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It was a great week for me, both mentally and physically. After coming clean with Kris last Sunday, I’ve been alcohol- and videogame-free for six days now. I’ve got a lot done, including exercise. I’ve done six days of Body for Life!
This morning, before I went for my twenty minute run, Kris convinced me that instead of stretching, I should join her for half an hour of yoga. Wow, I’m inflexible. After yoga, and after the BfL portion of my run, I extended the workout another ten minutes so I could log a total of three miles. (Three miles is a good distance for me — I feel like it gives a good workout, but it doesn’t tax my body.)
Then, because today is my “free food day” on the program, I went out and had breakfast at my favorite diner: pancakes piled with big fat blueberries (on top, not inside, and not in syrup). Yum.
It’s been a while since I did a roundup of other fitness stories from around the web. Now’s a good time to correct that.
First, in a conversation at Get Rich Slowly this morning, somebody mentioned the Green Smoothie Challenge and pointed to this list of 70 green smoothie recipes. I’m going to make time to give a couple of these a try. (To replace the Odwalla and Naked juices/protein shakes I buy.)
Jim at Journal for Healthy Living has been exploring his town by bike, something I love to do. Once you get into the habit of biking places, it’s not so bad. Gradually, you begin exploring other paths, and you find new ways of connecting with your environment. I did this much more when we lived in a small town, but I’ve made an effort to do this some this summer, too.
Some quickies:
- Lazy Man has some tips on the proper ways to do squats.
- Sally says hello to the 150s. (Way to go, Sally!)
- Blaine at Run to Win has some tips on how to measure and map a running route using online tools.
- Kevin has a review of Eating for Life, the companion book to Body for Life.
Finally, I love Andrew’s post about why he loves running. “I run because he can,” he says. “Up until this year, I’ve had a stronge belief that I could never be a runner.” Amen! This describes me, as well. Once I got over the belief that I was physically incapable of running, and then the mental block that running was tedious, I’ve learned that I love to run. And, best of all, I can do it. I may not be able to run all my life, but I’m going to do so while my body still lets me. Great post, Andrew!
May you all have as much success in the coming week as I did over the past seven days!
Mac
6 responses so far ↓
1 Deb // Sep 13, 2008 at 3:40 pm
JD
Congrats on getting back on the program. As we make permanent lifestyle changes, we have to allow ourselves occasional slips.
Seems like this was a week for successes!
Me? Less than 2 years after starting my workout program (40# pounds heavier than today), I managed to do my first unassisted pull-up yesterday. Actually my first 4.5. Now that I’m not killing my arms and back working on preparing to do this, I’ve got to back to doing my age in pushups a couple times a week. (it’s not fair. Iget older and have to do more?)
2 Greg // Sep 13, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Congragulations on the successful week. It’s good to have a “free day.” It gives you something to look forwar, and doesn’t make the rest of the week so restrictive.
BTW, loved the link to the green smoothies. My morning smoothies are something of a joke between my wife and I. Although it’s not green, you might like the frozen fruit smoothie I start my day with.
3 Andrew is getting fit // Sep 13, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Thanks JD.
4 Peter // Sep 14, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Hey J.D.
Yay! Another weekly update! Finally a chance to post my 100 push ups process
Are you still on the program? Is anybody? It’s been a while since I’ve seen updates here. Come on people! 
For the past couple of weeks I’ve been working on Week 5 Column 1. It was too hard to do outright, even after finishing Week 4 Column 3. So what I did was double all resting times for the first week. I was able to finish W5C1 that way. The following week I repeated W5C1, but this time I multiplied all resting times by 1.5. Finally, the week after (past week) I finished the whole schedule with the appropriate times. It’s baby steps and “100 push ups in 6 weeks” is never going to happen, but I’ll get there eventually.
Here’s the reps I recorded for the last set (30 was the minimum for all):
W5D1C1 x2 –> 31
W5D2C1 x2 –> 32
W5D3C1 x2 –> 43
W5D1C1 x1.5 –> 30
W5D2C1 x1.5 –> 45
W5D3C1 x1.5 –> 47
W5D1C1 x1 –> 30
W5D2C1 x1 –> 32
W5D3C1 x1 –> 37
It was a close call on some days, a landslide on others. Now the time has come to move up to Week 5 Column 2. I’ll be repeating my strategy and expect to finish W5C2 in 3-4 weeks. Somewhere along the line I’ll do an exhaustion test to see where I’m at (last max is 55).
Oh and I think I’ll try the green smoothie challenge as well. I already bought lettuce and bananas. I only hope my blender is powerful enough to get it all liquid … and that it actually tastes good.
Stay strong everybody! Both physically and mentally!
5 Metroknow // Sep 14, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Excellent - really glad to see that you are feeling better. It really does go to show that so much of fitness is all about the head game. Thanks for the inspiration JD - I left a similar note with Andrew, as you guys really do get me riled up to get moving. Thanks.
6 dsjgal // Sep 15, 2008 at 5:04 am
Congrats JD! I’ve just finished my first week on BodyForLife as well. I’m looking forward to hearing about your progress over the next 12, I mean 11, weeks
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