Starting and stopping and starting again
Ten professionals and 10 teams are competing in the 2015 Get Fit Challenge. Who will earn the healthiest marks? Follow along on Facebook and then find out at the In Business Expo & Conference on Oct. 21. This week, IB checks in with John Ganahl, general manager for Air-Lec Industries LLC, who is competing in the individual challenge.
If you’re reading this blog for examples of days at the gym, sweat expended, and weight lost, you may come away disappointed. My hope in writing this will be to admit, I start … I fail. I start again … I fail again. There are always reasons. Good reasons. But the rationalization of failure is one of the most insidious prospectors, mining the bedrock of my self-esteem. I will speak only for myself, though many of you may hear your own voice in my words.
D-day(s)
April 1, 2015 — Oh, wait. That was the day I was supposed to START this fitness competition! Nope. Didn’t happen. Some cruel April Fool’s Day joke played on me.
May 1, 2015 — Oh, wait. THAT was my fall back date for starting this fitness competition. Nope. That didn’t happen either, though I MAY have exercised one day in May.
June 1, 2015 —Okay, I started! Well, I started jogging slowly because I am prone to injury. But you know what? Today (the 11th) I took off and MISSED IT! Something’s happenin’ here and it ain’t quite exactly clear! There’s a man with a gun in his hand … Now I won’t get THAT song out of my head!
Targets
I do have an overall target in mind for my weight, but I am focusing on interim targets, like by the end of this week for a specific number. I’m trying not to look at it as a “lump” sum. I know, I know. This is not new or news. Set smaller, attainable goals and give a reward for making it.
Finally … maybe
I FINALLY reached one of those interim goals! Congratulations to me! Now, let’s go have some pie! Isn’t that how it goes sometimes, if not most times? I suppose not if you’re one of those overachievers or just someone who has finally made the commitment. And don’t get me wrong, in no way do I intend to lessen another’s achievement through the lament of my own struggle. As I wrote in the initial blog on this topic, I am only responsible for myself and barely that. When I see someone succeed at this or any challenging goal I am his or her biggest cheerleader. But I’m not the kind of person who says, “If you could do it, then so can I.” Nor am I motivated by stories of tremendous odds overcome. I am happy for those people but my personal demons are as real and imposing as anyone else’s.
(Continued)
Sabotaged!
I have not been on the scale or on my regimen for a little under a week, when a small injury caused me to pull back. (Does riding a cart and playing 45 holes of golf in two days qualify as exercise? I suppose it depends on how far I’m chasing my ball off of the “approved” cart paths.) But I will admit to leaping off the wagon in regard to my fitness plan in those days. And that horse I have to climb back up on? Yeah, it’s one of those 22-hand Clydesdales I’d need a fireman’s ladder to reach. Tomorrow I re-weigh myself and begin again.
Shaking my head
No, that is not my new fitness regimen, though some days it’s the best exercise I get! No, it refers back to the earlier post where I lament about reaching a goal and then not pushing through it to see real progress. Why is that? It’s as though I can see the improvement and could make some real progress, then I play the old Paul Simon song in my head, “Slip Slidin’ Away.” (For you youngins, do that YouTube thingy!) But now I am creeping up on one of those artificial markers I also referred to in a previous post. July 1 is tomorrow morning and since I am close to making some real weight-loss progress, I’m all in — AGAIN!
More than weight loss
That’s the point of this “competition” isn’t it? It’s the point of any exercise regimen. It’s not weight loss (or wait loss in my case). The object is to grow stronger and more flexible both of which I can use on my inevitable trek toward wrinkledom. (I remember when “Post” was a cereal and not a verb!) Here’s my misguided philosophy, such as it is. If I lose 20 pounds, my muscles will be able to move my lighter body easier! And if I can get my stomach out of the way, I might be able to reach my toes without doing a full squat! But one thing I can say about this competition is, yes, I have lost weight (slowly). That’s a positive. I am out jogging again which is a wonderful way to start the day … when I DO get out of bed.
Holidays — when nothing but a brat will do.
There I was, July 3. Perched on the precipice of really being proud of myself. Let’s face it. If you grew up with “nothing is ever good enough,” as I did, pride is a rare commodity between my ears. And it’s not that I don’t do good work or accomplish goals. I do! It’s just that the voice I continually hear, which, frankly, drives me to achieve, stems from the negativity of “not good enough.” It’s this lack of a positive reinforcement voice that fans the flames of apathy. My worst enemy.
But back to the brat. I was so close, but then I found myself at a neighborhood party where a sample of all sorts of delicious foods becomes a full course rather than simply a bite or two. So, back to the streets today. Legs are sore.
Meet all of the competitors here and see who wins at the In Business Expo & Conference.
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