Health and Fitness Videos

Seeing as I don’t have cable here at my apartment at school, I have to get pretty creative with TV watching.  I think I’ve watched Jane Eyre about 16 times, plus Pride and Prejudice (the 6 hour BBC special) about 5 times, and the entire 7 seasons of Gilmore Girls.  On the bright side, this leaves me with lots of time for other more productive things but, still, a girl likes to relax in front of the tv sometimes!  So here are some things I’ve been watching lately (or could watch) that are health and fitness related!  Hulu  is my new best friend

Supersize Me

This is a documentary that follows a man who decides to only eat McDonald’s for 1 month.  He has a team of doctors and nutritionists who help to monitor to him during this month.  He starts off as a relative healthy adult and slowly starts to go right down the drain.  By the end of the month, all his medical and fitness stats are leading toward a completely unhealthy adult.

While this is very interesting to watch, I felt it was a little biased.  He had rules and he became sedentary to model the typical American (they talk about this) but I think he also skews his results by ordering very badly (the nutritionist scolds him for the amount of milkshakes he orders).  But it is very interesting to watch and fascinating to see how his body reacts to all the junk!

Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead

This documentary follows a man who decides to juice for 60 days (juice = drinking juice only).  He loses an insane amount of weight and seems to become rather healthy in that time.  I believe he was also working out because he would be a lot more saggy otherwise.  This one is rather inspiring and may make you want to juice now and then!  Or you know, just eat a lot more veggies.  But for the inspiration to lose weight, this one is totally worth it.

Food Inc (Trailer)

This one I don’t have a link for   But it is totally worth paying to rent it!!  It features Michael Pollen in the movie as a commentator and the movie reminds me of his book In Defense of Food.  This one basically goes into our food industry and how they handle food.  You’ll never eat another chicken nugget again (ok, well maybe only occasionally).  But processed burgers?  Would you like some ammonia with that?

Spirit of the Marathon

I had auto play on while watching Supersize Me the other night and this movie came on after!  How lucky!  It is basically a documentary following various people that are preparing for the Chicago Marathon, from elite runners to back-of-the-packers.  If you have ever thought about or have run a marathon, you should watch this!  It is extremely inspiring, I actually teared up at certain points!  It also shows you that you aren’t the only crazy person running 20 miles on a Saturday morning.  Definitely worth watching!  And be amused by some of the comments on Hulu, especially from the guy who said that only elite runners are marathoners and everyone else should stay home.  Yeah, he was a real winner with the rest of the people who commented…

My Run (Trailer)

This one I saw last year with a friend when they featured it at our local movie theater.  I think we were the only 2 there to actually watch it.  Anyway, this is a documentary about a man who, in honor of his wife who died of cancer, and to raise money, decides to run from his home to the Olympics in Atlanta.  This broke down to approximately 75 marathons in 75 days.  The movie is more moving than anything else and to see what he goes through.  Did I mention he’s really not in very good shape when he starts?

Why We Run

This one is on my “to watch” list.  If you have read Born to Run, you know about the Tarahumara and their incredible running skills.  This documentary delves into their culture as told by the members of the tribe themselves.  I think you needed to have read the book in order to appreciate this but perhaps not (since I haven’t watched it yet).  I’m sure its inspiring and a nice look into a culture that probably hasn’t changed much in a few hundred years!

Some other things that are available online to watch are Biggest Loser Season 13, A Shot at Glory (follows Olympic hopefuls), 2008 Ironman World Championship, and The Future of Food.  Workouts include: 8 Workouts from Self Magazine, Workouts from Giam, Exercise TV videos, and many others in the Health and Wellness section on Hulu.  I’ve also got my favorites to watch on Youtube like the Crossfit Games and Ninja Warrior.  I’ll keep hunting down fun things to watch.  This is enough overwhelm you guys for now!

Quick workout update.  Yesterday was going great!  And then my downstairs neighbor interrupted.  Apparently I was being too noisy and she was going to bed within the hour (it was like 7:00).  I told her I would be done in less than a half hour.  Did this mean I had to be quiet now?  Either way, the interruption and the “do I need to be quiet?” thought just killed the rest of my workout.  I still torched calories but I was really pushing it and then lost my steam    On the *really* bright side, I did real push ups yesterday!  Multiple times!!!  I am getting stronger!!!!  Woohoo!