Tag: fitness

Win the Hand, Lose the Tournament

JulianLeave a comment

“You already want. Want at the right level.”

Somehow, moving 6,205 lbs in 45 minutes is easier than moving 0 lbs.

My life was forever changed when I encountered this idea in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics: 

  • Virtue is formed through habitual, repeated actions.

In college, I focused on habit formation. Routine is simple – and for me, can be easy: “Every day” is often easier than five days per week. Habit is a valuable default. 

But sometimes, excellence requires non-habit. Sometimes, wanting to win can make you lose.

Know When to Fold ‘Em 

The hunger that makes you a cutthroat poker player can also lose you tournaments. 

In many poker tournament situations, the winning move is to fold. There are plenty of spots where one has the guaranteed best hand yet the proper move is folding! (E.g. pocket aces with a short stack on a tournament bubble when multiple other players are all-in.) 

The fastest way to lose a fortune at poker is over-bluffing. 

Give up on this hand. Find a better spot.

Know When to Walk Away

The strategy that makes you a skilled weightlifter also exacerbates your injuries. 

Ten years ago, I bulged a disc in my spine. 

Three weeks ago, I re-activated the same injury. I paused deadlifts and squats, only returning to them 3 days ago. My sciatica flared up again. I stopped.

In the long term, one day without lifting doesn’t matter. One week wouldn’t matter. A re-injury could bench me for life. 

Wanting to lift weights makes you a good weightlifter. But wanting to lift weights can also make you a permanently-bad weightlifter.

Know When to Run

For the next 6 weeks, any lifts involving my back would be “rolling the dice”. Contrary to popular opinion, I don’t like gambling: I like situations where gambling leads to an edge. 

This isn’t one. Today, I’m taking a rest day from the gym.

Count Your Money When the Dealin’s Done

The game isn’t one poker hand. The game is long-term winning. 

The game isn’t today’s weightlifting. The game is long-term health. 

These intellectual reframes – “it’s not about this hand” and “it’s not about lifting today” – can have cascading effects. They relax your mind. They create new patience. 

Today I will take a rest day. And each second when I’m not lifting weights, I will remind myself I’m getting stronger.

Treadmills (Feb 28 2026) 

JulianLeave a comment

Criticism is best spoken directly to the creators. 

Tonight I experienced excellent performance art. Insightful observations, beautifully executed. What follows is my letter to its creators: 

My Dearest Pony Cam, 

Thank you for a guffaw-provoking show. I enjoyed it from the Chef’s Table this evening. Both my partner (a trick-or-treating ghost) and I (the diner in the blue hat) will speak very highly of your show to our friends and family. 

After leaving and discussing the show with another group of patrons (they recognized me as I was passing their dinner table two blocks away), I have one observation/suggestion for you to think about. 

I see merit in the show’s ending (the explicit Ok Go reference, alongside the dance performance of that video). I think that the dance would benefit from a clearer host-to-audience emotional framing before it happens. 

  • Is it cheeky self-aware appreciation of the lineage of treadmill performance art (“That’s the best we can do with treadmills. And here’s the second best…”? 
  • Is it self-effacing (“We know when you return to work on Monday you’ll need some way to tell your colleagues what you saw. You’ll say, “Four people performing on treadmills.” They’ll say, “Oh, like the OKGO music video?” And you’ll say “Yes, exactly like that.” [Cue dance])? 

The dance performance felt like an unframed homage. And, after such a beautifully constructed show, it felt like watching an innovative troupe ending with a cover. (Imagine Pink Floyd just ending a concert with a cover (but not making it clear why)). Even just a “We really want to acknowledge our roots” would change the experience, giving that dance meaning rather than only spectacle and (for some people) nostalgia. 

Depending on what you’re trying to achieve with the treadmill section, I could imagine a few different framings. I’d love to chat more about your goal here and brainstorm ideas.

Happy to chat about it more, as well as any other aspects of my experience of the show. (And to misuse the idiom, feel free to tell me to go fuck spiders 🙂 Hope this observation is helpful! 

Thanks for a great night!

Julian 

[My phone number] 

But the People are Reasonable (Feb 10 2026)

JulianLeave a comment

In which Our Hero continues acquiring junk.  

Lack of scams… As yet. 

Yesterday, I bought a Peloton. The owner highlighted the three parts of the screen that are slightly buggy. They provided a discount of ~90% off retail, equivalent to ~50% off the going rate for used ones in NYC. 

I’m a big fan of Peloton. I’ve used a friend’s at his home. It’s exactly the sort of exercise I enjoy on an approximately-daily basis. I’ve been tracking the used market for the last few weeks. 

Spotting this one while my truck-having friend was in town: ‘twas a no-brainer. 

At pickup, I rotated the pedals and twisted the resistance knob: a check just in case. 

When I arrived home and plugged it in, the item booted up fine. I left it to go to sleep. 

The next day, it wouldn’t turn on. The power light blinked. Peculiar. 

I used the Peloton website to perform some basic troubleshooting. The results suggested I may require a new power cable. I ordered one (with a 30-day return window) to arrive tomorrow. 

I also messaged the seller with these diagnostics, asking if they had experienced this issue. They said they had not, but they asked me to keep them appraised. The tone of their replies suggest that 1) they want me to have a good experience, and 2) if there is an issue, they’d probably refund me something for it. 

Thusfar, I’ve bought 3 items from New Yorkers. (Admittedly this couple is technically in West New York, a city in… New Jersey!) And all of them have gone above and beyond with support and help. 

New York is perhaps the first place I’ve lived that has actually felt like a community.