Being consistent and staying motivated are the HARDEST THINGS.

[rachel_ftw]

Being consistent and staying motivated are the HARDEST THINGS.

Here is my overly honest post that puts all the cards on the table:

 

Hi. I'm Rachel. I weighed 135 and was super fit in high school (3 sport girl: track, swimming, and xcountry), but that was 10 years ago now.  I'm 29 and looking at my body and feeling unhappy.  I'm also staring down the barrel of ageing and feeling in my heart and soul what it's going to be like for me to lose my young body. It's a surreal experience, but one that also brings with it a certain amount of panicked motivation (at this point I'll take any kind of motivation that gets me off the couch...).

 

Though I bike 6 miles 5x per week to work and back, I feel decidedly... dumpy? Not as sexy as I'd like and not nearly as physically functional as I'd prefer.

 

Specific Long Term Big Picture Goals:

I weigh 190. I'd like to weigh 150.

I can do 3 real push ups and no pull ups. I'd like to be able to do 50 push ups and 5 pull ups.

I'm probably at a 14 minute mile. I'd like to get that under 9 minutes.

I've never done a triathlon. I want to do a sprint and Olympic distance triathlon.

I have run a half marathon in the past. I'd like to run a full marathon in the future.

 

I want to open jars for my own damn self.

I want to dance all night and wake up ready for more.

I want to go backpacking, or hiking for that matter, and not want to die by the end of the first hour.

 

I want a body that's easy to live in. I want to give my body loving attention so that this flesh bag I'm stuck in is something that I can effortlessly use until I expire.

 

What I want from this community:

I hope to get support and love from this pile of people. I hope that when I post people write back.  I hope that I can find the resources that I need to defeat my fear and educate myself.  I hope that you will help me find the courage to enter the 'bro' section of the gym where the free weights are.

 

Onward and upward, it's the only way to go.

[JPrev]

I like that your goals are all performance based, and even when you mention one about your body it's still about performance.  When you're that active, form follows function.  Nearly everyone who gets fit wants to "look good" as well, but it's such a subjective thing that making it the primary goal can do more harm than good.  So good on you for setting your sights on what matters!

 

What kind of work out plan are you thinking of to achieve all those things?

[rachel_ftw]

That is a fantastic fucking question.  I have no idea.

So far my adult life work out plan has been "run a bunch and you'll be fit".  I don't think that's true anymore.

There's going to be a lot of education for me here.  I'm realizing more and more that I don't know much about my body, which is weird.  I've lived with it *literally forever* and I don't know much about it? That seems crazy to me...

 

Here are my goals for this week: 

Write up a fitness plan (both goals and plan)

Research gym exercises.

Go to the gym 3 times for 45 minutes. Spend 10 minutes of each time in the free weights (which is scary for me :/  )

Eat a paleo meal 3 times.

[JPrev]

Best way to get over free weight anxiety is to pick a couple basic exercises, learn the form - look em up or have the gym's trainer demonstrate - and get started.  You'll blend right in.  It's not like a complicated gymnastics routine with everyone looking at each other; we're staring at ourselves in the mirror picking things up and putting them down again.

 

Most important thing to do is find a few simple things you like doing and build some consistency.  Don't go burning yourself out early.  If you need to specialize parts of your training, that can happen down the road once you're already in a good groove.  That could take some months.  First thing is to just get into some kind of consistent lifting and running/cardio routine.  It can be super basic and nearly anything you choose will work - don't feel like you need to choose something with a crap ton of exercises and sets.  In fact, probably better if you avoided stuff like that.

 

After that, pick one of your goals from the list and focus on it.  Don't try to move on all those fronts at once - you've got a ton of time to achieve them.

[Stonie]

Hi Rachel!

 

I love your motivation; being able to effortlessly move through life doing whatever you want is one of my overarching goals as well. There are endless amounts of resources and very knowledgable people here. You'll like it here, I think!

[rachel_ftw]

@separatist I think you're really right.  This week I'm just focusing on habit building. So just showing up at the gym is a success, even if I just do 20 minutes on an elliptical. That and do the education at home so that I can go in and feel confident. Do some obsessive youtube 'research' for free and body weight exercises.

 

@teagarden First: I love your name. Second: I want to figure out the game parts of this adventure.  I do HabitRPG (which is AMAZING) and the gamification aspects really, *really* help me stay on track. So much learning to do! <3 

[sylph]

@separatist I think you're really right.  This week I'm just focusing on habit building. So just showing up at the gym is a success, even if I just do 20 minutes on an elliptical. That and do the education at home so that I can go in and feel confident. Do some obsessive youtube 'research' for free and body weight exercises.

 

@teagarden First: I love your name. Second: I want to figure out the game parts of this adventure.  I do HabitRPG (which is AMAZING) and the gamification aspects really, *really* help me stay on track. So much learning to do! <3 

Welcome to the rebellion! It sounds like you've got a solid plan to start. Small steps add up over time, to be sure.

 

If you haven't already, you might start a thread in the recruit section for the 6 week challenges (or at least poke around there and see what everyone is doing). The new challenge starts today (!) and it's a great way for getting accountability, encouragement, and general support.

[rachel_ftw]

Welcome to the rebellion! It sounds like you've got a solid plan to start. Small steps add up over time, to be sure.

 

If you haven't already, you might start a thread in the recruit section for the 6 week challenges (or at least poke around there and see what everyone is doing). The new challenge starts today (!) and it's a great way for getting accountability, encouragement, and general support.

 

Oh shit, that starts TODAY?! Damn, I guess I know what I'm doing tonight... PLANNING LIKE A BOSS ^_____^

and reading. Lots of reading.

Oh my gosh I'm excited!