My Journey With Health And Fitness – Slowly But Surely

Ok, apparently I am really climbing back to where I used to be. Today I decided to try an 8 km run. Now this was challenging not because it was a hard run but rather between work being done on the promenade and trains stopped on the tracks there were several detours. Regardless, I got through that run and felt pretty good. I realize I need to go back to working on my speed but endurance wise I was pretty good. Next weekend I think I will try a 10 km.

During my fitness classes we often do circuits or super sets. Circuits are done 2 different ways. The first is you set the timer for say 12 minutes and you are given 4-5 exercises each with so many reps with a short break in between. The 2nd is each exercise you do for say 30 secs with a 10 sec break before moving on to the next one. Then you do a super set which is 2-3 exercises that you do for 30 seconds before moving on to the next one without a break. Whichever method, they are all tough.

What I have noticed is many of the other participants do things very differently that I do. Several of them rush through absolutely everything trying to get as many sets done as absolutely possible. I watch them and realize their mentality is not the same as mine, to them it is getting the numbers in. In my head, that is not what I want.

Now I admit I am a bit of a perfectionist so doing everything exactly right is important to me. It is always devastating for me when an instructor comes over to correct what I am doing. Having said that, I never make the same mistake twice. But what is important for me is not how many reps or cycles I can do but rather getting my form right. To me, simply throwing the weights around is easy but doesn’t make you work as hard. I prefer to be controlled in my moves focusing on my stance and my core and making sure the muscles are worked as hard as possible. Even doing crunches or bridges, I hold the muscles for several seconds making sure they get the workout they need.

So I am going to continue to just be slow and steady as I feel more strength coming each week. Must be working because today I not only did full planks but also managed to do pushups in between each one.