We purchased a Peloton just a few weeks before we all went into quarantine last March. I must admit I was skeptical. I walk and shoot hoops when I can, but I have never regularly used any sort of exercise machine. The technology is what first piqued my interest in a Peloton. The more I read about the features and the way it worked, the more it appealed to me. I also knew that my Peloton couldn’t be in the garage or somewhere out of sight, it needed to be inside the house where I would pass by it several times a day. It took a little work to persuade my wife that it belonged in the music room, but I eventually prevailed. Our Peloton was delivered during the first week of the pandemic. The delivery people assembled it in our driveway and we had to bring it into the house ourselves. I looked at the Peloton app today, and saw that I have completed 141 workouts in a span of less than 10 months. That’s roughly a workout every other day. After being out of commission for about a month with COVID, I am back in my routine, and completed 5 workouts this week. They were short workouts, only 20 minutes each, but I will need a few weeks to build back up to where I was in early December doing 60-minute workouts. The high-intensity workouts are what I need the most. I recently read that people my age who do at least 3 high-intensity workouts per week have a much lower predisposition for serious illness like a stroke and cardiovascular problems. I think about those things more these days, as I should. Pelotons aren’t cheap, which is why I told Kathy if we get one it has to be in the house because that is the only way I can be certain I will use it. It has definitely been one of the things helping us get through the pandemic. Now I need to cut back on the wine.
By definition, unintended consequences are the results of an action different from what was expected or planned. They are often referenced in relation to changes in policies. I have heard the term used for years, primarily related to government policies. Still, I didn’t realize until recently that much has been written on the subject, and most experts believe that there are three categories of unintended consequences:
I once read that sports are a universal language. Regardless of ethnicity or what language you speak, almost everyone speaks sports. No place has that been more evident than the Olympics, where every four years, we are moved by images of athletic rivals from around the world shaking hands and embracing each other in moving displays of sportsmanship.
Happy Easter! The blog will resume on April 7, 2024.