The wonders of the gym.

[TheMasterGeek]

Greetings peeps.

I thought it was time to regale you peeps with a HtH blog post, so here it is.

As some of you may know, I joined a gym a few months ago. The reason why I did this was because one day I carried a bag with a camera up a flight of stairs and was winded, and that's why I decided I had enough. I was out of shape. No 130-pound guy should be that out of shape. So I did something about it. I joined a gym, and it turns out that it was one of the best things I've ever did. I have been going to the gym for the past 4 1/2 months. I am in better shape.

I do weight training three days a week, for 30 minutes a day, and a 10 minute warm-up run before the training. I don't try to exceed my limit the heaviest dumbbell I use it a 20-pound dumbbell for a lateral press, having one in each hand) and for a hammer curl and bicep curls. I used the weight machines for three exercises with the heaviest being a 65-pound rep for a seat row.

The other two days a week I have cardio for 30 minutes to an hour, depending on how much time I have before I goto work. If I can get my ass up earlier than the 11 am I have been recently, I will push it up to an hour. During cardio days, I usually run 2.5 miles in 30 minutes and/or bike 6-7 miles in 30 minutes. With all of that work out, I am in the best shape in my life, and I have gained 5 pounds since starting this workout regimen, which is good, and I have reached my target weight for the program.

I am also going to try to get my ass ready to do the workouts on the weekend.

The cool thing about the program is that I don't have to change my diet, except eat five times a day for a calorie total of 2000 per day. I still can eat fast food, which I have to with the hours I work I can't cook for myself every day, but I balance that out with an apple a day. I've cut down on the chocolate chip cookie consumption, and started to eat more oatmeal for breakfast or eggs.

With all that, I am in the best shape in my life, I can run/jog for about 30 minutes, feel all tired, but not be completely winded. And with the weather warming up, I plan to buy a bike and start riding my bike at least three times a week around town, or at least at the local park.

[tjaman]

Well done, Kev! Personally, I'm finding the benefits of exercise -- i.e., not being so easily winded -- to be the best motivator to keeping up with it.

I took the opposite approach. Since the gym is way the hell on the other end of town and gas prices have been what they've been, I actually canceled my gym membership, since I can go for a walk absolutely everywhere and in bad weather, there's always the walking track at the college which is free.

That's working out pretty well. As of Tuesday, I've put in 17 miles. My goal for the week is 10 and I've met and exceeded it every week except for two weeks in the past six months.

I'm not doing the weight training you're doing, but I suspect I'm gaining muscle mass. I don't for a second think I'm getting lighter but I'm burning fat, which is a goal. I need to focus on the diet more, but I'm feeling good about it.

Your biking around that bif hill is gonna supplement the work you're doing at the gym perfectly. And you'll absolutely wanna start earlier than 11 a.m. right shortly. It's gonna start to get pretty warm plenty early.

I'm already looking at shifting from evenings to early mornings (5 a.m. and such) and we're still in the 30s and 40s at that hour, as opposed to the 60s and 70s in the evenings. Just me, but I'd rather walk in the cool than the heat.

Keep up the good work!

[GreatMuppetyNick]

Oy. Now you guys are making me feel lazy. ;D

[TheMasterGeek]

The main goal for the weight training is to repair the damage to the muscles that I do when I do cardio. So when I start to bike and run outside, I still will need to work on the weight training.

Another thing I have noticed when I started to workout, I am much more toned in the arms and legs, because the weight has gone from fat to muscle.