Craw Fu

Since blowing up my knee, I have gotten terribly out of shape.  Yes, a lot of it has been that, for months exercise was impossible, and after that difficult and painful for quite some time.  But a lot of it has also been laziness.  When you are this out of shape, you have less energy and exercise requires more effort. Frequently I get home from work and can't seem to summon the effort to spend an hour in the gym.  Thus I've enacted phase 1 of my new plan. 

I've started getting up early every morning to get a half hour on the exercise bike before heading off to work.  This is difficult for me since I already have a hard time getting up in the morning, and getting up earlier is a burden.  Regardless, this plan went into effect on Wednesday, and after 3 days I thought I was going to die when the alarm clock went off.  Exercising when you're low on energy after a long day is one thing, but exercising when you're half asleep is quite another.  Wednesday and Thursday I pushed through, but by Friday I managed to spend 5 minutes on the exercise bike before I started thinking about calling in sick and going back to bed.  I'm going to try to keep up this regimen, however if it is going to be successful I'm going to have to start getting to sleep earlier which will be difficult. 

The plan is not to replace evening exercising with morning exercise, but to augment it.  I figure that getting the cardio out of the way in the mornign will free me up to focus more on weights and ab toning in the evenings.  And a second round of cardio until I can burn off enough pounds that I feel better and sleep better.  I've never been a fan of jogging - it is torment - and a bad knee just makes it that much worse.  So I've been focusing on the elliptical trainer and exercise bike instead.  I try to get a minimum of 30 minutes and 3 miles on the elliptical, or 30 minutes and 10 miles on the bike, and despite the hate I try to get on the treadmill at least once a week, even if only for a half mile. Usually I finish with a soaked shirt and a puddle of sweat on the floor. 

Ultimately the goal is to lose 30 pounds - I'm about 200 right now and it's a lot of effort hauling around that much weight.  If I can get it done in 4 months I'll be happy.  Staying motivated is the hard part.  And eating better.  I can't seem to keep a healthy diet going for more than a month at a stretch. 

On a tangent, I realized that the recent rash of injuries started after cutting my hair.  No sooner than the long hair is gone and I start falling apart and spending all my time in hospitals and physical therapy.  I never headed the warning of the story of Samson.  And what's worse, I don't get the benefit of a Delilah to pleasure me before dragging me down.  I did all this to myself.  And growing the hair back won't put humpty dumpty back together again, and I have my doubts that it will halt further crippling.  It's just going to be a slow, steady decline from here on out.