Finding Time To Do It All

Vibram Five Fingers: Observations

I love my Vibram Five Fingers shoes.  I've mentioned before that I have several pair of them and I adore them.  But there is one thing that so many people talk about, that I have not encountered directly... the infamous VFF stench.

This is going to sound weird but mine don't stink.  I have six pair of VFFs. I wear them to work, I wear them on the weekends.  I wear them when the pavement is too hot to run barefoot.  In short, I don't just wear them when it's cold, and my feet surely sweat in them like they do in any other shoes (other than sandals, they are all I wear).  In the winter I wear socks (with only one pair; they are the only ones big enough to accommodate socks).  The rest, no socks.

My VFFs don't smell any worse than my other shoes (meaning my husband can stick his nose in, take a deep whiff, and say, "smells like a shoe").  I'm not saying they don't smell worn; I'm saying they don't smell bad enough to gag a maggot, which is what I hear most people saying.

VFFs smell pretty bad when you buy them, IMHO.

My boys' VFFs

My kids, on the other hand, managed to stink theirs up within just two weeks.  I got each of them a pair the day before Mother's Day, and both pair have been washed twice since them.  My boys will take them off on the way home from school and I have to put the windows down because of the stink.  I've reached the point of telling them they have to keep their shoes on in the car, and when we get home, I spray them with Febreze and take them directly out into the sun to bake and dry.

I don't know if it's the sand, or water/traipsing through puddles, or what...but mine don't smell like that, or even close.  Am I doing something wrong???

 Just an observation, and curious as to why my feet don't stink so badly...

Please note: yes, my poop DOES stink; I'm not saying I'm special, just curious about it! ;-)

Squashing My Ball

Sorry I've been away for awhile...I still love you all!

My (lonely) chair

In an effort to work on my core muscles a little more, I bought myself an exercise ball to sit on at work.  Let me tell you, this was no small feat, and it wasn't a decision I took lightly.  I am a software developer by day, and sitting in front of a computer screen for the vast majority of my time at work means I spend a lot of time leaning over looking at something, lying down in my chair thinking, or trying to sit bolt upright while typing code (or blog posts).  Much of the time though, I found myself pretty much leaning way over to one side while I move my mouse around. Plus, you know, I'm always looking for new ways to burn calories exercise without having to think too much about it because I don't have a lot of free time (just like you!).  So the ball is an exercise in working on posture, muscle toning, and of course adding mystery to my already mysterious and crazy nature (the people I work with already think I'm a bit eccentric, and I like to keep it that way).

Today is the fifth day of the exercise, and here are my findings so far:

• someone else already beat me to the punch (another equally weird person) on the ball thing, so I have been constantly accused of copying her.  Unfortunately for me, it's not someone I want to copy, but that's beside the point.  I had no idea she was doing the same thing.  But I digress
• the ball is really fun to sit on.  I find myself rolling around on it, or bouncing (I bounce my leg a lot, like many programmers), or kinda swaying side to side a bit.  The guy who sits next to me is probably terribly annoyed!
• I haven't fallen off of it yet!
• the ball stinks when it's new
• today is the first day my back has been sore (day 5) at all.
• I haven't had any problems sitting on the ball; balance isn't an issue, and I don't feel the need to get up all the time because I'm uncomfortable
• getting up off the ball is the hardest part, believe it or not.  It's not as easy to just shove it out of the way with the backs of my knees, like you can do with a chair
• I used to keep my phone on the table behind me, but I had to move it; unlike the chair, the ball doesn't swivel.  If I spin around while sitting, it literally gets my knickers in a twist.  This was most unpleasant on Wednesday when I wore a skirt.

Is it helping anything by sitting on the ball?  I have no idea.  Supposedly one can burn up to 350 calories a day just by sitting on a ball instead of a chair.  If you already do balance/core/ball work (ha!) when you work out, you probably won't get that much out of it - but it does pretty much force you to sit with excellent posture.

My (unsquashed) ball

Does it disturb my cube mate?  I don't think so.  The first day was funny (I had to blow the ball up, and it took forever to get it to the correct height.  It took several tries and lots of noise throughout the day).  At 5'8", I had to buy the biggest ball (I used the medium-sized one for workouts, and it's fine for that, but there's no way I could sit on it all day; it's like sitting in a Kindergartner's chair, with your knees in your face), and it takes up a lot of room, especially with my old chair in my cramped space as well.  Mostly I think he's just waiting for me to fall down when I get up off the thing. I got a 75cm BodyFit ball by Sports Authority, but you can get whatever works for you (cheap is good for trying it out).

I'll try to remember to give you guys an update after using it for a month, but so far, so good.  I'm really glad I tried this out!  Anybody else tried this?  Has it helped your posture, your abs, or your back at all?