New Beginnings…

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It is the beginning of the end, the beginning of the beginning, and the beginning of everything once more.

As we roll into March 2013, I am now committed solely to dropping body fat and building up some muscle to raise my metabolic rate. It is critical, it is key, and it began today.

After several false starts this year, I am now committed to get moving. I’ve has a few problems this year, like a severe shin splint.

What’s first? I began this month with a cardio session. I didn’t want to lift “Day 1″ because I felt like it was throwing in too hard, and in the past that has always doomed me to failure. Not to be deemed as “phoning it in”, the cardio session lasted for ninety minutes as I watched a show on my iPad while on the elliptical machine.

This weekend, I will be starting back up with lifting, with two key sessions planned. The first session, on Saturday, will be chest and triceps. On Sunday, back and bis.

It’s a new beginning for my workouts, and I committed to this being the end of my obesity once and for all.

Fitbitting

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I recently purchased a new “Fitbit One” device to replace by old Fitbit. The idea behind a Fitbit is that you will be more healthy if you know exactly how much you are moving during the day, and then you can know to make changes in your habits based upon the data.

It really is amazing to realize how little someone can actually move during any given day. If I am working on a particularly intensive project at work, I can sit at my desk for hours on end without stopping. This means that I am basically stationary. I will get up to go get a snack, restroom breaks, and other such necessities, but generally I am well seated.

Part of what I discovered as I looked at the data collected from the Fitbit was that I needed to move more during the day. This could be as simple as standing up and moving around my desk. It could also mean I need to set up a standing workstation environment so that I am moving around consistently throughout the day.

It really is critical you think about how you treat your body day and night; you have to move, you have to sleep. These are critical, and one ties directly to the other. If you aren’t moving during the day, your metabolism begins to shut down which will in turn affect how well you sleep, and how much you burn during the night.

This coming week, I am committing to keep the Fitbit on day and night; it will track my movement and my sleep, and I will be posting here the results.

Ambition, Willingness, and Effort

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The reality we all face is the idea that we all want to be ‘fit’, but many of us don’t have the time. Really, we use time as an excuse to pawn off our lack of ambition and willingness to put forth the effort to workout and improve ourselves.

I am extremely guilty of this. I could get up early and hit the gym, or I could make a much better effort to leave the office on time. The reality is that I do neither because I feel a lack of ambition, and a lack of hope.

I turned 35 years old this year. If you consider most people live to be about 70, this means I am exactly half way there, assuming no accidents. My prime, my peak, is behind me. Now I am looking down the barrel at the “lower” phase of my life where I am facing disease, breakdown, and eventually death. As I’ve been dealing with these thoughts since my birthday, it has been depressing me deeply.

As I look at it objectively, I know this isn’t true. When you look at many people in their late-30s and even well into their 40s they are in their “prime” more than I was at 25. Even people just a couple of years younger than I can be “sexiest man alive“. However, I also know that I need to make changes to my life if I am to improve my “fitness level”.

Really, it is more than just looks and being ‘in your prime’. It is also about making the most of those years I have left to live, and ensuring I have as many of them as possible. Will I even live to 70 or more of age if I don’t change my ways? Probably not.

I have to work my heart. I have to drop body fat. I need to build muscle to prep my body for middle age; I’d be better with a better baseline than “human pear”.

So what are the next steps? Well, as trite as it might seem, I must endeavor to “resolve” in 2013 to keep the resolution I made in 2012. This means using the last week of December to create a good workout baseline, and get myself back into the movement. Then, when 2013 hits I can hit the ground running. This is critical, as I am making up lost time… about 35 years or so, I suppose.

Philosophy comes from many places, including some of the seemingly most shallow places. As I think about the year to come, what I want to accomplish, and setting my goals, I think of the following:

Go and shake it up!
Whatcha gotta loose?
Go and make your luck with the life you choose,
If you want it all,
Lay it on the line.
It’s the only life ya got,
So ya gotta live it big time.

Back to Hardcore

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It’s time to get hardcore. I’ve been off-the-boat for over a month now, and have put on nearly ten pounds in that time.

It all began with a hurricane blowing through the Northeast, Following that, I had to go to San Diego for a week due to a conference I was attending. Work was crazy the following week, since I was out last week due to Thanksgiving. This all added up to a complete “slacking” for way too long.

So now it is time to get back into hardcore mode. It began Thanksgiving day; even though I was travelling, I was able to get a quick workout in as a “start up”. For the last two days, I’ve been in the gym each day. Saturday as a lift session of back and biceps, and 20 minutes of elliptical, and Sunday was chest and triceps with 30 minutes of elliptical.

Gym Rules : Coming and Going in Classes

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This is a new series of posts focusing on the common sense ideas of “Gym Rules”. All those things we think when we are in the gym, the common sense things that we should all be doing. These are the blatant things people do.

 

Group classes are a great way to get your body moving. You have a trainer-led environment that allows you to share a very communal experience of your workout. It adds a layer of peer pressure to your workout to put as much effort as possible into your morning push or your afternoon spin.

 

Classes provide a lot of opportunities for people to forget why they are there, the people around them, and the trainers. Here are some basic rules you should follow when going to a class:

  • Show up on time, preferably ten (10) minutes early. Don’t walk into a class half in-progress and expect the class to stop while you find your position.
  • When you are in a class following the prior class, wait until everyone in the prior class has exited the classroom before entering. This ensures everyone has the opportunity to clean their equipment.
  • Do not leave early unless you absolutely have to. If you are getting sick, or can’t handle the class, feel free to leave and not hurt yourself. If you are an able-bodied fitness-oriented person who can handle the remainder of the class, stick through it.
  • Wipe down your equipment after use. This is especially true in an indoor bicycling class where your sweat will be all over the bicycle.
  • Don’t criticize the trainer or their choice of music. If you have suggestions, talk to the trainer after class; most trainers appreciate feedback that is constructive and helpful. If their taste in music doesn’t match yours, try a different class.

 

Apples

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Why is it that when you buy a bag of apples, it includes recipes to make something nutritious completely non-nutritious? Could they provide recipes aside from caramel dipping sauce and buttery tarts?