Over the holidays I bought new pairs of Dickies at OSH, a size larger than ever before, and they were already tight.  My belts were straining on the end hole.  The trousers to my suits had to be worn ‘below the bulge’ and I know how attractive that looks.  It was time to take action.

Now I don’t believe in Resolutions.  Resolutions get broken; hell they have a reputation for it.  Just on that connotation alone they’re doomed to failure.  Hey, everybody breaks their resolutions.

I DO believe in Improvements.  Set a goal, make an action plan, move forward.  And Improvements are far more attractive than mere change.  After all, change can make things worse.
Since the target I chose this year is fitness, I broke it down into several areas:

• Strength.  Be able to pick things up, carry and move them, using proper form of course.
• Stamina.  Get to where I can keep up a steady effort without having to pause while I wheeze.
• Flexibility.  Bending over to tie my shoes made me gasp for air.  Not acceptable.
• Lose the paunch.  Not looking to be a body builder, but do want to have definition and tone.
• Learn something.  Read, watch and otherwise incorporate information on how to BE fit.

OK, the overall thing was to have a presentable looking body again.  It had gotten to the point that I avoided looking at my naked self in the mirror cause I just didn’t want to see that orangutan looking mofo staring back at me.  I can imagine what a thrill that had to be for my girlfriend.  (It later came out that she’d considered dumping me and would have if I hadn’t done something preemptively.)

So at the beginning of the year I started my own little fitness regimen.  It commenced with six days a week on the treadmill using the 20 minute, pre-programmed ‘weight loss’ routine.   After not too long and knowing this wouldn’t be enough I grabbed the Year End issue of Mens Health featuring ‘fat stripping’ programs that were presented as ways to get rid of unwanted pounds on an every other day schedule.  The guys they showed sure looked great (in a purely masculine admiration sort of way you understand) so I added in their A and B loop sets and one of my own featuring a Swedish Exercise ball.  And I tripled the workout frequency to 6 days since I knew that to see gains, or more appropriately losses, of weight accumulated over the decades would take some real effort.  It wasn’t long before I was increasing the reps in a set, the hold time for various planks and the weights used and when it became ‘easy’ I increased them again.

And it wasn’t JUST the workouts.  Among other changes I quit eating peanut butter (it’s my kryptonite) and reduced my beer intake by half.  For a feedback mechanism my girlfriend suggested little stars on the calendar.  That seemed silly at first, but seeing a whole row and then a whole month of red, green, blue and gold stars was strangely gratifying.  We also took 5 mile walks or rode our bikes on a 12 mile loop when the weather allowed.

Results by the middle of March were 10 pounds shed and being able to button those pants without ‘sucking it in’.  Yay.

You have to change the routine up periodically or your body simply adjusts. Coming up on the three month point I started looking around for the next thing I could do.  One thing I know, having worked with a trainer in the past, is that you have to switch things up after about three months or your body adjusts, the effectiveness is lost, and the bang for your exercising buck is gone.  My girlfriend had enrolled in a kick-boxing program at a localself-defense club and mentioned they had Ultimate Body Conditioning series starting up April 2nd.  Leslie had great results and heaps praise for the club and the instructors, so it seemed worth checking out…

Tips for your own Path to Fitness

• Start slow:  Ease into it, especially if this is something new to you
• Be religious:  Set and keep a regular schedule – use a calendar to visibly record your sessions
• Eat right:  Workout programs and good Nutrition go hand in hand to work better and faster
• Hydration:  Muscles without water are Beef Jerky…drink at least 10 glasses of water a day
• Guidance:  A good Trainer will push you – if you can handle it

Taking the Deeper Dive: Follow my progress through the Ultimate Body Challenge at www.rohdewarrior.com
Originally Posted at RohdeWarrior.com