Personal: This week’s exercise confession
- Or, “Forgive me blogger, for I have sinned”
On the exercise front, last week was honestly a wash. I ran exactly once at the beginning of the week, and the rest of the week really did slip by. My knees have been giving me a little trouble, but not enough to justify my lack of exercise. The real problem has been my sleep schedule – I’ve been staying up too late, and getting up too late, mostly because I don’t have a set work schedule in place.
For me, my most natural, comfortable schedule is sleeping from 2AM until 10AM – I was able to do this when we were working solely as artists and had no kids or significant responsibilities. We set our own schedule, and it was bliss – and both the art and software engineering worlds in my experience are rarely driven by a 9 to 5 workday. However, with kids that rise at 7AM – going to bed at 2AM does not work very well for more than a few nights in a row. I’m much better off getting up early.
How do you get up at 5AM? Are you insane?
As I mentioned, I do not consider myself to be, by nature, an early riser. My natural sleep cycle since my teens has always been to stay up until the early morning hours – I think I am at my most creative around 11:30PM (not surprising since music is part of that creative side). That said, I have found that with children I absolutely NEED to adjust that schedule.
This year I participated in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) where the goal is to write 50,000 words, unedited, in a single month. I discovered that if I got up at an unholy hour and just started to write, I could really “pump out” the wordcount – leaving the editing and sprucing up until later when I was more awake.
(I also found that writing-wise, I have absolutely no sense of humor at 5:30 in the morning.)
So how did I do it? And how will I be doing it this week?
One of my all-time favorite articles on the Web, period, is an article on this very process on ZenHabits.net. The article, 10 Benefits of Rising Early, and How To Do It, was essential in convincing me that despite my natural tendency to stay up late and sleep late, I am much better off on whole to get up at an insanely early hour. If you want to increase what you get out of each day, the article is essential reading.
“Did I mention your JOB is on the line?”
This week will be better – I have committed to working out a business plan by the end of the week, and starting each day with some form of exercise. My goal is to run 3 times this week, restart the 100 pushup challenge, and generally watch my intake. Sounds basic, but I know it’s attainable with relatively little effort since this is what I was doing two weeks ago. And as I’ve said before, I believe in starting with small, attainable goals to achieve the larger ones. It just works.
I’m getting back to it, and it feels great to have a plan in place.
How about you? What is your fitness plan this week? What are your goals?
Related posts:
- Personal Entry: Building upon the ashes
- A Rough Patch, Old Habits, and Spring is Here
- Give Me One Good Reason
- 44 Ways to Lose Weight Without Dieting in 2009
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
I’ve been getting up earlier for the past few weeks, and I really enjoy it. It’s always nice to have a few moments to yourself and get your life in order before the day even officially begins. Plus, when I start things later in the AM, I always feel like I’m running behind, and I HATE that feeling.
My goal this week is to get in two weight-lifting sessions, two runs and one yoga class, plus walks with the pup. This was my goal last week, but I ended up getting really busy, but this week it’s gonna happen!
I totally agree. I know that with some time management systems (Franklin Covey, in particular), part of the system is to devote a period of time first thing in the morning to gathering your thoughts and plan your day’s activities, review larger goals, etc. – I will be doing this early – not so much their system, but taking time to get organized.
Great goals! Hopefully others chime in too -
My fitness goal for this week is to design a version of the 100 pushup plan for chin-ups..and then get going on it.
I’m going to run, run, run again, do pushups and abs!
If I’m feeling particularly masochistic I will get out my bike as well.
I’m up by 5:30 every day now. I used to be like you but having a family changed all that.
I’m very active with the dogs at the kennel. I just started with my new Needak Rebounder and can say this is perfect for me. I look forward to using this little gem this winter when it’s a frozen tundra here.
I also love to walk so everynight I take the two dogs (my own) out for a walk in the woods. I think it’s more a mental exercise than for my body.
I seem to have a natural tendency to stay up late and sleep late in the morning. I have to be careful and keep myself on a normal sleep and rise routine. I make myself go to bed by 11:00 to 12:00 pm and get up no later than 8:00am.
I have been off my routine of eating healthy and exercising. I have got back on the wagon and have lost 2 pounds this week. I am going to ride my new bike every day for the rest of this week. (back to baby steps) I went to the farmer market and bought some good food. I am back to eating only real food again. I sinned as well during my holiday. I had ice cream every day and had broke down and bought a box of twinkies. I had not had twinkies for 4 years. Can you believe it? Hangs head in shame!
I seem to have shifted around a lot in terms of my sleep pattern. When really young, I got up before sunrise and watched the sun come up. Then I went to staying up late, being a night owl and getting up late. Now I seem happiest when I get up once it is good and light out, though I still tend to staying up later than I should and arising about 8 hours after I go to bed.
Having a husband whose shifts rotate on a regular basis doesn’t help though. OTOH, the furry children like to get up at 7AM and ah, also like to be fed then. So I almost never set an alarm, as if I don’t wake on my own like I normally do, the cats will take care of it in a “pointed” manner.
I do find that I get more done when I am up earlier, so I need to start making going to bed earlier a habit.
@DR: Good luck with that…If it involves standing on a box, I may be able to hit 100. Maybe.
@Andrew: Hey there Andrew! Good plan. your’s is always one of my biggest inspirations. How many hours difference is there between NZ and the Pacific Northwest? I’m guessing….9? Will have to check…
@Robin: Hi Robin – What is the “Needak Rebounder?” Have you written about it and I missed it? Incidentally, for today’s exercise I took my son for a walk (he rode his scooter) and one of our dogs for a ball toss. Not exactly a cardio workout, but I got out there nonetheless..
@Christine: Thank you for your example in this – I’ve got the wheels back on my wagon too – so hopefully it will start to show. But no shame here – as you will recall, I had a “cheeseburger hotdog” — you have no IDEA how bad that had to have been. . .
@Cynthia: LOL I have to tell ya…..when I first read, “furry children” I did not catch on for a few moments there and was doing the old, “….huh?….” — I think I need more sleep. Too Funny!
MetroKnow the Needak Rebounder is a mini trampoline. Now every cell in my body can get stronger,
from head to toes . . . via “G force,” which doesn’t differentiate from going forward, backwards or up and down . . . Weightless at the top of the bounce, and increased G force at the bottom.
I haven’t done a post about it yet – soon. I do have a link for people to check it out.