I’m so inspired every day by our community, especially initiatives that come from our members themselves like @Deyavi’s NaNoWriMo project. Now that the holidays are over, I’d like to challenge everyone to step up to a month of fitness.
I know, I know. New Year’s resolutions… people signing up for the gym then dropping out. It’s cliche, but it’s also when gym and fitness club memberships are cheapest, so it will be the best time to get the most folks involved.
I’ve played around with a few group/social fitness apps over the past few months, but really haven’t found anything that crosses platforms (Android/iOS) and fits our needs. I, for one, am surprisingly averse to competition so I’d rather see us all work together towards a common goal than against each other in a “who can lift the most weight” or “who goes to the gym the most” type deal. So, I figured we could use this thread as a common ground for mutual movitation, inspiration, and then I can post some specific “challenges” that we can all work towards together… more on that later.
This all being said, I’d like to formally invite @everyone to join me in a month of fitness, community and camaraderie.
I’d like to start out by sharing a social media post from a high school friend of mine; she also just happens to be a competitive/semi-pro body builder, massage therapist and all-round nice gal:
"Oh hey it’s the time of year when people make resolutions to get healthier and start showing up at the gym/all the meatheads and gym rats start whining about all the “resolutioners” and saying stuff like “can’t wait until February when they all give up.”
If you are saying this crap - you are a jerk. Maybe they gave up in part because they don’t like being surrounded by jerks. We were all noobs once. Cut the @#$%.
To ya’ll starting out - awesome. You are gonna be SO JACKED. If anyone glares at you, talks down to you, or tries to intimidate you, they are jerks (and you joined a @#$%ty gym, sorry. Hope you didn’t sign a contract.) Don’t let the bastards get you down (and don’t do squats on the smith machine.)
I started going to the gym for the first time really in my life about 4 years ago. I started going with a friend, which made all the difference. Telling my friend I’d meet him at the gym in the morning before work made me feel accountable, and kept me from rolling over and going back to sleep many, many mornings. Although we’re separated (sometimes literally by continents), I hope to have that same aspect of social accountability here, together, in our community. It’s been a year since my friend and I were able to work out together, but I’ve been able to keep up my commitment for a whole year; working out together changed my lifestyle, and I was finally able to go beyond simply going because I told him I would. It look a while.
So, I go to the gym 2-3 morning a week, before work. My work day starts at 8, and I like to arrive a little early, which puts me getting up at 5 am, starting my workout by 5:30, and leaving the gym by 7:00 - 7:15 am to get to work for 7:30. I always start out with 30 minutes of cardio (elliptical, bike or rowing machine). Rarely… well, very rarely, I’ll hop into an early morning yoga class instead of cardio. I then do an 45 minutes to an hour of weight training. I rotate between chest, triceps and abs; back and biceps; legs and shoulders. I’ll probably post specific workouts as I do them during the week.
I can tell you that it’s been a long, slow road - and it’s supposed to be. Signing up for a one month fitness challenge or making a New Year’s resolution is only the first step. But I will tell you that it’s drastically improved my health, my confidence and even weird day to day things like being able to open jars more easily. I wouldn’t change it for all the extra hours of sleep in the world.
Now that I don’t have the Run Through History I did last year (mostly on my bike, shh), with it’s deadline of the end of the year to finish, I may end up taking a bit of a break from my extra biking.
That said, I still have Amerithon to finish, and it would be great to finish it this year (so glad it doesn’t have a strict deadline to finish). To do that, I would need to do about 45.5 miles per week, which won’t be accurate since that’s definitely not happening this week.
An app that is used in a couple virtual running clubs I’m part of (that include biking, walking, etc.) is Charity Miles. They encourage creative means of racking up miles (not just walking/running/biking), and I forget the breakdown but miles submitted = money donated to whichever charity you happen to choose. It uses the GPS and accelerometer on your phone depending on if it’s on indoor or outdoor mode. They also have options for making teams so you can see how many miles have been done collectively (or compete on the leaderboard ). It can be a bit buggy, but figured I’d mention it.
I’d like to start coming up with some group challenges, but I need a sense of how many people are interested in order to set appropriate goals - who’s with me?
I’ve started learning a kpop dance routine in order to exercise more. I’d prefer to run, but there’s 3 feet of snow outside and I’m clumsy enough as is without ice underfoot.
My main problem is remembering to work out consistently. I’ll be great for a week and then suddenly forget I had any goal in mind.
My main problem is I’m always so tired when I get back from class to even think about exercising. I walk about 30-40mins to Uni 4 days a week, and occasionally more if I’m doing a concert or something. That’s it, exercise done. Unless you count the 2.5hours of Archery I do a week.
I have this year decided that I need to loose weight however. I got graduation in a year and a half, and there’s no way I’m having my photo taken for that the way I look now. Nuhah, this has to be the year I get something done. How that’ll happen, god only knows, but I’m gonna try (and probably fail after a week if I even get started).
Urg, I said to myself I wasn’t gonna go on a moan when I started this, looks like I failed…
I get you. I don’t even consider exercising after I leave work- I’m too exhausted, have too much going on in my mind, and just want to go home, relax and spend time with my family. That’s why the early morning thing works so well for me - I’ve been sticking with it for four years. I feel awake and energized for the rest of the day when I work out in the mornings. It’s not for everybody, but it might be a good solution - is there a gym on campus you could use before classes?
Um, I think so. It’s 20mins away from where I’m staying though, and I’m lucky if I’m awake with enough time to get to class as it is lol. I’m not a morning person in the slightest…
Meh, I’m sure I’ll come up with something that suits me. Got a folder of easy, geeky workouts I’ve been meaning to actually try and follow, we’ll see how it goes.
Here we are on Tuesday, 6 am Eastern. It’s my gym morning. I skipped a couple of days last week to deal with the big snow storm, but that’s part of why I’m posting today: discipline is important, but life happens. Just because you had an exam, a foot of snow, a death in the family, it doesn’t mean you’ve failed if you missed a session. It’s okay. You can always pick back up later in the week.
Okay Mountaineers - here’s the first of hopefully many Friday Challenges. We’re going to start small and work our way up. Back between Fragments 14 and 15, our beloved Chronocompass dragged @CRSumner all over Central Park.
According to Google Maps, this was a total of 2.6 miles. This Friday’s challenge is to walk/run/jog/elliptical that much distance in a single session. Bicycling doesn’t count. Post here when you’ve completed the challenge - new challenge coming next Friday!
). It can be a bit buggy, but figured I’d mention it.
