Intro and Workout!

[gramina]

I've been a member for a while, but I've been struggling to get committed to any specific exercise plan; I've been walking pretty reliably, but I knew I wanted a strength training plan and I just didn't have one. Now I do (http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/03/10/angry-birds-workout-plan/), and I thought if I'm hoping to be posting exercise updates here, I should start with an intro. :)

I'm turning 50 in April; I've always been relatively strong, but as I've been getting older I've noticed that I get less flexible, my endurance is dropping, and I'm not even as strong as I'm used to being. Plus, my blood chemistry is getting fubared -- high-but-not-diabetic sugars, high-but-not-critical LDL and triglycerides, low HDL, etc. But weight loss as a goal is pretty much poisonous to me, and it's pretty clear I need to change how I live, not have a project to fix this-or-that.

So I'm using http://www.healthmonth.com to track my various personal goals and figure out what works well for me, and I've been walking pretty reliably for the last couple months, getting at first three and now six miles a week, probably increasing to seven next month; I'm stretching every day; and now I have this Angry Birds workout complete with imaginary gold stars -- and judging by how well Healthmonth works for me I think the imaginary gold stars make a difference :)

So yesterday I did my first Angry Birds workout, managing to finish 30 squats in one set (which means next time I try 50 and see how many sets it takes me), 40 knee-ups in three sets (yeah, upper body strength lags, for me), so tomorrow I'll try for two sets and see if I can do it, sixty seconds in plank in one set, which means next time I try for two minutes and see how many sets it takes, and 30 bent-over rows in one set but only using the two 8# weights I could find, which I think means I should find some heavier weights before I go to his reverse rows (body-weight rows, pulling yourself up from a supine position toward a bar or other support).

So, hi!

Comments

[weirdquark]

Hi!

But weight loss as a goal is pretty much poisonous to me, and it's pretty clear I need to change how I live, not have a project to fix this-or-that.

I hear that. When I was a teenager my dad tried to get me to exercise by telling me that if I lost weight it'd be easier to get a boyfriend. I told him that I didn't want to date anyone who would be interested in me if I was thinner who wouldn't be interested if I wasn't. So that went nowhere helpful. I was never very overweight, but I have health problems which would be less problematic at a lower weight, so he was well intentioned, but trying to motivate me based on my appearance and love life just killed my desire to do something about it.

So it wasn't until I hit thirty that I looked at myself and thought about how my dad developed diabetes when he was around forty and thought about how that wasn't that far off. So I started exercising regularly, and I started lifting weights back in April, and I am now in much better shape than I was in high school. Which is nice but since I wasn't in great shape then not impressive, so more importantly, I feel like I'm getting to be in good shape and actually enjoy exercising.

My mother has also been exercising and is in better shape than she's been in for a while. (I keep telling her she needs to lift weights.)

[giglet]

Hi, I'm her via network.

I'm also using Healthmonth ( http://healthmonth.com/profile/giglet ) -- would you mind if I friended you? (To do so, I'd need to know your healthmonth nickname.)

[gramina]

Coolness! I'm at http://healthmonth.com/profile/gramina

[giglet]

Thanks!

Also, wow! That's a lot of rules!