It's currently winter here in Perth, WA. We've had more rain in the past week than we've had all winter, and the wind has been straight off the antarctic - cold, bone chillingly cold. I've also picked up an ear, throat and chest infection that doesn't seem to want to go away inspite of anti-biotics. But I've carried on doing some kind of exercise anyway. Some of you may consider that to be foolhardy - but the reason why is a simple one. Stopping all levels of exercise means it takes you three times longer to get back into it. The excuses come thick and fast - and before you know it, that muscle tone you'd developed has gone and you're back to square one.
You see fitness isn't something you can do once or twice, stick it in a bottle and save it for a rainy day.
Like all forms of motivation, fitness is something you need to put into your weekly plan and do it regardless of how you are feeling. It is one appointment with yourself that you should always keep.
So what exercise do I do?
Well I walk 2-4 times a week - and by walk, I mean getting out of breath kind of walking, not the strolling around the shops kind of saunter that we also do. Distance varies - for example - Two Saturday's ago I did approximately 15km's around the bridges. If you go to the gallery you will see the pictures and the area - beautfiul walk. Monday nights are 8km's and just around the suburbs where I live. Tuesday's and Thursday's I do a shortened 4km walk and Wednesday night I was at Dance class. Last Saturday and Sunday I didn't walk, but spent most of the weekend moving roadbase - as I am remodelling the back yard. Another weekend of weed pulling awaits. My neighbours "cheated" and used a mini digger this morning to remove their garden....me I prefer the personal touch as it also gets me out of the house and into the fresh air and keeps me fit at the same time.
One thing I did notice that my fitness levels are really quite good. I would work hard for about 40 minutes, moving road base, picking, shovelling, carrying, digging, bending over, strength training at its most interesting. Then I would stop when I started to "blow" - have a breather and then get back into it, another 40 minutes - another breather. And over the course of about 5 hours managed to get one third of the garden completed. Once the final part of the path is laid, the workload becomes a bit easier - planting and mulching. But the satisfaction of knowing that I did it, and kept me fit at the same time is definitely a chance to pat myself on the back.
Which is why my weekends are as busy as my working weeks. Exercise opportunities are slotted into my timetable and I try not to break the appointments I've made with myself.
But if you struggle - consider these tricks:
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Gym work is all very well, but you can get off a gym bike at any time and go and do something else. One thing with road work is this - unless you want to catch the bus home, you are going to have to ride home as well as ride there....which is of course why I ride / run circuits,. less chance of getting bored, plug in the MP3 player and away you go.
Which is something to consider if you do get bored - choose a route that takes in different scenery....otherwise you might be tempted to give up half way and go back....and I don't like to admit defeat. Even if my lungs / legs and butt all thought I was trying to torture them this morning. I could have stopped a couple of kilometres from home, and gone - someone come and pick me up....but I didn't...I pushed harder, rather than slow down. The mind soon stopped misbehaving....well when your muscles are screaming, the mind can't focus on anything else can it?
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My daughter wanted to know when we were going running again? So, after a 37 degree day and humidity that came as the temperatures dropped - we hit the pavement. My daughter is nearly 30 years my junior - but I kept up pretty well. And as I said to her, I was after distance / time not speed. Speed can come later, much later, when the muscles are used to the work again.
Why the hiatus? Well to be honest there hasn't been a big one, just a lack of posting.
After pulling my groin last year, it took a couple of months before I felt able to run - so I didn't - opting for long walks and gym work instead. Then came Christmas and a trip to the UK. Now back into the swing of things, I have ramped up the work again, adding cardio to the floor work that I have been doing. I can now do "boy" push ups, and can manage to do them on my knuckles as well as flat palmed. Not bad for a woman with virtually no upper body strength before being shown the correct techniques. Then it has been pure guts and determination to get to where I can do 10 decent ones before landing flat on my face. My goal is 100....yes you heard that correctly.
Oh yes, and just to mix up the training just a little - I have booked in for 6 beginner pole dancing lessons. If that doesn't improve core stability and upper body strength I don't know what will. I will of course keep you posted on that one.
Yes it is back to the gym tonight....
Someone once asked me what I was training for. To which I answered - participation in this thing called LIFE - the fitter you are the longer you are in the race.
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Didn't go to the gym yesterday, but did do the program at home, followed by another couple or three hours in the garden. I have more weeds than flowers, and certainly more than can fit into my bin this week. But I have almost re-cleared a garden bed. And with only a few weeks til summer, I need to get it finished and mulch down. Something I've repeatedly failed to do over the years.
What has gardening got to do with exercise? Well fat is merely an energy store. And with about 51lbs of fat on my frame - yes i know - yuk...horrified me when i saw the figures, i decided any kind of movement that makes me use muscles and makes me sweat has to be a good thing. And as an added bonus, i get to drink more water, and because i'm busy I'm not eating as much either. And therein lies another key to losing weight and keeping it off and being healthy at the same time. Set a goal that makes you become better than you currently are. Rise to the challenge and take control of your shape and your destiny.
]]>Andy had advised that I start off doing some of the leg work at a skip/jog pace....I would;ve if i could stop laughing. Oh boy, talk about embarrasing - I've always said I would never and I do mean never get to the stage when bits wobbled when I jumped....err - not a good look I have to say. it's amazing how fast wobble takes over when you simply don't do enough exercise. And the right kinds - or so it seems.
So - what can I say except that my fear that I had become lazy and not doing enough exercise was actually true. I got to use muscles that I had forgotten I had. Today my shoulders, pecs, ribs, upper back, hips, butt and just about everywhere else - is sore. OK, I'd also done 40 minutes worth of gardening yesterday afternoon and helped clean a friends place today, so some of yesterday's soreness can be attributed to other things I suppose. But even so.
But I shall be very interested to see how fast the new exercise regime starts to become easier - Andy has said that it will become easier very quickly if I do what he says. Which is why he has also given me additional work for when it does.
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Who am I trying to kid?
You only have to catch site of me side on to know that I have become lazy with my food intake and the amount and intensity of the exercise that I do. Quite simply I don't do anywhere near enough exercise for the amount of fuel that I provide my body with. And make no mistake - food is fuel, and if we don't use it, we store it for use later....when there's a famine or the dinosaurs start terrorizing the high streets and we can't slope off down to the shops at lunch time for our daily fix of whatever naughtyness we have decided we need.
I think you get my point - few if any of us don't know where our next meal is coming from. Not only do we know, but we've planned the day around the food and the snacks that we want to eat.
1. Get up, shower, dress, eat breakfast, drink coffee, drive to work
2. Pick up takeaway coffee and a muffin for morning tea
3. Eat muffin as soon as you get to work with the cup of coffee. Make tea - because the last cup of coffee was a bit cold and the muffin is now lodged between your throat and stomach
4. Take antacids and paracetamol to take away the pain of the muffin and the after effects of the alcohol that you inhaled last night
5. Make more tea eat a couple of biscuits during the meeting you were late for and didn't want to attend anyway.
6. 2 hours of sitting in front of the computer and your stomach tells you it's lunch time.....
With schedules like this, is it any wonder we can add a couple of inches and kilos to our frames each and every year?
OK all facetiousness aside. I have become lazy, I might "go to the gym" twice a week, walk around at lunch time, occasionally add a longer walk in on the weekend and sometimes at night, but it's obviously not enough to cope with what i put into my mouth. I consume too much for the exercise that i do. Simple equation at the end of the day.
I happen to work with a gentleman who also teaches thai kick boxing and undertakes personal training - he was the guy who challenged me to run the city to surf. Well Andy managed it, in about 70 odd minutes - because of torn muscles I had to stop training about 5 weeks out, and just didn't have the time to get back to race distance before the day....excuse - no - it still pulls when I run, so now I jog.
So the other day I asked Andy if he would write me out a training plan - something I could do on my own - no-one to kick or spar with....and I said I would pay him in beer - a six pack for a six pack !! or something like that. Today I got a taste of what my new exercise regime will be like....
I've decided enough is enough, it's going to take me 3-6 months to lose the weight that I want to lose, but Andy says I should start to feel a difference within weeks with my clothes. This is a good thing, because at the moment I have to be careful not to wear baggy clothing for fear of being asked when the baby is due.
When are you going to decide enough is enough? When are you going to decide that the instant gratification of having that cake now will add days to your exercise program.
MMM1
]]>With the quad finally healing i've started upping the amount of cardio I do, and yes I've started running again. Tonight as is always the case, the quad feels tight - so I shall have to be careful over the next day or so to ensure the muscle doesn't get too cold or overstretched. I just have to keep reminding myself that i am not 20 something anymore and my body needs a bit more TLC these days. The usual excesses of our teenage years are not so easily gotten rid of when you hit your later years. OK I'm not ancient - but I do think that my history of exercise and competitive sports has taken its toll and so I shall adjust my training schedule accordingly and add as much prevention, stretching as I can.
]]>I'll let you know how I go.
]]>Our bodies are walking fat stores and the only way to get rid of them is to eat less and exercise more.
Sounds simple doesn’t it? And it is. The key to losing weight is eating less fuel than your body can use in a single day. If you want to continue to eat at the same rate that you do, then you are going to have to do a significant amount of exercise to start shifting the excess baggage that you carry around each day. By the way one kilogram of fat is equivalent to 7,700 calories, how many extra calories does that equate to? In real terms not very much.
Some of these statistics should be enough to get people to the gym every single day of the week, but not even these seem to make a dent in our appetites. So let me give you some more.
In 1988-1989 in the United States the cost of treating obesity problems and health related disease was $672 million. In 1996 that figure had grown to $45.8 billion. Americans were also spending $18 billion on low-fat food products and 32 billion on weight loss products in general. (Donna Aston, Fat or Fiction: Are you living a fairy tale? Hybrid Publishers, Melbourne, Australia, 1999 p11).
By the way a person is classed as obese when their body weight is 20% higher than his/her ideal weight.
So are you ready to get off the couch yet and get exercising yet?
Whilst we all know that over eating is bad for us, we continue to do it. We all know that exercise is good for us, yet we don’t do enough. But if you are ready to get motivated to get exercising then here are some suggestions that may help you create the new disciplines that you will need to add to your life.
By the way am I saying that you shouldn’t eat pizza or drink wine? Absolutely not, just be aware that in order to get rid of those calories you’ve just consumed you are going to have to do more than just go for a brief stroll round the park.
So lets get moving:
1. Get up when the alarm goes off, get dressed and go for a walk. By the time your brain has woken up to the fact that you’re exercising you’ll be half way round.
2. Have a set time of day and a set day to do your exercise. And make sure it is a day that you can stick to. I go to the gym every Monday, Wednesday and Friday or Saturday. And not very much gets in the way of doing it. Once your partner and your kids realise you are not willing to compromise on these sessions then they’ll stop nagging you to be elsewhere.
3. Arrange to exercise with a friend, but choose someone you know will push you. When you doing any kind of personal development and growth you will usually find it is because you are associating with people who push you to do more, be more. They can see your potential even if you can’t. Associating with people who sit in front of the television are not going to be the ones that will readily go for a walk with you.
4. Book some time with a personal trainer. You are paying for time and expertise, so it doesn’t come cheap. Pay for their services up front and unless you have more money than you know what to do with (in which case can you send some my way) you will keep the appointments. Every sports person has a trainer or a coach. They know that in order to improve their game, they need someone to push them to achieve more. It is so easy to slack off when you go to the gym, easy to walk a little slower than you should. But if you have someone at your back shouting at you. Guess what, you will do that extra push up, lift that extra weight, run just that little bit further.
5. Put your gym gear into the car and go there before you go home. If you go home first, I can almost guarantee that you will find all sorts of excuses not to get back in the car and go.
6. Pack your gym bag the night before, so that when you conveniently sleep late, you don’t have to rush to put the clothes etc together.
7. Put your gym bag next to all the other bags you take with you to work, so that you don’t conveniently forget to take it when you’re leaving the house.
8. Incorporate exercise into something else. For example, walk/cycle to work. Walk during your lunch break. Take the stairs instead of the lift. Did you know that exercise can also be classed as housework, gardening, painting and decorating? Add some upbeat music to your day and dance your way to better health and fitness.
8a. Exercise and depression. I have noticed that it is virtually impossible to be "depressed" after you've done exercise. The body releases a chemical called serotonin - the runner's high, the feel good factor - or whatever else you want to call it. Guess what depression has - yep, a lack of serotonin in the body. The problem is of course, those people who need the buzz of natural serotonin are the ones most likely to make excuses as to why they can't go to the gym today - because they really don't feel up to it.
Over the last 10 years or so I have suffered recurring bouts of depression. Nothing so bad I needed to go to the doctors, but I have tried the natural suipplements to no avail. Now I don't take them at all. I still suffer from depressive tendencies now and again, but rather than wallow in the why - I just accept that sometimes it happens and go and clean out a cupboard or two, go to the gym or go for a long walk. The physical aspect of moving can be enough to drag you through the black period. And believe me when I say they can sometimes be very black. However, with exercising on a very regular basis ie., 3-4 times a week at the gym I rarely (if ever) get down and depressed. Obviously the long-term effects of the release of the serotonin plays a huge part in this, which is just one of the reasons why I go.
9. Try something new – just to shock the mind and the muscles. There are numerous studies that tell us that the more you use your mind, ie., use your mind in a variety of different ways, the less likely you are to suffer from Alzheimer’s. Well the first time you try anything new you have to think differently. You don’t know the short cuts, you don’t know all the answers, your muscles will have to work differently with yoga to playing tennis to climbing an indoor rock wall. So vary the exercise that you do. Learn how to pole dance, learn how to do the rock and roll, learn how to climb a rope. Go to circus school or kayak down a river. Get a group of friend’s together, pack a picnic and head for the hills, or the beach. An hour of stomping up and down hills and sand is a fantastic way of exercising more than just the jaw when you get together with your friends.
10. Decide why you want a better body – and believe me when I say, if you do enough exercise you will get a much better body. It’s not a quick fix, but then again, if you are overweight and unfit it didn’t take a few minutes to get you to that stage did it? It takes months if not years of doing a little less every day than you should to get you to the stage you find yourself in, so don’t believe the hype of the dieting industry. The main thing you need to remember is that fat is an energy store. If you want to lose the fat, then you need to use it.
11. And after all that if you still can’t be bothered to get off your butt and do the exercise, then the first thing you need to do is change your stinking attitude. Because if you have your list of reasons why you should be exercising and you’re not. Then you need to consider that your reasons aren’t good enough. If having a sexier, healthier body doesn’t get you off the couch, then what will?