Ash

I’m not a morning person. It usually takes me a few hours to get going in the morning and I hit my stride around eleven. But, for a couple of reasons I’ve already discussed I’ve switched to going to the gym in the mornings on my weight lifting days. Today was my second day and I’m surprised to find I’m really enjoying it.

I’m getting up at 6:00am, only an hour earlier than normal. Having a spot of breakfast (a smoothie and some wholegrain cereal), packing my bag and heading for the gym around 6:30am. No traffic, I get there in about ten minutes, head straight in and hit the weights, well after a 5-10 minute warm up on the elliptical. I don’t have to wait for equipment, or plan what I’m doing next based on how busy it is. I find this a lot more relaxing and it’s easier to maintain focus.

At the moment I’m doing a modified version of the “Starting Strength” workout from this blog post.  I really recommend this blog in general: Sean10mms Fitness Blog. It doesn’t update very often, but I really like his articles and attitude towards fitness in general. His beginner’s fitness guide is was probably the single most inspirational and informative thing I read when I was starting on this journey. I printed it our, read through it. Then read through it again with my wife, highlighting stuff and discussing things point by point. It was an essential part of my reeducation.  I can’t recommend it highly enough.

After doing the weights (about 45 minutes) I hit the showers. This is my favorite part as they’re much better than our shower at home. I’ve always enjoyed my morning shower, but having a nice powerful, hot shower after working out is just heavenly. After this I dry off, change into my work clothes and head the rest of the way to work. I’m still getting in 45 minutes earlier which allows me to have a coffee, and read the paper while listening to a podcast in the car. This is my daily “me” time which I really enjoyed and worried I’d lose if I switched to morning workouts.

By the time I’m ready to start work, 9:00am. I’ve been up for three hours. I’ve worked out, showered, had breakfast, relaxed reading the paper. I just feel a lot more awake and chilled than when I’d been coming straight from home. I guess a big part of it is that I’m starting the working day still on a post-gym high, which is a nice feeling.

In general I’m trying to better manage my time in preparation for baby. I know life is going to get a lot more hectic and spare time is going to be at a premium. As part of this I’m trying to make better use of the time I do have. I mean at work I get an hour for lunch. In the past I tended to eat lunch at my desk and not really have a break. But now I’m trying to get out of the building, to read or listen to my ipod, or play on my PSP. This is an hour a day that I have to myself and I really haven’t been making use of it. Which, now I know there is going to be more pressure on me in terms of time, suddenly seems like a massive waste.

I’m have a break from lifting this week (more later) but still doing my cardio. I’m mostly running on the elliptical. I tend to alternate between doing 20 minutes of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) one day and longer steady state stuff another. My goal for the week was to work up to 45 minutes steady state (from a starting point of about 30) and I managed to do that on Tuesday  :mrgreen:

My problem  with longer runs is sweat! My legs can take it, my cardiovascular system is (suprisingly) up to it, but I sweat a lot. After 30 minutes or so this really becomes uncomfortable. All my clothes are drenched, things start to chafe, my towel is dripping, my eyes are stinging and everything feels horrible. Sometimes (like when I hit my 45 minutes) I can run through it, but others I just want to stop. I guess it’s something I have to work on, hopefully as I lose weight it won’t be such a problem. HIIT is probably better for fat loss anyway, so I’ll probably switch back to that mostly.

I’m taking a break from Weight Lifting because I was becoming increasingly frustrated at trying to get my routine done at the time I’m going. I’m going on the way home from work, at peak time and the gym, especially the free weights are really, really busy. It’s great the free weights are getting more popular (the machines are deserted!) but it means I can’t focus or get in any kind of “zone” where I can just power through my routine. I feel like I spend half my time worrying about whether or not I’m going to be able to access the weights or equipment I need next and the whole time I feel really unfocused and all over the place.

I’m considering switching to working out in the mornings before work. But I’m a bit hesitant for a couple of reasons. The biggest one is I’m not a morning person and I’m concerned that I won’t enjoy going at that time. If I don’t enjoy it then it makes it harder to go and stay motivated. It will take a bit more planning on my part. I’ll need to shower there and go straight to work and I’m not the most organized person in the world! Also I enjoy going to the gym on the way home from work. I still will a couple of times a week for cardio, but at the moment going everyday has become part of my routine and (apart from the crowding issues) I’m enjoying it. It feels a bit wrong to mess with a situation where I’m going to the gym that often and am really into it. I’ve never had this before in my life and in the back of my mind there’s a little voice saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

Either way I’m going to give the mornings a shot next week and see how I go.

On an unrelated note I’ve been thinking about some of the stuff I wrote in my last blog: Min/Max vs Pushing the Comfort Zone! I think I’m beginning to realize that while getting fit and losing weight is a big part of my new lifestyle, it can’t completely take over my life. I need to work, I need to enjoy myself, I need to maintain my relationships etc.  The healthy stuff needs to be part of my life but it can’t become my life. I think that’s something I need to work on a little, getting that balance right.

Finally I really recommend everyone have a read of this article: The Hierarchy of Fat Loss It’s on a bodybuilder site so be prepared for photos of HUUUGE guys and ads for expensive supplements with silly names. But I think it is an absolutely fantastic article that explains in no-nonsense terms what are the most important things to be doing to lose fat. You may need to filter out some information that doesn’t apply, but the core stuff in it is really important for everyone.

That’s it. Have a great Thursday all!