Treatment
This week I ramped it up a bit. I went on 2 jogs (2-3 miles each), ellipticalled 3 times for an average of about 45 minutes each, and did about a minute of crunches almost every day. I was previously doing about 30 minutes of elliptical 2 or 3 times a week, so I’m happy about my progress this week.
My personal motivations for getting in shape:
My primary, more immediate motivation to get in shape is that great overall feeling of health and energy I get from exercising regularly. It helps me get out any pent up negative energy, anxiety, or anger and helps me feel more clear-headed and alive.
Another motivator is my family- both my parents are avid exercisers. They are both perfectly healthy and seem to never get sick. I predict they’ll live to 100, and I hope to do the same.
Lastly, and perhaps unfortunately, I know what I’m capable of. To back up a bit, about two years ago, my mother and I decided to take up running together to complement our normal exercise routines. Though she ran about 25 marathons in her life, she stopped for the most part when she had kids. Though my mom and I would often start off a run together, I’d decide to pick up the pace at about the same time she’d decide to take a walk break. However, after several injuries, I had to stop running and instead stuck to the low-impact elliptical and the occasional kickboxing class. My mother continued running 1-2 times a week.
This week was the first time I’ve run with my mom in a year. We both ran the whole way and at the same pace….but it was a struggle for me to keep up. When we got to our end point, she was feeling great and had already begun stretching while I had my head down, hands on my knees, bending over a bush just in case…so I did the math. Given our age difference, my average VO2max (an aerobic measure of fitness) should be at least 40% higher than hers. Even with this natural advantage, I was clearly less fit. I’m not at all competitive with my mom, but I am competitive with myself. Growing up, I was always the short skinny kid. But I would play all the good positions in sports, beat all the boys at arm wrestling and held the school record for fastest rope climb for years. At the age of 20, my resting heart rate was 49. So if I was in a ravenous wolf chase today, the thought that a 55 year-old woman would get away while I got eaten is just embarrassing, and Darwin would agree.
My personal motivations for getting in shape:
My primary, more immediate motivation to get in shape is that great overall feeling of health and energy I get from exercising regularly. It helps me get out any pent up negative energy, anxiety, or anger and helps me feel more clear-headed and alive.
Another motivator is my family- both my parents are avid exercisers. They are both perfectly healthy and seem to never get sick. I predict they’ll live to 100, and I hope to do the same.
Lastly, and perhaps unfortunately, I know what I’m capable of. To back up a bit, about two years ago, my mother and I decided to take up running together to complement our normal exercise routines. Though she ran about 25 marathons in her life, she stopped for the most part when she had kids. Though my mom and I would often start off a run together, I’d decide to pick up the pace at about the same time she’d decide to take a walk break. However, after several injuries, I had to stop running and instead stuck to the low-impact elliptical and the occasional kickboxing class. My mother continued running 1-2 times a week.
This week was the first time I’ve run with my mom in a year. We both ran the whole way and at the same pace….but it was a struggle for me to keep up. When we got to our end point, she was feeling great and had already begun stretching while I had my head down, hands on my knees, bending over a bush just in case…so I did the math. Given our age difference, my average VO2max (an aerobic measure of fitness) should be at least 40% higher than hers. Even with this natural advantage, I was clearly less fit. I’m not at all competitive with my mom, but I am competitive with myself. Growing up, I was always the short skinny kid. But I would play all the good positions in sports, beat all the boys at arm wrestling and held the school record for fastest rope climb for years. At the age of 20, my resting heart rate was 49. So if I was in a ravenous wolf chase today, the thought that a 55 year-old woman would get away while I got eaten is just embarrassing, and Darwin would agree.