Working The Program

Ola'!

Sorry for the no-post yesterday, there just wasn't any time. Work had me jumping through hoops, so not even a lunch yesterday. Last night was Boy Scouts and then the boy needed help with an essay he was writing when we got home, so no writing of any type got done. Today's not looking too hot either: I'm traveling today & have a ton of stuff scheduled after work so it may be another bust.

So, I promised to discuss my new work out routine in my last post. I won't bore you with the details of what I do, how many reps, etc. but I have been working a new (for me anyway) concept in the "how" of my workout. One of the problems I always run into when I start a program is "burn out". I do well for several weeks, maybe even a month or two, then I simply get sick and tired of doing the program and it falls to the wayside (much to the detriment of both my physical and mental well being!) I have always listened to folks talk about how exercise becomes part of their daily routine and after they've been doing it a while; they start looking forward to it each day. Yea . . . okay, that never happens for me. Still, I hear that from a lot of sources and I began to wonder what the problem was (other than my natural laziness) that I never got to a point where I didn't mind the exercise. It always seemed like a chore and each day it got worse. What was the problem?

Let's take a quick step back here: in my life I have been involved in a lot of athletic activities: football, baseball, basketball, martial arts, etc. I learned young that the way to improve performance was to push yourself: go one more rep beyond what hurt. The concept has always been "do more today than you did yesterday". If you did fifty push-ups on Monday, try for fifty-five on Tuesday. That concept was drilled into me from the time I was seven and started Pop Warner football.

And therein lies the problem.

That's the realization that finally hit me (after 30 friggin' years!) The exercise always got harder and less inviting because I made it that way. I always added more reps and more time to the workout as I went. I'd set weekly goals for myself like: "Okay, if I do two more sit-ups each day, I'll get up to sixty by the end of the week . . ." Of course, that meant I was always hurting and always exhausted by the workout. I never gave my body the opportunity to adjust to the exercise, to let it become part of my regular routine. All I saw was a never ending -ever growing- routine of strain and pain. (I never said I was brilliant! Alright, I have, but you knew I was full of crap, right?) and I'd give up in frustration.

This time I'm intentionally not increasing the workout. I found a comfortable benchmark when I first started (one that required a bit of strain and some sweat) and I'm staying with that for the moment. I'm going into my third week of exercise now and for once, I'm not dreading getting out of bed each morning and facing it. The program takes only 15 minutes each day and I do it as soon as I get out of bed. It isn't wearing me out, keeping me constantly sore, or making me dread doing it. That's gotta be a good thing, right? I also make a point of getting up early each morning (about an hour earlier than I need to.) Why? Well, I have this odd reaction to working out . . . I get real drowsy afterward. So I workout, take a shower, eat breakfast, then have time for a quick 10-15 minute power nap before I head to work!

So, there's my program. Professionally designed? Deeply researched? Hell no, but it works for my sorry old ass!

Later!