Got your tickets?
Was today the day I finally turned the corner on strength training?
I'm at the point where I don't need to lose any more weight. What I need now is some muscle tone. But even though I've steadfastly counted calories every day for seven months, and I've willed my way up to running half-marathon distances over the past few years, this miraculous flood of motivation has not yet spilled over into weightlifting. There's still a mental hump I need to get over.
If I have the power to make myself go running for almost an hour in the summer routinely, or maintain a 750-calorie daily deficit for seven months straight, then you'd think a few situps and pushups in the air-conditioned comfort of my living room should be a trivial matter. But it's not. I don't know why. Maybe it just takes time. It's another habit to form. It's the same deal with weight training machines - worse, in fact, since those involve a trip to the actual gym.
So today I went in at lunch and I did a few arm curls, tricep extensions, shoulder presses. Now it's five o'clock and my arms feel GOOD. They are actually exuding a pleasurable feeling right now. This is a strange new feeling for me. With running, it took six or seven years before I even stopped hating it.* And even today, I don't truly "feel good" afterward. The satisfaction I get is a cerebral one base on pride and accomplishment, not actual pleasurable sensations in my muscles.
This is so weird.
I think I'm going to go down right now and see how much I can bench press.
* Which is why I did it in the first place. I always used to say: "I know running is the best exercise, because nothing sucks more."
I'm at the point where I don't need to lose any more weight. What I need now is some muscle tone. But even though I've steadfastly counted calories every day for seven months, and I've willed my way up to running half-marathon distances over the past few years, this miraculous flood of motivation has not yet spilled over into weightlifting. There's still a mental hump I need to get over.
If I have the power to make myself go running for almost an hour in the summer routinely, or maintain a 750-calorie daily deficit for seven months straight, then you'd think a few situps and pushups in the air-conditioned comfort of my living room should be a trivial matter. But it's not. I don't know why. Maybe it just takes time. It's another habit to form. It's the same deal with weight training machines - worse, in fact, since those involve a trip to the actual gym.
So today I went in at lunch and I did a few arm curls, tricep extensions, shoulder presses. Now it's five o'clock and my arms feel GOOD. They are actually exuding a pleasurable feeling right now. This is a strange new feeling for me. With running, it took six or seven years before I even stopped hating it.* And even today, I don't truly "feel good" afterward. The satisfaction I get is a cerebral one base on pride and accomplishment, not actual pleasurable sensations in my muscles.
This is so weird.
I think I'm going to go down right now and see how much I can bench press.
* Which is why I did it in the first place. I always used to say: "I know running is the best exercise, because nothing sucks more."