The Wife and I both like lists, but for different reasons. I like lists that explain, describe, or categorize things. The Wife's lists usually include me doing something I don't want to do, like taking out the garbage or cleaning the gutters. Or mowing the lawn.
So yesterday, for the first time since August, I mowed the lawn. Don't laugh - I just wanted it to quit growing before I got the best of it for once and for all. Because my record with lawn equipment is abysmal. I mean it - everything I touch, breaks. So the less I mow, trim, landscape, etc, the better off my ego, my temper, and my mental health.
Also, for the first time in I-don't-know-how-many months, I went for a run - at Ijams Nature Center. Thanks to my buddy Wes from Huntsville for being in town and willing to pretend to jog while I panted behind.
I was an average high school cross-country runner when I decided to take it up my senior year. Not a good runner, not a bad one - just average. Never won a race - never even made the varsity lineup - but, to my credit, it was a really good team. Ran about a six-minute mile. Seems like eons ago. A little under 100 pounds ago. Ancient history...
Well, it's been months - maybe over a year - since I did any running on a consistent basis. I'm really sort of afraid to take it back up at my current weight, because of concerns about the impact to my knees, shins, and ankles. I've tried running recently and had some strange pains, so I'm just not sure if that's appropriate right now.
Maybe that's just a lame excuse. I dunno. My plan is to eventually take up running again - maybe even competitively - but that's probably the next chapter to 30 by 30... a chapter I haven't started writing yet.
Anyway, I'm really out of shape, and I continue to judge myself against "high school me" and it's pretty awful. But thankfully, I think there's enough fitness left in me to do just about anything for 15 minutes. And that's how long it took to jog about 1.2 miles yesterday. About a 12.5 minute mile. Ouch.
But I digress. Oh, right. I was talking about lists. I have a couple of those I wanted to work into the blog entry today.
Three weeks into this, it seems more and more natural to work out four, five times a week or more now. They say (whoever they are) to exercise three times a week, and I completely agree that should be a primary goal for anyone. But in several previous attempts I've observed this simple guideline and met with failure. So this is me being aggressive. Getting mean. Taking the bull by the horns and wrestling it to the ground. The three-times-a-week plan has the basic benefits you need: burning calories, gaining metabolism, increased energy, etc. So without further ado, let's make a list of the additional benefits I've observed from working out five times or more per week:
- Lifestyle change - The mental transition from being an inactive person who works out in his spare time, when he can fit it in, to being an active seeker of physical challenges.
- Mental toughness - The ability to see past the emotional appeal of the pillow's relaxing comfort every morning to the way the rest of the day will "flow" after working out.
- Feeling of "athleticism" - Not necessarily being athletic, physically speaking. But that 30-60 minute workout every day brings out the inner high schooler in me.
- Freedom to skip - Let's say my schedule only permits working out on Mon, Wed, and Fri. If something comes up on Fri, I'm going five days without doing anything. That's hazardous to any exercise regimen. If I'm expecting five workouts, and I actually have four, that's still a great week.
- 5>3 - Clearly, if all else is equal, you burn more calories in five workouts than you do in three.
- complete relaxation; possibly a meditation or yoga session
- no heart rate or breathing elevation, but more calories burned than when at rest; slow walking, for example
- heart rate slightly above normal; maybe a trace of sweat, but not necessarily; no labored breathing; pedaling easily on a bike or walking purposefully on level surface; good for occasionally burning a few calories without feeling tired or dirty afterward
- elevated heart rate, 50-65 percent of max; sweating visibly if sustained long enough; breathing is somewhat labored, but still able to talk conversationally; a typical once/week "light day"; a very fast walk, or a casual but not effortless bike ride
- heart rate is 65-80 percent of max - good for cardio building if sustained; beading sweat; breathing uncomfortably, but still able to talk between breaths; pretty much the starting point for all my workouts
- heart rate sustained at 80+ percent; dripping sweat; constant, strenuous breathing; slight burn in muscles; feeling of significant exhaustion afterwards; ideally, about half of my workouts are this intense
- heart rate at max; drenching sweat; breathing is extremely uncomfortable, bordering on painful; deep muscle burn, possibly even muscle failure; feeling of absolute depletion afterwards; haven't had one of these workouts yet - need someone to make me reach this level
Of course I love the pictures! What good memories you all are collecting.
ReplyDeleteI hope you are feeling better now. MIL