by evilgenius » Sat 07 Jan 2017, 13:38:10
I love working out. I would workout every day if my body would let me. It's funny that this thread would come up because only yesterday I was talking to the receptionist at the gym about this very thing. I have lots of friends who enjoy nothing so much as a good donut and a nice sit on the couch.
When I was young I lifted more. In my thirties I began to run. In my late forties I encountered plantar fasciitis. I countered it with biking and running on the grass. We get actual winter where I live, so I also joined a gym. I workout there more than outside now. I used to ride my bike three hours a day, but didn't get on it that much last summer. The gym has wonderful machinery that allows me to go all out and not put so much stress on my feet. I also don't get flat tires miles from home. I could fix all of those, but they aren't fun.
The worst part about the gym used to be the price, but working out at a gym is cheap now. All that contract stuff has gone out the window. I just pay monthly. You do get some potential constrictions. Unlike the bike path, where sometimes you have to slow for traffic but if you are going a long distance those slow downs average to a very small part of your workout, the gym comes with competition for certain pieces of equipment. There's never competition for the elliptical machines that I like so much. The treadmills get filled up sometimes. I don't like treadmills anyway. I like to hit the heavy bag, and they only have one of those, so sometimes I have problems getting the workout I want there. I try to always have alternatives in mind if I can't do what I want. The great thing about a gym is that they have alternatives.
I just turned 53 about a week ago. Today I am fixing to go and work the elliptical for an interval workout. That means cycling between various elevations and intensity settings. I will make it hard and less hard, and punctuate that with easy for about 40 minutes. After that I will do the bench press. I like to do that on a machine. The machine is great because it has this foot press that allows me to spot myself. The only trouble with that is that the weight stack on it only goes up to 255 pounds. I get started with the meat of my bench press workout at 240, so I find I have to add a lot of those extra weights that you pile onto the stack to get through. There again, if it's crowded, those extra weights might all be in use. I'm not training to win any contests, so if I can't pack a bunch of them on I will adjust the number of reps I do with less weight up to a greater number rather than add more weight and do fewer reps. They have a free weight section. Eventually I will have to go up there, but that means trouble finding a spotter. After I do the bench press I will go over to the stepper. That's this machine that has a weight stack and handles. You pick up the weight as if you were lifting it from the ground, but the handles are attached to cables and the weight stack is before you. You step up onto an adjustable platform. There is nothing like it for taking the air out of you. It's amazing. One of the things I like to do is prospect for gold. That stepper is just like walking uphill with full buckets of dirt in both hands, only more intense. It's amazing because it works so much of your body. It doesn't just work the legs, but all of that weight hangs from your shoulders. Your back comes into play as well. And you have to grip it all the while. I usually do it, in sets of about 20 to 30 reps per leg, until I have trouble holding on anymore. Tomorrow I will do the heavy bag, and my back and arms.
You have to eat right as well. That means less crap, and more cooking. I am not a vegetarian, but most of my diet is composed of vegetables or grains of some kind. I eat a lot of lentils. I do concede white rice, but prefer black rice. I don't like the taste of brown rice, or I would probably eat more of that. I like chicken for meat. I don't eat too much red meat. I prefer almond milk over soy milk. I like real half and half in my coffee. I try to eat non-tortured chicken eggs. I don't eat that many eggs, so why not pay the extra. I find that it's a bad thing to make rules about not eating this or that. Christmas season makes me fat, just like it does everybody else. The trick is not to indulge yourself in good tasting sweet things very often. I look at the donuts in the store, outside of Christmas, and imagine how wonderful they would be, but then leave them there.
Sitting here writing this I checked my resting pulse rate. It's 52, 26 beats over 30 seconds. Yeah, that's pretty good. As long as it's under 60 I'm usually happy with it. The lowest it's ever been was 48, when I used to swim a lot in my 20's. Swimming is so total body that an hour every day or so and your heart rate will respond.
Then there is the role of faith in all this. You have to believe you can do it, and that it will benefit you. If you don't see a response, or you can't lift that weight you mustn't believe the wrong thing about yourself. The right application of faith as you do what you do will eventually turn the tide. I will lose the ten pounds of Christmas weight, but not in a couple of weeks. I have to watch my meals for a while. I don't need to workout harder, or longer. I workout enough. And sometimes it just won't go right. Sometimes you will feel tired more quickly, and it isn't you just caving into your inner slacker. I have one hell of an inner slacker. While it is true that I know a thing or two about harnessing my faith, if you believe in your heart then all of these things will be done for you, that other people don't that doesn't mean that anybody can't enjoy the physical part of their life. You only need to use what you have.