As bloggers, we all know how easy it is to be a slouch, sit on our butts, not get nearly enough exercise.
The past year was no different for me because I was working a full-time job and working on a lot of different WordPress projects when I came home. Needless to say, I put on a few pounds.
Now that I have a little more time (though time should never be an excuse), I’m planning on getting back into shape. Actually, I was so tired from working out last week, that I didn’t even manage writing a single post here on the blog.
Last week was a warm-up week though. This week is the real deal.
A little background information
When I was in high school (not too long ago), I was in great shape. I played football, shot basketball, played golf, weightlifted, and threw the shot put for the track-and-field team. I was a member of three state-championship powerlifting teams. I was a all-state tight end in football. Even had a couple offers to play at small colleges that I turned down because I wanted a good education at a good college. And those were just the school sports I was involved in.
Yes, I was very active. And yes, I’m still a computer nerd.
Then, college came.
After a few years there, I realized that I needed to get myself back into shape. Luckily, this wasn’t too hard because of my background in athletics and food and nutrition science (I was a hotel and restaraunt major at one point, so I had to take those classes).
I coupled my knowledge with the Body for Life program to drop from 250 lbs. down to 215 lbs. in three months with minimal muscle loss. Trust me, 215 lbs. is not a lot of weight if you look at my height (6’2) and body structure. Anything under that would be unhealthy for a guy my size. I was in great shape.
To keep this long, drawn-out story short, I fell back into awful shape again, which leads me to today.
Going forward
Mostly, I wanted to write this post to keep myself motivated. The biggest motivator for me has always been making something official, or public, because by not going through with it, I’m not only letting myself down — I’m letting everyone that’s invested a moment of their time in reading about my journey down.
My sister will also be joining me on this. Recently, she fell from a 10-foot wall and broke two vertebrae. She’s just now gotten to the point where she can work out a bit. In a few weeks, she should be cleared to go back to her old, extremely active lifestyle.
For now, I’m making sure she takes it slow, but she’s adamant about being able to run a full marathon again in February. I think we’ll get her there though.
I’ll probably periodically post bits and pieces of my journey along the way.
Health and WordPress
What in the world does this have to do with WordPress?
Well, one of the biggest driving forces behind a workout plan is keeping goals. You need to keep track of what progress you’ve made. This gives you a realistic picture of where you’re at and where you’ve been. After a month or two, you can notice significant changes. That data is a big motivator for a lot of people.
We wanted a way to easily keep track of our progress, so I said, “Why don’t I just put together something to take care of this?” My sister, unlike me, is no computer nerd. She has finally managed to understand how to send an email though.
I plan on creating The Workout theme. It has to be something that easily manages workouts, eating plans, and notes. Otherwise, my sister wouldn’t have the slightest idea what to do with it. This idea just hit me today, so I don’t have a lot of stuff on it yet. I’ll keep my WordPress readers posted on the progress of this.
Anyway, I’m off to work on this theme and prepare myself for tomorrow’s workout.
Of course, you could always join me in my plan to straighten my health out!
The Workout theme sounds like a fantastic idea that would be hugely popular. Really looking forward to hearing about your progress.
All the best with you and your sister’s new fitness regime.
It sounds like you have a lot of background and knowledge in the area, but by far the best of the many marathon training resources I’ve looked at over the years is “How To Train For Your Best Marathon”.
http://www.amazon.com/How-Train-Your-Best-Marathon/dp/0671797271
Good luck to you both!
I am in my mid 50s now but up until I got into computers at age 30 I was in excellent shape. I had no education as I quit school in grade nine, back in 1969. All the jobs I had were very hard physical work so keeping in shape was easy.
Once I found computers and became addicted to learning all about them I started sitting more and then the pounds started adding up.
Finally, 5 years ago, I had a heart attack. Well that snapped me out of just sitting on my butt, almost permanently. Now I walk about 40 minutes a day when possible.
An exercise plan is a great thing as long as it gets used.
Good luck on working out. I feel you regarding getting to comfortable at the computer. This past year I completed 3 books and 1 teleplay in between school (online classes) and a full time accounting job (DESK WORK) so I’m sitting on my beeee hind, all day and gained quite a few pounds. So it’s back to working out for me too and you’re right, time is not an excuse
Good luck & best wishes to your sister!
Super idea! There are loads of fitness journals out there, crammed into WP or Blogspot pages, but no themes that I can think of that make it easy to note stats.
My own WP fitness journal is kind of a pain because I’ve got to put daily workout stats in tables, not to mention before and after measurements/weight, etc.
I don’t know how you would do it, but here are some features that would be fun: a way to note workouts (reps, sets, weights), a way to show if you’re on target to meet your goal or not, a flickr kind of way to show your Fitday account diet charts (taking screen shots is a pain), a “ounces of water consumed” kind of chart, maybe boxes to hold info about your workout program du jour (although pages can be used for that, I know.)
BFL is very effective and a great program. I also like the New Rules of Lifting. And I’m having great success with the TNT Diet.
And damn, I sure do talk a lot.
Paul
Thanks for the link to the book. It has quite a few great reviews. I gave the link to my sister since she’s the marathon runner.
I’m making a little progress on the theme. Right now, I’m just trying to think of the best way to save what would be mass amounts of data in a very easy way.
James
Walking is one of the best forms of exercise, hands down, no matter what kind of shape your in.
It’s hard for me to stay focused without a plan for anything. Setting solid, realistic goals is a huge motivator.
kd
Thanks. I know how it is working and going to school. Luckily for me, when I started working in college, I done yardwork, which helped keep the pounds off.
Good luck with your excercising also.
Bonnie
Well, I hope I can help out with your fitness journal once I get this new theme done. I’ll try to incorporate some of your ideas into it. Right now, I’m struggling a bit with an easy way to save the data from all this without using too many WordPress custom fields.
BFL is a great program. The only thing I found limiting about it was the workouts. They’re great for beginners, but more advanced lifters and runners have to do some adjusting. It didn’t allow me to make the type of gains I wanted because I was also doing strength and agility training.
The reason I coupled this program with mine is because of the great food options. From my limited studies in nutrition science and the research I’ve done, I could tell it was a solid nutritional program. Plus, using portion sizes over counting calories is a much better solution.
Justin,
All the best in your efforts. It’s amazing what a bond you can build with your readers by sharing an experience like this.
A good friend of mine (Robby LeBlanc) is doing the same thing on his blog call FatToFit101.com. He’s been up and down since January but now things are really starting to move in the right direction because he’s constantly being encouraged by his friends/family and people leaving comments on the blog
You gotta love blogging!
Hey Justin, nice post. You’re about the same height I am (6’3″), but I’m about 170 lbs. But I have a smaller frame most likely. I’m mostly a basketball player, I’d probably be too delicate for football. I used to be a competitive swimmer, but now I just play basketball and do relatively light weightlifting, and jumprope for endurance. Jumprope is the best for controlling your weight in my opinion, especially if you work a lot and don’t have a lot of free time. That or swimming, but finding a pool can be tough. I eat very healthy, but I eat a lot. I’ve never had a weight problem, but I’ve never been all that strong either. I think the most important thing is finding a routine that you are going to be able to do for the rest of your life. That includes how you eat, your exercise, and the time you have.
That’s why there are some guys who play basketball with us who never really lose weight, even though they play all the time. Playing basketball for an hour 2-3 times a week really isn’t doing much. That’s why I go back to jumprope and swimming, you burn a lot of calories in the shortest amount of time. 1/2 hour of jumprope is like two hours of basketball, especially if you’re not a high flyer.
Stu
Encouragement from friends and family is definitely a great thing. I wish your friend luck in his journey to better health.
superboy
Yep, 170 lbs. wouldn’t do much for you in football.
Jump roping is intense and definitely one of the best workouts you can do. What’s funny is that I see people trying to do all these elaborate exercises when all they really need to do is stick to the basics.
Can I steal this great idea of yours?
Terrific story, Justin. I know what’s it’s like to sit in front of a computer and do nothing, and gain 30-40 pounds over a period of several years. I decided to get myself back into shape in 2004, lost over 30 pounds, and I’m in the best shape I’ve been in since high school (maybe even better, perhaps). Best of luck to ya.
I fell out of fitness after working as a personal trainer at a crap gym that just de-motivated me beyond belief. It took 6 months without working out, and the inspiration to blog about my ‘come back,’ that got me back on the fitness track. I started away from the gym doing workout DVDs from Netflix, intermingled with some workouts from my own DVD library. Slowly I got over my anti-gym views and joined a nice gym not far from my home.
It’s been over a year since I started my blog and it has been very rewarding, not just because people I don’t even know read my posts – which still blows my minds – but because my health is much better because of it. So, thank you Wordpress.
Thanks for the post Justin. All the best,
Fran.