Picking myself back up…

…I fell off the wagon over the holidays, but I have a strategy to pick myself back up again, starting today!  Marc has promised to help out in the new year by starting his own fitness and nutrition plan.  (Note: Do not be confused by the word “plan” and “Marc” in the same sentence.  He is doing this his way, which is more about having lots of good choices for food and exercise and choosing what to do and when to do it spontaneously. )

My get-on-track plan is pretty simple:

• Follow a weekly schedule for workouts right now.
• Plan meals for 6 days a week, then have a free day on Sundays.  (This is the part of the “plan” that Marc has embraced.)
• Drink 64 oz of water everyday.
• Blog/journal everyday, including an SotD.

I’ve got a couple tools to help me keep to my plan,  most of them related to the meal planning/eating right goals.  The tools I’m using right now to help me with a fitness plan are pretty basic.

• My C25K mp3’s – I’m restarting week 4.
• Leash – for my running buddy, M, W & F and for both hiking buddies on Saturdays!
• Shoes – still no shin pain, so I haven’t worn them out yet!
• Dumbbells – for upper body workouts on M & F
• Gym membership – for lower body strength and interval workouts on T & R
• Yoga videos – for a workout on Sun & Wed.

In the long run, I think I’m tired of the gym though.  It’s a great way to ‘get away from it all’ – my FIL says his three-hour gym sessions (including the steam room) are better than therapy – but I think I can get more out of some other activities.

I know I want to learn a martial art, and Marc has recommended Tae Kwon Do.  Apparently, it focuses on kicks, which would make a TKD class a great alternative to my lower body workouts!  It would also be a way to make sure I got out and was at least a little social. Not working and studying through distance education, I know it’s important to make sure that I don’t end up in a completely anti-social funk.

I would also like to get back into crew when the weather is more consistently nice.  This isn’t so much of a group sport until I build up some skills, but it’s outdoors.  I am more motivated to get started when I’m going to exercise outside.  The downside is that Town Lake is much further away than the gym…I think I’d probably only end up going out once a week, maybe twice if the weather is nice.

My last “ideal” fitness activity to pick up would be mountain biking.  We have Marc’s old mountain bike, which I need to take in and get fixed up.  There are some good places to go riding, not too far from here, so this has the advantage of being (1) nearly free, (2) convenient and (3) outdoors.

I still have a gym membership until the middle of January (or maybe it’s February? I need to check), but I know that I will certainly be getting rid of that membership and going back to rowing.  I’ll spend the afternoon today researching TKD places in town and getting that set up too.

Good luck, to everyone in the new year!!

~ by fitbethlin on December 29, 2008.