Showing posts with label challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label challenge. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Ski goddess fitness challenge part 2
You know how it is. Book a trip somewhere fancy and then realise you need to be in shape before you get there. Whether it's in shape to cope with physically demanding activities, or in shape to look hot in a bikini, it's pretty well the same thing. Right now you are fat and flabby and that's not going to go down well on said booked holiday.
Vow to get fit/ get in shape. Publish your good intentions on your blog. Find a great 90 day exercise program and get going.
Yeah right!!
Start off doing daily exercises for 2 days. Feel good that you are really doing what you said you'd do. Then do no exercise for 3 days because you are just so damn tired from work. Then spend the following week and a half not doing anything either, even though you don't have any excuse except laziness for not getting back doing exercise.
Also fail to replace the blown out back tyre on your bike. Despite the fact that you bought a replacement tyre months ago, or was it last year already?
Finally, after purchasing new skis because you have at last convinced yourself that wider skis give you more options in Japan and that you'll use them for ski touring in New Zealand - oh yeah, start purchasing some back country gear too - read some articles about ski touring and start to feel guilty that you haven't done any exercise for 2 weeks. Vow to do some tomorrow.
Wait a couple of days for tomorrow to arrive.
Get out of bed, go downstairs to yoga room and do 3 days' worth of exercises in one session. Do lots of stretching afterwards then proceed to feel rather stiff and sore for most of the day. Ah, this is more like it, at least now you can feel the effects.
Vow to drink more water and less coffee and wine. Even consider giving up drinking wine for the next 3 months. Think about drinking a bit more tea.
Get up next morning and proceed to drink at least 3 coffees whilst chatting to mum on the phone before breakfast. Then procrastinate a few hours reading about walking through France, then at last change out of pyjamas into gym gear and proceed to do another 3 days' worth of exercises. Discover your abs are very sore after yesterday's effort, but that you are still capable of doing more than 150 squats!!
Have a late lunch, shower and head out in the rain to celebrate a bunch of September birthdays with the bookclub girls. Vow to drink no alcohol. Keep promise. Get laughed at by bookclub girls because they are sure you are going to have "toilet legs" by tomorrow after doing more than 150 squats today. Suffer all evening from sore abs...
Wake up next morning, still with slightly sore abs, but without "toilet legs". Do 60 squats, 60 lunges and a few other sundry exercises, completing 2 day's worth of the program, deciding to balk at the cardio program for today as you don't think the abs will cope with more mountain climbs quite yet. Gloat on Facebook that you don't have "toilet legs" but somewhere in the back of your mind know that you may just rue that gloat before long. Savour it anyway!
You have now completed 10 days of a 90 day program, but are still 5 days behind your original schedule. Contemplate how you are going to get through the next 3 days of work and also find time to do some exercise. Fail to replace back tyre on bicycle.
Torture yourself with pictures posted by your friends of them skiing in New Zealand. Peruse airline websites looking at flights to NZ for next year. Realise that if you lived on the east coast you'd probably be able to whizz over for a long weekend - not a possible scenario from regional WA. Note that this is not the first time this week you've been reminded how far in the boondocks you live...
Next morning wake early and decide you ought to put your alarm clock on for an earlier wake up since it's now getting lighter earlier. Wait for alarm to go off then doze another 15 minutes before getting up. Have no time for exercise before work, noting that your abs are still sore!
Come home after work and check your Facebook status. OK, how many of you will admit to that one?? Receive text from couch surfers cancelling their stay for the night. Looks like you'll have time to exercise after all!! Change into gym gear and get totally annihilated by the cardio workout. Decide that plank jacks are your new nemesis. Finish cardio workout and plan to leave more abs torture until tomorrow.
Acknowledge to yourself that the only reason that you are managing to stick to this routine is because you are writing a blog post about it. Figure that's not such a bad way to keep up the motivation but that it isn't really fair to inflict this level of mundanity on the reading public just to motivate yourself to get off your arse and exercise. Rack brain to think if there is any other way to break the procrastination cycle.
.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
yep, still thinking....
I'll get back to you.
Vow to get fit/ get in shape. Publish your good intentions on your blog. Find a great 90 day exercise program and get going.
Yeah right!!
Start off doing daily exercises for 2 days. Feel good that you are really doing what you said you'd do. Then do no exercise for 3 days because you are just so damn tired from work. Then spend the following week and a half not doing anything either, even though you don't have any excuse except laziness for not getting back doing exercise.
Also fail to replace the blown out back tyre on your bike. Despite the fact that you bought a replacement tyre months ago, or was it last year already?
Finally, after purchasing new skis because you have at last convinced yourself that wider skis give you more options in Japan and that you'll use them for ski touring in New Zealand - oh yeah, start purchasing some back country gear too - read some articles about ski touring and start to feel guilty that you haven't done any exercise for 2 weeks. Vow to do some tomorrow.
Wait a couple of days for tomorrow to arrive.
Get out of bed, go downstairs to yoga room and do 3 days' worth of exercises in one session. Do lots of stretching afterwards then proceed to feel rather stiff and sore for most of the day. Ah, this is more like it, at least now you can feel the effects.
Vow to drink more water and less coffee and wine. Even consider giving up drinking wine for the next 3 months. Think about drinking a bit more tea.
Get up next morning and proceed to drink at least 3 coffees whilst chatting to mum on the phone before breakfast. Then procrastinate a few hours reading about walking through France, then at last change out of pyjamas into gym gear and proceed to do another 3 days' worth of exercises. Discover your abs are very sore after yesterday's effort, but that you are still capable of doing more than 150 squats!!
Have a late lunch, shower and head out in the rain to celebrate a bunch of September birthdays with the bookclub girls. Vow to drink no alcohol. Keep promise. Get laughed at by bookclub girls because they are sure you are going to have "toilet legs" by tomorrow after doing more than 150 squats today. Suffer all evening from sore abs...
Wake up next morning, still with slightly sore abs, but without "toilet legs". Do 60 squats, 60 lunges and a few other sundry exercises, completing 2 day's worth of the program, deciding to balk at the cardio program for today as you don't think the abs will cope with more mountain climbs quite yet. Gloat on Facebook that you don't have "toilet legs" but somewhere in the back of your mind know that you may just rue that gloat before long. Savour it anyway!
You have now completed 10 days of a 90 day program, but are still 5 days behind your original schedule. Contemplate how you are going to get through the next 3 days of work and also find time to do some exercise. Fail to replace back tyre on bicycle.
Torture yourself with pictures posted by your friends of them skiing in New Zealand. Peruse airline websites looking at flights to NZ for next year. Realise that if you lived on the east coast you'd probably be able to whizz over for a long weekend - not a possible scenario from regional WA. Note that this is not the first time this week you've been reminded how far in the boondocks you live...
Next morning wake early and decide you ought to put your alarm clock on for an earlier wake up since it's now getting lighter earlier. Wait for alarm to go off then doze another 15 minutes before getting up. Have no time for exercise before work, noting that your abs are still sore!
Come home after work and check your Facebook status. OK, how many of you will admit to that one?? Receive text from couch surfers cancelling their stay for the night. Looks like you'll have time to exercise after all!! Change into gym gear and get totally annihilated by the cardio workout. Decide that plank jacks are your new nemesis. Finish cardio workout and plan to leave more abs torture until tomorrow.
Acknowledge to yourself that the only reason that you are managing to stick to this routine is because you are writing a blog post about it. Figure that's not such a bad way to keep up the motivation but that it isn't really fair to inflict this level of mundanity on the reading public just to motivate yourself to get off your arse and exercise. Rack brain to think if there is any other way to break the procrastination cycle.
.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
yep, still thinking....
I'll get back to you.
Monday, September 8, 2014
Ski Goddess challenge part 1
With a powder trip to Japan organised for Feb 2015, it's time to get serious about my fitness. I've let my exercise routine slide for a while, concentrating more on gardening chores, spending too much time on the internet and reading books and articles on all sorts of things, and not factoring in a daily time slot for fitness. That's gotta change..
Skiing powder is the holy grail in skiing. It's the soft white stuff that is forgiving, that you won't catch an edge on and go tumbling out of control. But it's also cushioning, it's slower to ski on than harder, icier, firmer snow which means you need a much higher level of dynamic fitness to enjoy it fully, or else you'll just sink and end up with a face full of snow.
Fat skis help, because all that extra surface area will keep you floating versus sinking into the soft stuff. Some old schoolers think the fat skis have gone too far, preferring to still be skiing through the powder rather than floating on top the whole time, but whatever your take, you still can't ski powder without fitness.
Core stability and anaerobic/aerobic fitness is paramount. Anyone can do one or two powder runs, but keeping it up day after day, all day, requires you to to be strong and agile. Neither of which I am at present...
So I've pulled out my ski fitness books and programs, counted up the months till I leave, and started to design myself a program.
First is just working on basic aerobic fitness, which means getting back on a running schedule and riding my bicycle to work and back.
Secondly, core stability exercises. Skiing, and boarding, are done in a very dynamic environment, where the terrain you have your feet on is continually changing. If you can't stabilise what's happening in your legs through your core to your upper body, you'll fall over lots (at best) or injure yourself (at worst). It's also the main reason why some people can ride all day and others can't, because core muscle weakness means you'll tire so much quicker. Quad exercises are a total waste of time if you neglect to build a strong core. Just saying... so daily core exercises are in the program.
Next, agility training. This builds muscle memory for those quick movements and sudden changes in direction that you need to execute when skiing. Having done this training before, I can confirm it makes a big difference on the slopes. Especially as one gets older, this sort of activity doesn't often feature in one's daily life, unless one plays tennis or squash, netball, basketball, or football, so you have to retrain those slack little muscle fibres by doing fast spurts of movements, changing direction quickly, that sort of thing.
Fourth, strength exercises. These are less important right now, but become more important as I work up to the actual trip. I won't be concentrating too much on squats and lunges quite yet, because they'll be a bigger component later.
Finally, flexibility, which is mainly stretching. I'll incorporate some yoga in here too.
So in order for me to commit to this, I'm putting my September stats out there and will post updates each month:
Weight 71.4kg
Chest 89cm (this is measured above the boobies)
Waist 81cm (the narrowest bit)
Belly button waist circumference (measured at the level of my belly button) 94.5cm
Hips 99cm
Thigh 55cm
Arm 31cm
The challenge is on!!
Skiing powder is the holy grail in skiing. It's the soft white stuff that is forgiving, that you won't catch an edge on and go tumbling out of control. But it's also cushioning, it's slower to ski on than harder, icier, firmer snow which means you need a much higher level of dynamic fitness to enjoy it fully, or else you'll just sink and end up with a face full of snow.
Fat skis help, because all that extra surface area will keep you floating versus sinking into the soft stuff. Some old schoolers think the fat skis have gone too far, preferring to still be skiing through the powder rather than floating on top the whole time, but whatever your take, you still can't ski powder without fitness.
Core stability and anaerobic/aerobic fitness is paramount. Anyone can do one or two powder runs, but keeping it up day after day, all day, requires you to to be strong and agile. Neither of which I am at present...
So I've pulled out my ski fitness books and programs, counted up the months till I leave, and started to design myself a program.
First is just working on basic aerobic fitness, which means getting back on a running schedule and riding my bicycle to work and back.
Secondly, core stability exercises. Skiing, and boarding, are done in a very dynamic environment, where the terrain you have your feet on is continually changing. If you can't stabilise what's happening in your legs through your core to your upper body, you'll fall over lots (at best) or injure yourself (at worst). It's also the main reason why some people can ride all day and others can't, because core muscle weakness means you'll tire so much quicker. Quad exercises are a total waste of time if you neglect to build a strong core. Just saying... so daily core exercises are in the program.
Next, agility training. This builds muscle memory for those quick movements and sudden changes in direction that you need to execute when skiing. Having done this training before, I can confirm it makes a big difference on the slopes. Especially as one gets older, this sort of activity doesn't often feature in one's daily life, unless one plays tennis or squash, netball, basketball, or football, so you have to retrain those slack little muscle fibres by doing fast spurts of movements, changing direction quickly, that sort of thing.
Fourth, strength exercises. These are less important right now, but become more important as I work up to the actual trip. I won't be concentrating too much on squats and lunges quite yet, because they'll be a bigger component later.
Finally, flexibility, which is mainly stretching. I'll incorporate some yoga in here too.
So in order for me to commit to this, I'm putting my September stats out there and will post updates each month:
Weight 71.4kg
Chest 89cm (this is measured above the boobies)
Waist 81cm (the narrowest bit)
Belly button waist circumference (measured at the level of my belly button) 94.5cm
Hips 99cm
Thigh 55cm
Arm 31cm
The challenge is on!!
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