On 29 Dec 2011 I had already been back to my gym (Snap Fitness, if you're curious) and gotten a new workout plan. One that was less extensive, easier for me to keep up with during the time that I have available. My old plan was a weight circuit, high reps, just a lot of different activities. It was easy to collide with another person and then I would have issues altering my own schedule. I'm not saying it was rational, I'm just owning my own irrationality.
My new plan was just five exercises with a MWF schedule and a TTh schedule. If I missed a day, I would just push things back and have to come in on the weekend. I can say with pride that has happened only once because I jacked up my foot somehow during the night and had to stay home. Apparently if I stay home from work because max speed is a stumbling hobble I cannot go workout even if it is upper body day. MWF I do bench, seated row, shoulder press, shoulder pull-down and sumo deadlifts. The shoulder exercises still make me feel like a noodley child, though I'm getting a lot better. TTh is leg press, row, squats, chest press and sumo deadlifts. I try to finish off every workout with 10 minutes of cardio. I prefer the recumbent elliptical, but will go on a treadmill at a brisk pace with lots of elevation if that's not available. On weekends, if I go in, I just do cardio, 10 min for any given activity.
I've managed to keep this schedule, always going at least five days a week. I make the time for it. If I don't go during my lunch (15 min has always been enough to eat), which is sometimes the case, then I go in the evening. I make myself go. I have to go. If I miss even one day, I know that it is so easy to slide back into the mentality that missing one day isn't a big deal. It's a huge deal and it has to be. Every single day is progress. I've found that keeping things attainable, schedules that you can actually keep to, setting yourself up to succeed, not fail, at so important in this process. At least for me. That's what I'm doing. Sometimes I think about getting ambitious and putting a new plan together that will do more. Work more muscles. Lose more weight. More. More. More. More chances to fail. More opportunities to let something slide. It's not about doing more. Not for me. It's about being consistent and forming habits.
In doing research on my condition, building muscles is so important. Not just big, bulky muscles, but lean ones, aerobic ones. They require more oxygen, require more energy. All of this helps get sugar out of your blood and increase your metabolism. It begins the process of rebuilding your body. I've been doing this for two months and I can already tell a difference. Everything is... firmer. Biceps, triceps, forearms, calves, back. I'm down to a small B cup now and, why abs! Hello, it's been so long! I can actually clearly see some definition there. I have so much more energy, I feel better now than I have in a decade.
Seriously, as mentioned in a previous post, I hate exercising. I really do. Also, as I mentioned in a previous post, it's not about what I hate and what I don't. It's about what I need to do. This is something that I need to do. It's not easy and that's okay. Things that always seem to be worth doing aren't easy. Not if you mean them, at least.
I will get to diet in my next post, which probably has some kind of effect on this whole process, but the exercise is important to couple with the diet. Circuit training in particular; it keeps your heart-rate up while allowing your muscles to rest between exercises. Probably old news at this point. The important thing is that you need to maintain your muscles when losing weight, otherwise your body will cannibalize them along with your fat and, well, we're already making sacrifices, just take that extra step and supercharge the whole affair. Diet and exercise, who'd have thought of that? Not me a few months ago.
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