Day 10 - Body For Life - 5 things that keep me going

Along my 10 day journey, I’ve realized some things that are essential to keeping you motivated during a workout campaign. I’d like to share with you what has helped me so far.

1. Support.
I want to thank everyone that has given me encouragement during this. It’s amazing how much of a motivator it can be when someone shows genuine interest in what you are doing. I give all my friends on Facebook status updates on how I’m doing during my workouts. Many of them send me messages and post comments that help keep me moving. My wife and kids have also been a huge encouragement. When you spread the news about what you are doing, people will respond with encouragement. I’m the type that will start strong and fade fast if I’m not motivated to keep moving.

2. Sleep.
If I don’t get enough sleep, I’m depressed and grumpy all day long. The workouts are much more tough to get through if you don’t have a good night of sleep prior to it. Also, your body needs that time to repair itself after being torn down during the workout.

3. Nutrition.
Getting the right amount of carbs and protein is essential to health and generally feeling better. Here’s an interesting page regarding how much protein you need that I found. I am much more motivated when I feel better. I feel better when I reduce sugar and eat healthy stuff. That’s all I’m gonna say. I’m not a trainer or nutritionist. All I know is how I feel!

4. Schedule.
I love the Body For Life program because it keeps my on a schedule and I know exactly what I’m going to do and how long it’s going to take. That’s critical when you are pressed for time and your time management skills suck.

5. Consistency.
Staying consistent is key. Just like anything else, consistency and repetition with the right habits will lead to success. Before, I was consistently eating horribly and never exercising. Consequently, I felt like crap. Now, I’m working out daily and eating much better. As a result, this is the best I have felt in a number of years.

As Jonathan Swift said, “If we keep doing what we are doing, we’ll keep getting what we’re getting.”

Day 9 - Body For Life - Not feeling very motivated

Well, I worked out Monday and today. The workout yesterday felt pretty good. This was a leg and abs workout. The only thing that is sore today are my abs. My legs did seem much stronger. I did the elliptical cardio workout this morning. I seemed stronger on it as well. Interestingly, my heart rate only got up to 140 this time even though I did the identical workout from last week.

I’m so unmotivated today. I had a weird dream last night and woke up crying. I couldn’t go back to sleep for quite a while. I think I’m just tired. I have stuck with the diet for the most part and resisted urges for sugary cakes and cookies. I think a good night sleep and an awesome upper body workout will get me back on track tomorrow!

Day 7 - Body For Life - R&R

Alright! Day 7 on Body For Life. On the 7th day of each week, you are allowed to rest. I really needed it. I do definitely look forward to starting it back up again. This will be two days worth of legs this week! I must say that my legs are a lot stronger after the first week.

I went on a bike ride with my son and I did not feel like stopping once. I’m so happy to be getting back into shape. It’s tough to see your kids start passing you and out running you when you go to the park!

Day 6 - Body For Life

Hey guys, on my day six I went to the park with my kids. I did a little bit of cardio running around the park. The nice thing about the Body For Life is that you are allowed a little room for error along the way. This workout wasn’t as good as I could have gotten in the gym, but better than I would have had otherwise.

My diet went really well. I denied myself all you can eat pancakes and sausage and Tang at my son’s Pinewood Derby for Boy Scouts. I had an egg sandwich instead. I had 3 hard boiled eggs for lunch and an apple. For dinner, I had a sirloin steak with a salad, bread and mashed potatoes. Oh, I had 3 glasses of wine as well. I’m feeling pretty good.

This concludes my first week of Body For Life. Sunday is a day of rest. The 7th day of each week you are allowed to rest. I wanted to add that I got great sleep last night. I went to sleep totally exhausted. I plan on sleeping in tomorrow as well. I’ll need it because the beginning of week 2 will be pretty hard. I’ll kick it off with legs in addition to some high stress stuff going on at work.

Thanks for following. Until day 8…

Day 5 - Body For Life - The ups, downs and noises of working out

Getting up today sucked. I felt like total crap. I woke up in a panic at 6:00am and wasn’t sure why. I knew there was something I had to do, but couldn’t recall what. I hit snooze. It’s now 6:08am. Again, what the hell? Why do I feel like total crap and why do I have this sense of urgency?

Damn it! I need to workout! I love contests. I thrive when it’s time to compete, but at the end of the week getting out of bed is bull crap.

I did the upper body workout again. It was fine once I got going.

Do you grunt when you workout? If I have some heavy weights I’m lifting, I give a little grunt or grown sometimes. You could probably hear it a few feet away. So, today… there’s this one guy who sounded like he was doing one of two possible things during each lift. Since I’m naturally curious, I looked to see what kind of ridiculous weight he was lifting. He had 50 pounds on a lat pulldown bar! WTF?!?! You have to be a real a-hole to make that kind of noise.

You know what else I hate? I hate when people think they need to drop dumbbells after their lift. Are they SO exhausted that they’ve completely lost the ability to grip the damn bar?