theirs. That comes from real accomplishments. No you can not be the best and fastest all the time, but you can get yourself to the game. If you do what it takes day in and day out the odds say you have to come out a head.  If you do what you feel passionate about you really can't lose.

 

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.
You cannot build character and courage by destroying men's initiative and independence.
And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.
William J. H. Boetcker (1873 – 1962)

Well 2007 was generally a sucky year. All that I had planned fell through. However have have really enjoyed these last six weeks, with the exception of a troll attack. The holidays this year were better than the past few years.  Of course the family is healthy, no disease or car wrecks, so that is always something to be grateful for. Anyways My new years resolutions.

First is I am going to relax and "smell the roses" more. Lately I feel as if I am looking or waiting for something. I will get somewhere, and am ready to move on, or I will start to read a book or something, and it seems I cant get into it fast enough. I want all the concepts in my mind by osmosis or something.  The whole point is to take in the whole experience. So I will just have to buckle down and focus on tasks at hand, one step at a time, and I will enjoy the ride, and the destination.

Next I will be conscious to avoid and minimize idiots. I should say toxic people, those who take the joy and energy out of a room as soon as they walk in, or troll the internet. If it is not a change of plans I will avoid them. When near then I will just not accept any invitation to do battle. They are like quicksand toxic people are. Once you realize their true intension you are waist deep in muck, and even once you get out and get away you are still covered in muck. They fire a barrage of distraction issues that any normal person will try and fight fair. The true intent is to get everyone to to waste time and energy on them, they get their jollies by seeing how much time, attention, and emotion you will waste on them. They have no true passion for any issue or truth.  By simply not playing they will fire sour grapes insults, but will soon go away because they must find attention, it is who they are. Stupid people are like bugs on a windshield, a pain in the neck fact of life. 

Third I am already close to my family, but I would like to enjoy more time with them. Our daughter is becoming quite a conversationalist, and our son starts JR High, and the teen stuff starts earlier and earlier all the time. Drugs and sex are issues already, geez!  Spouse person will have more time, so I can bug her more, and pelt her with nerf guns.

Fourth, I am going to start my training business full bore this year. I am targeting April 15th. I have been doing casual and informal training. Someone we know gets a bow flex or something and need help with it. Or someone who knows someone hired a trainer, and want to know what I think of the program. I am also going to open my business exactly as I visioned from the start. If other trainers go ballistic so be it. I am not lowering the market value, nor am I embarrassing the profession. I think their over charging is the shame.  Handicapped, seniors, and the poor need a plan to better well being as much as the millionaires. Since public funding of health care is a reality, any help I can offer the system is a good thing. I do need to pay the rent and such, but I can make a living with out taking blood from others.  I went to school and set my life around my family and business philosophy, I would rather be busy than saying I make $70.00 and hour while nobody calls.  Also I believe that a persons career is an important part of who they are. A rewarding career is a huge step to happiness. Maybe that is why often moral at fast food places can be so bad, people are not pursuing their true passion and purpose.

Finally I want to continue my Keep It Simple Stupid philosophy.  Stay near the heart of things and not be distracted by fluff details. Such as even a $100,000 super luxury cars still need fuel, air and timed spark to run just like a $200 clunker.  The football team that blocks and tackles better that opponents usually wins game. Spending more than comes in leads to debt, eating more calories than you burn leads to fat, you know simple logical conclusions and reaction to actions.  Keeping it simple minimizes the law of unintended consequences.

SO my new years resolutions are nothing new, but to keep on keeping on.