It's a dangerous business, going out your door...

[mitchj]

To borrow from my intro post:

 

<< So, here I am. The dope in the hat!

 

Where is 'here' and who am 'I' are the 2 questions I assume you are asking right now? The latter of the two is easier to answer, so I will begin there. I am Mitch, 23 years of age, 131kgs (288lbs to those folk using the Imperial system), 188cms (6 foot 2 inches roughly), married to my amazing wife and definitely not happy with where I am, not to be mistaken for where 'we' are   . This leads me to the first question, where is 'here'? 'Here' is somewhere I do not want to be, so I am taking my first steps away from 'here' and I am moving towards 'there'.

 

'There' is a healthy me. A stronger me. A me that I am happy with and one that I am not ashamed to be. It is also somewhere I will need help in getting to and I have heard nothing but amazing things about my potential party and people that I will meet along the way (which is you by the way!).

 

To get 'There' things need to change and to start with these are the changes I am looking to make immediately.

 

Beginner Objectives:

(What to do immediately starting tomorrow - it is 11:36pm as I write this)

- Beginner's Bodyweight Workout 3 days a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)

- NF Yoga every other day, including weekends

- Find an optimal time to meditate and do so every day

- Cut out soft drinks (soda) and replace with either green tea or water

 

Goals:

(Intermediate milestones)

- Weight to below 115kgs

- Eat only 'healthy' foods 99% of the time (This would be 100% of the time, but even Commander Kamb says that is impossible)

- Train 3-4 times a week at whatever level I have reached at the time

- Replace all forms of liquid with water (no tea etc)

 

End Game:

(These are long term goals. As in real long term)

- Weight to below 100kgs (Believe it or not, I was closer to 90kgs less than 5 years ago)

- Look and feel like a million bucks!

- Enjoy working out, make it something I look forward to doing, rather than dreading.

 

Here I go!

[Blue Thunder]

Hi  I like your gradual shift to water.  I've been thinking about how to get rid of coffee and cream and just use water.  Its haaaaard.  Looking forward to reading about your progress

[Jett]

Hi there, similarly-named person.

 

I like your well-planned-out goals - how you have the things you can start immediately, and then the goals that you'll need to work up to.

 

My only work of caution would be to not allow yourself to become discouraged if you struggle with sticking to all 4 of your "beginner" objectives at first. Especially if you don't work out much at this point, it can be easy to get burned out on trying to exercise every day. Strength training plus yoga is an excellent combo, because you'll increase both flexibility and core strength, but that's a LOT of working out! It's okay if you  have to dial it back a little and then work up to daily exercise - so if you do start to feel burned out, try that. It can also be helpful to make a habit out of working out for a short time each day, like seriously only 5 minutes, but at the same time every day, until you get used to it as part of your schedule. Basically, I'm just trying to say that when you get a month or two in, if you find that you've bitten off more than you can chew at this time, it's fine to take longer than you expect to attain your first goals. That's pretty normal. :3

 

Good luck, I think you'll do great!

[mitchj]

Thanks guys

 

@JMitch - Would it better to change from 3 days of training to 2 until I feel more comfortable with the routine? Moving training days to Monday / Thursday or something similar. This would also give my body longer to recover as well.

 

So far so good however, yesterday I started my body weight exercises! I chose to start here rather than jumping straight into weights to help my body adjust to moving and exercising again. Normally the reps of each is double what I have below (except the dumbell rows, plank and jumping jacks), but by the end I was unable to do any more. I think I had pushed myself to my limit, but it felt good.

 

I got through 2 circuits of the below, but slightly altered:

10 body weight squats

5 push ups - Knee push ups

10 walking lunges

10 dumbbell rows

15 second plank

30 Jumping Jacks

 

At the moment I found the lunges the hardest to complete. I am not sure if it was my form, but I struggled greatly, but pulled through in the end! After that I did 15 minutes of meditation after my cool down which was a first for me! It felt great so I will be sure to continue that as well!

 

Yoga today woo!

[Jett]

@JMitch - Would it better to change from 3 days of training to 2 until I feel more comfortable with the routine? Moving training days to Monday / Thursday or something similar. This would also give my body longer to recover as well.

You'll have to try it and see how things go. If you think you can do the daily yoga/strength alternations, go for it. But if you find that you're struggling or need longer recovery times, that's fine. Don't feel like you have to stick to everyday workouts if it isn't working for you.

 

So far, you're doing great!

[mitchj]

So I almost ran into an issue of my own creating yesterday, but using my '20 seconds of beserker' I avoided it. This might sound silly to some but it is alot harder when this is something I have been doing for years.

 

My normal routine is getting home from work and jumping straight into relax mode and playing video games (Currently playing Dust: AET). Normally at this point I am done. Any form of exercise or thought of at this point is gone. But halfway through my session I realised I had not done my yoga for the day. That's fine, I will do it 'later'. Normally later never comes, so this time around I engaged Beserker Mode hit pause on my game, loaded up Water A from NF Yoga and completed that.

 

By the end of it I felt great and that is another small win for me

[Jett]

That's not a small win, that's a HUGE win! Momentum is super important! Way to go!

[Endor]

Glad to hear you are off to a good start, your goals are all pretty good, one word of caution from my experience is that you might be taking on too much at this early stage but you can see how you go.

 

Of all your goals the soda will have the greatest impact, particularly if you drink it a lot. 

 

Good luck, be a good idea to join the challenge starting Jan 4 and include a link in your signature

[Jett]

Happy new year! If the past week is any indication, you're gonna have an awesome one!

[mitchj]

Happy new year! If the past week is any indication, you're gonna have an awesome one!

Happy new year to you too!

 

So far so good, I did indulge with some quiet drinks and mates on New Years Eve but outside of that I was pretty good

 

For those who may be interested, my first challenge thread (and a bit of a story too) can be found HERE