After reading the "100 pushups" thread in general, I figured might as well see if there is anyone else that is working out regularly.
Anyone that knows me knows I ain't a small fella. I don't have a sweet tooth - I have a sweet jaw. I eat way too much junk, and simply don't take the time to try to work any of the extra crap off. For the longest, I would much prefer to my activity to be in from of my PC blowing heads off and bitching if I ran out of stamina in game.
Then a couple weeks ago, it hit me that something as simple as walking across the parking lot to the cafeteria, walking back, and going up a set of steps back to my cube would wind me. I would be breathing fairly hard to where I couldn't hold a normal conversation due to breathing.
I'm 29. I've got a loving girlfriend, and her 3 kids think I'm the greatest. I can't let myself waste away like this. I decided it was time to start using the small gym that my apartment complex has. It's only open during business hours, so I shifted my work schedule up to where when I get off, I can get home and have time for a decent workout. I carry my clothes to change with me and a water bottle so that I have no excuse to go home.
I started going to the gym in modest about 6 weeks ago. The first 2 weeks, I didn't even touch weights. 4 days a week of nothing but biking. I was averaging about 6 miles each day before my legs started to really complain, and I was running enough resistance to where I was unsteady when I stood up afterwards. No heart rate monitor on the bokes, so I had to use the "is my heart about to burst out of my chest?" unit of measurement.
After the first 2 weeks, I decided to mix it up and start adding weight training. I'm very limited as there are no free weights and only one multi-function machine (simulated bench/incline, lat pull down, and military press, then a ground hookup for accessories and one high hookup for accessories, of which there are none to hookup, then the standard hamstring/calf machine). I started with simply running through 3 sets of 7 reps, working my best to fail on the last rep. I've found a place that sells the straight bar accessory and rope for pretty cheap, so I'll be buying the accessories myself so that I can do more isolated workouts. At this moment, I alternate days of aerobics and weights until I can add more weight training and get to 4 days weights, one aerobic.
I still have to work on my diet, as that's the most important part of fitness, and easily my worst traight. Even with the amount of weight I can lift increasing (already upped my bench 40lbs from the start) and my stamina getting better, I'm not losing any weight, and I'm not noticing a change in my girth as of yet. I can see definition in my arms and upper chest that weren't there before (and I think my legs are slimming a little but can't tell for sure), but my belly is just as woefully large.
So now that I have a set workout routine, time to get the healthy food thing down. I do not look forward to this as it's going to require a shift in the entire families eating habits. Any good meals that are cheap, can feed 7.5 adults (3 kids that eat like 5.5 adults), and easy to prep? How about simple things that can be taken to work?
Bookmarks