I’m doing this thing wherein I take a picture of myself every day in 2012. I started doing this back in April when I turned 33 thinkign I would take a picture of myself every day of my 33rd year, but then I kept forgetting. Perhaps this will encourage me to keep going.
There’s no big reason why I’m doing this. I just thought it would be interesting. Right now all of the pictures are of my face, but I suppose some full body shots will be ion there, too, especially since i am attempting to get in better shape. I can’t real measure my success by weight since I’m building muscle. I do hope to lose some inches, though.
This morning I was supposed to do a workout but didn’t because I read an article that basically said: if you’re going to the gym and getting on an eliptical or a weight machine, you’re not getting any benefit. So I was like: UM, that’s what i was going to do!
I am encouraged by the suggestion of an awesome weightlifting book, but I’m a little afraid to start doing the lifting without a coach for fear of breaking everything.
This got pretty rambly all of the sudden. Ah well, have a picture of me today:
argh! don’t let those articles drive you crazy! you’ll see articles contradicting each other every week. the basics are: resistance training to build muscle mass (weight machines and/or free weights and/or floor exercises,) cardio to improve endurance and cardiovascular fitness (elliptical, stairmaster, treadmill, stationary bike, etc.,) and stretching to improve flexibility (yoga, pilates, basic stretching, etc.)
find a good balance of these and keep doing it. try not to get into a rut by varying the type of exercise you do. everything else is just fine tuning.
I agree with what Dave said above but also wanna rec http://www.stumptuous.com. That’s the resource I used when I first started lifting, and is still my go-to source for inspiration.
(Also weight machines are fine but avoid the smith machine. It is of the devil)
The treadmill/elliptical haters might be right for folks who are basically going to gym and doing nothing else and not seeing improvement, but if the choice is between doing nothing and doing ellipticals, ellipticals MUST be better, right?
I keep saying I’m going to do crossfit but not doing it, have you tried it?
My two current fitness inspirations are Nerd Fitness … http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/01/03/get-in-shape … and Whitnee Hawthorne’s “how-to” videos…. http://getandstayfit.tumblr.com/archive