Lapse in posting, not in activity

I haven't been posting lately, but that does not mean I have not been exercising. Except for a week when I was out of town, I've been averaging about three exercise classes a week. I've mostly been taking strength classes, but I have mixed in some Pilates, Yoga, and my first Spinning Class. I can tell I'm stronger because of all the classes I've been taking and that feels good.

Activity log for this week:

• 55 minutes of strength class on Monday (with increased weight for part of the class)
• 45 minutes of spinning class on Thursday
• 55 minutes of strength class on Saturday
  

Actvity Update

Saturday:
55 minutes of strength class with two friends from work.

I've been taking strength class regularly for a month or so, and this time I increased the weight. It was difficult but for the most part I was still able to keep up with the extra weight. I do think I am making progress!

Activity Update

Thursday:
55 minutes Pilates Class with co-worker.

After a few weeks of regularly working out, I am finding that classes really work well for me. I enjoy being able to take a variety of classes. I find them to be less boring than working out on a machine. I also find them to be a motivator-- you can't really leave a class in the middle of things just because you're bored.

Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

I recently finished reading the book In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. The book tries to answer the question, "what should we eat." He covers a lot of scientific research and a lot of history and concludes that the safest way to eat is to eat traditional foods, foods your great grandmother would have eaten (or anybody's great grandmother-- he thinks any traditional cuisine is fair game). Turns out that the scientists who study nutrition (I won't go into his thoughts about that right now) don't agree on much. For example, they don't all agree that saturated fat is bad. But they do agree that we should all eat more plants, especially leafy greens. The distilled summary is this: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

He offers a lot of general rules to follow when shopping for food. For example, shop the edges of the grocery store and avoid foods that have been processed. Buy what you can from farmer's markets (he calls it shaking the hand that feeds you). Avoid foods with more than five ingredients, or foods with ingredients you don't know how to pronounce.

I highly recommend this book. I may post more about it periodically. It certainly has changed my perspective about food despite the fact that I have long been a vegetarian with a leaning towards whole foods.

Activity Update

Activity Log:
Friday: 55 minutes Strength Class
Saturday: 55 minutes yoga with my co-worker
Monday: 20 minutes pilates at home
Wednesday: 45 minutes of Boot Camp class with my co-worker

More on Boot Camp

I took my first boot camp class at the gym this morning. I think that physically it may have been the hardest thing I have ever done. The class consisted of calisthenics and a lot of fast paced repetitive movements. We used hand weights most of the time and aerobic step platforms a lot of the time. The focus was supposed to be on endurance. And it did take endurance but for me it also took immense concentration just to learn all the moves (I'm not the most coordinated kid on the block).

After the class I felt utterly defeated. And certain that I have to do it again. I mean, it has to get easier right?

Warning: this next paragraph gets gross. Read with caution.
I showered at the gym and went straight to work. In my meticulous planning for the early morning trip to the gym I had packed a breakfast and lunch for myself, picked out an outfit for work, set aside toiletries for the gym, and otherwise tried to cover the necessary bases. However I had neglected to account for the fact that my workout clothes would be completely soaked. (If I hadn't known better, I would have thought the clothes had taken a dip in a pool --I don't think I've ever been so sweaty.) Putting the sweaty clothes into my backpack with 2/3 of my day's meals was disgusting. I don't recommend it.

Peer Pressure

I knew that peer pressure could be persuasive and I'm experiencing it firsthand this week. It started when on Monday evening I took a strength class at the gym with two of my friends from work (we're planning to make it a habit). Then my coworker talked me into the 6:30 boot camp this morning. And as if that wasn't enough, we decided to try the yoga class on Saturday morning. That's a lot of exercise, especially since it is all in addition to the Strength class I'll be taking on Friday. Turns out that peer pressure can be good for you.

Activity Log:

• 55 minutes of strength class on Monday evening
  
• 50 minutes of boot camp class this morning before work
  
• Pilates and I don't remember what else from last week
• And I think I forgot to post about the strength class from the week before
  

Obama's got street cred

I hope Barack Obama is our nation's next president. He's inspirational. He has some really good policy ideas. And he works out with the proletariat at my neighborhood gym.

It's happened again. Obama was sighted at the Washington Sports Club this week. This time it was the Dupont Circle Branch, last time it was Columbia Heights. I use both branches and only those two branches.

Although I live in DC, my life is almost completely removed from national politics. But I would love to get a closer glimpse of national politics. I'll take seeing a presidential candidate at my gym if I can get it! I may even find reason to work out more often since that apparently is a possibility.

Maybe I would have liked the military after all...

All my life I thought of myself as someone who would be miserable in the military. Sure I've always loved the uniforms (oh how I love the uniforms), but I'm a rebel at heart.

Well today it dawned on me. I was in a room that was filled to capacity and someone was barking orders at us to lift this weight, lift that weight, repeat, repeat, etc. And I liked it. So maybe the military would not have been so bad after all. (Of course there is the fact that I'm a pacifist.)

Todays activity log:

• 55 minutes of strength training class
  

Good Eats

Today was a double whammy. I went to the gym after work and then I came home and made a good dinner: mushroom tortellini topped with swiss chard, kidney beans, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It was a yummy meal, and seemed like a pretty good balance of vegetables, protein, starch, and fat.

I also made some pesto to save for later because I had some fresh basil that needed to be used.

Yum!

I'm going to have to learn how to develop new habits that allow me to both eat well and exercise regularly. After washing all my dishes from dinner it was nearly 9 pm. Considering I am often in bed by 10 pm, I can't see myself doing this every day.

Interval Training

Today I read a blog entry in the New York Times "Well" blog about interval training. The post discussed a study that concluded that brief, high-intensity exercise has the same cardiovascular benefits as longer periods of moderate intensity exercise.

I went to the gym after work, and decided to test this out by giving intervals a try. I climbed on one of the exercise machines (I still need to learn what all the machines are called, I'll have to write more about that in a future post). I started slowly, during which time I found a good album to listen to on my ipod. After a number of minutes, I switched to a heavier resistance and I worked as hard as I possibly could. I kept that pace for about 30 seconds, and then went back to a moderate pace. I continued, switching between short periods of intense work and a more moderate pace. It was hard work, but it was much more fun to do than maintaining one steady pace my entire time exercising. The worst side effect was the amount of sweat I generated. I guess my body was tired, because my walk home was much slower than usual...

Today's activity log:

• 2o Minutes Cardio with High Intensity Intervals
• 10+ Minutes of Stretching
  

Strength Class

Yesterday I attended my first strength class at the gym. The class itself was very fun (there was music playing and the teacher had an abundance of energy and humor) but it was also a lot of work. It was a welcoming environment-- one of the other attendees helped me figure out which equipment I needed and nobody cared if I was a little slow at learning the movements. During the 55 minute class, we used hand weights and barbells while doing lunges, squats, and other exercises. For the most part, I used the lightest weights available, and let me tell you... I am majorly sore today.

It feels good to be so sore, despite the fact that today I'm moving around as if I were an old lady. And I'm sore in places I didn't know I could be sore!

I'm sure I'll be attending this class again.

Record Keeping

In today's Washington Post, Sally Squires' Lean Plate Club column referenced a study that found that keeping a record of eating habits and physical activity helped the participants in the study to lose weight. I'm not trying to lose weight, but I do think it would be helpful to record my physical activity here in this blog. Hopefully I can find a way to do so that will not be tedious to readers.

My everyday baseline activity includes a minimum 30 minutes of walking (that's my commute to and from work). I will only keep a record of my activity in excess of the baseline.

Yesterday's activity:

• 20 minutes of cardio on the elliptical (in the gym at work)
• 25 minutes of pilates at home (with a workout cd)

Today's activity:

• 30 minutes of cardio split between an elliptical, stationary bike, stair-climber, and rowing machine (I wanted to test the range of equipment in the new gym!)
• (I had intended to take a class today, but it had filled up so I was unable to attend)
  

Gearing Up...

Today I finally did it.

I joined a gym.

Perhaps the thought of working out on gym equipment that was used by Barack Obama will inspire me to make good use of my membership (no kidding).

Anti-Inspiration

Part of the reason I'm starting this blog is that I have been subscribing to Fitness Magazine for nearly 2 years, and as time passes my dislike for the magazine grows. I hope that blogging will replenish the motivation that drained away as I read this magazine month after month.

If I were to write a letter to explain why I'm not renewing my subscription (or canceling the subscription I have), here is what I would write:

Dear Fitness Magazine,

Although your magazine contains a wealth of information about health and fitness, I am canceling my subscription. Each month after reading a great number of articles focused on physical appearance and dietary deprivation, I would feel diminished self confidence. Reading articles about people with diets so strict that their afternoon snack consisted of 7 cashews made me crave a heaping bowl of ice cream. Likewise, I could not find inspiration in stories such as "A Better Body at Any Size" when each month the magazine's cover showed a new skinny model/actress/whomever wearing a bikini and standing on a beach. (Month to month, I found the covers to be virtually indistinguishable. Each month I hoped that maybe, just maybe, this issue would feature a cover that actually showed someone exercising!)

I crave fitness to improve my cardiovascular health and strengthen my bones and muscles. It is my hope that fitness will protect me from a number of health-related problems as I age. I'm looking for a magazine without a focus on physical appearance and diets. The magazine I will subscribe to will instead focuses on how to improve health through fitness, and how to have fun doing so. While healthy eating habits and nutrition will be discussed, the word diet will never appear. Instead of reading how to get the perfect bikini body, I will read about how to build strength, increase flexibility, and improve endurance. It may not be as sexy. But it is what motivates me.

As far as I can tell, no magazine like this exists. That's why I'm starting this blog.

Welcome

This is my new blog.

With this blog, I intend to chronicle my quest toward a more healthy life. More than anything, I hope this blog provides me with motivation and inspiration so that I will live the life I want to lead.