BosGuy

Since writing my entry Back to the gym prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, I’ve been chatting with a few guys who also want to make a concerted effort to meet personal fitness goals so we’ve been motivating each other with emails through the week to help remind each other how important it is to make time for the gym.
Although I’m in lovely Puerto Rico for my cousin’s wedding, I wanted to be sure I posted this update about my activities. The discipline I exhibited at the start of the week is no where to be found at the moment, but I know when I return to frigid Boston, the gym will beckon again – if only from my feelings of guilt about over-indulging while here.

Saturday – November 27th My trainer, Stu, and I have agreed to change my sessions which primarily comprised of full-body workouts using light weights and kettlebells to free weights to help me build more muscle. So on Saturday, we fixated on chest and back, which kicked my butt. Following the workout I was not as sore as I expected so I’m going to have to ask Stu to push me harder when we meet again on Monday.
Sunday – November 28th I shaved 90 seconds off my second run, which was gratifying but running 3 miles in 0:32:30 still is not something that makes me happy. I’d like to run 3 miles in under 30 minutes and then be able to work up enough endurance to run at that speed for 35-45 minutes 2-3 times a week. I’m pretty confident that this is a manageable goal; its just a matter of getting into shape. I have no intentions of running long distance – rather I just want to build up my cardio and use this exercise to help me tame my waist.
Monday – November 29th I’ve now been to the gym 3 times in as many days. This has to be some sort of record dating back to the summer and it really paid off when I met with my trainer, Stu. Today we spent an hour (with minimal goofing off) working out my shoulders and triceps. I’d like to be able to lift heavier weights but I think I handled myself admirably. In a strange sort of way I’m hoping that I’ll be a bit sore tomorrow – it really is how I judge how solid my work outs have been.
Tuesday – November 30th The incoming emails of encouragement and the fact I will be travelling later this week inspired me to do something unheard of – I went to the gym for a fourth day in a row. Today I just did a quick run and I’m glad to say that despite my heart rate beating away at a 170+, I ran 3 miles in 0:30:30 – that’s 10% faster than my time on Friday, November 26th. Hopefully heading to Puerto Rico for my cousins wedding will not knock me to far off the wagon and I’ll be able to get a run or two in while there.

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Well, that’s all for the week. Wednesday was my last day in the office before leaving for Puerto Rico and I spent the night at the Garden cheering on the Celtics with my Dad and then Thursday I boarded my morning flight to Puerto Rico. More to share about working out and life outside the gym will follow later next week after I return home.

Be well and feel free to email me if you want to talk about meeting your own personal fitness goals.

After spending the past two days with family, over-indulging with all the fantastic food, I made good on my promise from my post earlier this week, Back to the gym and made sure I went to the gym for what I anticipated would be a nice run on the treadmill.

Imagine my surprise / disapointment when it took me 34 minutes to run a measley 3 miles. The more frustrating news was according to the machine my pulse was racing at 174. Oh, the horror! the horror! Sorry to make a literary reference, but my struggles with this run was a sad confirmation of my epiphany from earlier in the week.

Alan Ilagan, Gay Guy and WranglerMan all had nice words of sympathy in my previous post and mentioned helping encourage each other to stay true to these personal goals. I’m game if you are – shoot me an email so we can correspond directly.

Friday, Nov. 26th stats:
3 mi. in 34 mins
174 pulse rate
Avg speed 5.2
OMG – I better be able to do better
BTW – none of these guys are me. they are merely the “eye candy” I require to remain motivated. Its really that simple with me.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve become lazy about getting myself to the gym on days I’m not seeing my trainer, Stu. Part of the problem stems from the fact that getting meningitis once in September and then again in October really threw me out of my routine and I’ve been slow to get back to working out as much / often as I should. The other part of the equation is seasonal – I simply work out harder and more often in the spring and summer months.

Today’s workout with Stu was great, but it was disapointing to see how much I struggled through sets I could do easily this summer. The two bouts of meningitis not only took me away from the gym, but when I’ve returned it has been slow going to get back into the swing of things and lately we’ve been doing full-body exercises; shying away from lifting.

I want to get serious about getting back into shape and want to focus on this now – not in January after I’ve packed on weight from the holidays. We’ll see how good I am at keeping my word, but I’d really like to get to the gym 1-2 days a week to run for 30-45 minutes. Cardio has always helped me slim down and it helps me with my weight training which can often leave me gasping for breathe after a tough set.

Like I said, “We’ll see”… I’ll write more about this in the weeks that follow to try and keep this on my radar and not slack-off.