So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu...

Who knew that six weeks would fly by like that? It feels like just yesterday I was sitting down in class puzzling over what on Earth I was going to blog about for an entire semester. It's a good thing for me that this entire semester only lasted six weeks. I often struggle with school work.


However, I am glad that I was able to participate in this class through a blog. Although I often worried that my writing was too informal or not what my professor was looking for, I enjoyed it. Writing whatever you want for a blog is a lot less stressful than writing a paper. Even though it was a lot less stressful, I do not think this blog is an accurate portrayal of my writing skills. I think that may be because I thought a lot less about my word choices or what exactly I was going to say next in this blog than I do for formal papers.

I am also worried that my writing did not really improve in any way, shape, or form. Unfortunately for my ego, because I believe that college students are largely responsible for their own learning, the fault lies squarely on my shoulders...as it always does when  I do poorly in my academics.

I am capable of so much more than I allow myself to do.

I am capable of being so much better than I am.

I think that sentiment can fit into every aspect of my life, including exercise. I never push myself hard enough, even when I have someone else pushing me. I always stop short. For example, when I was on the swim team in high school, coach kept on trying to move me into the more advanced lanes. The faster lanes. The lanes where you had to work harder. I would never stay there, I would always move myself back out.

So I leave you now with a promise to myself. I will no longer hold myself back. I will take control of my life and be everything that I should be. 

Thanks for reading.

All you need is the perfect beach body

If a woman were to explore the inter-webs in search of, oh say, the perfect, women's fitness magazine, she would soon be waist deep in many brightly colored sites. These sites would be plastered with beautiful women smiling toothily at her with their perfect bodies scantily clad. This one has perfect abs, this one has toned buns, oh my this one has huge tits. Don't you want to be like me?

These sites would have a lot of Big, colorful, fancy wording aimed at these women to catch their attention. 

"How to Sculpt a Runway-Worthy Body"

"Bikini Body Workout"

"Look Cute in Your Swimsuit"

"Something about looking sexy for other people, cute snacks to eat, sex, make-up for your workout, etc."

Needless to say, I am quite disappointed in the websites I found when I searched for women's magazines. I never really saw anything on the sites that advocated for weight lifting. All of the articles were home-based workouts. I can't really put my finger on what bothered me most about them, because when I try, I can't blame them. I can't blame the magazines for being cute and sexual and focused on appearances. We made them that way.

Our society is so focused on being fit to be appealing when we should be focused on being fit to feel good; to be healthy. Although I started this fitness experiment because I do want to look good in a bikini again, there are more important reasons than that. I want to get fit so I can feel healthy again. I hate feeling lethargic and sick all the time. I hate breathing heavy for a couple of minutes after I slowly climb the stairs. How ridiculous is that? But mostly, I want to get fit again because I am worried. I am worried that if I do not feel young, strong, healthy, and comfortable in my body now, I never will. That thought is terrifying.

How Dumb Am I?

When I first began my blog, I was concerned about where I would get all the information that I believed I needed to learn in order to know enough about weight lifting. What do I know about weight lifting? Nothing. What do I know about how to find this information? Nothing. I was so stupid to not realize that I had a very good resource available to me that I never thought to look at.

How did  I find this out? Well...I was looking at one of my classmates blogs about Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). He was lamenting about being a poor college student. I can relate. He was complaining that he wanted to join a Mixed Martial Arts gym but it was too expensive for him to afford. Not only would he have to join this specialized gym if he wanted to start MMA fighting, but he would also have to pay for a regular gym. The first thing I thought when I read his post was,"Doesn't he know that as a student, he can use the campus gym for FREE?"

My next thought was that my boyfriend in my freshmen year had mentioned trying MMA while in college. I then took it upon myself to search my school's "campus recreation" website. Although I did not find anything for my classmate, I found a few things that could have really helped me out when I began this project.

First, my campus gym offers a "Free! Fitness Orientation." Free? Sounds right up my alley. In this orientation, you get a "customized experience to meet your specific interests" around the gym with a staff member. They teach you all about the gym and how to use the machines. They also supply you with a " very helpful informational packet to take with you for future reference." This all would have been a tremendous help to me when I began this blog. Even though this project is coming to an end, I will definitely have to check out this orientation later on this summer. 

I also found out that, through this website, I could print out workout logs that kept a record of how much weight I was lifting, the number of reps, the tempo, and how much time I spent resting between sets. This stuff is great! If only I had found all of this earlier...

Next step: Saving up to afford the discounted personal fitness trainers at the campus gym.

What's In a Name?

[insert obligatory Shakespeare quote]

(Please tell me that you did not have to click on the LINK to know what Shakespeare play I was referring too)

[start the blog post already]

        [well...okay then]

When embarking on this exercise experiment, I was surprised to find out how much studying was actually involved in order to be safe. Upon reflection, I realized that this wasn't all that surprising. No matter when new thing I may be starting, I should always (and you should too) find out as much about it before starting. Would you go rock climbing without learning everything you need to know first? I think not.  Following that train of thought, it would make sense that I do some studying up on weight lifting.

First, where would I find this information? Why my handy-dandy "Fitness for Dummies" of course. Although, now that I know there is a "Weight Lifting for Dummies" and that my "Fitness..." keeps on telling me that I should reference the "Weight..." one, I wish I had bought both of the books. Oh well.

Second, so what does this have to do with some quote from Shakespeare? 

There's a whole chapter in my "Fitness..." book that names, what, presumably, the authors think, are the "20 or so muscles that any conscientious exerciser should know" (p. 149).

What I Already Knew

• Biceps
• Quads (but not that they were actually called quadriceps)
• Obliques
• Triceps
• Forearm
• Gluteus Maximus (hehe)
• Hamstrings

What I Did Not Know

• There are so many more muscles that people target to work out! 
• I must have known on some level about these muscles, but at a very small level
• The names of the rest of the major muscles that people exercise that I'm sure that you do not want to know

Just when I began to feel overwhelmed with all of the things that I DID NOT know about weight training, I remembered why I love this book. First, it broke down all of the muscles into groups like "Looking Over Your Shoulders," "Getting Your Back," etc. It then breaks down each muscle group down into the individual muscles that are part of the group. 

Each muscle is then broken down in the following way:

• Given name
• Street name
• Wherabouts
• Job descrition
• The training payoff
• Special tips
• Our favorite exercises

I thought this was the perfect way to break down  each muscle. I really learned a lot in this little study session.

The bad news: Now that I am learned in the muscle groups, and good exercises for each one, I have no excuses not to work them out in the gym.

Until my next post, farewell, parting is such sweet sorrow.

P.S. If you clicked on the second link, you totally deserved it.

Vacation! (Not Really)

I feel like I am on vacation!

On Monday, my grandmother, aunt, and cousin all flew down from New Jersey to visit and attend my sister's high school graduation on Thursday. I had to leave class early on Monday because their flight arrived right in the middle of class. They all came to my apartment, my mom drove over and brought lunch. We all then ate and enjoyed each others company. Since then, I have had A LOT of restaurant food:

• Shepard's Pie
• Soda
• Dunkin Donuts' Bagel...with butter
• A Frozen Hot Chocolate (I don't drink coffee. I also just found out that the FHC is 450 calories! Good thing half of it spilled all over the floor of my car)
• A couple of slices of pizza
• More soda
• The best gelato I have ever tasted
• Left over pizza
• A sandwich
• A (couple of) donuts
• A burger
• More soda

Zero Exercise 

(Besides swimming around in the Gulf for a little bit)

On top of all this, we will be going to a very delicious restaurant tomorrow where we will eat more food than we have all week. Also, my family are all here until Saturday night. I will definitely have to stay on top of my workout next week in order to work off all this delicious (fattening) food.

I would definitely say that my eating and workout habits thus far this week would be the "anti-definition" of a person who is trying to get fit.

So, my question for everyone is: how do you exercise when you are really on vacation? I am not really on vacation, all week long I have never been further than an hour away from my apartment (and the gym inside), and I completely pigged out like I was hundreds of miles away on a cruise ship or something. Is the general consensus just to enjoy your vacation and worry about the workout when you get home?

I did a quick Google search and found that many people advocated for working out while on vacation. However, I kept in mind that my Google search was "Working out on vacation" and so I would likely be presented with sites that discussed the pros of working out while on vacation. 

I personally do not know how I would ever find the time to work out while on vacation. While on vacation, I spend every second doing something...vacation-ey.  I sunbathe, see the sights, eat, relax, enjoy myself, and spend time with my family. By the end of the day, I'm exhausted and I'm not about to wake up early the next day to go to the gym. 

Is this just lazy? 

What do you think? Exercise while on vacation, yay or nay?

Is this considered a workout?

I was looking through my previous posts and realized that I have not really been keeping all you loyal readers (cricket...cricket...) updated on what exercise I have been doing lately AND how I feel about it.

So here goes nothing:

On Thursday, I helped my parents pack up their entire house; they're moving. It was very, very hot outside and most of the boxes were extremely heavy. I did this non-stop for about three hours. I considered this a good enough exercise for that day. Granted, helping your parents pack up their house is not a traditional form of exercise, but I felt like I got a really good workout all over. The only thing that makes me think that it really wasn't much of a muscle workout is that I didn't really experience any muscle fatigue.

According to the post from this guy from  my class, I won't gain any muscle from lifting heavy boxes if I did not experience any muscle fatigue. Will I add a "super-set" to my next gym workout now? Maybe. Don't know what I'm talking about? Read his blog. That's what the link is for, duh.

This idea of muscle fatigue intrigued me, so I pulled out my "Fitness..." book. Unfortunately, I could not find anything that specifically talked about muscle fatigue. However, in the section of the book titled "Part III: Building Muscle and Strengthening Bone," I did find a tiny little mention that in order to become as big as you ever will be, you should do less reps with the heaviest weights you can handle. This does not mean that I should do this every day. The book also recommends, like everywhere else I've looked, that I constantly switch up my routine in the gym.

The weekend after helping my parents pack up, I was supposed to help them drive down to their new house and unpack, so I did not have any exercise planned for that weekend. Lucky for my, unlucky for them, the closing on their house was pushed back a couple of days and I suddenly had a completely free weekend. I spent some time in the gym at my apartment on the treadmill on Saturday. I'm still pretty intimidated by the other gym attendees and the machines. I really have to get over this fear and work at my "work out every day" pact I made a couple of weeks ago.

Exercise grade for myself: D-
Weight lost since beginning: 5 pounds. (Don't get excited, it's mostly due to my wisdom being pulled out near the beginning of this project)

I am truly and honestly sorry

Dear me,

     I am sorry that I am such a terrible procrastinator. I am sorry that I have let you get grossly out of shape. I am also sorry that I have allowed  you to be the heaviest that you have ever been in your life...at the time in your life that you should be in tip-top shape. I am sorry that you feel very uncomfortable with your body because of this. I am sorry that it is so hard to convince me to get my butt into the gym or the pool. I am sorry for all of these things and more.

          much love,
              sincerely,
                          --- me.

I had originally written a post apologizing to some of the people that I have done wrong by. I then decided that even though this blog is, to an extent, anonymous, I have told my classmates the name of my blog and they are essentially reading my diary if I keep those apologies up. So, I decided to apologize to myself for my extreme apathy when it comes to taking care of myself.

The terrible thing is that I am fully aware of the fact that my health and shape of my body are completely under my control. I am unhappy with how I look right now because of ME. I am one hundred percent responsible for fitting exercise into my schedule. I just can't seem to find the energy to care much about it other than thinking to myself, "Ugh, I don't like how my body is changing."

This is one of the reasons that I am glad that I chose to write an exercise blog. Writing this blog has really forced me to think about all the reasons I give myself for not working out. It also has reminded me what I enjoy about exercise.

I was reading in one of our textbooks, "They Say, I Say," a little antidote that the authors included to make a point completely different from the point I am about to make. However, it completely relates to what I have been talking about. They quote a woman saying that she feels better when she is in shape. I completely agree with this feeling. I always feel so much better when I have been working out regularly. I also sleep better. So why do I always put it off?

Yes, But/And/Or...wtf?

Okay, Okay. Maybe I should have gone to class this day. Or maybe I should have asked a classmate what the hell this post is supposed to be about. My goal every semester is to never miss a class. Unfortunately, I always end up disappointing myself at least once a semester. Oh well. I've already screwed myself for this week so my only option is to forge on ahead and try to the best of my ability.

I did not get much exercise in this week so far. On Saturday and Sunday I worked just about aaaallll day. And then, just like every other responsible twenty-something in college I went to a party (of sorts) Sunday night. I couldn't get to sleep that night and ended up with one of the worst migraines I have ever had in my life. On top of all that, I went to go visit my mother who offered me free groceries (we ended up never getting them, my fault) and some food to eat, and my car wouldn't start. Again. After getting it jumped, I drove it to the mechanic in Pinellas county, not bringing anything with me, and ended up stuck there until Wednesday morning. To be honest, I could have gone home Tuesday night with my mom's car but I felt like it was such a huge waste of gas and such an inconvenience to her that I did not. When I got back to Tampa after three nights of hardly any sleep, I passed out on my bed and slept through class. Wonderful.

I will most definitely have to make up my lack of exercise and class attendance.

Now for something completely different (Points being offered... if you have no idea what I am talking about then you obviously do not deserve the points).

I skipped ahead in my Fitness book to chapter seven because the end of chapter two recommended it. However, I am regretting this decision. Not only is the book using terms that I do not understand but are explained in previous chapters, but this chapter is all about cardio exercise, and I already know how to do that. Did you not read my last post? I used to be on the swim team Fitness for Dummies. Now who is the dummy?

Probably still me.

The thing that really struck me in this chapter though, was the fact that, according to the text, both the U.S. Surgeon General and this chapter recommend working out every day to stay healthy. Not only do you have to work out every day, but it should be a minimal of thirty minutes a day just to be healthy. What about losing weight? That is over sixty minutes a day. The light at the end of the tunnel is that the book says that these minutes do not have to be consecutive. You can do three ten-minute workouts a day to stay healthy.

I agree that you have to work out just about every day to lose weight. But, how the hell do you fit it into your schedule? I have to dedicate over an hour just to lose weight? I even read that if I do not change my diet whatsoever, I would have to walk for over two hours every day for a week to lose one pound. I can barley find the time to work out just with three summer classes. It's nearly impossible during fall semester. Any suggestions of how I can fit in a workout AND a shower every day?

Ah Memories...

Most of the time I try not to look into the past. I have done way to many things that  I do not care to remember or reflect on. However, a time in my life that I do not feel the extreme urge to cringe at when recollecting the past, would have to be when I was on the swim team in high school.

Let us reminisce.

I'm quite enjoying all of these "r-words," what about you?

Moving on.

I was born and raised at the Jersey Shore. Please...spare me the unnecessary comparisons between that stupid show and my life. Just for the record, reality television does not have much reality in it. Please do not insult me by assuming those bennies (the word the locals call those vacationers) represent Seaside Heights/Park in any way shape or form. Now that I have that out of the way...

I was born and raised at the Jersey Shore. This means that I have always lived within 15-20 minutes of the beach and spent many many hours swimming in the ocean. I was also fortunate enough to grow up in a house that had  a beautiful pool. As far back as I can remember, I have absolutely loved to swim. My summers were spent with countless hours either at the beach or the pool. This gave me a lot of time to become a very competent and confident swimmer.

Although I  became such a swimmer,  I was never coordinated enough for any other sports that all the other kids played. I cannot catch, throw, kick, or hit a ball with any precision. I also do not really enjoy running all that much. This meant that I had to wait all the way until high school to join a team in the sport that I loved.

Although I can not remember every single practice or every single meet that I attended throughout my high school swimming career, I can remember the important things about swimming. I remember how the chlorine hits you like a brick when you walk into the indoor pool at the local community college. I remember the ache in my lungs at the end of a hard race and the feeling of spent muscles. I remember losing upwards of twenty pounds but gaining muscle and looking lean and tan. I remember how wonderful I felt after an intense two and a half hour workout in the pool. And even though according to my copy of Fitness for Dummies, "lap swimming has the reputation of being drudgery..." I never remember being bored.

I feel like I really should get back into the pool. But of course, I have many excuses.

• I hate to be out in public in my suit 
• the chlorine kills my hair/skin
• I don't have a kickboard/pull-buoy/plastic paddles for my hands
• my flippers are ripped
• I desperately need new goggles and caps.
• I don't have one of those huge clocks to time myself on

Are you as tired of my complaining/excuses as I am? I feel like it's such a waste to  throw away an exercise that I am so passionate about simply for a few superficial worries. Although, to be honest, the lack of a decent pair of goggles is a pretty big, glaring obstacle in my way back into the pool. I most definitely need to incorporate swimming into my exercise routine.

Testing My Fitness...

     So, I finally went and bought Fitness for Dummies by Suzanne Schlosberg and Liz Neporent. Yay! Or rather, my mother bought it for me when  I asked her if she and I could stop by the Books-A-Million when I was stuck in Pinellas county because of car troubles. Either way, I now have this book in my possession. Unfortunately, I looked down at it to check the spelling of the authors name and saw "Bestselling authors of Weight Training For Dummies." Where was that book when I was searching the store for the right book? Even thought I did not find the weight training book, I am glad to have found Fitness. My original goal was to try to weight train every day, but I really think my underlying goal was to get fit. Therefore, the book that I now own is a much better fit for my life than the weight training would have been.
     So what does this mean for my exercise experiment? It means that I now have a book to reference when I try to create a fitness routine for myself. My last blog post was basically on the first chapter of the book. This post will be on the second chapter of the book and the results that I received after attempting some of the fitness tests that they suggested.

Chapter 2: Testing Your Fitness (their title, not mine)

This chapter begins with a wonderful statement made by the authors about the general population's views on exercise:

We constantly hear people say, "I'm so out of shape. I need to lose weight." But that's like telling a travel agent, "I'm in Europe. I need to get to Africa." Your travel agent needs to know the specifics: Are you in Rome? Berlin? Madrid? Do you want to go to Cairo? Cape Town? The Kalahari Desert? Before you embark on a fitness program, you need to know your starting point with precision. A fitness evaluation gives you important departure information. 

They are basically saying that before one begins a fitness routine, they must know where their current health and fitness levels are so they can realistically figure out what their  "destination" or health and fitness goals are going to be. For example, if you cannot walk on a treadmill for five minutes without getting winded, it is unrealistic to think that you will be able to run a mile by next week. I think this is a very important thing to point out, because I too simply say "Ugh, I'm so out of shape. I need to lose weight." But I never have any solutions or real end goals in mind.

I also think that having fitness tests in chapter two is an ideal place for it in this book. It is always best to make sure that you are healthy enough to exercise before you do so. It is also a good idea to know what you are currently able to do and not do. This is important so you do not hurt yourself by jumping into something that your body is not ready to do. So, since I am planning on starting a fitness routine, I thought it prudent to test my fitness...as the book suggested.

The book first suggested that I go to the doctor and get my blood pressure and overall health checked out at a doctor. Haaaahaaa!!! The authors actually thought that I not only have the money to pay for a doctor's visit, but that I have the gas to get there too? Very funny authors...very funny. Fortunately for me, right underneath the doctor section is a section titled " Assessing your health history yourself." Most of the tests under this section I could actually find out for myself: resting heart rate, waist circumference, upper body strength, core strength, flexibility, and balance. Some of the other tests I need some help with: my blood pressure (could be done at Publix), lower body strength (the chapter didn't tell me how I could assess this), and my body fat percentage (probably very high).

So what did I find out? (That I'm not afraid to share with the internet)

• I found out that I have a resting heart rate of around 72 beats per minute. This is in the average range, but could be much better.

• I found out that I could do 20 push-ups before my swim-injured (yes..it can happen) arm gave out on me. This is in the "average" range for women aged 20-29, according to the tables in the book. 

• I found out that I could do 51 crunches before a muscle somewhere in my ribs starts to hurt. Is that normal? 51 crunches falls into the "excellent" range for women under 35 years old. I thought this was pretty awesome, until I attempted what the book calls the "plank" position. This position tests your core strength. The longer you can hold the position, the stronger your core is. To get into the plank position, you: 

  kneel on the floor on your hands and knees so that your palms are directly under your shoulders and your knees are directly under your hips. Bend your elbows and place the bottoms of your forearms on the floor; clasp your hands together...Next pull your bellybutton in toward your spine and extend your legs out behind you so that you're now balanced on your forearms and the underside of your toes...Your legs can either be squeezed together or a small distance apart, whichever is most comfortable for you. 

  I really enjoyed this exercise, but I was severely surprised to find out how much I struggled with it. I was only able to stay in the position for 27 seconds. 

  
  

  
  

• I learned that everywhere on my body, with the exception of my shoulder and upper back, needs either some work or a lot of work when it comes to flexibility. I was not at all surprised by this since I am severely out of shape. I also accredit the fact that my shoulders and upper back are so flexible to the fact that I was a varsity swimmer through-out high school (which was two years ago).
• Finally, I learned that I have very good balance. I passed all of the balance tests with flying colors. I accredit this to years and years of ballet lessons. 

Now what?

Now, I make my plan. Wish me luck! I'll let you know more about it in my next blog.