Sunday, January 13 2008, 11:40 PM

Once again, I have reason to be unhappy with myself. Don't worry though mom, I'm fine. I'm not going to go into it here, but it has once again served as motivation to get shit done. I've been playing the guitar a good amount over the past few days, and I feel like I'm starting to get some of my chops back. I've learned a few new songs, including one that I wrote off years back because I thought it was too fast for me to play ("Trapped Under Ice" by Metallica). It's always cool to pull off something you had previously written off. I also hit the exercise bike again tonight for the first time in a while. I found the key - reading! It makes the time pass so much faster. I might run out of reading material pretty quick though. I'm going to try to do my best to stick with it this time as well.

I also made a pretty cool monitor mount that attaches to my desk. I'll post some pictures when I feel like resizing them. Perhaps tomorrow.

exercise frustrations goals guitar

Monday, September 11 2006, 12:56 AM

I've been trying to motivate myself to get in better shape for quite a while now. I've never been what one would call athletic or in shape. Sure, I played varsity baseball for three years when I was in high school, and I was all-conference. However, as most people know, baseball doesn't exactly require peak physical fitness in order to excel. I was a catcher, and didn't need to move much, which is good, because I was a slow runner. I always had the benefit of a courtesy runner, so I didn't have to run bases. Being a catcher just fit my stature and fitness level.

After high school, I followed a typical college path known as the freshman 15. And then the sophomore 15. And then I lost track. By the time I graduated, I had put on 40 pounds over my high school weight. Not exactly great. In my defense, one of my summer jobs involved a decent amount of physical labor, so I kept a decent amount of strength.

Well, after sitting behind a desk for four years and not really eating all that smart, it's caught up with me. I'm now weighing in at 260 pounds, which is 60 pounds over what I weighed when I graduated high school almost 10 years ago. I look in the mirror and I'm farily disgusted. My gut, while not at monumental proportions, is definitely doing its best to make its presence felt. The respectable amount of muscle mass I once had has withered away. I've turned into a stereotypical computer nerd physically.

All of this is starting to serve as pretty good motivation. This weekend I bought an exercise bike and some weights to aid my effort. Quite a few people suggested getting a gym membership instead of buying my own stuff. That's not a bad idea, but quite frankly, I'm embarassed. I also tend to be a homebody and my schedule is goofy, so having the stuff at home just seems like a better fit for me. I also bought the Ipod a few months back with exercise in mind. If/when I do take my game outside, it'll be there to supply me with lots of motivational tuneage.

I hopped on the bike for the first time today, and well, it was rather sad. I wasn't expecting much, but my thighs were burning after about two minutes. I don't know if it was the pace I gave myself or what, but it was pretty bad. I made myself go five minutes just to avoid being too much of a nancy. But hey, you've gotta start somewhere right? Who knows. The bike said I rode about 1.3 miles worth in those 5 minutes, so maybe it was the pace I set.

It will get better though.

exercise ipod physique

Related Tags