Update and observations on Presidential Fitness Challenge: Odd events

I continue to progress accumulating points toward Presidential Fitness Challenge awards.  For the last month or so I have been tracking everything, and I mean everything, when it comes to earning points.  I topped 52,000 points this weekend!  I've also earned just over 10,000 points in the last rolling month period after slowly bringing it up from 2000 to 5000 and now to 10K.  One way I've done this is by becoming more active on projects around my house, yard and garage.   Adding in a couple of "moving parties" and lots of points for "lifting/hauling" and the points total skyrockets.  This is because there are all kinds of activities that earn points if you make the effort to log them.  Big ones recently have been "home repairs", "household tasks" and the aforementioned "lifting/hauling".  Unfortunately I have also discovered it is possible to overtrain while lifting and hauling, as helping some friends move Saturday wiped me out as I finished recovering from my cold.

 

If you think those are some odd point earning activities (as I get points for folding clothes as a light household activity) there are even more odd events and scoring.   As I've scrolled through the list of ways to get credit, I've noticed these categories:  Baton Twirling, Billiards (and Darts), Hunting and Sailing.  How about this problem:  If you log time spent bowling-does the snack bar and beverages cost you points?  A couple of beers or sodas, a greasy pizza slice and sharing some nachos and I don't think three games of bowling are much benefit-although a fun way to spend time with friends.  Here's another one I saw, and fitting since I had just talked with a duck hunting friend about shivering in cold water:  Hunting awards 4.8 points per minute as it only has one intensity level.  Is that freezing in a duck blind, stalking or walking with your dogs and gun, or time spent up in a tree stand?  I find the categories fairly arbitrary-some make complete sense as fitness activities and some seem added just to increase scope and inclusiveness without much thought of the muscle and bone building or aerobic components of the event.

 

That said, I'm going to need to claim every point I can to ever get to the platinum award level of 1,000,000 points!