Posts Tagged ‘get in shape’

Since I am getting this post out a little late, I have decided to combine day 26 and 27 (yesterday and today). This works out well since I added a swim to my exercise routine for the last two days. Though technically I was snorkeling, and the water was too cold to stay in more than about 10-15 minutes, I tried to get as much exercise out of it as possible. It also helped me to realize another reason to break up your exercise routine through out the day. Something unexpected may come into your schedule that stops you from completing that day.

Being that it’s February, it had been a while since I had been out under the direct sun swimming. Putting my body under a bright sun for a little over an hour zapped all of my energy. I didn’t notice it at first, but a couple hours after I returned home I became very tired and wasnt motivated at all to do my exercise routine. My whole body felt heavier and sluggish. I would have been perfectly happy to fall asleep in front of the TV.

I actually did go on and push myself to complete the rest of my routine and even went for a short run. I felt much better afterwords and my energy seemed to be restored. It also helped that I knew I would be writing about it later and that the results wouldn’t be as accurate if I missed a day.

However, I had already done a parts of my routine in the morning and combined with the swim that would have been an adequate workout for the day. It wouldn’t have been a big deal to let my body rest for the night.  If I had a set workout schedule, skipping the routine without effecting my results wouldn’t have been possible. Knowing that part of the workout was already finished also made it easier to start again when I was tired.

Tomorrow is technically the last day of the challenge so please be sure to tune in for the final results. Technically the challenge was 30 days, but the following 2 days would be rest days and so won’t count.

Exercises of the Day

Bicycle Crunches- Laying with your back on the floor and your legs bent and elevated of the floor, slowly crunch your right elbow to your left knee (then do the same with your left elbow and right knee). Using your stomach muscles lift your upper body as much as possible off the ground when doing the crunch. I also hold each one for a second or two. This exercise is still one of the most difficult for me.

Pull-ups- The reason I am such a big fan off pull-ups is because of the number of upper body muscles it requires. Not to mention that using only a bar, you can do several types of pull-ups, working different muscle groups. Seeing my upper body strength increase by the ease I can do  pull-ups has been very motivating.

First off, I would like to apologize for not getting yesterdays post out. I was at a festival that ended much later than it was supposed to. It’s actually normal for things to start amazingly late here in Miyakojima, but I still haven’t gotten used to it. To be totally honest, there wasn’t much to post about. I did about a 10 minute warm up routine along with a 30 minute workout. Mostly focused on upper body strength. Sets of push-ups, pull-ups, and various sit-ups. Thanks to a tip I picked up in the workout program I am using, I am getting a much better workout out my my sit-ups.

We have all done sit-ups at some point in our life. In high school, I was able to do nearly 90 sit-ups in one minute due to my small size. Did I have a six pack? Far from it. I used my momentum and lightness to make my body go back and forth quickly. I had to be in decent shape to do that many per minute, but it really didn’t take much strength at all.

For the last several years I have been using a balance ball to do sit-ups. It definitely does a much better job than a regular sit-up, but after several days on the ball I usually stop getting the burn. So what’s the big secret?

It’s in making them as difficult as they can possibly be. The biggest difference for me has been to really squeeze my abs at the peak of the crunch and even hold it like that for a second or two. It makes your ab muscles contract much harder than they are used to. Our bodies tend to shy away from pain and so when we do a workout, the body tries to get through the hard parts as quickly as possible. A sit-up is much more effective done slowly.

This may not seem like a big deal, but it’s actually quite substantial. If I can get the maximum result out of each exercise, I can spend less time working out and get better results. I would much rather do 10 difficult sit-ups than 50-100 easy ones. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Diet

As I promised, my diet has not changed. Not to say that I am eating fast food everyday (I rarely eat fast food), but I am by no means counting calories or going without. In addition to the three meals I eat everyday, I generally tend to have snacks and deserts. Today I had ice cream before lunch and yesterday was pudding.

Now for anyone who is really serious about losing weight or getting in shape this isn’t the smartest thing to do. Keeping a very balanced diet and knowing how many calories you intake makes a lot of sense. The program I am using actually has full details on choosing a meal plan to best suit your workout. It would help you achieve your results quicker and make sure you are burning more calories than you are taking in. I have no idea. I could be taking in more than I burn and have no progress after 30 days. I guess we will see if there is any visible difference when I post pictures tomorrow.

The challenge was to see if I could get fit without following all the rules. If I can achieve it in 30 days, then someone who does a full workout and changes their diet should be able to do even better.