So Easy

It's so easy to be lazy, especially over Thanksgiving weekend. Friday night is generally a rest night for me, but I didn't work out last night, Thanksgiving, so I figured I'd hit it again today.  It doesn't look like it's going to happen.  I should add, by the way, that it's easy to be lazy over Thanksgiving weekend unless you're one of the ladies in my family who do 99% of the cooking. So, I guess I'm thankful for the women in my life who cook all of that good food.

I've found it a lot easier to stay motivated when I have specific goals in mind. Right now, since I'm primarily working with free weights, I want to lift more weight, making small gains each week. When I was a younger man, I did a bunch of crazy lifts that I'd seen in magazines and videos (that's what we had to look at before the internet). Now I keep it simple: bench, squat, dips, curls, shoulder press, crunches, rows.  If I had a chin-up bar I'd drop the rows and do chin-ups.

Another thing I did in my youth that I don't do now is not logging my sets and reps. I write it all down now, and it is invaluable. When I started logging my work-outs I would record each day on one page. In other words, if I did bench, dips, and crunches, I'd record all those reps and sets on one page.  A few days later, when I did those sets again, I'd record it all, but it would be on a different page. This makes it difficult to compare your current sets with what you did previously.  So I started recording each exercise on its own page. For instance, if I do bench today, I record it and date it 11/26.  The next time benches come around, I record the sets and reps underneath my previous entry. That way I can see exactly what I need to do to improve on the last session.

But alas, I cannot stay in my garage forever. Soon I have to start running and swimming. Maybe even some biking. I'm not opposed to those things, but I need to get motivated. What? Set a goal? OK, I'll run 15 miles a week until the end of the year.  But first, I need to find a video about running to show me how.

Perhaps next time I'll include a reveiw of the American Top Gear. Or perhaps not. Who cares?