Tuesday, January 6, 2009

WFMW: Getting fit!


I have a confession to make: I don't have an athletic bone in my body.  The evidence?  In school, gym was always my least favorite class.  I've never played on an organized sports team (unless you count inter-murals in college... and I'm not sure you could call that organized!!).  In fact, after what would be light to moderate exercise to other people, I've been known to feel faint and even pass out!  

So, when I realized that my weight was creeping up the scale, and dieting alone wasn't getting where I wanted to be, I had a dilemma--how could I go from practically no physical activity to some kind of work out?

For me, the solution was the Couch to 5K workout. (Click that link to get the whole plan).  Thist workout is designed to get you from being a couch potato to running a 5k in just 9 weeks.  It gradually gets you started with interval training, where you alternate walking and jogging/running (jogging for me!!).  This is something even I can do.  Before the holidays, I worked my way up to week three.  Every week was challenging, but do-able.  Then, there was finals, and traveling, and, well... suffice it to say I'm starting back!  Yesterday I did the week 1 workout again, but I think I'm going to move straight back to week 2... week one was actually easy for me!

And--the greatest part.  There are some free podcasts on iTunes by a guy named Robert Ullrey.  These podcasts have techno-ish workout music, and Robert chimes in at the appropriate intervals to tell you when to walk or run, as well as to give some encouragement.  It's great!  If you do a little searching around iTunes, you can also find a podcast that is just silence with someone giving you the instructions.  That way, if you have garageband or a program like it, you can add your own music.  Of course, you don't have to use the podcasts at all if you have a stopwatch or a clock on your treadmill!

Anyway, the Couch to 5k workout is working for me.  So far, combined with eating healthier (a 1200ish/day diet), I've lost 9 pounds.  I'm half way to my goal!

For more WFMW posts, check out Shannon's blog, Rocks in my Dryer!

2 comments:

Kristin - The Goat said...

That's a great idea!

Your link by the way, to WFMW, was to your lists and lists post. A nice post, too!

Thaks for the link to the podcasts!

Come visit me today at The Goat
Kristin

Heather said...

I'm sure that's a great link for people interested in starting running! Good luck!