It’s not news to anyone who follows me on Twitter that I’ve become a bit of a fitness nut over the last, oh, year and a few months. After several false starts, including training for and competing in the Walt Disney World Tower of Terror 6.5K event a few years ago, I finally made a serious start last February. I went from using the treadmill at home to joining a gym, engaging a personal trainer for weight training and conditioning, doing five-mile runs on the elliptical machine and becoming a regular at spin classes.
I figured it was time to write down in longer form what exactly I’ve been doing and some of the results I’ve seen. Since the only thing more boring than listening to other people talk about their mortgages is listening to other people talk about their fitness regimen, I won’t be offended if you click away.
Supposedly it takes doing something 21 times, or for three weeks, for it to become a habit. I can say that it took a bit longer than that for working out to be something I do regularly, nearly every day, and just a regular part of my day. But not too much longer. My current schedule looks like this:
Monday evening: mat Pilates class
Tuesday: personal training (legs / lower body)
Wednesday: personal training (arms / chest / upper body)
Wednesday evening: mat Pilates class
Thursday: spinning class
Friday: spinning class
Saturday: rest
Sunday: usually various cardio and/or weight machine work; I’d like to start running 5Ks and that will likely be on Sundays.
Results: I’ve dropped at least 25 pounds overall and added considerable muscle mass (so the actual weight loss is probably more). My conditioning and endurance is at an all-time high. I’ve lost around four inches at the waist, measured unscientifically by pants size; I used to barely fit into size-40s and now size-36s are a bit loose. I’m generally wearing smaller clothes, mostly size-L instead of XL or even XXL.
I’ve been sitting at the same weight for a few months now, though the visible muscle growth is still happening. I want to drop another ten pounds and another couple of inches at the waist.
This part will be even more of a surprise to anyone who knows me: I’m considering participating in the Warrior Dash this fall. I haven’t decided yet, and the decision is likely going to be based on how well I can handle those weekly 5K runs that I haven’t started yet.
There used to be a commercial for some home gym machine where the fit, shirtless spokesman said something about being in better shape at 42 than he was at 22. Having just entered my forties I can say that I am definitely in better shape at 40 than I was at 20. By far. I feel pretty good about that.
