The Best Shape of My Life!

I created a new bodyweight program for myself to use, since access to a gym right now is not feasible. And with my weight cage being outside and the weather extremely cold, I have to find other means of exercising. So, instead of letting winter totally bum me out, I designed a bodyweight program, and so far it’s going pretty well.

I have three "cycles" or circuits to the program.

Cycle 1- Cardio
15 minutes (to begin with) on the treadmill. The first 5 are my warmup, so walking at a nice pace. The next 10 are my work portion. I started at week 1 by walking the entire 10 minutes at a fast pace and at an incline of 2-4%. Each progressing week (I just ended week 2), I add 2 minutes of running time, until at the end of this program I’m running all 10 minutes of the work portion. Then I can decide whether to add more minutes, intervals, etc.

Cycle 2- Upper Body
Standard Pushups (15)
Hyperextensions (15)
180 Degree Lateral Raises, w/ Light Weights (15)
Plank w/ Alternating Arm Raise (10/side)

Cycle 3- Lower Body
Squat Thrusts (30 seconds)
Lateral Lunges w/ Light Weights (30 seconds)
Scissor Kicks (30 seconds)
Bicycle Crunches (30 seconds)

I usually do the Warmup, then Cycle 2, then Cycle 1 Work, repeat Cycle 2, then finish with Cycle 3 and stretches. I have mixed it up, added extra exercises, and so on.

The workout has left me sore each time, which is good. It’s been nice to get back into exercising after basically taking a semester off, and doing bodyweight exercises, at least for now, is very motivating and exciting. Learning to use my own bodyweight against me has been a very insightful experience.

Though I’ve never been diagnosed with it (because I refuse to see a psych), I think I have SAD, or at least have a major mood change during the winter. I don’t necessarily mind the colder weather, but the shorter days really bum me out. And along with that comes a gain in weight (always added fat) and a whole bunch of other issues.

But, I’m trying not to let it get to me as much this year. I’ve created a bodyweight program that I think is pretty challenging. At least the few workouts that I’ve done so far have been really good. I’m sore this morning from yesterday’s workout. It’s funny how the body itself can be it’s strongest challenge.

One of these days I’ll be able to get back out to the park and the road, and I’ll feel much better. I guess I could use the winter to try and just massively bulk, but I just really don’t want to gain a bunch of weight. And, every time that I have tried to gain weight, I’ve failed. Something about the number 190 that I just can’t break. GGGGGRRRRRRR. I suppose if I consumed a bunch of extra supplements I could probably force my body to break the number, but I’m not much into supplements. I hate taking any kind of medicine or additive (I’m prescribed an asthma medication and I forget to take it a lot), I don’t really believe in them, and they’re expensive.

So…………..spring, where are you?