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ASL and the Deaf Culture Appropriation of Apple Fitness+

I have been a big fan of Apple Fitness+. However, after completing the workouts for a several months now, I have come to the uncomfortable conclusion that Apple’s misuse of Deaf Culture — in particular, ASL — in their workouts, is a disengaging, and phony, cultural appropriation intended to falsely imply inclusion, when the real aftereffect is a complete failure of meaning. At the beginning, and at the end of almost every workout, but never during a workout, the non-Deaf, and non-ASL fluent, trainers toss in a little ASL sign — a gesture, really — like “ready” or “welcome” or “thank you” and it just comes across as clunky; a falsely sprinkled twinkle on a star. Those throwaway “ASL” signs do not fit the spoken words of the trainer, or even really the intent of the class — they’re just movements intended to appease, and impress, and to not really communicate any emotion or context. Apple uses “ASL signs” as a winking trinket without the inherent value of a cultural totem or the magic of a talisman.

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The Genius Cutthroat Thuggery of Apple Fitness+

When Apple announced their new total workout app — Apple Fitness+ — I was stunned at the sheer audacity and cutthroat thuggery of the move, and I was never more proud to be a dedicated Apple fanatic and loyal Apple Watch owner. Apple isn’t aiming for Peloton with this subscription App release. No, Apple is aiming to kill off the Nike Training Club, Centr, FitBod, Sworkit, Strava, Adidas Training — and all other exercise and fitness Apps — and, perhaps, even one day, MyFitnessPal. Yes, Apple is going to knock out the small fry competition with their big, giant, footprint, and they’re doing it because there’s gold in them thar fields: One Workout App to Unite Them All!

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Destroying the Typical New Year Resolution

I have written about New Year’s resolutions in the past but with this article, it is all going to end. My new years resolution this year is to never write another article about the problems inherent with New Year’s resolutions. Wait — let me rethink that. On second thought…

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The RevAbs Review

On November 15th, I started a new workout program called RevAbs. It’s not that I was unhappy with my morning workout per se, I just wanted to invest a solid three months into a structured workout regime — moreover, I specifically wanted to target an area of my body that I felt had been really hit hard by poor diet and lack of physical activity for the majority of the time that I lived in Seattle — my abdominal area. What better workout program to use than something called RevAbs — right?

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Does Madge Have Man Arms?

I read online the other day that Madonna — aka “Madge” — now has “Man Arms” — and I immediately wondered two things.  One: is there a proper and acceptable aesthetic for the look of one’s arms based on gender alone?  Two: What is wrong with Madonna that she thinks those arms are in any way good for her?

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P90X Review, Part Two

Gordon Davidescu wrote this article.

“The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” How often I have repeated this expression, an adaptation of a couple of verses from a poem by Robert Burns : “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley.” This seems quite relevant to my P90X training and it stuck out to me over and over again when I thought I had things just right, and then managed to fail in a glorious manner.

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