#oneaday Day 41: Sweaty

Yep, late again. In my defense, I was editing a new episode of The MoeGamer Podcast all yesterday so… that's not really an excuse, I know! Apparently I need to take my own post about establishing habits to heart a little more…

Speaking of habits, though, I've been doing well at hauling my considerable arse out of bed of a morning and ploughing through a Fitness Boxing routine. And while I hesitate to say I'm "enjoying" it, because exercise, it's certainly quite satisfying to get through a complete routine and not be dead.

I find exercise most satisfying when there's a bit of "stiffness" afterwards. Not… that kind of stiffness, but, you know, muscle stiffness. Before any exercise junkies jump in at this point and say "you should be stretching", I am stretching (it's part of the Fitness Boxing routine), I am just also extremely unfit! The stiffness, for me, is a physical manifestation of my effort; it reminds me that I did something I didn't have to do, but which will ultimately (hopefully) be good for me.

As I've been progressing through the software, the workouts have been gradually getting more complex. I quite like the way the workouts are paced; it seems that they tend to follow a set routine that goes something like this: Stretches > Short (5 min ish), easy workout you've done before > Long (10+ min), moderate workout perhaps introducing one new move > Long, challenging workout, perhaps again introducing one new move > Short, easy workout you've done before > Stretches > Done. By doing this you get a mix of the familiar and stuff that pushes your "limits" a bit; at present, the "easy" workouts tend to be simple punches, while the more difficult ones incorporate dodging of various types — ducking, dodging to the side and weaving to the side.

The punches are fine. The area I need to work on a bit is evidently my legs. The ducks and side dodges are killer on the legs. Since I'm a big fella, my legs have to work pretty hard just to hold me up, so getting them to do things other than holding me up is a significant challenge. Not impossible by any means, but a challenge, certainly. It also doesn't help that I have a bit of an ache in my left knee at times, and bending it in the "wrong" way can sometimes provoke that somewhat. Perhaps I should invest in one of those oh-so-flattering knee supports; I don't know how effective they are.

Anyway, it's going reasonably well so far. At the moment, I'm establishing a routine of getting up early every weekday to do Fitness Boxing, then taking the weekend off so I can enjoy a bit of a lie-in. This feels eminently doable; as I said the other day, it's just a case of estabishing that habit.

Now if I can just do the same to remember to write these posts on the correct day! Sigh. Oh well. I guess I'll see you again later today! 🙂