Exercise Goals for 2009

Two of them! Wow.

2009 still seems so far away -- I have a whole bunch of stuff on my plate between now and Christmas.

My goals for 2009 are:

1.) Find and regularly attend a single good gym. I've been bouncing around a bit, have active memberships to two -- each one is imperfect in its own way but having two active memberships is stupid, so I want to either commit to a single imperfect one or find a third, more-perfect one and cancel memberships to the other two.

2.) Consistently exercise no less than three times a week.

3.) Work up to running 2 continuous miles at a good pace (6-7 mph).

4.) Do my best to stay healthy (including using Advair at the first sign of breathing issues).

5.) Feel confident/ the way I want to look for my 20-yr HS reunion in late 2009.

Good goals Soz!

2009 Goals -- a work in progress --- and my plan has to encompass diet as well, but my ideas are:

1) Finish losing the weight I need to lose in order to get to a healthy BMI (I have 96.8 lbs. to go as of today but expect that figure to be closer to something in the 80s by the time New Year's rolls around).
2) Go a bit lower, possibly as many as 10 - 15 lbs. lower, to have a range to work with. This goal may or may not happen in '09.
3) Change daily walking from 30 minutes to 45, possibly 60, with the extras days (M, W, F) going from 45 mins to 60 or higher. Main limiting factors here are time and the weather.
4) Go on a maintenance plan (assuming I hit #2), probably ~ 2000 calories/day (currently at 1800/day).
5) Continue checking in re daily foods eaten.
6) Continue blogging about weight loss.
7) Go from lifting 25 lbs. every day to 40.
8) Continue with Sundays as rest days.
9) Possibly work towards some jogging; this is very tentative.
10) Continue playing frisbee during the nicer weather; improve skills and endurance.

I've decided that watching a lot of aerobics isn't helping all that much and may actually decide to do some. (Probably get back to a consistent routine of a brisk walk or workout on the treadmill.)

Lose 50 pounds until December 31, 2009

Qualify for the 2010 New York Marathon by running nine qualifier races organized by the NYRRC.

I'm rooting for you Jespah.

It's too bad that using our eyes doens't burn many calories huh?

I just read up on the NYRRC marathon qualification, and it looks like a lot of work. All good work though.

I've decided to do something similar, besides the 2 marathons I'm going to run at least 8 more races of shorter lengths. Hopefully at least 2 half marathons and 6 shorter races.

At some point next year I need to get my hernia fixed too, but that means 2 months w/o running so...

you know what, new post new goals.

im sick of girls talking about how skinny i am, i want to be muscular, well my abs are very defined, but im not short, not tiny, just too damn slim. by this years end, my arms will fill my medium size shirt sleeves !!!!!!!!!!!!

this year im getting a gym membership. PERIOD.

i am going top focus solely on upgrading my mind, body and spirit.

ive been putting this off forever, and i know once i start the long grind and begin excercising on a set schedule i will gain tons of energy leading to more positiveity. yeah i mispelled that

Well, before you get your gym membership there are A LOT of body weight exercises (google Calisthenics) that can get you started, and if you're a beginner they'll be more than enough for the first 6 months anyway. I just started a 4 week program that doesn't require any weights, and it's kicking my ass.

on it.

And I, you. We can do it.

Alright, only 2 weeks left in 2008, I would expect to see some more goals being set by our A2K brethren.

I've added a couple more races for next year's calendar. I'll likely run some 10/8/5k's in between as well.

1/1 - New Years Day 8k
1/18 - Phoenix Rock and Roll Half Marathon
3/21 - Washington DC Marathon
6/27 - Seattle Rock and Roll Marathon
8/2 - Chicago Rock and Roll Half Marathon
9/13 - Chicago Half Marathon
10/19 - Chicago Marathon

I'm going to go for another 1000 miles.

I'm also going to improve my upper body strength.
Our friend maporsche has volunteered to offer some recommendations to me.

I've decided to set a goal of bench-pressing my own weight 3 sets of ten.
This may not sound like much to serious lifters, but I've never done it.

I will attempt to do chest exercises in three workouts a week.
I'll mix up bench presses, the chest press machine, and flies.
At one workout a week, I will concentrate on doing a set of low reps, high weight.

Exercise for me is part of my plan for getting to my weight goal. Like jes, my goal is to get to a healthy BMI and then several pounds lower. I've been maintaining at about 15 pounds above goal (give or take five) for more than a year. (For any of you who are unfamiliar with my history, I lost 115 pounds in the 2 and a half years before that.)

So, goals:

- I' m going to continue getting to the gym 5 times a week plus walking on Sundays.

- I want to consistently get in three weight training sessions a week. I almost always got in two a week this year, but three was hard to manage. I've been going for the cardio more, and I think it's time to shift focus.

- I will try out more classes at the gym. It's a good (free) way to learn new moves and get some feedback from the trainers and instructors.

Corrected #1. Plus I'm joining a gym, so gym 2x/week.

A Smith machine is piece of weight training equipment that has guides to assure
that the weight is moved up or down only. Many of them, like the one at our
gym, have hooks at intervals along the guide into which you can settle the
weight. Clive and I were using one for bench presses. Coordination is a bit of
an issue for Clive, so the Smith machine gives me a little peace of mind.

The bar is 45 pounds -- I sometimes wonder why -- and I loaded two
25-pound disks at each end for 145 total. I got two pretty decent sets of ten,
but pooped out after seven on the last set.

The gym was pretty crowded. Lots of New Year's resolutions are off to a
promising start. The crowd will thin out after about a month.

It was early morning and I checked the weather for Stoneham. 20 F (17 wind
chill) said weather.com. I looked out the window. There was probably enough
snow to make the footing iffy. There was definitely enough snow to provide a
rationalization for an indoor workout.

So I headed off to Planet Fitness. I did fifteen minutes on the bike and another
fifteen on the elliptical. Then I did some core stuff. I stopped when my upper
abs cramped. That happens to me a lot and I'm not sure why. The only way I've
found to relieve it is to lie prone resting on my elbows. Weird.