Hello!

[deepforest]

Hi! I'm new, which is obvious, I'm sure. I've spent the last couple days poking around the Nerd Fitness blog, and it looks amazing.

 

I'm not worried about my weight, really, but I do want to be healthier in general. I don't like feeling sluggish and fog-for-brains. I'd much rather have a ton of energy.

 

My more immediate fitness goal is to get in shape for marching band, which starts September 19. My norm for shows and such is that I march around like I'm supposed to but don't play because I don't have enough air; I try but have to break off so I can breathe more. This year I want to fix that. Also involved would be starting to practice my clarinet again before band starts to have a better handle on memorizing the pieces and playing the trickier rhythms. Not really a fitness thing, but related to wanting to be ready for band. I'll be refining these when it's challenge time. I anticipate this being more difficult than it might appear for a normal-weight-but-inactive individual because I'm currently recovering from chemotherapy. Treatment went well, fortunately, but it does mean I don't have as much energy and I'm anemic.

 

Longer term, I want to thruhike the PCT after I graduate college. Speaking of which, despite my poking around, I'm not sure which guild I want to eventually be in. Anybody know what the best fit is for someone who's overall fitness goals will (once I make some SMART ones) revolve around long-distance backpacking and being capable of other outdoor play (rafting, kayaking, rockclimbing, you name it)?

 

Other things about me: I'm a nerd/geek, Lord of the Rings is awesome, so is Harry Potter (anyone else super excited about Diagon Alley?), and I like country western dancing. I'm going into my junior year at university, majoring in Bioresource Research.

[NicTheRugger]

Hey Deepforest! I was a band kid once =) (way back in high school, but I still think of my band days fondly... gosh I sound old now. I've only just graduated college...)

 

I'm also pretty lost about the guilds. I think your goals would align you more with rangers, as you want the endurance as well as the strength to do those sorts of activities. 

 

(Fellow Potter!Nerd here. I'm also super excited about Diagon Alley. I'm so sad that I live really far away from Florida)

[unapologetic]

From one band geek to another, welcome! I'm new here too. Just started yesterday. It sounds like you have some great band-related goals for yourself. Good luck!

[deepforest]

NicTheRugger: I'm in Oregon, and currently in "poor college student" status, which is almost as far away from Orlando as it's possible to get in the US. My current plan is save money like crazy (without sacrificing such things as food and textbooks), and go on a trip to Florida in a couple years when the crowds have died down. I'd like to see it sooner, of course, but being able to time it for not summer+less crowds=worth the wait, in my opinion. My high school band went in April 2012, because there was a competition there, and we got to spend a day in Universal Studios. The Harry Potter section was absolutely amazing and I could quite happily have spent the whole day there, but the friend I was with wanted to see the rest of the park, so we left after lunch. There were practically no crowds though, so we got to spend our time going on rides and in the stores and such instead of waiting in line.

 

unapologetic: Thanks for the welcome! They are indeed great band-related goals. More important, however, is going to be figuring out how to do it differently this year, because I've had pretty much the exact same goals almost every year I've done marching band. I'm not entirely sure what goes wrong, especially last summer (after first year in college band)-the music we play is fun, I want to get better, I don't like the way I feel when it seems like everyone in the entire band but me can play something, mastering the tricky stuff I've been having trouble with feels amazing, but still practicing never seems to happen. And I know that's what I need to do to get better. Had my middle school director made practicing part of my grade, that probably would have helped-grades tend to be a huge motivation for me, and it would have set up the habit. But he didn't, I didn't, so now I need to figure out how to fix it.

 

I actually have a similar problem with exercise-I know from experience I feel better when I do, and succeeding at hard things like climbing a steep hill is awesome. But a lot of the time, especially at school, I just...don't. That's already going better this time around the "get in better shape" wheel-I've been seeing a naturopath for help feeling better during chemotherapy, and he kept telling me to walk. Plus I'm at home, where my parents can get on my case about it and drive me/have me drive them (I don't have my license yet) to foresty places to go walk. I like those better than just walking around my neighborhood, so it's easier to get myself to do it.

[deepforest]

That was much longer than I intended. I appear to be in a somewhat rambly mood.

[unapologetic]

No worries. Rambly is ok. I have the same motivation problem you described. That's why I'm hoping that turning fitness into a game will work for me. And the community piece will hopefully help too. I moved to Florida for work a few years ago and still haven't really settled in socially. But I'm hoping this community will help fill that gap.

[deepforest]

I'm hoping that just telling people will help-that's not something I've done before. It's always just been me telling myself I'm going to practice/exercise more and I will really do it this time, gosh darn it. Definition of insanity, right? But I wouldn't like having to come on here and say "well, I didn't practice today. Yet again. And I didn't go for a walk or anything either." In fact, I think I'm going to go start a battle log, as I'm decidedly too late for the current challenge.

 

Though part of my problem is inability to get off the internet, which I'm not sure this will help...but really, I shouldn't NEED to spend hours patrolling the forums to keep up a battle log. It only needs a once daily update, really. Or maybe less. Less would be good for internet usage, but not so good for accountability.

[unapologetic]

One of the things I'm working on is making a chart to tape on my bedroom door to track my workouts. That way it's in my face every day whether I'm online or not. Maybe that would work for you too?

[deepforest]

Ooh, that's a great idea. I'll probably try that too, as I tend to prefer to write/keep track of things on paper, but that would still contain the problem of only being accountable to myself. It would work better if I were living with my significant other, probably, because then he'd see it too, but as it is it would be just me. And feeling guilty/embarrassed about telling others I missed a workout/practice day is worse than kicking myself over it, if that makes sense. At least for me. Exception to the accountability thing: walks, for which my parents drag me out the door despite my protests of noodle legs from a bodyweight circuit earlier in the day.

 

Also I'm on the internet anyway, because I'm currently having trouble getting enough calories for some reason and I'm using Supertracker to track things. I'd just use packaging, except I'm not the only one cooking and some things don't have packaging.