Get in shape at your computer - twittercize!

Online Calisthenics For Desk Jockeys
TRALEE PEARCE
Globe and Mail
February 27, 2009

Sure, the micro-blogging social media site Twitter is swamped with inane chatter and banal personal revelations. But it also may hold the key to getting fitter, if Twittercize (twitter.com/twittercize), a free service that posts hourly exercise ideas, continues to catch on.

The creator, Ron Doyle, is a Denver, Colorado stay-at-home dad whose fitness took a nose dive after he gave up a daily bike commute to his high-school teaching job last summer. After a few false starts last month, Mr. Doyle, 29, took his New Year's resolution to Twitter.

I was trying to think of creative ways to schedule myself," says Mr. Doyle, who had also led high-school yoga classes. "And I thought other folks might appreciate this too."

Mr. Doyle posts about 14 or 15 "micro-exercises" a day, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., Denver time. (International followers are lobbying for some time-shifting solution to being asked to exercise at 2 a.m.). Postings are less frequent during weekends.

A sample from yesterday afternoon:

Table flips: Forearms under a table or desk, palms up, press and hold for five. Repeat 10 times.

Twitter feet: Sit upright, keep toes on floor, flex calves and bounce your heels as fast as you can for one full minute.

Bakery trucks: Sitting, squeeze knees and contract/release glute muscles. Bounce in your seat. Haul those buns for 45 seconds.

Mr. Doyle bases many of the exercises on recent research, including some from Hamilton's McMaster University, about the health benefits of short bursts of exercise.

About 1,200 fitness fiends are logged into the hourly alerts at any given time, but many others visit Twitter throughout the day for ideas. He says there are now so many followers it's hard to find his original messages in the Twitter stream. "The stream has turned into a raging river."