For the last month I've been exercising (I can't really say "working out" - just push-ups, sit-ups, and the like). For all of this week, I haven't been doing them. Over the weekend, my muscles were hurting, so I took a couple days off.
The problem is that I haven't got back into it. Yes, I know that I should.
Sigh. It was a lot easier ten years ago. So for those of you who do regular exercise, have you ever fallen off the wagon? How did you climb back on?
13 comments:
I treadmill or bike. I find that after falling off the wagon, what gets me back on, and quickly is that large German Shepherd with huge teeth rounding the corner on 800 SE headed straight for an encounter with my right shin. You'd be surprised how quickly I can get back on the wagon and get moving.
Interesting you should ask...
I'm in a bit of a slump right now, actually; I've gone from working out 5-6 times a week to 3-4, and even those 4 are getting harder to push myself to do.
I've been working out on a regular basis for 3.5 years now, and it gets old if you do the same thing over and over again. What I've found to work pretty well is to change things up - hit the treadmill one day, go for a bike ride the next, and then a quick jog around the neighborhood the next.
Getting outside - when it's not too hot, of course - is the key. There's no better motivation than some cool summer air and a world that's still mostly asleep.
Get a workout partner -- someone you can compete against, and/or someone who you don't want to lose face in front of.
I fell off the wagon and then it ran over me, several times. :-)
Fortunately I've been through this before, and like most things it's cyclical and I know I'll get back on the wagon, it's just a matter of time.
You go out today. Forget the days you didn't go.
Days you didn't work out, or did, are all in the past. Days you might work in the future mean nothing, you could be dead. There is only today. What are you doing today?
I was up to five days a week at the gym, cardio and building muscle. Vacation last week shot that to hell, although I did get in a couple mornings biking around Chincotequea in ungodly heat, so that counts.
I suppose what will get me going again (tomorrow morn) will be recalling how EASY that recreational biking was, after all the time at the gym.
Today, working in the heat has me so sore that lunch will be ibuprofen and LOTS of bottles water.
Charity challenge! http://lookingforlissa.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/charity-challenge/
This is the first week where I'm really struggling to make it, but I think I will. No $$ for Obama for America!
Borepatch,
There's roughly 3 approaches.
1. Jon's approach: Get a workout partner. Monkeybrains work better under social discipline than under personal discipline.
2. The economist's approach: Commit a $50 donation to the Brady Campaign, or whatever every week you don't exercise (say) 3x (put exercise minimums).
3. Yourenotsosmart has an article up now on the topic.
Oops, late, can't link must run.
Have fallen off said wagon several times; just got back on it.
My lesson from previous failures was that exercise time needs to be blocked off in my schedule like any other important appointment or commitment. It's an appointment with myself (or a trainer if I'm using one). That training time is sacrosanct and does not get canceled or postponed for anything except life or death emergencies.
What Mich said, plus - it's a routine, you have to make it in to something you do on a regular basis. Not something you fit around the other parts of your life.
When it becomes a regular part of your life then missing it feels wrong, rather than the other way around.
Well if nothing else your post motivated me to get going again. Over the last 4 years things have slipped for me. Age. Injury, two serious leg injuries playing softball, one requiring surgery(torn Achilles) and one that led to a severe infection requiring much treatment and a hospital stay. So needless to say I pretty much quit. Other then walks with the wife.
But you post made me rethink and I hit the weights today and will begin biking/jogging/treadmill slowly but surely.
Plus my 50 something birthday is the 9th and well dammit.
You pushed the right button I guess!!!
You fall off a bike and you get back on, after your skinned knee heals - but it's like riding a bike, you know how to do it. But it's nice to have a good bike, a klunker will hurt you. And take it easy, work up to speed slowly and back-off when it hurts or you hit an open car-door. Too much will kill you. I try to go for a ride in the morning before it gets all hot. In the winter, I dunno - enjoy food?
I can't stand The Gym, I'll never do that.
I'm working back into it by walking the dog for 45-60 minutes per day and lots of stretching, slowly working some body-weight calisthenics into the mix. I need to take it slow as I'm rehabbing nasty case of tendonitis in my right knee and I'd really rather not injure it for real.
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