Law Tech: Practice Fitness.

I was in the administration office of a county courthouse waiting for a settlement conference and was standing there looking at an old photo collection of members of the local Bar Association. Another lawyer standing next to me was also viewing the photo montage and he said: "The only problem with this is that most of these lawyers are dead!" He then proceeded to identify each deceased lawyer (all men) as he pointed to each one. I then began calculating the relative age of the men in the photos given the year they were taken and realized that most of these guys could not have been that old when they died. It occurred to me that perhaps the practice of law had contributed to the early demise of these members of the Bar! Whether this is true or not, my observations at the courthouse that day often come to mind whenever I'm thinking about health, longevity and the positives of exercise as they relate to the practice of law.

So this post is about the form of exercise that I have gotten to know fairly recently and which has really raised my level of fitness. Excuse me if you must, as I have gotten a bit evangelistic about it. I have always bicycled outside and inside (stationary bike) on a fairly casual basis, so a few years ago I thought I'd try a 'spin' class at my local health club. At my first class, I was a bit dizzy after about a half-hour of spinning. However, I kept with it and now spin about an hour or two (interval training) four times a week starting at 5:30 a.m. The central equipment for me is a LeMond RevMaster and an attached Pilot which monitors time, cadence, mileage, calories burned and heart rate (you also need a chest strap for heart rate). This is the equipment at the health club that I go to but there are also other products either for purchase or club use. One of the other key things about spinning is that you can sync the cadence or rotation of the bike's pedals to the music that is playing (either from studio speakers or your Mp3 player) which provides strong motivation as you try to match tempo. One can stand or sit when spinning. I have never found music to be that helpful for running (either outside or on a treadmill) as each stride is associated with the pounding to the feet and joints and does not equate very well to the beat of music. Spinning, however, is a whole different story. If you are looking for great exercise (burning 500-1200 calories per hour) and have not tried it yet, I would highly recommend spinning to everyone and in particular, to you lawyers out there. It will clear your mind and provide the endurance you will need for your practice as well as walking those hills in Seattle.