Kara & Michael’s Blog

I was reading an online chat yesterday, and someone said they wanted to lose a not-insignificant amount of weight and that they worked out half an hour for three days every week.

Well, plenty of people told him/her they needed to up the time and frequency of work-outs but no one told him/her how to do so. From one fat person to another, brother, I have some ideas.

1. Increase the frequency of your workouts. Try going at least five days a week, every day is better. Make a schedule for yourself and post it.
2. Make sure you do weight-lifting exercises in addition to the half an hour of cardio you’re already doing. Start by adding in push-ups, sit-ups, and easy things like bicep curls. There are a lot of weight-lifting exercises that you can do with dumbbells (or your own body weight), without even needing a full gym. If you’re uncomfortable with free-weights and have money to spare, head to a gym and use weight machines. You could even take a circuit-training course at a local community college, which would give you knowledge and force you to make time to work-out. Lift weights every other day so you don’t strain your muscles too much.
3. Gradually increase your cardio time on the days you’re not lifting weights.

You’ll be at an hour a day before you know it.

This person was aiming to lose thirty pounds. A couple years ago, I lost thirty pounds by working out five days a week. I did cardio for a half an hour every day and then lifted weights for half an hour every other day and lost weight slowly. Then I upped myself to an hour five days a week, alternating between five minutes of jogging and five minutes of lifting. The weight flew off.

Nowadays, I don’t really know what to do. I spent half an hour last night with wii fit, killing myself with the strength training exercises. Then I headed to the gym to do half an hour on the treadmill. This morning my abs are sore, but pleasantly so. My feet are sore not so pleasantly. I’ll still have to convince myself to get my butt to the gym, even though I’ll be cooking tonight and I really ought to do laundry.

I guess my point is this: The first step to any healthy exercise plan is just getting up some days and moving it. Once you get yourself to go a few days every week, you’ve overcome the mental boundaries we set against working out. It’s easier, at that point, to say: I want to increase the time or frequency of my work-outs.

I’m not there right now. I still have to fight myself to get up at first, even though once I do get up, it feels good and I want to keep going. This is an absolute truth for me - as sore as I am the next day, as tired as I am from not getting enough sleep… I have more energy.

And, truth be told, I love it when my muscles are sore. I love it. My abs are a dull ache today and I’m overjoyed about it. I killed them last night with the jack-knife and plank exercises on the wii. And that feels amazing. It’s nice to push your body and to feel it heal itself. Of course, I am a bit of a masochist.

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