Ace Ventura
I’m not 100% certain how to start this post out. You see, I do need to lose some gut and it’s been suggested that it’s one of (some say only) reasons I have repeated back issues. Not sure I agree with that, but it’s something I should probably work on. Let’s leave the diet side of things out of this since that’s another fight. Seriously, I don’t care if one person enjoys quinoa. It’s barely flavored sand to me, so no amount of pestering will get me to eat it for any reason other than to make someone be quiet while I plot my revenge.
Anyway, ‘muscle training’ has been suggested. My wife has these resistance bands that I’m trying to use. I’m saying try because her attempts to teach me about them would have been easier to understand if it was spoken in Latin. My wife is an expert at extraneous detail when talking, but I got the gist of it. Look at list for weight amount, hook up to handholds, stand on band to keep it fixed, and move my flabby arms like I would with dumbbells. Seems easy enough to do.
The schedule is the hard part, but I think I got that:
Monday/Wednesday/Friday- Biking for 30 minutes/10 miles whichever comes last.
Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday- 15-20 minutes of the resistance bands
Saturday- Rest
I was originally thinking of doing both on the same day, but realized time would get drained and I’d be killing myself. Then again, this is the first month I’m doing it. We’ll see how I do with the resistance bands because I have a habit of getting bored. Probably play YouTube stuff while I’m working out.
So, here is where I open the floor. Do you work out to keep off the author/office worker/whatever flab? What do you do?
I will say that this is not a request for suggestions on what I should do. That may sound really cruel, but I’ve been here before. I say what I’m doing and a horde of people rush in to tell me why I’m wrong or ways to improve. This is the easiest way to make me quit it all and figure I’m doomed no matter what I do. Seriously, I’m working on a plan for me and one key component is optimism and positive energy. You might come from the right place, but that doesn’t mean it hits the other person’s happy place. Kind of like firing a warning shot to bring an ally’s attention to a trap, but you end up hitting them in the back and they fall in anyway. Now, we can discuss, but lets try to keep a friendly and supportive tone here. (This paragraph probably killed the post, but whatever. Really tired of explaining why I don’t like going to the gym and prefer to work out at home and alone.)
Legends of Windemere 
I would like to get one of these bike cycles. Someone I know has one and loves it. https://www.amazon.com/DeskCycle-Exercise-Pedal-Exerciser-White/dp/B00B1VDNQA
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Um make that DESK cycles.
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Looks awesome. Now if only I had a desk. 😛
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I go to the gym about 5 times/week and that includes cardio, weight training, and yoga. Have to admit, Charles – I’ve gotten some of my best ideas on the treadmill or in yoga. Seems to free up my brain so ideas can get circulating.
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I just can’t focus or feel comfortable in a gym. I tried in college and it didn’t work out. The bike does lead to some good ideas, but I’ll admit that I’ve been rather distracted with life while on there lately.
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Do what you feel comfortable doing Charles – and do things for YOUR OWN benefit and approval, not someone else’s 😃
I take breaks from blogging, etc, and go for short (15 to 20 minute) walks, about 4 times daily. (Not power walking – just normal speed walking)
I’d love to try Tai Chi, but nervous I’d speed up the forms and end up back in martial arts mode, which at my age, could cause damage (to myself lol)
Good Luck with your efforts 👍😃
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Thanks. People have been trying to push the walking, but not easy to do in the winter. I’ve noticed a lot of people who give me advice tend to go dormant with their regime once the weather turns. At least the outdoor stuff. Nothing wrong with high speed Tai Chi. I think. Surprised there isn’t something like that.
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I suspect high speed Tai Chi is called Kung Fu, Tae Kwondo, or Karate, Charles 😃
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I considered that, but I thought the forms would be different.
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You might be right 🐵
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First time for everything.
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LOL
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Worst part is that soon after I wrote that, I got into a debate with Cortana on my new laptop about getting Adobe Acrobat. Not sure I won.
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mmmm Adobe Acrobat doesn’t count as exercise Charles 😄😄😄
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But it says Acrobat in the title. Not to mention the rage-fueled flailing and stomping that the new computer set up is inducing.
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Clever Man – Getting your Computer to do your exercises for you 👍😃
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That would explain why the old one always seemed so tired.
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LOL
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I never go to the gym, hate the place lol. I go to yoga once a week, do archery several times a week, also running and swimming when I feel like it. Running is most accessible because you just lit go outside and start, you dont need anything for it. It’s also not just to “keep off the flab” but as tpolen already said, some of the best ideas come at me while moving around!
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Does archery help with working out? I guess it helps the arms. That’s something I could get into.
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the archery itself does too, arms and back mainly, but the thing is you wanna be strong and enduring enough for a powerful bow eventually so it motivates you to doing pushups and stuff :3
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Always been bad at push-ups. Oh well 😁
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lol we all start somewhere 😜
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For me it’s usually sleeping face down in the floor. Carpeting is far too comfy. 😜
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My history with attempting to exercise is long, varied, and fairly unsuccessful. For a while I was doing those at-home work out videos, which I was actually really getting into — but then I moved and I didn’t have enough floor space, so that fizzled out. Mostly these days my “be healthier” attempts involve using a calorie counter, and trying to do something active each day (i.e. go for a walk, clean, rearrange the living room, whatever). I did go to a gym for a while, but I didn’t care for it mostly because I’m an instant gratification kind of person — if I feel motivated to do something, I need to do it right away before the motivation wears off. Whereas when I’m inspired to go to the gym, I then have to pack up my gym bag, get in the car, drive to the gym, check in, change into my gym gear, and then FINALLY start exercising.
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Sounds like me. I’ve tried many things and something always derailed me. Made a lot of progress doing weekly biking on the stationary, but then winter hit and it became to cold to be in the basement. Now the thing is in my room, but I’m not doing it daily. 3 times a week is all I can muster. That does sound like a lot of work to get the gym. Why can’t we get in shape just by doing stuff like that?
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The worst part is I’ve been playing The Sims recently, where all you have to do to get in shape is go to the gym for three days in a row. It’s great for my Sims, but damn do I wish it was that easy in real life.
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That’s an odd gym. Is there a demon in there making deals?
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Sadly, no. But there is a random man in a raccoon outfit who wanders in occasionally. So … that’s something.
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A tanuki? Or does he ask if his princess is in another castle?
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Neither. He keeps inviting me to the opera. Except, as far as I can tell, there is no opera.
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Well that’s plain ominous.
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Sounds just like me!
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I do a little weight routine three times a week (I’ve worked all the way to five pound bells, whee!), though not this week with the Hacking Wheezing Cold from Heck. Part of that is because I come from a long line of short little ladies with crappy bones (we call Nana the Fosamax Poster Woman, and I myself have already lost an inch of height), and part is so I can still lift up those 40-pound bags of pellets to fill up the stove, this being winter and all. I have gone to the gym a few times, but I would rather walk (the sidewalks are finally clear again, yay) or dance to the radio on the days I don’t do weights.
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I need to get more into a weight routine with these resistance bands. Only doing twice a week for 10 minutes each session to work the arms. I have cruddy upper body strength, which makes it tough. Dancing is an interesting choice. Forgot that could be exercise too.
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I bike eight miles three days a week and do resistance bands every other day. Not sure it does anything but doesn’t hurt.
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That’s the system I’m trying to get into. Though I don’t do anything on the weekends. Probably should change that once life settles down.
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Weekends are for weekends.
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Margaritas. Got it.
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I got nothin’ this time. I did pick up on the comment about “new” laptop, so glad for that.
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Thanks. Still getting the right programs on it. One benefit is that all the ones I stopped using are no longer in the way. Just figuring out Windows 10 now.
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Good luck. I’ve gone Apple.
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I never got along with Apple products outside of the iPhone. Mac computers cost me a few college papers.
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I got 4 comments –
1. quinoa flavoured sand – lol!
2. still looking for the right fit for me. Bought a treadmill once, got into interval training for a few days, but it wrecked my knees and back. Which were already wrecked. So not a good choice.
3. hate gyms. Been there, done that. Not sustainable
4. My sister, a physio, swears by those giant balls you can sit on as chair substitutes. Says they’re great for building core muscle to support the back. You have to keep moving a little to stay on board 🙂
Not sure if any of that is at all helpful. Just thought I’d add my two bits. Good luck with it 🙂
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I haven’t minded treadmills, but the stationary bike was cheaper and easier to fit in the room. Think I prefer it since I don’t have an outdoor bike any more. It’s really hard to exercise when you already have a wrecked body part. Shoveling snow tends to mess up my back, which knocks me out of biking for a week or two.
My mom has one of those giant balls, but my son tends to kick it around or roll around with it. My wife and mom sit on it without much trouble. I should probably try it, but I tend to have something in my lap if I’m not up and moving. I’m really hoping the 10 miles on the bike 3x a week and resistance bands 2-3x a week help out.
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Sounds like you’ve got it sorted.
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I know you wanted to leave the diet part out, but I have to make one suggestion: cut out all products with soy in them. I didn’t know I was allergic to soy until last year, I cut it out and I lost more weight than I thought possible.
Soy doesn’t affect everyone, but it was originally looked at as basically a poison that made people go crazy.
Good luck with the exercise and your new laptop.
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Never heard of that, but we don’t use much soy here. Soy sauce occasionally, but that’s really it. This is why I wasn’t bringing up diet. It seems we’ve hit a point where more is known about allergies toward food. It’s no longer breathing trouble and vomiting, but weight and digestive issues. Yet it seems to be different for everyone. My wife has an issue with soy that we discovered when she tried to eat more of it. I just have good old IBS that makes all foods with taste my enemy. Makes the diet thing really tough.
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The worst thing about soy is that it’s in a lot of other foods. Soy bean oil is in a lot of breads. Plus almost all chocolate has soy in it.
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Never realized that. Really strange that chocolate has soy in it. I’m going to check what we have to see how many have soy.
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They use soy lecithin to increase the shelf life instead of using plain cocoa butter itself, most store bought cookies also use it instead of butter.. Here’s a good link that talks about soy lecithin.
https://chriskresser.com/harmful-or-harmless-soy-lecithin/
And here’s a link that has a lot of the other names for soy that food manufacturers use to trick people, it’s a bit scary honestly. But it’s good to know, especially if your wife might have a bit of a soy allergy.
http://naturalandfree.blogspot.com/p/alternative-names-for-soy-and-soy-free.html
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Thanks. I’ll take a look at them. Having some trouble with the new laptop. Not sure why.
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Good luck with your new laptop, new computers are always hard to get used to.
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Tell me about it. *goes back to figuring out how he opened 30 Internet tabs with one click*
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I tried the gym, using exercise equipment at home, exercise DVDs, etc, and none of it worked for me. Apart from anything else, I get bored of anything I’m not doing purely for my own enjoyment very quickly. The only thing that’s ever worked for me is walking. I enjoy going for walks, especially along the seafront. Though I admit I haven’t done that much in the past couple of years, despite living close enough to it that I can be on the beach within five minutes of walking out of my door. I just haven’t wanted to recently… Well, actually, I haven’t wanted to since we lost our dog a couple of years ago. I know the extreme decrease in the number of walks I’ve been taking has caused problems with my weight and endurance, since I tire quicker than I used to. I’m trying to get back in the habit of walking more, but I don’t have quite as much motivation without the dog. I’m seriously considering getting a new dog. I’m sure the dog would be happy to encourage me to go for more walks again.
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Walking is the most common suggestion I get. My area isn’t as pretty to look at as the seafront, which stops me. That and traffic. Sorry about the dog. Getting a new four-legged friend doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Can’t for certain because I’ve only had fish and hamsters as pets.
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Thanks about the dog.
I can understand you not being so enthusiastic about walking if you don’t have somewhere nice to walk like I do. Walking somewhere with some nature to appreciate really does improve the experience. Anyway, I hope your new plan works out for you, and if it doesn’t that you can find one that does.
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There is a large park nearby, but I always find it odd to drive to a place where I’m only going to be walking. Hoping the new plan works too. Not sure if me being perpetually hungry is a good thing.
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You asked what I, personally, do about fitness, so no extraneous comments here.
I do yoga about 15 minutes before work most days. Not so much for weight loss as balance and flexibility. In warm weather I ride my bike for about 30 minutes most days. In winter I slack off and it shows. Just the past few weeks, my husband set up a bike on one if those frames. I’ve been doing 15 minutes every other day after work. Once I get my legs, I’ll probably up it to 30 minutes.
For me, I try to keep it in steady, manageable bites. Your resistance training sounds interesting, though.
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Sounds like a great system. The resistance training is fun, but I haven’t figured out if I’m doing it exactly right yet. I’ve been wondering if yoga helps with weight loss or more flexibility. My wife trained to teach it, so what I’ve seen looks more for the latter.
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You don’t really lose weight with yoga, but don’t let that stop you. If you’re having back pain, your wife might be able to suggest some stretches. I used to have a lot of back pain when gardening, and it’s been reduced significantly by my yoga.
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I let the tight pants and a sense of shame stop me. 😛 The thing with the back pain is that it sets off a chronic stomach issue that I have. It can go in the reverse too. So there are times where the back is fine, but the stomach is emanating pain to that area. This leads to me working on the wrong problem and getting frustrated, which makes it worse. Honestly, if the human body is a temple then mine should be condemned.
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In terms of workout – find something you like and can stick with, particularly for cardio. A rotation of different activities is a good thing. If you have a specific area you are working on you can come up with a weight program that targets it. Stretching/yoga can be great too, but it has to be your thing.
Finally, I hugely recommend journalling/tracking if you are after weight loss (or even just maintenance). As you’ve hinted, you almost have to go after both diet and exercise. Truthfully, diet will give you the bigger weight loss gains. I’ve been pretty happy with MyFitnessPal, but there are plenty of other tools.
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I think I’m just too lazy to do the tracking and too poor to maintain the optimum diet. Healthy food seems insanely expensive, so I’m always left either eating crap or trying to function with no lunch. I’m always confused on the exercising too. Whenever I say one thing, I’m told a bunch of jargon that has me wondering if I’m wasting my time. Seems very easy to knock a person off the healthy path with criticism and confusion. Especially if that person is already suffering from doubt and apathy.
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