Well of course I'm a geek

February 17th, 2005

Motivation maintained

Thursday, 17th February 2005 10:29 pm

Amazing. Well, surprising, at least. Maybe. Sort of.

First, the not-so-good news. This morning’s weight figure was up a pound to 208.0 pounds (14 stone 12 pounds, 94.3kg). The better news is that after last night’s planned rest[1], I managed to motivate myself to exercise again this evening. Did the same routine as Tuesday - 10km on the bike, 160 crunches[3], twelve minutes on the rowing machine, a Bullworker set and the usual weights work to finish.

I’m slowly working up to something like the routine I was doing last year. It all started to drop off when I started having to travel to London every other week. Now that’s been reduced to every six weeks (or thereabouts), I’ll have less disruption, and more time to exercise regularly. So long as I’ve got a good supply of DVDs to watch, I’m happy to spend an hour or more three or four times a week working out.

I’ve still no idea where this is going - the original idea was to lose some weight and get a bit fitter. Somehow, I’ve started putting on muscle as well as losing flab. I’ve still got some flab around my midsection[4] which I’m hoping to work off, but otherwise I think I’m doing very well. I’m probably fitter than I’ve ever been, and I’ve got better muscle development than I’ve ever had in my life.

I always made a point of not setting myself any particular targets - that always seems to me like a good way to set myself up for disappointment, which leads to an increased tendency to give it all up. At the moment, what I want to do is carry on with what I’m doing, and to gradually increase the effort I’m putting in - I’d like to get back to 20 minutes on the rower and a second Bullworker set. I’d like to lose a little more flab from my waist - I don’t think I’ll ever get below my current 34″ waist size[5], but I’d like to be able to comfortably wear that 34″ pair of 501s currently sitting in the wardrobe.

Beyond that, there are no targets other than to keep on looking after myself and never let myself get so far out of condition again.

[1] I made an arbitrary decision[2] that three nights in a row was enough, and that a night off would be a Good Thing
[2] Subject to change, like all such decisions :cheesy:
[3] Hard work, but they seem to be having some effect on my waistline
[4] The first place it goes on, and the last place it comes off for men
[5] And considering I started with a 40″ waist[6], that’s not too bad :grin
[6] Or as I like to describe it, “that’s not a waist size, it’s a bloody chest size!!”