Doctorkoan’s BodyBlog

For some reason the workout tracker isn’t working for me. None of the pull down menus have exercises in them. Maybe it’s because I’m on a Mac with Safari. I’ll try next time from the Windows machine I have at home.

Getting back on the bench was impossible over the holidays. My work schedule was busier. Everyone needed rides to go to shopping or parties. And peopel just kept coming over to visit when I started getting my sweats on. It wasn’t all bad. I work out late at night in the office. No weights, but I can still get plenty of calisthenics and stretching in.

I actually lost five pounds over the holidays! My ultimate goal is to be heavier (about 180 -185 lbs), but I’m bound to get lighter first as I work off all the excess fat. I was motivated enough this season that I didn’t have to struggle to eat right. Don’t get me wrong, I had cookies and pie. I just had enough to keep my mother -in-law happy that I still like her cooking.

Up until this point my only short term goals have been frequency and consistency of workouts and of course maintaining appropriate healthy eating.
My first two weeks were intentional hell. I’d had a lot of false starts by "easing into" a routine. I guess my personality doesn’t fit right with that. So instead a I spent fourteen straight days doing alternating easy and challenging workouts. After that I pulled back to working out four days a week with three of them being as challenging as felt safe. I also enlisted my friend Damion to spot for me when I needed it. My fourth day is lighter, consisting only of aerobic activity, extended flexibility work. I’m actually thinking on asking my wife to teach me salsa dancing on the fourth day. She’s fantastic at it and I’m sick of having to pass her off to her dad at parties when she wants to dance

I’ve been switching around what happens on what days for a few reasons. Mainly to keep my body guessing what’s next, but also to make sure my mind gets used to the idea that any day can be a workout day - so just not feeling up to it isn’t an excuse.

So far everything has been going more or less to my plans. I’ve been consistent for nine weeks, only missing a week due to a pretty severe chest cold in November. I’m mostly happy with my results. I think the main goal has been achieved: I’m actually committed.

So now I want to step up the program. Now is the time for me to be more deliberate and refined with my workouts. Up until now, I just did things by feeling. If it felt just a little too heavy, I lifted it with Damion around. If a tendon or muscle felt bad, I worked around that area.  All good, but other than what I’m benching and how many pushups and sit-ups I do, I haven’t really kept track of things like sets and reps weights. I have only the vaguest idea if I’m making progress from week-to-week. Being there was the only progress I cared about until now.
I’m hoping Bodyspace will be a good tool for me. I’m terrible at keeping track of a paper workout journal. I think I’d be better off with scrap paper and transferring the numbers here before I lose them.
And of course this blog is another tool. I’m a pretty dedicated writer. I ran a webzine for five years, currently work at a newspaper and am working on a novel.

I’ve been working out on my home gym in my covered porch and out in my yard for aerobic stuff since October. My day job has me working nights most of the time, so I’m nocturnal. As a result, I’ve been exercising in some pretty cold weather lately. I’ve made sure I’m dressed properly and that my environment is safe (no ice, etc.). There is a lot online about this.
There seems to be some argument as to whether cold weather workouts burn more calories. But honestly I do it for two reasons:

1. I have no other place my weight rig and I don’t have a gym membership (for a few reasons). So I kinda’ have to do it this way.
2. It’s a psychological hardship. My number one goal is to craft a body that will liberate my mind from many it’s current limitations. Some of these are neurological and I just don’t want an unfit body to complicate what I can’t change. But a lot of those limitations are just self-created over the years. I’ve noticed that I’ve been more and more ineffectual as I’ve matured. It’s become easier to find reasons not to do things that would be best for me. So going out there in the crappiest weather possible - taking the time to think and prepare - following through and pulling a fantastic workout from the jaws of the Wendigo is a powerful thing.
I’ve found myself already being able to tell myself things like "Dammit, if you could break you push up-record in eleven degree weather at midnight, you can sure as hell finish this website."

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