When I started this journey my intent was to attack the fat on two fronts, by changing my diet and changing my activity levels. I think this blog has maybe focussed a little too much on the food and not enough on the activity, that’s not to say I haven’t been working out, just that it’s a lot easier to get excited about food and want to share it, especially when I dream up an Egg White Chicken Quesadillas recipe that packs in over 115 grams of protein for 670 calories.
Anyway, when I was getting started it was easy to think that the physical activity part of this journey would be simple, walk more, do more cardio at the gym, maybe do some strength training, not really much to think about. Oh how wrong I was.
Walking more is easy, I wrap up for the weather, put on my open-ear earphones (to be safe not sociable) and load up an audiobook, ask Darby if he wants to go for a walk, and off we go, a minimum of 2.5 miles but when we’re not cut short we get more like 3 or 4 miles, around 90 minutes, maybe 2 hours, not exactly breakneck speed but if I tried to walk any quicker Darby would end up with friction burn on his nose. So that’s the walking taken care of. I know it isn’t a lot, but when I am carrying the weight of 3 adults on my rickety ass arthritis knees it is plenty, it’s definitely a lot more than the 50 metres I struggled to walk less than 3 years ago.
Cardio at the gym is more difficult to achieve, especially when you take into account that I hate the treadmill, I just can’t get on with the elliptical, the stair-master isn’t built for size 15 feet, and the exercise bike just isn’t all that comfortable for long sessions. The swimming pool at the gym is closed, maybe never to reopen, so unless I want to pay extra I no longer have access to a swimming pool which eliminates my favourite form of cardio. All in all, my cardio these days consists of walking with Darby, maybe 5-10 minutes on a treadmill at the end of my workout, and maybe a bit on the stationary bike if I’m not in the mood or able to do my strength training workout. On top of that, I’m just generally more active throughout the day, not sitting on my backside all day. I’m sure I could make improvements, and in the future I no doubt will, maybe adding another walk into my day or adding more cardio at the gym, but for now I’m content with what I am doing.
Strength training, now this is the one. I used to sit on the bike at the gym, doing mixed interval training for a full hour, sweating my arse off, watching the guys in the free weight section sat around on their phone, posing in the mirror, not really doing a lot. Hell, even the guys that were doing stuff spent half the time not doing anything, whilst I spent all of my time sweating. I used to think if I’m not bothered about looking like Arnie then why would I waste time. I’ve changed my thinking though, for one, carrying so much extra weight around wouldn’t be as painful and as much of a struggle if I had muscles that could support it. Also, my muscle mass means more tissue that needs feeding, which means more calories burnt whilst doing nothing, so the more muscle mass I get the less I have to work hard, right…RIGHT???
I didn’t expect this to ever happen, but I have to say I genuinely enjoy the strength training part of working out. Sure, there are bits that I don’t like, there are bits that I avoid, like my arthritis riddles knees are not suddenly going to enjoy doing squats, so I adapt and find ways to work out. The biggest problem I have with strength training, much like every other aspect of “fitness” or “weight loss”, there are so many people out there trying to sell you their BS that it is oh so easy to get caught up in trying to follow this bit of advice, or the next week you’re doing the complete opposite because some new TikTok tit has devised some new BS to try to get you to part ways with your money. It really is easy to get caught up in it all, worrying about finding the perfect routine, the perfect supplements, the perfect recovery plan, the perfect technology to enhance your workouts, it can be overwhelming, especially when you’re trying to make the most of the limited time that you have to workout.
I’m not going to say I’ve got it all figured out, I’m sure the gym bros out there would pick holes in everything that I do at the gym, but for now I am happy with what I am doing. I am using an app to plan and track my workouts so I know what I’m doing when I get to the gym and don’t waste time trying to figure out what I want to do that day, I can also see what I did last time so that I can make sure I am constantly pushing myself. I have put myself together a plan, so I’ve got routines setup in my app for various muscle groups, using the different equipment that is available at the gym, as well as routines with the equipment I have available at home.
The reality is, my workouts are never going to be perfect, I’m never going to know everything about exercise and fitness, I’m going to always be learning, I’m sure I could always push myself just a little bit harder, improve my form, swap X exercise for Y, or a million other things in the pursuit of the famous Team Sky marginal gains. As long as I am working out and making progress towards my goals, improving my long term fitness I am happy. I am also more than happy in the knowledge that week by week I am going to constantly be working out working out.