Body Weight Training

     Body weight is not just something that we try to maintain but it is also something that can assist us. True, the more that you work out the less body weight you have but it provides us with at great resistance for helping produce and/or tone the muscles.

     I don't make it to the gym because of the lack of time. Now there are those that say if it really means something I will make the time to get to the gym. That theory does not work for me though. I am a busy person who works 50 hours per week, I am a full time student, I volunteer with a local Naval Sea Cadets Unit, and I have a wonderful wife and 3 wonderful kids that I want to spend time with. I use body weight training so that I am not traveling to the gym or spending money on expensive weight equipment.

     I also use body weight training when I have just a few minutes to do an exercise. One of my favorite places to train is actually at the office. I spend most of the 50 hours each week sitting in a chair staring at a computer. I love my job but know that the longer I sit here without some extra work I will blow up like a balloon. To help break up the day and give my eyes a rest I will do several exercises here in my office or somewhere in the building.

     To give myself a break from the computer screen I will take push-up and squats breaks. I decided to keep a yoga mat hanging on the back of my door. This way I will not be laying on the floor and can feel confident that I will not get overly dirty while exercising, plus I do not know or even want to know what has been on this carpeting. So I put out the yoga mat. I will crank out about 10 to 20 push-ups and 20 to 40 standing squats every hour or two. When you look at a 10 hour shift that adds up to a lot of reps. For example if I just do push-ups every two hours with 10 push-ups that comes to 50 push-ups ... and 100 squats at a minimum.

     When I want a break from the office I will walk over to the tallest building on campus and walk the stairs. I do not walk every set of stairs but I typically will start on the second floor and climb to the 12th floor. If I really wanted to I could go from the ground floor and go up to the 14th. For now I am happy doing the ones that I do since getting back into exercising after my broken foot. I am hoping to add sit-ups to my routine starting next week. 

     For me I tend to push myself but usually not to the point of getting sweaty. It usually takes much more for me to get to that point. If you are worried about a little stink my suggestion is keep and hand deodorant on hand. 

None of these exercises take a lot of time, just a few minutes here and there. The benefits of doing office exercises are the extra strength that you are building, not sitting too long which can allow for weight gain, and finally it relieves fatigue. It has become a refreshing break that my body is starting to crave during the day. Helps get the blood flowing which gives you more energy to make it through the day.

No excuses. Get up and take care of yourself. It is the only body that you will have.

     

Overcoming The Diet Failures (My observations, experiments, failures and successes)

The biggest reasons for failure in a diet is the lack of trying, the lack commitment, the lack of will power. This is an extremely difficult process and the difficulty is compounded when you are attempting this journey alone. You both then have someone to encourage you and to be there when you are at your weakest.

Now I am not claiming any scientific break through or even highly researched data. I know what I know through using logic and things that I have learned along the way.

I am not where I should be ideally. I have about 18 lbs to go before I get to the upper limits of the weight that I am striving for. I know what my target weight is but I am not focusing on that. What I am focusing on is taking it piece by piece.

The first ten pounds came off really easy the first time I tried my dieting. I simply eliminated a whole ton of sugary foods from my diet. Specifically sodas. I severely limited my consumption of candy and deserts. Anyone that knows me understands that I am a big Oreo addict. I could go though tray of Oreo's in 1 to 2 days. I simply cut that habit out cold turkey.

Do I get sugar withdrawals? Yes! I do what ever it takes to overcome the urges. Aside from the Oreo's I could pack away a minimum of two cans of sodas a day. That too, I quit cold turkey.

I manage my portion control extensively. Until I started this journey...lifestyle, I did not even consider how little food my body needed to be healthy. For the longest time I would watch calories. I figured out how many calories that I was eating and how many calories I should be eating. I took my current calories and subtracted 100 calories form that and did this calculation everyday. It was time consuming but well worth it. Now I know without calculations what I should be doing and I just do it. As you can see from the picture above, I eat what I want. The biggest thing is portion control and the weight will come off.

Now diet alone will not get me to where I want to go. I figured this out the last time I dieted. At first I just did the diet to figure out just how far I could go on diet alone. The first 18 lbs came off and then I just hovered at that weight until I ended up breaking my foot and my diet went out the window.

Now that I am back I am dieting and getting plenty of exercise. I am continuing my karate (with two of my children) which will help. But even before my accident the tow days of karate a week was not enough. Now I have incorporated push-ups and small amounts of running into my routine. I have also decided to practice my strength training from karate everyday. I am burning more calories and feeling great doing it.

Most of this journey I am taking alone, that's why I have taken to blogging this journey and other things that I feel are important. I am making my success public so that I feel that I cannot just quit or let up. In fact I gain strength and encouragement from my readers. Weather any comments are left I know that there are people reading this and hopefully are encouraged by this journey.

Have the most wonderful day and enjoy the life that you have been given.