Last evening, I went over to the gym for a cycling class. I am a follower, people.
What I mean by follower is that when it comes to physical exertion of the type in a hard workout, I am not very good at pushing myself. But, if I have a trainer or coach right there pushing me, I'm willing to do the work. I suppose some credit comes from my having actually gotten into my gym clothes, gotten into the car and driven to the gym. Oh, and also actually physically exerting myself. My point is that if you are having a difficult time getting going and you have access to and means for a gym with classes, it is a really good way to get going and stay going.
My goal over the Christmas/New Year break was to go to the gym 19 days out of the 20 that I am home. I have five days left until I leave. In the 15 days I have been home, I have gone to the gym 14 times, the only day I missed being Christmas Day, when the gym was closed. Actually, it was open that evening, but there were no classes and I had designated that day as being a day off. In other words, I am right on track.
One of the things I mentioned about stage two of my program is that I was less concerned about weight loss. What I meant by that was that I was going to not do cardio every day, instead alternating between cardio and strength training. I am really embarrassed about my strength. I was also really embarrassed about my weight and I was willing to talk about that here, so a little discussion of my strength should be in order. One of the trainers of the strength class does a move at the end called a Plank, where you put your palms and toes on the ground and straighten your arms and body. It is a pretty good workout for the abs. The first strength class I took, I could not hold that pose (it was for 30 seconds). Could not do it. The day before yesterday, I was asked to do it again. Did it. Did a side plank on each side. Did another 30 second plank. Progress. There is progress.
Day 164
Weight: 214.0
Total Loss: 70.5
BMI: 26.39
I hope these posts are of use. My ultimate goal is to ping you all to get on a fitness program and keep going. I know that I've made atypical progress, not everyone can just go out and lose 70 pounds. To do that, you have to be a little obsessed, I guess. Plus, you know, you have to be in bad shape to begin with. But, when I had lost 20 or 30 pounds, I felt pretty good about myself then, too. I realize that some of this stuff is repetitious and maybe not interesting. Well, that's part of it. It's not all that exciting to restrict calories and go to the gym and sweat and exert and get sore and realize that you aren't where you want to be and even after losing 70 pounds you look around and see you are the most out of shape guy in the room. Fitness is about beating back the boredom and saying no to the temptation to give up. When the workout is over and I'm in the sauna, I think about how far I've come and I'm happy. Every day, I'm one step closer to being the most fit guy in the room. One. Step. Closer.
The ultimate goal is to live a healthy, happy life. Going to the gym and working out is payment toward that reward.
I'm essentially hoping that today is day 1. The plan is to find 30 minutes or more and get on a treadmill for a little bit. I've been trying to eat better post-holidays (of course, pre-holidays/holidays I splurged a little) and I was pleasantly surprised when I stepped on the scale this morning. Of course, I know my scale isn't actually right, but relative to what I've been on that scale before, I wasn't as far gone as I feared I would be.
It has begun!
We'll call this morning's weight "210" given our scale and it's problems (actual weight probably anywhere between 205 and 215).
All I did today was run 1.25 miles on a treadmill (and "run" involved some walking, but definitely more running) and some very light introductory lifting ("Hi muscle group I don't know the name of! Someday I might try to build you up!).
But I got down to the "gym" (basically a large closet in our building) and did something for the first time in many months. So now I get to go eat a giant burger and have lots of chocolate, right?
My ultimate goal is to ping you all to get on a fitness program and keep going.
Done. I started a bit before the reboot of WGOM Fitness, but it's been good to read your progress. My main goal was to improve fitness with a secondary goal to lose a bit of weight. Thus far I feel healthier and have dropped ten pounds. It isn't much, only about five percent of my weight, but it is very satisfying weighing myself before bed (i.e. when I tend to be heaviest) and seeing a lower number than any random weighing over the last few years. Jeans that were sometimes too tight now fit and the wife has noticed.
Boss, this is a very existentialist approach. I like.
Working out is inherently boring. Working toward a goal, not so much.
Nothing like a good spin class to get some sweat going. That's what I'm saying.
We went down to Chile last February, and went to the spin classes at our hotel. Good Latino music and the dude rocked! Arribe! Alto! Arribe! Alto! (again and again). Sweat in abundance.