Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The Battlestar Galactica Workout

So, confession time.
No, not like St. Augustine.

I don't spend money on gym memberships or things like that, but even my freestyle exercising can cost money. Especially when I run out of motivation.

When the inner slug waxes wroth and kicks my motivation down the street and into the neighbor's recyclable bin, I tend to bring out the heavy guns re: exercise motivation. In other words, I go shopping.

As a Luddite, my inclination is to ignore anything new. That includes the "hot" TV shows... at least until they've had time to cool off. But after years of denial, I finally watched the TV series Battlestar Galactica. I needed something to watch while I did the elliptical, so I downloaded the first season and watched them while I pedaled.

If you've never seen the show, it's got a lot of conflict and tension. That is a great way to make the time pass while you're exercising. Anyone have any other tense TV shows or movies that help with the workout?


Exercise du jour: 2 miles around Nike. Hopefully at a nice, brisk pace. Maybe I should try to watch a TV show on my iPod while jogging around the trail. Or maybe not. I can just see the headlines. (News at 10: woman injures herself while jogging. "We told her to use a treadmill," friends say.)

Done! Weird -- awful run, hated it. Still faster than the other day. Except that for some reason my knee is bugging me.

Page from Augustine of Hippo's Confessions courtesy of Tomisti.
Cylon courtesy of Fernando Estel.

8 comments:

C said...

My sister loves BG.

I recommend the Lord of the Rings movies. I've never read the books and it took me forever to finally see the movies, but I quite enjoy them now.

AM! said...

Huh. would have never tried to watch it. maybe i will now..;-)
also, had to reach out and let you know my dear lil’ blog www.goalsfortheweek domain name expired and was taken by some search engine computer this week. AGH!!! I’m so sad! So I just procured www.goals4theweek.com and am trying to pass it along to all my bloggy friends out there. So please, please ‘follow’ me now there. THX! It feels so weird to not be linked up in blogland! and sorry if you see this comment all over the place, I'm just trying to reach out to bloggy peeps.

azusmom said...

What a frackin' good show!

I'm a "Doctor Who" fan, myself, but I'll watch any decent SF. As long as there aren't any huge bugs in it. Which cuts down on my choices pretty significantly, actually...

Good call on leaving your iPod behind. Did you happen to see the footage of a woman who walked into a fountain at the mall while texting? She's OK, but that security footage (from different angles, even!) is all over YouTube!

Kelly the Happy Texan said...

Running and watching a movie on the track may not be the best idea. :)

If I have to do the treadmill I like to watch Ellen. She cracks me up. Not much drama or conflict but it makes the time pass.

JavaChick said...

I have treadmilled my way through Dark Angel and Farscape. Have recently been re-watching Remmington Steele, which I remember loving as a teenager, and years later it is still pretty entertaining.

I actually have the original Battlestar Galactica series on DVD - which was a childhood favorite - and the new one as well. I watched most of the new one while it was airing, but missed the last season. Must get to watching that.

Gina Fit by 41 Maybe 42 said...

I'm a "Dexter" fan. Addict, actually. Lots of tension. It's also good for curbing the appetite.

Keith said...

I remembered the horrific BG from the 70's, and that put me off the new series. Remakes in general put me off, period. Then I saw the poster with Tricia Helfer in a red dress draped all over some lucky guy and started to rethink my position. Then someone I trusted told me it was good. Really good. It is, I chewed through it all in record time. My main thought is wondering how much of a discount James Callis applied to whatever fee he normally gets.

I don't watch TV so by the time shows filter through to me most of the crap is gone.
Lost is pretty good.
Started watching Torchwood and am enjoying it. (Dr. Who spin off, but better)
Sanctuary I haven't made up my mind about. Amanda Tapping in a show is a big plus, but it seems a bit formulaic.
My wife likes MI5 but that's too tense for me.
Firefly is good, but there isn't much of it, and the same is true of Sarah Conner Chronicles.
I'm getting a big kick out of True Blood.
Rome, if you like historical shows, was superb!

Andrea @ The Skinny Chronicles said...

A brilliant post, on so many levels. My favorite shows to watch that keep me on the edge of my seat: Dexter, Big Love, and while not super edgy, McLeods Daughters (Australian soap opera delish on Netflix). Good luck.