Knowing what you want

[Spell Chick]

Dick and I have been using the Old People's Gym (OPG) for a couple years now. Once the plague closed everything down, I started working out in the garage. I already had some equipment and I have increased the range of crap out there over time. I was using old CrossFit workouts since I have saved every workout I have ever done. So I had years of stuff to pick from.

Craig does personal training and he offered to write my workouts for me. I gave him a list of my equipment so he knew what stuff to use. Eventually, Dick started going out there on his own and then started going out there with me and doing Craig's workouts.

One of the Bluffton fire stations is right outside Sun City, a huge 55 and over community. There are lots and lots of old farts in there who keep falling over and can't get up. The firehouse responds to calls to pick them up off the floor. Craig does not want this to happen to his parents. So we are given workout that will keep us able to get up off the ground if we should fall over and find ourselves trapped by gravity. At least once a week, the workout contains something done on the floor meaning we have to get up from there. We also do lots of bench presses and push ups, both of which will help us get our butts off the floor.

I have been doing this weight stuff for almost ten years now. I'm about 9 years and 11 months in. I like seeing how much weight I can move and how many times I can move it. I like the workouts to be challenging. I don't mind sweating like a pig - although I say I'm glowing instead of dripping wet.

Dick believes that just going out there has already made him successful. Just getting out of his chair and doing something is better than watching TV.

Because our expectations and goals are so different, he is much happier after coming in from the OPG. I'm often dissatisfied with my performance. For instance, while my sumo deadlifts this week were actually heavier than Dick's, I was disappointed because years ago I could lift much more weight. He was happy he had lifted stuff up at all.

I wish I could adopt his methods and be happier with the results. However, sometimes when I watch him struggle with something I find easier because I have actually been pushing myself for years now, I'm convinced my way is adequate if not better.

I don't really know exactly what I want from the gym. I keep going out there to see if I can find it.

[WordBird]

Training to be able to pick yourself up off the floor is a wonderful idea.  I never even considered that being something you could proactively plan and train for. 

I've picked up quite a few pounds in the last 5 - 7 years. Working from home for the last couple of years hasn't helped. Menopause + Covid = Fatso.  My blood pressure is through the roof. I frequently wake up in the middle of the night with my heart pounding. The stress is overwhelming, and I feel like I'm one f*you away from registering on the richter scale.

My mom has always been a bit overweight. But she said the doctor called about her recent bloodwork and said she was as healthy as a 19 yr old. And she said, "Well then why am I so fat?" LOL.

We've been tossing around the notion of starting to walk together again like we did when I was much younger and still living at home. There is a bridge almost exactly one mile from the house.  We walked almost everyday for years. But neither one of us live there now, so we'd both have to drive there first, then walk, then drive home.  Sounds minor, but it's just enough of an inconvenience to not do it.

My problem is that if I can't get up and do it by 6am, I won't do it.  I start work no later than 8, and by Noon, I'm done with the day. 

May I ask, how long after you started working out did you actually start feeling better enough for that to be an incentive?  What I mean is: starting a new habit timewise and doing new exercises that make you hurt the next day.  It can be a big barrier to keeping up with it, self-discipline gives in when things don't feel good.

[Spell Chick]

I'm very stubborn. I can say it is because I'm a Capricorn or because I'm German along with that Irish. But really, it's just that I'm very stubborn.

I cried a lot when I first started, but I was doing really dumb things and I was in pain often. Not so anymore, but I can still do too much and hurt for a couple days. Nothing like when I began.

Walking is great and you don't really have to go to where you walked before. My sister gets up early and walks and ends up doing five miles per day. This is my older sister. She prays while walking and then listens to a recorded book. I find walking to be tedious at best.

James Clear says that those initial barriers are really motivation killers. So determining a way to do something without hitting that initial barrier is key.

I have always worked out first thing in the morning. If I wait longer, my brain realizes what I'm up to and just refuses to go along. I talk myself out of it.

I don't know what makes me keep doing this. Except that I know I'm doing many more things than I could even imagine doing ten years ago and now, I'm ten years older. So I want to hold on to all the things I have achieved. Although, I can't deadlift 175# anymore and that is sad, I can still lift over 100# even with a sumo stance. I like things like that and am willing to work for them. I also have bacon for breakfast on the mornings I work out. I do reward myself with food which I hear you aren't supposed to do. But that's too bad.