just about a year

it's been just about a year.

after i turned thirty my life flipped upside down. i had to make an assessment of where i was, what i was doing, and what i wanted. i had just become single, from a relationship that lasted around 2 years, and felt lost in life. welcome to your thirties sucka.

the first thing i focused on was my body, getting in shape was my first new priority. weighing in the high 180's was just a bit chunky for my already thick frame, i think i'm meant to be around the 170 mark. so i invited myself to tag along with my gym going roommate and got those old running shoes out of the closet. at first i was spending most of my time on the cardio machines. running, stair walking, and eliptically increasing my heart rate. i would put in up to 45mins of cardio, and then spend a few mins doing sit ups or some goofy weight machine. after a month or so of this i was referred by my roommate to read the few intro chapters to a body building book he owned. the first few chapters discussed nutrition, then body types, and finally what types of exercise works for each body type (dependent on workout goals of course). yea, i read a bodybuilding book. your thirties do things to you that you may never expect.

i read the book slowly and thoroughly, taking notes while i read. this took me about a month to complete, and when done my workout regimin had matured. workouts went down in time (1 1/2 hours to 45-50 minutes), and results increased. learning about the three body types helped a lot.

mesomorph, endomorph, and ectomorph. the meso is the muscular thick frame. endo is the pear shape. both meso and endo can put on mass relatively easily, though the meso puts on mass as muscle where the endo puts on mass easier as fat. the endo are those that simply can't put on mass, fat or muscle. most people are not 100% each, but a blend of two. i'm mostly a meso, and characteristics of this body type means that i maximise my cardio workout with intensity vs duration. in short, if i run super hard for a short time (usually coupled with a pretty steep incline) i'll see much more benefit than a 75% pace run of twice the duration. some relatively heavy free weight lifting afterwards and i'm on my way to a thinner & fitter self.

all of this was in conjunction with the purple smoothie which i've been drinking almost every single day since the end of may 2009. i spend between $10-$15 per week on various veggies and fruits, almost all of which visit my blendtec blender (that's right, will it blend!!!). going a few days without my purple smoothie puts me in the lethargic and unmotivated state i dislike living in. its become my sunday evening therapy to slice fruit and veggies, blend, then bottle for the upcoming week. most people can't drink it, but to me it's the first thing i want to have in the morning. of course i follow it up with some coffee.

what surprises about this exercise and smoothie lifestyle is how i've kept it up. the gym gets visited three times a week on average. the smoothie is pretty close to an every day thing, though occasionally i'll skip one day during the weekend. and recently i've been taking 3 mile runs around the neighborhood during lunch hour so that my gym time can consist of weights only, no waiting in line for the coveted cardio equipment.

some interesting observations include:
there's far too many people at the gym 'doing it wrong'. too heavy of weight, bad form, wearing denim jeans (like really?), drinking soda on the treadmill, and the list goes on. i've noticed that i have more stamina standing at bars, concerts, or bbq's. when i used to have to sit down, after a short while standing. i suppose i was rather pathetic.
also, the gym does get super packed in january, and the number of doing-it-wrongers is dramatically increased. next january i may take the month away from the gym and pick up some sort of home routine. or find a much bigger gym.

i digress

i've successfully built these very important routines into my daily life. they've stuck for the past year, and i feel good about it. there's other changes and routines that i've acquired along the way, but those are for a different blog. i look back and i'm proud of my accomplishments, regardless of how small they may seem from an outside perspective.