Get into the habit of exercise

Excercise regularly 4 times a week after work.

I have gotten into the habit of walking to the grocery store whenever possible, and I’m going to be walking or biking to and from work for the next 4 months at least. With this exercise built into my schedule, I think the habit will come naturally. However, I’ll keep my ‘lose fat, gain muscle’ goal to report on any strength training I do.

...my exercise plan is totally up for grabs again.

It’s really ok, as I was started to get very bored with the machines anyway. Also, I have been reading up on whether extended cardio is actually the most effective way to build fitness (again, Mark Sisson’s blog influence coming into play).

My new M.O. is to just try to do something physical every day. I’d like my new routine to develop organically, and to be as ‘un-routine’ as possible so that I don’t get bored. Eventually I would like to try something like CrossFit, but right now I don’t have the resources to take classes (and I do think that in order to push myself that much, I’d need outside motivation).

I’ve got the push-ups plan going, of course, so that’s something at least.

I’ve not been motivating myself to keep up with this. I will be fine for 1-2 weeks and then I will lose my motivation normally because of laziness so I really need to try and motivate myself.
Most of the things I want to do are outside type things like walking and running so it’s up to the weather most of the time but I have decided that even if it’s raining I can still go out even if it’s only for 20 minutes because I have a nice big umbrella which should keep me dry!!

5th May 2008

Well today was such a nice day, for once, so I had a walk. I was meant to be doing a 5K but I changed my mind but still went to watch my dad run and as I was stood there I was wishing I’d done it so now I know next time to do it.
I ended up just having a little walk around the park, that the race was on, for about 20-30 minutes and I really enjoyed it.

Took a few days off, due to sore shoulder and general ickiness. It felt really good to get back into the gym today.

30 min. elliptical, and shorter full body strength routine. I did:

2×15 squats (sweet. I am definitely getting better at these. They felt awesome.)
2×15 calf raises (10 lb. dumbbell)
2×25 back extensions
2×25 crunches
2×15 shoulder press (20 lb. barbell)
1×15, 1×10 bench (30 lb. barbell)

Yeah, I’m dumb. I really shouldn’t have done those upper body exercises, I don’t think. Actually, I’m not really sure – my shoulder actually felt BETTER while I was doing them, and though it’s still sore afterward, it doesn’t feel appreciably worse than it did before I did the exercises. Soooooo. I’ll give it a day or so and see how it feels; I need to get my neck adjusted anyhow.

If it DOES get worse, well, I will just have to step up the lower body program, modify the upper body so I can still keep working my right shoulder/arm somewhat, maybe come up with some isolation exercises that don’t involve the shoulder, and come up with some sort of rehabilitation program that I can do once it’s fully rested.

Sigh. Bollux.

30 min. elliptical. It’s HOT out today, and it was pretty sweltering in the un-air conditioned gym.

It’s a good thing I like to sweat!

Full body strength training tomorrow. I’m excited that I’m able to do these more-frequent and more-rigorous strength workouts with next to none of the muscle soreness I had when starting out. My body seems to be stepping up to the plate and adapting. Helps that I’ve been eating fairly well lately, I’m sure.

Another full body workout. I did the following:

20 min. brisk walk/high incline (for warm-up)
2×12 mixed grip pull-ups (90 lbs. assist)
2×15 shoulder press (20 lb. barbell)
2×15 bench press (30 lb. barbell)
2×15 compound row (50 lbs.)
2×15 unweighted squats
2×15 calf raises (15 lb. dumbbell)
2×25 crunches (2nd rung)
2×25 back extensions
2×20 side bends
2×20 captain’s chair

I’m super-psyched because I met my goal today! The goal was to finish all the sets I planned to do. This time I was able to – last time I couldn’t quite do 2×15 of a few exercises.

Trying to figure out how to best challenge myself further. Squats were…not EASY exactly, but they were quite manageable. Yay! I’m improving. I think what I’d like to do is work up to 2×25 unweighted squats before adding the 20 lb. barbell. So…next time, I will try for 2×18 squat sets.

Pull-ups – again, not EASY at the end of the second set, but doable. I don’t think it’s time to add weight yet…I need to work up to 2×15 first. Next time I’ll do 1×15, 1×12.

Finally: I think I need something different crunch-wise. Maybe I just need to reduce the incline but sit up further.

Sidenote: I brought a banana with me to the gym and ate it right after my workout. It helped considerably – no blood sugar crash, and I felt great walking home. I’ll be doing that from now on.

30 min. elliptical. I really need to challenge myself and use other machines for cardio again…I think I’m getting too good at the elliptical!

Cardio AND full-body workout. Hard work today. I did:

25 min. run/walk. Mostly walk ‘cause my knee felt wonky, but I increased the incline pretty far and kept things above 3.5 mph, so it was still a pretty decent workout.

Then strength training.

2×12 mixed grip pullups (90 lbs. assist)
1×15, 1×12 shoulder press (20 lbs.)
1×15, 1×12 bench press (30 lbs.)
2×15 compound row (45 lbs.)
2×15 unweighted squats
2×15 calf raises (10 lbs.)
2×25 crunches (2nd rung)
2×25 back extensions
2×20 side bends
2×15 captains chairs

I need to make sure to bring a snack to the gym if I’m going to do workouts like this, or be more careful about what I eat the night and morning before. Had a definite blood sugar crash afterward, which I wasn’t expecting. Mild nausea, lightheadedness, etc. I’m not diabetic (that I know of), just sensitive to low blood glucose, and this workout definitely burned quite a bit of energy.

Having refueled and caffeinated myself, though, I feel great. And proud of myself.

30 minutes of walking.