Finding a community

[Bingis]

Hey guys,

 

In summary, I'm basically in need of a community. I'm useless at self motivation when it comes to exercise.

 

About me:

I'm 35, live in Melbourne Australia. I'm not unfit, in fact I'm in a reasonably good position but I lack motivation. My diet definitely needs work.

 

I used to be a runner (rather, I used to enjoy running) for many years when I lived in London. The way the city sprawled up and down, through parks and all over the place kept things fresh. I had made friends with my local Park Run community and running was common among my circle of friends. Equally important was the fact that exercise and going to the gym at lunch was part of daily life at my old job. It wasn't what you did at the gym, it was more the fact that at lunch, we all stopped and went down and moved. That said, I was fairly weak.

 

Now I live in Melbourne, I don't really run any more. I find living on a grid relatively boring for running (lots of start / stop at traffic lights) and I've gone from doing 25km runs to finding 4km a bit of a challenge. I'm now fairly senior in my company, but that now involves long hours sitting at my (currently home) desk and rarely finding a free moment (especially now we work from home). There isn't a culture of health first like at my old job, its more a culture of work harder which above all is mentally exhausting. I have, however, started to get into weight lifting for the first time in my life. I've spent time with a trainer learning correct form for a range of movements and I enjoy it.

 

So in summary, what I'm trying to work with is a lack of motivation probably driven by the fact that I'm now training solo without that social aspect I used to have, and also pairing that with a job that is mentally taxing and as a result I'm finding I'm hardly making the trip from my desk to my garage and always telling myself I'll do it tomorrow.

 

Anyway, now that Melbourne is on stage 4 lock down for 6 weeks (at least), it seems the perfect time to give myself a 4 week goal. I just need help sticking to it. I want to avoid this becoming something I do for 3 weeks and then move on from. Instead, I am hoping to make this my source of motivation.

 

I'm aware there are many different facets to this community. I'll be honest, I haven't explored any of them in detail. I am literally getting this post done as a starting point (or else I'll start reading, get distracted with work and never start). So if anyone can suggest where my second step should be, that would be greatly appreciated.

 

Bingis

[Sloth the Enduring]

Welcome to NF!

[Wobbegong]

Hey Bingis, welcome to Nerd Fitness.

 

You've already got a first post up, so you've probably already read the Forum Rules, but if not I'd give them a quick review. There's nothing there that's really out of the ordinary.

 

After that, you can find an overview of the guilds here. You'll be starting your first 5 Week Challenge in the Lv1 Guild, but it doesn't hurt to be familiar with the other guilds. Here's a handy group of links for more info about challenges, but I'm afraid I haven't been through it recently myself, so I'm not sure if anything there is out of date. Hazard, the Guild Leader for the Lv1 Guild, has a more streamlined alternative up that may also be of help.

 

Everyone here is really friendly, so feel free to reach out to anyone if you have any questions. You can tag people in threads using the @ symbol and their name (@Wobbegong) or send private messages by hovering your cursor over a user name or icon and then clicking "Message" in the popup that appears. You can also send messages through the message center, by clicking the envelope icon next to notifications.

 

I look forward to seeing you around!

[Bingis]

Thanks guys, this is a great set of links to get me started. I really appreciate it.