If I’m going to purse this goal seriously, I need to decide more precisely what my purpose is. My goal is not to look like a professional body builder or anything like that (even if I wanted to I’d never have that much time to work out), but I would like to have a more generally toned appearance: bulkier arms, well-defined abs and more muscular legs (my legs are kind of like toothpicks now). I seem to be different from most people in that I actually gain weight when I work out. I’m 5’7” and 124 pounds, and when I was working out a lot last year, I was about 13 pounds heavier, though not really fatter just more muscular.
It’s so easy to get out of the routine of exercising. I stopped serious muscle-building workouts (I still do brisk walking for 45 minutes to an hour everyday and go hiking on the weekends as often as I can), not with the conscious effort to do so, but because I failed to manage my time and prioritize properly so that I just let the habit slip away. I made all kinds of excuses like being too busy doing other stuff, being too depressed, and wanting to focus all my energy in learning to swim (which I still haven’t completed).
I need to make sure I’m doing the right exercises, so I’m thinking that maybe I should see a personal trainer or do something very regimented like yoga classes, which a friend has strongly recommended to me. In the meantime until I decide exactly what I want to do, I’m going to focus on a series of core-strengthening exercises I saw in last April’s issue of Men’s Health. These exercises are not too complicated and do not require special equipment, so it should not be difficult for me to start with these on a routine basis. Not only that, but having a stronger core is supposed to be a good foundation for improving performance in other types of exercise or sport.
