The Life Ledger

Fitness is a way of life.

Well you haven’t been hearing much from me this week. I large part of that is because I pulled back on my exercise. This past Saturday, I tried to do a little bit of speed work. Nothing crazy, just moving my feet faster on the treadmill. And about 10 minutes into the run, my knee started hurting. And was located where most runners blanch - in the IT Band, or otherwise known as Runner’s Knee.

Since the run was 14 days away, I cut back. Way back. In fact didn’t run on Monday specifically, so was able to have a 3 day break. Around comes Wednesday, strapped on my shoes and sweated out another 3.5 miles no problems. Mentally wiping my brow, I worked through the different machines for weight lifting. When I hit something called Thigh Adductor, there was enlightenment. And boy howdy was it sharp, right in my knee. Or more specifically, where I was hurting before. Apparently I’m just to tall for that machine to use properly. Keeping my feet on its rest it induces me to use my knees instead of my legs.

While this story shows my foolishness, its perfect for demonstrating what happens as you get into shape. Part of the whole process is breaking down your muscles to rebuild them stronger. So as you do things : run, walk, lift, bike, whatever, except to be sore. Heck even be ready to be hurt! But it’s important to listen where you hurt. There are two criteria I use. First if you have any pain in your joints, you’re doing something wrong. Using a machine wrong or putting tension where you shouldn’t it doesn’t matter. Stop. Ask a doctor or trainer. Look for more information on the internet. So being sore in your muscles are to be expected. But at the same time it should be a general sore, about the size of the heel of your hand. If its a sharp pain and the size of a finger tip, again get to the doctor. Most likely you’ve over exerted and torn something.

Becoming healthy is an important thing, but a gradual thing. Any attempts to instantly be there can cause lots of pain. And your body will know when you are pushing to hard, so listen. It will prevent you from getting hurt and keep you on the healthy path.

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Step 2 - Set long-term and daily goals.
Now that you’ve recorded a starting point, it’s time to set some goals. There were three types of goals I set - goal weight, daily achievements and dream goals.

• Set a goal weight.
  

  First, you need a goal weight. Personally, I know I was pretty fit in high school when I weighed 185, so I chose that as my goal weight. If nothing else, you can use the BMI calculator from Step 1 to determine a rough estimate of your “healthy weight”, keeping in mind this is not an accurate measurement. Subtract your goal weight from your current weight, then divide by two - that’s roughly how many weeks it should take to reach your goal, assuming an average weight loss of 2lb/week . For example, last September I weighed 265 with a goal weight of 185:

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  Table of contents for 10 steps to jump start your fitness

  1. 10 Steps to Jump Start Your Fitness: Step 1 - Get Started
  2. 10 Steps to Jump Start Your Fitness: Step 2 - Set Some Goals

You’ve heard it before - successful weight loss is not about dieting, it’s about making lifestyle changes. It’s easy to say, but where do you start? Here’s my list of ten steps to jump start your new fit lifestyle.

Step 1 - Calculate and record your starting points - BMI, daily caloric intake and measurements.

The first step to losing weight is to identify your starting point. It’s not enough to simply stand on a scale and record your starting weight - you should also calculate your BMI, daily caloric intake and record a couple of body measurements.

Read the rest of this entry »