I have gotten so attracted to my chin-up bar. It is like totally staring at me, daring me to use it, daring me to do more reps. Only discouraging factor is the way my hands feel after. My hands get sore from the bar, but I am not letting that deter me at all. I am going to get some protection for my hands this weekend to make things a little better. Now I just have to get myself this motivated about daily sprints (or runs) and working my abs just as hard as I am working my arms.
I have been reading the book I obtained yesterday, “Total Body Plan”. I have picked up a strong quote that I am going to stick with for the duration of my personal “body plan”… “abs are made in the kitchen”.
The quote is good and helps a lot, but I have one major obstacle, the resources of my kitchen suck. I don’t have a clue how to prepare a meal that avoids heavy carbohydrates and encourages the consumption of protein.
I guess over the next few weeks I will learn how to make things work for me, and with the help of friends and professional resources I will learn everything I need to know for having a healthy lifestyle.
With my birthday approaching quickly (tomorrow) I was eager to get my plans made and my workouts started yesterday. I was planning a nice brisk hike to inaugurate a time of physical fitness and overall health, but I got to Crowders Mountain and there was no where where to park, which meant the trails would be crowded. Then on top of that I hadn’t planned even physical activity to get me through the week. All of the books I have are for more specific training once I get started, they don’t give any clues to how to build a workout routine, or how to eat properly while following a workout routine. I stopped in at the bookstore, and picked up another book for my collection. I picked up Men’s Fitness Total Body Plan (978-1-57243-971-9). This book is supposed be a good plan for beginning this type of life. I guess that is why this one contains the word “Plan” in the title. I have the “Hard Body Plan”, but that is for a little later in this process I believe.
I started this morning with one very productive activity. I hung my new pullup bar that I bought yesterday. I have already found that I suck at doing pullups, but I think it may be because of lack of technique and fear of the bar that I installed falling off the wall while i’m in mid-workout.
I have been sitting beside my bookshelf for the past hour while working on various things online, primarily taking care of some course related stuff. The bookshelf sits in this room, usually undisturbed unless I’m pulling something specific from it, usually for research or adding something to it, usually some book I will get to reading eventually.
Directly to my left is the reference section (I own about 3 fiction books, total), which contains numerous books on personal health and fitness. These are books I have been collecting until I can have a plan of attack which includes them and I think I am approaching that point. I don’t work out well because I don’t have a plan, I become bored because all of the exercises that don’t require special equipment are all the same. I am going to change that. First, I think it is time to build a pull-up bar unit outside and it is also a good time to get back into either walking or jogging EVERY night. I have become too stationary again, like so many times before. I work very well when I have a plan and a schedule, so thats what I am going to do. I am going to set goals for myself, based on the United States Marine Corps basic fitness requirements. My longterm goal will be to obtain the highest score possible on these measurable tests. For the short term I intend to use the tests as a guide for where I need to be as far as fitness. Once I have gotten into motion towards the long term goal, I will also add in some other goals, such as working towards my ideal body look. My Polish genetics will be hard to adapt for in this plan, but I am going to do my best. I am fairly short, but almost maximum height for a Pole, so the only thing I can do is work on areas such as my obliques to get my width under control, which shouldn’t be a problem. I can deal with the broad shoulders and wide hip bones as long as my obliques give me some definition.
My guides for this goal will be:
-USMC Guide Book of Essential Subjects (0-967-51236-0)
-Anybody’s Guide to Total Fitness (0-7872-9878-1)
-Men’s Health Hard Body Plan (1-57954-229-8)
-Men’s Health Book of Muscle (1-57954-769-9)
-Complete Book of Abs, The (0-375-75143-2)
-USMC Workout (1-57826-158-9 (maybe, if I get up the balls to do it)
and for balance I will seek guidance from:
-The Perfectible Body: The Western Ideal of Male Physical Development (0-8264-0787-0)
I will spend some time this week preparing for this and then I will begin execution of it no later than next Monday.
