Monday, December 19, 2011

Resolution Time Again... and Again

One of my favorite bloggers from Nicole is Better, did a big post on how she’s going to organize her upcoming goals for the next year.  I thought her system has lots of solid points.
Basically she breaks it down like this:
Choose a one word resolution to be a driving force for all your goals.
Choose several ‘life buckets’ (overall categories).  She chose 9.
Example: Romance, Exercise, Friendship, Work
Choose three big goals for each ‘life bucket’ that you would like to accomplish by the end of the year.
(Key point here being end of year, not the start)
At the start of each month choose one small action step toward each of your big goals for each bucket.
Example: So maybe one of your goals is to have consistent date nights.  So your action step for the first month might be something as simple as researching possible date night activities.  That’s all you have to do for that goal for that month.
I’m going to give this system a try.  I’ve always struggled with creating a system for following through on goals.  What I’m not going to do is pick as many ‘life buckets’ as she did.  When I did something different for every month of my happiness project before, I found I got overwhelmed with the sheer number of resolutions I needed to keep up with.  Granted this is different, but I still think I need to choose a manageable amount of goals.
Another difference is that I would be working on my goals somewhat simultaneously.  It wouldn’t be daily like before, but I’d being doing something toward all my goals each month instead of focusing on one topic each month.
The challenge now is that I feel very disconnected from my goal planning.  I’ve been very distracted by my efforts to help Flash with his goals.  I must admit I don’t know how anyone who is has a group of people dependent on them gets anything done for themselves.  Other people are so distracting and it’s hard to separate yourself from their problems.
So, I’m sitting thinking I’ll start re-planning, making goals, finding better ways to be successful and I’m staring at the page.  I came up with a dozen monthly categories and dozens of sub categories in an afternoon for my last go around and now I’m struggling to pick three.  It’s not that I don’t have things I want to be different, I do, but I did tackle most of my problems in some way shape or form last time and they weren’t always successful.  The ideas aren’t fresh, but the approach is structured differently.
Still, I feel uninspired.  I haven’t sat down and thought about what I want for a while now. 

Friday, December 9, 2011

Keep On Keeping ON

I have now had two sessions with my trainer and I think it's great.  These were my two "free" sessions for signing up for a year membership.  I wish I had done them earlier.

Now, I'm not going to say that the cost of a training sessions isn't worth it, but I will say it's expensive-ish.  My research has found that in my area (downtown) an hour with a trainer runs at about $80.  If you were wanting to meet with a trainer once a week, you're looking at around $320.00 a month, plus tax.  Now, there are lots of people who can afford that, and a lot who can't. 

There's a deal on training at my gym right now for reduced prices.  You can buy as many sessions as you want but you have to purchase them by the end of December.  You can then use them as you please throughout the following year.  I'm debating buying some because it's a good deal.

I would recommend a trainer to absolutely anyone wanting to get in shape or get out of a fitness rut.  I already feel a hundred times more comfortable at my gym.  There's this confidence I've gotten from having a trainer tell you what to do, how many and how much weight.  I hate the idea of wasting time, and with a trainer I know I'm being super effective with my hour.  I also have little circuits of moves I can repeat on my own with confidence.  We're using areas of the gym I never attempted to use for fear of being in the way or looking stupid.

Happiness level = higher.

Maybe it's okay that my training sessions came later.  I'm coming to the end of my fitness focused quarter and I feeled a renewed sense of motivation to continue to make this a real part of my life.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Push Harder

As a perk for signing up for a membership you get two consultations with a trainer.  For a long time I thought maybe they were really backed up at my gym because no one contacted me about my consultation.  A girl I know recently became a member of my gym and after talking with her realized that she had her consultation within a week of buying her membership.  Well, wtf gym.  So I popped my head in the office and asked if my paperwork got misplaced.  I was getting charged for my membership so it couldn't have been that lost.

Anywho, Courtney called me to set up a consultation.  I became extremely nervous at the thought of doing a training session.  I've seen others happen around my in the three months I've had my membership, and some people are a bit pathetic.  There's a lot of I cant's and people pleading not to do certain exercises and what not.  So when I finally got the courage up to do the appointment I told myself I would not falter, I would do whatever was asked of me.

I don't like to run.  I'm more into weights and resistance then cardio.  As a warm up for the workout she had me run at a 6.0 for five minutes.  Shit.  This is the first thing, and I will not punk out.  So I did it.  I thought my heart was going to explode but I did it.  We then went through several exercises back to back to back.  I was doing well until I got to burpees.  I hate burpees.  I had to do 15 and I got about half way and wanted to die.  I also couldn't do 20 push ups on my toes and after 10 had to go onto my knees.  We also did this absolutely awful exercise where you stand on a resistance band, cross it and pull the handles up to your waste and then side shuffle 40 feet to the left and then 40 feet back to the right.  Not only does it take forever because the band forces you to take tiny steps, but the muscles on the sides of our thighs and glutes are on fire.  I asked her that we please not repeat that part.

All in all it was good.  It was challenging.  I got new ideas for moved I could be doing and I used more of the gym than normal.  Most of all I think it was eye opening for intensity.  I left that workout thinking that I need to push myself harder.  I also felt reaffirmed in the belief that Flash needs a trainer to push him.  I don't think I could've made myself work at that intensity without someone telling me to do it and seeing it for myself.

I have my second consult with her next Tuesday.  She said the first one is to gage what you can do, strengths and weaknesses and all that.  So she's probably going to make me run and do burpees.  Sad face.