Getting It In
Sometimes exercise is pretty. It may even be glamorous. The latest workout gear designed for maximal flexibility and ventilation. The clothing designed to accentuate and obscure all the right features to maximize your sex appeal, all the while treading boldly and unapologetically into the realm of false advertising. Cutting edge equipment forged and calibrated to chisel out even the most obscure muscle groups. All things crafted to help achieve the optimized ratio of effort to results. Always a trendy new technique or program to follow that guarantees that you will successfully achieve your goals and promises to make your wildest dreams come true.
Sometimes exercise is not so pretty. In fact, it can be down right ugly. Blood. Sweat. Tears. Dyspnea. Pain.
As an overly busy professional, it can be extremely difficult to make time to exercise. Hell, it can be extremely difficult for anyone to find time to exercise. It is rarely convenient. You have to want to do it. You have to make it a priority and be willing to sacrifice your time in the short term in hopes of reaping the long term benefits. It takes commitment.
Towards the end of last year, I made a decision not to allow my busyness to be an excuse or barrier to taking better care of myself any longer. My 168 hour work weeks may not ever get any shorter, and if my free time were to miraculously expand, there are hundreds if not thousands of other things that I would rather do and at least as many neglected tasks that I really need to do to fill the liberated minutes and hours. Time to “nip it in the bud”.
My first priority was to make some lifestyle modifications to help me drop some weight. I cut down significantly on convenience foods in favor of advanced planning and home prepared meals. Ultra processed foods may be delicious, but they are the enemy. They are seductive little whores bent on leading us astray and wrecking our waist lines and homes.
Variations of a whole foods based diet were and continue to be my primary vehicles to reduce my BMI. When I have adhered more strictly to a carnivorous diet, I have felt good and have dropped weight steadily and reliably. The down side is that it can be expensive and difficult to maintain. Especially when work frequently draws you away from home. My sustainable happy place seems to be a protein and fat biased omnivorous whole foods diet that minimizes grains and starches. I feel like this puts me at my peak level of performance and keeps me there.
An important part of this step was to develop and maintain a heightened sense of awareness. It is exceedingly easy to unconsciously or semi-consciously consume a ridiculous amount of calories when you feel famished and exhausted and are carrying a baseline level of stress analogous to a nuclear reactor on the verge of a meltdown. Ever walk by an open bag of candy or chips (or a cake or a pizza) several times and realize that you ate the whole damn thing without much thought? The great west coast philosopher Ice Cube once said, “You better check yo’ self before you wreck yo’ self.” It’s time to heed his warning.
Recap of my basic dietary strategy:
Protein and fat biased omnivorous whole foods diet that minimizes grains and starches
Consume fewer calories.
Focus on the quality of your calories over the quantity.
Increase awareness to eliminate or at least minimize unconscious consumption.
Once I got my diet in check and started a steady trend of weight reduction, it was time to introduce some exercise. Lifting weights is my passion when it comes to exercise, but my access and time is limited. A plan that was quick, simple and portable would be necessary to ensure adherence to the regimen. I started doing push ups daily in January. I have committed to doing at least 100 per day, which I have done without fail for over 3 months now. It literally can be done anywhere and only takes a few minutes. Subjectively, I began to feel stronger and healthier almost immediately. Several weeks ago I added a moderate intensity walk, 60 to 90 minutes, when at home.
The momentum is building and it’s time to start planning my next steps. The primary confounding factor that I have to account for is that I will be spending a significant amount of time on the road for work this year. For now, it is necessary. The reality of the situation has lead me to a few realizations.
My first realization was that there is no way that I will be able to complete the Murph Challenge this year as planned. Why not? The run, push ups and squats shouldn’t be an issue. It’s those damn pull ups. I’m not sure if I can do a single pull up right now and I won’t have a place where I can consistently work on them this year. I have no problem pushing myself, but I have to be realistic. I will need to put this goal on hold for now.
My second realization was that with a few months of consistent work, I believe that I can now max out the push up category of the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT). The APFT consists of three exercises: A 2 mile run, push ups and sit ups. Two minutes are given to do as many push ups and situps as one can and the run is timed. The standards are adjusted by sex and age, but to “max out” the categories in the most difficult group one would need to do 77 push ups, 82 sit ups and finish the 2 mile run in less than 13 minutes (if I’m reading the current standards correctly). One would get 100 points per category in the above scenario, but to pass one would only need to get 50 points per category. There is a handy chart that the testers use to score the results of the testees.
So, I have a new goal. By the end of the year, I will take and pass the APFT. This month I will add sit ups to my daily regimen and I will gradually begin to supplement my walks with running. I think that the ultimate plan will be to alternate between a daily walk and run unless impossible due to travel. I have never been a fan of running, but I’m going to try to keep an open mind. My hope has been that dropping weight before starting running would allow me to decrease some of the wear and tear that it can have on the joints. I am now around the same weight that I exited the Army at, so there’s no time like now.
My third realization was than I have more room for improvement in the weight department. My new goal is to drop another 20 pounds by the end of the year. That will put me right around what I weighed when I was 16.
Time to go do some push ups while I wait for my next case to start.
Until next time…
“You better check yo’ self before you wreck yo’ self
’Cause I’m bad for your health
I come real stealth”
