My favorite gym ever was in an old car-repair garage. It still had oil stains on the cement floor. Most of the equipment had some degree of rust on it. But the guys who trained there worked out *hard*, and it was infectious.

When you say “blocks”, are you talking about the equivalent of a Manhattan east-west, or north-south? There’s a lot of variation in what’s called a “block”, and that’s quite a big difference.

But in any case, if walking 9 or 10 blocks puts you off, maybe you should start just walking 9 or 10 blocks on a regular basis…

To some extent. But no degree of convenience in location will, for me, make up for a crappy selection of weights/benches/bars/power racks, etc. The only reason I go to a gym is to use stuff I don’t have room for at home. I’ll go well out of my way for a good selection of dumbbells, etc. (especially multiple sets, so…

From standing it’s really hard to avoid the temptation to assist with a little push from your knees and/or toes (in addition to the temptation to “kip”, as noted above). Kneeling removes both elements from the equation – giving you a kind of automatically strict form.

I am like this by nature myself. Virtually everything becomes terribly nostalgic for me when I think about disposing of it. It’s a struggle to be ruthless; it feels good when I can manage it, but for some reason it never gets any easier.

I do the same sort of thing, except I hang them with the hooks reversed. I forget where I got that from; probably Lifehacker.

I have the same experience, except I mainly notice the reverse; rather than noticing feeling cold, I notice that I don’t mind the heat as much when I have less body fat. Not surprising, really. (I tend to get hot easily, in general, and don’t usually mind cold at anything other than really extreme levels, so this also…

Good to know.

Thanks. Yeah, it seems like Jawbone has the edge for detail in sleep tracking, although the ability to quickly check the time on my wrist if I wake up in the night, as the Fitbit would provide, does seem like a plus. Do you have experience with using the Jawbone as a silent alarm? If so, does the “smart alarm” make a…

That was my thinking exactly, but I tried a ton of suggestions and nothing worked, and there was zero support from the company. What’s your phone? I’m on an iPhone 5s with the latest version of iOS installed. A lot of people on forums seemed to be having similar problems.

Thanks, that’s helpful information. As an aside, 4 1/2 hours? I hope either that’s not a usual night or you’re getting some serious napping in somewhere.

This is timely, as I’ve been shopping for fitness trackers for exactly this reason (actually I just sent back a Mi Band, a cheap Chinese thing that I bought to be just a silent alarm but which wouldn’t pair with my phone and was thus useless).

Nice, but they leave out perhaps my favorite kettlebell exercises: 2-KB clean-to-press, and alternating“renegade rows” interspersed with pushups on the KBs! Throw in some pull-ups and squats (possibly incorporating the latter between the clean and the press), and you’ve got all of your major motions covered: vertical…

I was wondering the same thing. A hoarder, perhaps.

A full-sized Mag-Lite is exactly what I have by my bed at home, but there’s no way I’m going to weigh down my luggage with one of those beasts. Carry a “walking stick” if you want to always have a cudgel (keep that by the bed, too), and just use a mini Mag-Lite for actual flashlight purposes.

You should update that app sometime.

Yeah, that's pretty much me. I'm a chronic procrastinator, but I'm generally pretty chill about it. I only freak out when I forget about something important until it's due (or, in the worst cases, already past due).

Yes! The breakfast scene at a diner’s counter is exactly the same kind of camaraderie, with coffee substituted for booze. (I used to work at one when I was in college.)

At our home, the motto is “When in doubt... let Dad eat it.” I can’t abide the waste of food, and have a fairly iron stomach. Besides completely ignoring sell-by and best-before dates, I eat all kinds of stuff that FDA guidelines say I absolutely shouldn’t, to no noticeable ill effect. With the wife and baby we are…

Are you thinking of nonstick? That looks to be cast iron. I don't think there's any reason not to use metal on cast iron, or stainless steel either, for that matter.