Starting Up . . . Again

My surgery for my shoulder was back in June of '12. Now its mid February of  '13. I have put on weight constantly, and have not been successful yet in getting back into my health regimen. So here's another start date. I've got a few friends who also either need too lose weight or are willing to help me stay focused on my own health. I've been so self reliant and been the one who encouraged and helped others that I've neglected the help that friends have wanted to give me. I've got to deal with that and admit my own need for help.

In ministry among pastor's it has been referred to as the "walk on water" syndrome. The pastor has the job of being an example and helping others. He's looked up to, placed on a pedestal and expected to not have problems like other people. When the pastor begins to believe that about himself and then experiences problems, the failure of his ministry is not far off. That conflicted situation will undermine the pastors and cause him to multiply his problems, not solve them. The end result is ultimately ruin.

So the same thing can happen in the life of the individual trying to lead others toward fitness. In my case, I succeeded personally on a level that few ever attain. Then when my health and financial problems began, I just thought I would work my way out of it. I haven't. I've fallen deeper into it. I've got to have help. I can't pretend to walk on this water any longer.

I know what to do. I have the resources to reach  my goals. It is time to get on with it and reach them. But I'm enlisting help this time. I will let my friends who have said they will encourage me do that. I'll own up to my weaknesses and tackle them. I'll start building the discipline that I have let fall by the wayside. So today, yes, once again. today, I start. And I won't start the journey alone.

Here's a FaceBook post I made on the Upstate BeachBody Coaches page. Just thought it was important to keep myself honest here as well.

Feeling the need to do some confessing and making myself accountable. I don't know how many of the rest of you have found yourself in this place, but I've been struggling - and not well - with my motivation. Since last April when my shoulder problems first manifested i've had a hard time being that product of the product we're supposed to be. The shoulder really isn't a problem. That just seems to be where the problems began - the pain, the operation, the recovery. All that is behind me, but I'm just not rolling like I was.

I keep starting and stopping a 90 day program. Each week I begin with "I'm going to do better this week."  I've lost a lot of dearly gained ground in my health battle.

I don't want to give up, don't want to quit. If I never make a penny as a coach, I want to help myself and, having helped myself, to help others with this same battle. But getting focused is a challenge I've having a hard time tackling.

This is humbling. But I don't want to continue missing important goals in my life just to keep hubris in tack.

I've never personally met most of you, but many of us have chatted and shared a good bit on here about health and what we're doing. I know I'm the only one who can "fix" me, but maybe someone out there has been this way and might offer some insights.

And maybe just getting honestly accountable is what I need to do. Still in the battle with you, just struggling.

Shoulder Pain and Strength

One of the recent improvements that I've noticed in my shoulder is that increased strength helps me manage the residual pain.What I mean is this:  previously when I moved my arm and felt pain, there was also weakness and that compounded the tendency to give in to the pain. As strength has increased, I will push through certain painful movements instead of giving in to them. To me it seems that as I do this I experience less pain than I was experiencing previously.

It could be that the completed movements are exercising the affected areas, and as a result there is less pain.  Also it could be that it's mental. Because I move through the pain more easily with the increased strength, I subconsciously discount the pain message and move anyway.

Physical, mental or maybe even both, my strength has incased and that's getting me down the road to a more complete recovery.  I'm still marking a lot of this quick recent improvement to the results of using the Les Mills Pump workouts. The barbell is doing the trick. My right shoulder is coaxed into performing as well as my right shoulder.

Still Sold On Les Mills Pump

I'm thinking that this will be my last week of physical therapy. Unless the therapist and doc can give me really compelling reasons to continue with that program, I'm really satisfied with - heck, I'm excited about - continuing the recovery using Les Mills Pump.

http://bcove.me/9l7g24ty

I've been suggesting this BeachBody program to a number of younger guys that I thought could benefit from its high energy/high reps approach to barbell exercise. Then I realized that, at middle age facing senior citizen status, I'm an excellent candidate for Pump.

Still feeling weak in my right shoulder from bone spur surgery on June 1st, I started this past weekend using the bar without any weight. Immediately I saw that using the barbell gave me feedback to work the right side harder in order to keep the bar level.

I've added 5 lbs to the bar the past couple of days and the shoulder is doing great. There is some soreness from doing the exercise, bur it is much less than it had been earlier.  Soon I'll start adding different weight amounts that will be appropriate for what I can handle on that particular exercise.

Using Pump is literally like waking up the muscles in my back and shoulder. It just happens to be the scratch for my particular itch, but if you are having a shoulder issue, I'm on board for highly recommending Les Mills Pump. Check it out at http://beachbodycoach.com/drrmc.

Pumping My Way To Total Recovery

Recovery from surgery on my shoulder has gone like I expected even though I being told that I'm doing great compared to others. I'm still very weak in my right shoulder and haven't been able to get back into P90X. I had planned that this would be the summer that I tore it up on X. Spring workouts were going fantastic. In fact, I was doing Insanity workouts along with my X workouts.

The problem was a bone spur in my right shoulder that developed as a result of a torn rotator cuff I didn't even know I had. In fact the doctor said it was a very "impressive" bone spur. She said she had to dig around a bit in the shoulder to clean things up. But she didn't do any muscle work or  graphs - just spur removal. So I'm a bit put out and bothered by the persistent post operative weakness in my shoulder.

I am excited about a work-around that I'm trying out. Where P90X uses dumbbells, Les Mills Pump uses barbells. Dumbells accentuate the weaknesses in opposing arms. Barbells provide some equity between the relative strengths of the left and right arms and shoulders. So I'm starting on the Les Mills program as a path to recovering my strength in my right shoulder and arm. After reviewing the program I think I've hit on a great plan.

So today is my first day of Les Mills. I'll continue to post the progress and nutrition here and show the results. But I am so looking forward to getting back to P90X and Insanity just as soon as I can.

Well, as they say in Les Mills Pump, "Kia Haha!"  Be Strong!

Power Routines

Spring break is over and I thrilled! That interlude into my daily routine brought on a major case of lousy. I didn't exercise for days. And I really missed the Insanity workouts we've done after school. I was just beginning to notice some great progress. I hope that I'll still see that there's been progress when I do my next session.

There are a couple of teachers doing Insanity with me after school. We aren't going through the program by the book. We take one routine and do it until we have an acceptable level of mastery. Then we add another routine and mix them until we feel we have a handle on both. Then ass another and rotate those. We'll keep,doing that until all the workout routines are in the mix. It should be summer by then and I can start a round of Insanity from start to finish getting some bragging rights results!

I was on the road a lot during Spring break. I really don't do very well traveling. I ate food that normally I won't touch. And I spent a couple of days at my parents house. That is a dangerous place for me nutritionally. So many kinds of good food and so much of it.

But, I'm back now and ready to make this an awesome April and May. Routine and familiarity can be powerful allies in the battle to win our health and fitness back. I'm looking forward to the routines of doing Insanity with my friends, of eating foods I make and I know are nutritionally safe and helpful. I enjoy the routines and rhythms of my life in my home. All of these work together to make me a winner with my health.

Catching Up

Can't believe I've gone so long without a post. Here's a quick rundown of my progress.

The treadmill running has been really good. I hit the three mile mark a while back, but I've backed off of it because my knees started bothering me. Apparently I'm still a little heavy for long distance running. So I dropped down to 1.5 to 2 miles and started focusing on building speed. I'm really quite satisfied with my modification and my progress.

It's getting warmer and I reclaimed the garage for my P90X workouts. I restart the round tomorrow. Next year I'll just have to invest in a heater for the garage. And at work something else starts tomorrow: one of my co workers and I will be doing insanity. We had done it some last year, but this year our schedules just didn't workout. We've both decided that we're doing this anyway and tomorrow we start doing Insanity. That is totally a coincidence, HIIT it will be interesting to see me keep up running, P90X and Insanity.

Nutrition is doing super. Back on at least one Shakeology a day. Watching my other meals.

Okay, more later. I've got to get my rest before tomorrow gets here.

Keep the Beat Up, Let's Drop the Beat Down

Using the treadmill as part of my overall fitness program is working very well. Currently I am mixing the HIIT training g with 5K training. That combination has pushed me to intensify my running much more quickly than I would have with the HIITs alone.

Coming to the conclusion that HIIT may not be the best term to describe all my slow/fast routines. When being faithful to the math of my runs, they tend to be very HIIT like. However, when I'm being less stringent with counting phases of speed bursts during the run, the proper term is probably "fartlek". No, the boys in math class didn't come up with that one, although it is kind of fun the way it rolls off the tongue. It is actually Swedish for "speed play" according to Wikipedia. That really is the idea. In a pure fartlek the runner selects a short term goal, like a visual marker in order to push himself harder while running until reaching that marker and then slowing down for awhile. The process repeats itself throughout the run. The goal is, like doing a HIIT, to go through cycles of exhaustion and recovery during a single run.

Since I'm doing fartlek on a treadmill, a visual goal in the distance isn't possible. I use the songs I listen to on my iPhone to vary my speed: fast riff, run fast; ballad, slow down. I'm using the music to motivate my running speed. I love doing this. A song with great electric guitar riffs/solos makes a great running song for me. Sometimes other styles/genres of music qualify on the basis of their individual uniqueness. There’s nothing like hitting the top speeds on a treadmill while listening to something like T.S.O.’s “Figaro” by Mozart. No, don’t picture powdered wigs and harpsichords. Nothing like that at all after Trans Siberian Orchestra gets a hold of a piece of music.

Oops, sorry. This is supposed to be about fitness and running, not music appreciation.

Anyway, it works. Fartlek running on a treadmill while listening to  good rock music. Helps you get a better burn.

Later folks.

New Toys!

I received some really nice gifts from my family this Christmas. One I'm enjoying learning about is a Nike+ unit. I'm looking forward to using this to track my walks/runs and compare it to readouts on the treadmill. I'm at my in-laws house today in Memphis, TN. I took my first walk this morning. I slipped out before anyone else got up and walked to Starbucks. The stats are recorded on my iPhone as I walk and a summary report is given at the end. Today was 26'42" for a walk of 1.52 miles. According to the report I burned 240 calories. That seems high to me (check some of my earlier posts about the calories count issues with treadmills - looks like it might apply to Nike+ as well.

I can see interesting possibilities using this. I can instant, accurate records of all my cardio workouts, even on the treadmill.

Sauna

The fitness center has a (large and working) sauna. I really enjoy using the sauna after an intensive set of HITTs. At the fitness center where I formerly had my membership, the sauna was small (three people was about all it could accommodate) and often broken down. This sauna is spacious and hot! I'm having to acclimate myself to the heat.

There are definite advantages to using the sauna. One is that it helps reduce muscle soreness from a hard workout. Another is that it helps rid the skin of free radicals. Sweating also moves excess salt out of your body (when I've been using a sauna regularly I can tell when I've eaten salty food - I can taste it in the sweat that runs across my lips). And finally, if it is quiet in the sauna, the combination of heat and solitude can be very relaxing.

The big myth is that weight can be sweated off in a sauna. There is a slight boost in metabolism that would mean a small increase in calories burned, but nothing worth building a weight reduction plan on. Sweat, no matter what circumstances produce it, does not come from fat. It is not being melted off. Sweat comes from fluidic the blood and that fluid is replaced the next time you drink water or do anything else to hydrate.

The sauna is enjoyable with definite benefits, but it is no substitute for the hard work of strenuous exercise.

Liar, Liar

I started using computers back in 1989. They were a bit more primitive back then (and the first nominee for understatement of the year is . . . ). I used Word Perfect for my writing projects. I remember how sometimes to get the settings to work right I would have lie to the computer, tell it a paper size or a margin was different from what it actually was. That was a liberating realization. It kept from fighting with the computer and allowed me to get my way.

Treadmills are notorious for over estimating the number of calories burned in a session. They give a false sense of accomplishment, making the user feel that he has worked harder than he actually has. But there is a way around this flaw.

Lie.

Select a treadmill that takes weight information. That data is figured into the treadmills computer to gauge calories burned during a workout. For a given speed, the higher the weight entered when the workout began, the higher the number of calories shown as burned. So at the beginning of my treadmill workout I will enter a lower weight than I actually weigh. The final number of calories burned will not be inflated.

This doesn't make the "calories burned" count accurate, but it will avoid the reporting of the unduly inflated number of calories burned.

So how much lower should the weight number be? My guess is about 20%. I'll try to look into that and get a more "fact based" estimate. My personal practice is to put in the weight I want to be, not the weight I am. That gives me some idea of how hard I will need to work to burn a set number of calories. It's still off, but it's a good starting place.

One more note: incline makes almost no difference, though it should. I've experimented with this on a few treadmills, keeping speed the same, but trying various incline settings. I really can't see that there is anything in the treadmills computer function that takes into account steeper inclines resulting in harder work and more calories burned.

Treadmill Redux

Coming back around to using a treadmill in my fitness quest. I'm a fan of P90X and sane nutrition, but there is a dynamic for me I using a treadmill that helps keep me motivated with exercise and nutrition. And, not to belabor the point, there is nothing passive about the way I use a treadmill.

I practice high intensity interval training sets on a treadmill (HIITs for short). There are several approaches to this, but the basic premise is that the intensity of the workout is varied from moderate to exhaustion through several cycles. When I was doing this regularly and running on the treadmill I would start with a slow warm up for 5 minutes, gradually picking up my speed and breaking out onto a jog. Then I would begin increasing my speed by intervals of 2 every 30 seconds until I reached exhaustion, at which point I would drop back down to my jog speed. After just a minute to rest I would begin increasing my pace again, but by intervals of 3, and continue until I reach exhaustion again. I would repeat that until I reached intervals of 6. After reaching exhaustion on that set I would start going back down in numbers (intervals of 6, 5, 4, 3, 2). I would consider it complete when's had reached the last set of intervals of 2. I'm not a fast runner, so my goal was augmented with the objective of running 3 miles in 30 minutes. The fitness variable was getting as much speed as possible before exhaustion.

Here I am now starting over again (I quit the pathetic fitness center where my membership was and tried to supplement it with walking around my community - not the same thing / same results at all). I'm having to start over walking on the the treadmill but I'm still practicing intense intervals, but with modifications until I'm running again.

I start off with a lower body stretch. I would always do. I like the experience of feeling my body becoming increasingly limber. I jumped on the treadmill once a few years ago, thinking I really didn't need to stretch that day and ended up with a pulled muscle. The pain of that experience has made me a confirmed stretcher for before and after each treadmill session.

I then do the slow warm up on the treadmill. When I'm ready to start I initiate the settings. Since I'm walking during my HIITs right now, I'm incorporating the use of steep inclines and make them the major variable. I set the speed at 3.5 (a good moderate pace) and the incline at 4. For each minute I increase speed and incline by intervals of 1 and continue until I' be reached maximum walking speed (right now 4.5 at lower inclines, less at higher inclines). After reaching maximum walking speed I continue to increase incline until I reach exhaustion. Then I drop back down on speed and incline, but not quite as far down on the incline (maybe only as far as 5.0, an increase of 2 intervals). I repeat the process until exhaustion, then start again at a higher incline.

I never start running. I make myself work harder by walking fast at a steep incline. Try this and you can get yourself I to a dripping mess, which, of course, you really want to do. People who never break a sweat using a treadmill really aren't accomplishing much. You will be able track you increasing fitness by using HIITs on a treadmill. And by the way, no holding on to the front or side hand holds. Walk with your hands swinging. That increases the level of your "work" while you're on the treadmill. At lower speeds you can also occasionally lock your hands behind your head, elbows high, for a workout of your abs.

This is where I'm starting as I work toward getting back up to running my HIITs on the treadmill again. In a few days I'll have to be on the road and away from my fitness center. The advantage of what I'm doing now is that I can still go out and just walk the neighborhood in order to keep my conditioning on track.

Remember, your goal is to work out on the treadmill, not just ride it. No matter what your fitness level, there is a way forgo to use a treadmill that is challenging and will improve your physical condition.

A Challenging Philosophy

One of the bloggers I like to follow/read is Craig Ballantyne. He recently posted this as his daily philosophy:

Five principles for success

1) Show up.

2) Get outside comfort zone

3) Take the necessary actions to move forward

4) Get the social support you need

5) Never give up.

Outside comfort zone = Dramatic steps forward.

I can think of several areas of my life where I could pursue this advice to my advantage. I'm going to do that and report back on what the outcomes are. I could apply this in my teaching, my personal business, my church work, my health goals, my writing, etc.

So, along with all the rest, here goes.

I Thought Trigger Was A Horse!

Looking into the reasons I am overeating I came across a website (http://www.medicinenet.com/emotional_eating/article.htm) that offered this observation: there are certain events/settings that trigger overeating. Here is the list offered on that web page:

SOCIAL: Eating when around other people. For example, excessive eating can result from being encouraged by others to eat; eating to fit in; arguing; or feelings of inadequacy around other people.

EMOTIONAL: Eating in response to boredom, stress, fatigue, tension, depression, anger, anxiety or loneliness as a way to "fill the void."

SITUATIONAL: Eating because the opportunity is there. For example, at a restaurant, seeing an advertisement for a particular food, passing by a bakery. Eating may also be associated with certain activities such as watching TV, going to the movies or a sporting event, etc.

THOUGHTS: Eating as a result of negative self-worth or making excuses for eating. For example, scolding oneself for looks or a lack of will power.

PHYSIOLOGICAL: Eating in response to physical cues. For example, increased hunger due to skipping meals or eating to cure headaches or other pain.

So, I see more than one trigger for me here and maybe some that are hard to classify in this list. Like an alcoholic who drinks alone I find that alone I like to eat. I don't think it is a response to loneliness. I'm comfortable being with people or being by myself. Maybe it is more like I can eat without shame if no one is around. But it's not always that. When others are around I am motivated to do more. When no one is around I let myself off the hook for responsible behavior. Is anyone else like that? But what is it about no one around that triggers the over eating?

Sometimes, at school I get a craving for a honeybun. That's over 500 calories by itself. That's equal to three Shakeology shakes. But when I get one, I don't want anyone to know. I go to the snack machine and slip it into my pocket after I buy it. Then walk back to my room or to the kitchen, get a cup of coffee and in just a couple of minutes the honeybun is gone. It just makes me feel good afterward. Is that the trigger in that circumstance: believing that it will make me feel better?

Eating large portions of comfort food is also something I do. Pastas are a problem area here. I am comforted by the warm feeling I get from eating a hot pasta dish.

Okay, there may be several triggers for me, and I eat like a horse or with a s little sense as a horse when I get a trigger in my routine. So two things coming from this: first, how do I manage the triggers and, second, what does the lack of motivation have to do with this. More to come.

Hitting HIITs Again

I went to Coop's today (an area fitness center) and started using the treadmill. I will probably walk for a week or more before I start running on the treadmill doing HITTs. It's been since about February of last year since I've done this. That is when I let my membership at ZX expire. I was pit out with the filth and broken machinery. I started aggressively riding the bike, but that never equaled the amount of activity I had put out by going regularly to the fitness center. I walked 5 miles up hill (20% to 60% grade) with the pace mostly between 30 and 40. My BPM ranged from 130 to 150. I walked 5 miles like this. It took 90 mins and supposedly I burned 531 calories.

So the debrief: how does this help, why has not doing it hurt, what's the dynamic? My first impression is the power of the "calories burned" read out. I did all that and only burned 531 calories. I would have to do,that every day to burn a pound's worth of calories off. That sure puts me in a frame of mind to maintain the gains. It is a motivator in itself.

My plan is to walk and then begin the HIITs. Running more will burn more calories faster, but not really significantly so. When I was doing this before I would have to push 45 mins to approach burning 500 calories, but I was so done for that it was difficult to reach that number.

Now to find the motivation to add the P90X back in.

Painful Honesty

Time to get honest with myself. Something just isn't working here. I'm not staying with the program. I'm eating like I don't have a care. Discipline is non-existent. Weight is way up, clothes are too tight.

What's going on! It seems rational that having had the victories I've had in this battle I'd be able to stay the course. I know the change in my schedule has been a problem. I've even is cussed that with my two support buddies at work. We would take some time every morning to up chat each other and motivate ourselves to stay the course. We would make our commitments for the day and then hold ourselves accountable for them. We all miss the benefits from those talks, those support systems.

But I can't lay it all to blame there. This trend started last April when stress at work went up. I don't handle stress very well. I eat to ease the stress. I need to do some research on how to handle that.

Also I had some big challenges going on back then that schedule changes ruled out. At least I let the schedule changes rule them out. Maybe I need my big challenges again.

One thing that left my regular discipline schedule was running my HIITS. My old fitness center closed and I tried substituting bike riding. Today I'm going to redeem a gym membership I won at a new local gym. I'm going to start the HIITs again.

I've also got to get back in touch with my BeachBody coach and let him know what's going on. Also contact my success buddy and make myself accountable there as well. Honesty hurts, but time to get honest. Way past time.

Oh No!

Two things to cover.

First P90X progress: great first week and start of the third week. I can already tell the difference. Subjectively, I have better stamina during the routines. Objectively, the reps are already higher. And I'm keeping up with AB Ripper X, too. I had just blown that off during other rounds. It's going well so far. One week out of 13 isn't much, but it does set the pace. One concern is temperature. It's getting colder in the garage. I think if I try to get into the routines as soon as I get home (ha! Like that makes a difference) the garage will be warmer. I need to avoid going late at night like I did last night.

Last night was a special case. First, it was Halloween and I didn't want to be in the garage doing routines while the neighborhood kids were coming to the front door. So I put off doing "X" until the ghouls gave up for the night. I wasn't finished until a little after mid night, and I got up five hours later to get ready for work. So I was really beat this morning, which is something I need to discuss later.

I found a way to work on getting to pull ups. It's called a reverse back pull I think. In this exercise I suspend myself under the lower arms of the pull up stand (the arms used for leg lifts) and, with my legs extended out, heels resting on the floor, I pull my torso up. This works the back muscles more intensely than using a chair to assist in a normal pull up. The chair method is helpful when it is possible to do pull ups. However, when it is impossible, this reverse style seems to be the most effective technique for getting there.

I've started using the apple cider vinegar in my diet. I'm also trying to restrict myself to purified water. The ACV isn't so bad. There is something strangely refreshing about it. Intake approximately two table spoons to 8 oz of purified water. I'll keep it up and report on the changes/benefits I see.

Okay, two: blew it today, rather this morning. I was really tired when I got up. Less than 5 hours sleep. I did "X" last night. Went to bed beat after having come home from work beat. I was getting enough rest and I knew it. This morning as I was driving to work I was fighting to stay focused on the road. I realized that either I would get something to eat to jump start my metabolism or I would have to call off my two reading recovery lessons. And since I couldn't call off the lessons, well . . .

So I got a. chicken filet biscuit, nugget fries and a large coffee. It helped a little . After my lessons I went back and got two blue berry biscuits and another coffee. I ended up throwing away almost half the coffee, but I ate all the food. And now, a couple of hours later I'm once again falling dead tired.

Okay, observations. Does missing sleep after a hard workout make me crave food more, or was that fatigue induced weakness? I didn't drink a shake at home before I left and I don't know why. I didn't have my ACV water because we were out of purified water. I'm just wondering what were the good and the ad choices here. Also, is nutritional weakness a quirk or the product of circumstances? I'm leaning toward "the product of circumstances" perspective. I was tired, exhausted reserves from a late night X routine, I chose note to drink a shake or ACV water, and then trying to negotiate traffic in the dark. I was under pressure to perform and lacked energy. T seems all these things played into my nutritional faux pas. The ability to see circumstances piling up is difficult to master, mainly because I'm involved in the circumstances.

So, I'm doing really well overall, but I. Gong to have to watch the rest and keep my supplies handy at home. Of course last night was unique, but it will not be the last night like that and this will not be the last morning that I feel caught between a rock and a fat place.

Rediscovering Excellence

" Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC) Greek Philosopher"

Habits are amazing. My habits can liberate me or enslave me. Take this blog for instance. After I got my iPad I found it convenient to write and post my blogs from it. But then there was some code problem between the iPad and Blogspot. I couldn't get my posts to save as draft or to post. Then, instead of changing my habit, I let my habit of only blogging from my iPad stop me from blogging at all. Luckily I've checked out Blogspot again and the issues seem to be worked out (maybe its that incredible iOS5 upgrade!).

It happens with my health and fitness as well. I get into the habit of eating and exercising a certain way or time, and it keeps me going, improving. But when "life" interferes and causes conflicts or changes, the habit - if it is too inflexible - is no longer my liberator, but my enslaver.

I moved from my 4 year apartment stint into a house in August. The house is great, but I no longer have the free time that I had before. The drive into town is further, the yard demands attention, cleaning the kitchen just takes more time because there is more space to be covered moving around. And though there is a great space I've dedicated for exercise, I'm allowing my habits from a more leisurely paced life to block my fitness and nutrition goals.

Okay, so yet another lesson learned. This is another example of how easy and how incredibly complicated pursuing health can be, and often both at the same time. This is a change in focus here, but this simple fact (that health can be easy and complicated at the same time) underscores the importance of having accountability or success partners for this journey.

So, the challenge before me I the next few days is reactivating powerful liberating habits. After all, excellence is a habit.

Again, the Bike

My P90X and Insanity schedule is in limbo for a few more weeks. But I have been using the mountain bike for transportation a lot. I haven't hesitated to jump on it for any trip of 5 miles or less. And the strength in my legs I'd getting better quickly.

Which is the reason for this post, an observation about the way the strength is working. I posted earlier how regular bike riding had done next to nothing to prepare me for my 5K. Guess if I want to train for running, it's best to run. Did seem to help my endurance, but that just meant that my legs hurt that much more, since I was able to run longer than I had trained to do.

But here is a gain I have noticed: strength walking down stairs. Big deal, huh? Not when I li e on a second story apartment and have knees that are 56 yeRs old. I'm in good shape, but I would have to exercise extra caution when descending a staircase. But since I've added regular bike riding to my exercise, I'm practically bouncing down stairs. Another serendipitous discovery. As I increase my fitness level I continue to discover what I lost as I recover it. Yeah, healthy is much better. And riding that bike is worth it, too.

You Never Forget (But There's Still Lots To Learn)

I've enjoyed getting back on a bike. That's "bicycle", not a motorcycle like most other guys my age. And it's true, you don't forget how to ride a bike. It's a 21 speed Schwin mountain bike, but it suits me well for riding in town. I find I'm more of a blood and guts kind of guy, more so than the finessing road bike type. I like jumping curves, fighting traffic, muscling the bike through traffic. It very existential when I'm in the traffic, a la running with the bulls of Pamplona, omlyni get to do it every day.

I started riding as a way to supplement what I was doing for my fitness level. I've gradually increased my distances. I've gotten up to 45 miles in the course of a day. I getting faster riding around town. And it's working on the supplementing health aspect.

Just a few things I've observed (learned) about the results of bike riding. It doesn't help you prepare for a 5K. Yeah, learned that one the hard way. Ouch! My legs ate definitely stronger. I can literally feel that. It is changing the way I walk. And I'm standing straighter. Dunno if that is the result of the legs being stringer or maybe the core getting stronger. But it's great noticing how much more erect I'm standing since I started hunching over handlebars. Who knew? Lots to learn riding a bike.