Using iTunes to get in shape

I'm one of the ones going to seed. Like many worker bees my behind grows with every year behind the desk. I might have some impressive upper arms from lifting machines, but almost everything else that was pert and toned 7 years ago is now covered in comfortable cushion.

My darling husband bought me an iPod classic for Christmas last year. Before then I'd touched iTunes once and swore never again. Sadly, Media Monkey's support for my LOTRO shuffle didn't extend to my new shiny toy. I was forced into iTunes.

And though I still loathe iTunes (especially on Vista) I'm growing slowly more addicted to the amount of free content available in the store. At first I couldn't understand the point of video on a music device. Until I realized how great the quality is becoming. And everyone knows about podcasts, but the quality is variable. And really, who wants to listen to voice over directions?

But the combination of video and podcast created something entirely beyond entertainment. I can download a yoga class to watch in my living room, without having to shell out money for a work out video of questionable quality, or make time to hit the nearest gym and get my ankles stuck in my armpits in front of the already limber and lithe. I can contort in the privacy of my own home.

I started today with a podcast from Yogadownload.com. Overwhelmingly, the experience was good. The instructions were clear, the poses were easy to understand. The poses themselves were still images that corresponded with the audio file, but that actually made it easier to understand. I find a lot of workout videos tend to move very quickly, with the instructor cheerfully shouting as you pant, stumble and hit your head on the radiator.

What would be a useful addition, at least for downloading, would be some kind of guideline for ability. I've done yoga before, though I'm not proficient by any means, and I stumbled a few times. That's the beauty of classes though, you get better with time.

Yogadownload.com

Walking around in.... Manchester.

Over the last few months I've been thinking it might be more efficient to use some leg power to change stations during my commute. My three-legged monstrosity, proof that transport planners in Manchester used cockroaches with paint on their legs and a big map of another city to sort the Metrolink/train connections out, contains many opportunities for mishap. I thought perhaps if I cut one of those connections out and used my own you know, body, to get around, then I might be on time for work and home more.

My commute usually goes: Wigan via Atherton/Salford Crescent/Deansgate/Eccles. It's the shortest time between the three using rail and Metrolink. Supposedly it's fairly efficient and virtually foolproof. But then the Manchester Airport train shows up with only two carriages or the trams are delayed by 25 minutes. Sadly, I can't cut out the Metrolink or Wigan via Atherton portion of my journey. Both are non-negotiable. The bus system into Manchester and out to Salford Quays is probably about 20x worse than the trains and trams. And that's due to having to deal with Manchester traffic. But there is one leg I can cut out and that's the connection from Salford Crescent to Deansgate, or from Victoria to the Eccles line.

I gave it a shot this morning and managed to make the 9:14 tram to Eccles. That's a damned rarity when attempting to use the Manchester Airport connection or trams from Victoria. By my estimate I managed to get to St. Peter's Square from Salford Central at around 9:04, roughly 10 minutes from when my train arrived. I was curious though, what's actually the nearest Metrolink station on foot?

I consulted Google Maps as a first point of call and discovered all directions are for driving folks. Not very helpful, except for seeing where things are on a map. I did some searches, hoping for some estimated walking times. No go. I then consulted the ladies of the loos and received loads of answers.

The first was a guide to London, Birmingham and Edinburgh called Walk It. The point of this being people need to move more and due to the functional nature of London's tube map, no one actually knows where anything is. If you provide pedestrian maps, people will use the tube less, get more exercise and see a little bit more of London and other cities. No doubt they'll have a Manchester up there soon.

The second was multimap's walking option. Which sounded like exactly what I needed. Except it's quite poorly implemented.



The walking directions are supposedly there on the right. Except you can't see a significant portion of them, they're covered by er, words. For the life of me I couldn't figure out how to get rid of that text box.

The next one, discovered and recommended simultaneously via the loos and a post on the bradlands blog was the Gmap pedometer. Using this I can plot out the distance between two points and how many calories I've burned by walking it. According to Fun Trivia it takes around 17 minutes to walk a mile at a leisurely pace. So, .69 miles comes to about 11 minutes. If I'd stayed on the train the GMPTE journey planner tells me it takes about 20 minutes by train and tram.

This sorts out another issue I've been contemplating. I don't have a whole lot of time to get to the gym. And girly magazines always suggest getting off the bus or whatever one stop earlier. Not really a possibility for me since my nearest tram stop is across the canal. But with 20 minutes more exercise every day, especially first thing in the morning, I might just get off my lazy behind yet.