Saturday, January 26, 2008

Who I Am...

Made an interesting observation tonight... I went out for a few drinks with friends, and because of the weight lifting and exercising I've been doing, my posture has improved so that my back is straight and my chest is out, my arms look muscular, and I feel good.

I looked like an ex-linebacker that was just a little out of shape.

There I was, 80lbs overweight, standing next to some guy taller than me that's 20lbs overweight, and I looked better! It felt great to be the confident guy. I come across as who I am - the 180lb guy in good shape, not who I was - the over-eater who was fat and lazy. I felt great, and had the attention of the people in the bar.

The observation is that perception is largely based on how YOU feel, and that defines how others see you.

So here's to the real me :)

Friday, January 25, 2008

Is it Possible to Miss Despair?

Nostalgic of the angst-ridden hero of my own dark, indie film... Thinking of the despair and self-pity that surrounded the time spent wallowing in my failure, abusing my body and any substance I could get my hands on. Is there a sort of romanticism surrounding the embrace of failure and escape from any sort of expectation? The tinge of memory was brought on by NIN Hurt, and it's not healthy or reasonable, but for a moment I was thinking that it was an interesting time, bit of a self-made martyr sort of romantic situation. Is that easily understood?

Now I'm embracing my own success - I am what I want to be, intellectually, physically, extrinsically me. What a change! Sometimes I guess it can be overwhelming, not sure if that's the possibility of success or failure, but being in control is a powerful feeling. I like the new me, and I can't wait to look in the mirror and finally see myself :)

Work Harder For Less...

Generally when you get better at something, you get more efficient; you are able to get more done in less time with less effort.

Not so with this exercise stuff!

I just recently tracked down my HRM strap so I could keep better track of my heart rate during my cardio - I really want to get my heart rate up over 160 and preferably over 170 at least for short periods of time. This used to not be so hard! Now, I'm pushing so hard on the elliptical that the muscles in me leg are fatiguing before I can get my HR much over 150 (I did pop over 160, but not for long). I know I need to get in better shape in terms of endurance, but it seems my heart has gotten in better shape a bit quicker than the rest of my body :)

So, looks like my running type exercise 3X/week will be my real intense one for now, and I will use my other 2-3 sessions as conditioning and somewhat intense cardio.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Fat Man in Running Shorts...

As a fun way to incorporate a new kind of cardio into my routine and to help lose weight and get in shape, I decided I wanted to be able to run! I don't know if I'll be the 5 miles every morning kind of guy, but I want the skill and I want to reap the benefits.

So, I started the 'Couch-to-5K' program over at the Cool Running website a couple weeks ago. Starting it may be a stretch, I was technically able to do their first workout properly this morning (Yay me!). Basically, after warmup, it is 20 minutes of 1 minute run/jogs followed by 90 seconds of walking. It sure isn't easy, but I've progress from being able to do 4 of these intervals to completing all 8 this morning, and running for another minute a few minutes after that. The big stick was that I would sometimes need to extend my walk an extra minute.

So, over the next 9-12 weeks, I'm going to become a runner!

I also want to compete in a 5K this summer, and a sprint triathlon later in the summer/early fall. I'll get more deets on that later.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Who is this guy?

Uh, yeah; sorry... I haven't been here in a while and since Tim lived up to his word and commented on my poor blogging, I must live up to mine and actually start being somewhat consistent :)

In regards to my last post and dips, I did two sets of 12 from the edge of the bench yesterday, and then moved to the assisted dip machine with my workout buddies and did 3 sets to failure there (with 100lbs assist, though I will be dropping that amount at every workout from here on).

So, a bit has changed! I haven't lost much weight since my last post (in scale terms), but I have made progress. I put on a bunch of muscle by training exclusively with weights for about six weeks. I'm now past that routine and am working primarily cardio, with 2 days per week set aside to do a modified Stronglifts 5X5 program; more on that another time.

So, welcome back ME, and look forward to more updates here!