My Toughts On My New Found Passion For Working Out. Hard.

Ugh. That used to be my thoughts on working out. I did it because I knew it was good for me. Sometimes I enjoyed it. Most time I wanted to get the eff out the gym. A couple months ago I found that I had some more free time on my hands. I was also tired of being big. My BMI ad body weight put me back into the obese category. Woof. Back when I took the coaching job at DACC, I was in the neighborhood of 250 pounds. This crept up a little bit due to my lack of activity and unhealthy diet. Last Christmas time, I stated hooping with the girls and started to drop some weight. This is when things started turning.

After the holidays I joined a local gym and started working on the regular. I had a couple weight lifting routines that were more focused on keeping the heart rate up and some total body stuff. Meh. It was alright. I'd mix in some cardio and some abs and call it good. I kinda stayed up on this routine for a while. Took a month off here and there. I cut myself down to about 232-235 in July. Came home for a week. Got promoted at work. And boom. No more workouts.

When I came back to the gym in late October, I was about 235. No real muscle definition and I noticed I had lost some strength. So I decided to start lifting hard. I found a lifting plan I like (Four sets of eight, with a fifth set to exhaustion) and a schedule that had me lifting each muscle "group" twice a week. This meant I needed to lift six days a week. I have been able to do this pretty well.

Next, I stepped up my cardio. Added some new elements and extended the time. I mix up my activities so that my body doesn't get used to a particular exercise. I have also added two new elements to my workouts. I now swim once a week and I also do a heavy bag workout once a week. Both have these have helped with strength gains. Especially in the shoulders. Loving the results.

The final part of my workouts that I needed to work on was my core. I needed to add some strength here, as well as some flexibility. This is the one part that was always the easiest to cut out for me, especially if I was short on time. But. Since I have learned the value of interval workouts in cardio as well as some quick, but effective, ab workouts, I don't have to trim any part out. I can get a complete workout. Also. Yoga has been a nice addition. Can tell that I am adding some flexibility that wasn't there before.

Long story short. Set your goals. Find a plan. Make the time. Do it.