This evening I am excited to have my first guest blogger! Check it off the list. It may seem like cheating but I asked my Dad to fill me in on where he is in his fitness journey and he did a great job. With the number one reason for me starting a fitness blog being to inspire and help those around me, I thought my Dad would be a great choice. I asked him to write about how the Average Joe (haha, his name is Joe) goes about setting and reaching goals. This post truly shows that everyones fitness journey is different and it will take some effort to fix the issues that arise while you are trying to reach a health and wellness goal. Without further ado...
An Interesting Choice
Yup, that’s what I think. I am definitely an interesting choice to be guest blogging on a site that focuses on living a healthy lifestyle. After all, in my present and past state I am not exactly one you would normally consider to give input into living right. However, we are not focusing on the past; let’s focus on what we are doing now to change that. During the past 30 years or so I have flirted with actually getting it together and getting into pretty decent shape but it just seemed that every time I would lose my focus. Many times it was work related but in retrospect I am pretty sure I could have done what was needed if I made it a priority.
I think there are a few of reasons Jen would like me to comment on where I am. First, I am in one of my focused phases. Second, if I write it down and go public it will force me to make it happen. And finally, after training for years at the facility where Jen worked I understand the concepts of what you need to do and have developed a workout I really enjoy.
First and foremost you have to get your heart rate up into the zone. And keep it there. During one of my prior focused phases I did this by riding my bike and had excellent results. However, after spending time with some pretty knowledgeable personal training type folks, I now realize at my age or at any age for that matter you need more. Here’s what I have going on and how I got here.
The jumpstart was reading a post on Facebook (Patty Guarro???) about a streak a man had going of running at least one mile for something like 16,000 days. That’s over 43 years!! So I decide to start a streak of my own and I currently have a streak of 8 weeks where I have worked out 5 days a week. My goal is to make it 6 months, maybe a year but 6 months is the current goal. One of the problems with me losing focus in the past was doing mundane workouts spending too much time doing one thing. Running for an hour, pedaling a bike or an elliptical machine; whatever; it got old and most of the time I was in pain.
My workout now consists of M, W and F hopping on an elliptical machine (with a heart rate monitor on) and going hard for just five minutes. Pretty easy stuff! I then hop off and do a set of bench presses, get back on the elliptical machine for just another five minutes. By now my heart rate is well up into my zone. After my stint on the elliptical (BTW you can substitute cardio of your choice) I then do a set of back exercises, then get back on the elliptical for 5 minutes, then some curls…by now you get the idea. On Tuesday and Thursday instead of weights I substitute BOSU push ups, birdfeeders, air squats, planks, crunches. Core and balance stuff!
I think there are a few of reasons Jen would like me to comment on where I am. First, I am in one of my focused phases. Second, if I write it down and go public it will force me to make it happen. And finally, after training for years at the facility where Jen worked I understand the concepts of what you need to do and have developed a workout I really enjoy.
First and foremost you have to get your heart rate up into the zone. And keep it there. During one of my prior focused phases I did this by riding my bike and had excellent results. However, after spending time with some pretty knowledgeable personal training type folks, I now realize at my age or at any age for that matter you need more. Here’s what I have going on and how I got here.
The jumpstart was reading a post on Facebook (Patty Guarro???) about a streak a man had going of running at least one mile for something like 16,000 days. That’s over 43 years!! So I decide to start a streak of my own and I currently have a streak of 8 weeks where I have worked out 5 days a week. My goal is to make it 6 months, maybe a year but 6 months is the current goal. One of the problems with me losing focus in the past was doing mundane workouts spending too much time doing one thing. Running for an hour, pedaling a bike or an elliptical machine; whatever; it got old and most of the time I was in pain.
My workout now consists of M, W and F hopping on an elliptical machine (with a heart rate monitor on) and going hard for just five minutes. Pretty easy stuff! I then hop off and do a set of bench presses, get back on the elliptical machine for just another five minutes. By now my heart rate is well up into my zone. After my stint on the elliptical (BTW you can substitute cardio of your choice) I then do a set of back exercises, then get back on the elliptical for 5 minutes, then some curls…by now you get the idea. On Tuesday and Thursday instead of weights I substitute BOSU push ups, birdfeeders, air squats, planks, crunches. Core and balance stuff!
The first 4 weeks I started doing 4 sets of each which resulted in a workout of twenty minutes of cardio about twenty minutes of weights. But here’s what I like. Time flies, it’s not mundane and before you know it my heart rate was in the zone almost the entire time. During the next 4 weeks I added 5 minutes of elliptical and my heart rate is well into the zone for close to an hour and I am starting to see some results. I would know exactly how long I am in the zone but I can’t figure out how to work my watch. A little help maybe Jen? I plan on adding sets until the whole thing lasts about 1 hour and fifteen minutes and I will continue to increase intensity. It is working for me and there is little pain so maybe this will help someone else. So stay tuned because at the end of six months there may be an after photo however, I can assure there is no need for a before. - Joe