Exercise Blues...

Borepatch has 'em. I left a quick comment with a couple suggestions, but wanted to expand a bit. I've noticed the same thing - I started exercising regularly in January 2007, working out every single day either on the treadmill, stationary bike, walking, jogging, etc. Every single day. Over the years I've refined that to Monday through Friday, then Monday through Thursday. It gets harder and harder to drag my carcass out of bed to get over to the gym or out on the road.

In some ways, I'm a victim of my own success. I've been at my goal weight for over three years now; I've been off my blood pressure medication for even longer. Every check-up at the doctor's has been the same - blood pressure fine, weight stable, keep up the good work. What I'm finding is that maintaining is a lot harder than achieving - it's nowhere near as gratifying to do all this work just to sustain parity than it is to continuously improve. I don't know specifically about Borepatch's situation, but I know that I'm losing motivation the longer I stay at my goal.

A commenter suggested a workout partner, and this is a fabulous idea as long as the two of you are relatively evenly matched in the physical exertion department. If you choose a partner more active than yourself, you run the risk of over-exerting yourself and pulling muscles, etc. Obviously, a partner with a lower activity level isn't going to inspire you to push your limits; the key is to find someone at or near your level and develop a friendly "competition" between the two. Having a workout partner does two things: it makes the workout less monotonous, and it encourages you to participate on a regular basis - you don't want to let the other person down.

This was one of the key elements I used when starting to lose the weight, actually - in our immediate family, we had several other family members who wanted to lose weight as well, and we started the "pound a week" club. The goal being to lose, obviously, one pound every week; we would e-mail tallies at the end of each week to see who the "biggest loser" was for the week. Over time, folks dropped out one-by-one, until eventually I was the last loser standing. Fortunately for me, by that time I'd already gotten into a groove where I was competing against myself and continued the weight loss.

Competing against yourself is another method of keeping up the exercise, actually. I do cardio in the mornings and weight-training in the evenings. I do ~ 2 miles on the treadmill and ~ 6 miles on the stationary bike every morning, and 50 pushups, 50 situps, and 5 sets of 10 curls or butterflies with free weights in the evening. I've found that slowly and steadily increasing the speed on the treadmill, or the RPMs on the bike, or adding weight to the curls has helped to keep me focused on the exercise; although lately I do seem to have hit somewhat of a plateau.

What I'd like to do now is introduce more free weights to the routine where I lift 2-3 days a week and do cardio 2 days a week to keep up the heart rate and keep the blood pressure in check. This is an equipment - and therefore space - consideration; I need a weight bench of some sort at a minimum as well as a full complement of weights, bars, etc. for this next level. Another idea that has broad G. family appeal is a heavy bag of some sort - Mrs. G. can use it for kickboxing; TheBoy and BabyGirl G. can use it for karate; and I can use it for cardio (and anger management *g*). The biggest problem with a heavy bag is where to put it; we could either get a freestanding unit like they have at the dojo, which would require ~ 10' diameter circle or so and full ceiling height; or we could get a bag that hangs from the ceiling itself, which means basement (which is rather crowded).

Those of you who exercise regularly, please share your tips for remaining motivated for both Borepatch and myself...

That is all.