I've started this blog to keep me motivated and hopefully to motivate others. I've always wanted to write about my trials and success, but at the same time, I felt embarassed to do it too. But today, I just felt like.. hey what the heck! It's going to be great to look back upon and see how I did.
Approximately 2 months ago, I finally was motivated to work out again. I was very consistent a year ago, but everything came crashing down. It took the longest time to get out of that rut, but I finally did it. After working out for awhile, I forgot how much I loved feeling after working out. The energy, the endorphins, the fitness high.
I started my journey of Operation 6-Pack with the exercise i dreaded the most. Running. I never really enjoyed running. It was always so tiring, so hard on the lungs, and simply boring. But I came to a realization. Just about every athlete in every sport... RUNS. I had to get running back into my regimen. And so I did, with the help of a little friend called Nike +
Nike + is the best thing invented for runners who hate running! It keeps track of all your stats, time, distance, calories burned, all while you get to jam to your favorite music on your Apple Nano or iPhone. From there, you can setup goals for yourself on each run. Run x amount of minutes, Run x amount of miles, Burn x amount of calories. During the run, you'll hear little updates to keep you motivated! If you're goal is to run for 20 minutes, you'll hear in the middle of it, "Half way mark, 10 minutes remaining", "5 minutes remaining", etc. And if you are struggling, you can hear press a button and your power song will turn on. The power song is a song of your choice, that gets you pumped up to help you finish the remainder of your run.
Other great features of Nike+ is that after every run, it uploads your data once you sync up with your itunes. You can track your runs, right notes about each one, and view them in beautiful graphs. You can also setup fun personal challenges or with others. One of my goals right now is to run 10 times by August 27th. I'm halfway there. Another challenge I'm in is with some friends to see who can reach 50miles first.
In addition to running, I've recently joined LA Boxing. I joined up with my hometown bud Dan. He too has joined the journey of Operation 6-Pack. They advertise that you'll burn 1000 calories in one class. That claim is no joke! The workouts are cardio intensive with calisthenics involved. However, the biggest part of it.. is that it's Fun! Boxing/Kickboxing/MMA classes galore.
I haven't started to really lift weights yet. Right now my goal is to burn fat first, then build up muscle again. Once I get down to 10-15% range, I'll probably add weight lifting to my regimen.
To start things off, I'm going to doing daily measurements. Body Weight, Body Fat, Body Water. Why? Because that's what my Bowflex scale notifies me of course!
Body Weight: 154.0
Body Fat %: 18%
Body Water: 56
Tonight I'm relaxing, but tomorrow I'll be playing some table tennis in the morning, and boxing class in the evening.