Wednesday, January 4, 2017

January 4, 2017

I realize that it is only the fourth day of the new year, but keeping up with the goals on a regular basis might help me stay on the right track.

I postponed my 3000 squat/1000 push-up start until January 2nd. I'm not sure if I should skip tomorrow's scheduled rest day so that each day's workout corresponds with the calendar date or just plan on finishing on the 31st. Finishing on the 30th would either allow for a day's rest before beginning the next 30 day challenge or I could begin a 30 day challenge for February on the 31st and then end it on March 1.
I guess I'll decide tomorrow.

I have a couple of physical limitations that are age related. A knee that probably needs to be replaced gives me problems with some exercises and yoga poses and a wrist that may have some arthritis and is difficult to flex with any weight on it. It is making the push up part of this months challenge -- well, challenging. It will also be a hindrance as I begin to work on the hand & arm balances in my yoga work. It will make for slower progress than I was hoping for.
No worries. I have plenty of time.

Diet wise, last weekend proved to be terrible, but I am tracking calories and watching what I'm consuming. I am predicting that this month will be a good start for the coming year.

I occasionally post health articles or my fitness updates on Twitter. Feel free to follow me if you want. I am at @magicianary.

Although it is pretty chilly out, I think I'm going to take a short walk.

Be well,
John <><

Sunday, January 1, 2017

January 1, 2017

So it is a new year and time for new goals!
To be honest, last year was not a very good year on the health and fitness front. This year will be different. I wrote about the struggle a month ago and have already started back on the right track.

The long term goal is to live a healthier lifestyle which includes daily physical activity and a well balanced diet. I am planning on a series of short term goals to make that happen. I really don't want to set an annual goal of walking a set number of miles because I want to be flexible when it comes to daily activity rather than being fixed on having to walk daily. However, my typical walk is about an hour in length so I think that I should occupy that time with something else or a combination of walking and something else.

There are a few areas that I want to focus on for exercise.
The first is yoga.
I've played around at it for a little while but have never been really serious or regular about learning and practicing yoga. I've only been to a few classes and have mostly used books or followed along on You Tube classes. I'd like to work on the body weight strength moves and on some inverted balancing. To date, I've mostly worked on flexibility.

Another area for work is on some short burst high intensity interval training.
I've never done any P90X or Crossfit types of workouts and don't know that I really want to. I do plan on using our weight machine for some low weight/high rep circuits and using some HIIT exercises along the way.

Of course, there are other things. But at this point, the main thing is to keep moving forward.
My January goal will be to complete this 3000 squat/1000 push up challenge.



I will still need to fill my hour and will give myself the occasional day off.
Right now, I'm planning on yoga three or four days per week and will start at home but try to find a class or studio that is suitable for an old beginner like me. 


On the diet front, I'm going for the short term goal of tracking my intake via the My Fitness Pal app for every day in January. Even though I have started using the app again, I have not been very disciplined about my tracking, so for the short term anyway -- 31 days -- I can do this!

That's my January Resolution plan.
I'll let you know about next months plan when next month gets here!

Be well,
John