Working on Working Out - Week One

Well, it's been a week. Here's my progress, according to the important days. (Incidentally, Day 1 is the meat and potatoes and I'll be posting that on Whistlerisawesome.com.)

Day 2

Ow.

So much for no drinking. Weekends are the killer for that; there's always friends coming up and they want to party. Unfortunately for us hosts, every day is a friday sometimes… In any case, I awoke with a headache from whisky, and sore muscles from the first exercise my body has seen in months.

But you know what? I knew it wasn't going to be easy when I started, so I have to power through. Sweat out the pain. 50 sit-ups, 50 pushups.

Day 4

Not content with my quest of 100 pushups and 200 sit ups, I went to the village and bought a jump rope, and - what? Shut up; it's not gay. You know who jumps rope? Rocky Balboa. You know who else? Jesus. Probably. Anyway, $28 of my money gets me a weighted handled jump rope that actually looks kind of like an extension cord.

(Seriously guys, you should look at this jump rope. It could only be manlier if it was made of barbed wire with poison all over it. Or something.)

Day 7

I suspect I've hurt something.

My stomach hurts like I pulled an abdominal. (Is that what they're called?) It's not "hernia" pain, but it's certainly hampering my efforts.

I'm up to 81 sit-ups from the apps, 71 pushups, and I'm hitting the rope with 100 consecutive jumps. Due to my chronic "no-idea-what-I'm-doing" affliction, I'm going to take the techno advice and train Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with cardio work on the "off" days.

And maybe the doctor.

And then work out a way to get fit without using whatever's hurt, I guess!

Finally - Motivation AND a platform!

In my last post I wrote about the struggles of finding the energy required to get back to fighting form for the winter. Well, serendipitously, I happened to email the editor of Whistler Is Awesome and when she read that on my site, she suggested I run with it (no pun intended).

So I'm getting healthy. What I'm going to do is write something on here every week detailing my progress and how I'm dealing with not being a lazy sonofabitch, with a general weekly overview (the best parts) going to WIA.

So yay! Except god damn my abs hurt after only 2 days!

Working out isn't working out.

People, it's fair to say that I am lazy. However, the only person that gets to say that is me. I do not appreciate judgement. It's all well and good berating me for not having any drive to get healthier, but you have to understand: I wasn't an athletic kid, and I'm not an athletic man.  You can't paint stripes on a horse and call it a zebra.

So the reason for all this is that I want to get fit for this winter, but a guy who rarely visits the gym doesn't know where to start.

Firstly, there's the embarrassment factor. I'm not gonna sit next to a friend and pick up a fraction of the weight he is for too long. I have pride. Then there's the fact that I'm starting from essentially nothing, while all my friends (literally all of them) that are interested in exercise and health etc. are miles ahead of me on the curve. What you see as "only" doing so many reps so many times a day, I see as a mountain that, frankly, I can't be fucking bothered to even start climbing, let alone reach the lofty peaks alongside my brethren.

So ok, do it alone.

Because that's super fun. And I already detailed my motivation issues. And I'm not buying a bunch of weights that are just going to take up space in my already cluttered bedroom (probably next to my old snowboards and my broken Fender.)

Any thoughts?

One step closer to Magic...

This weekend has just seen the running of the Gran Fondo, something I cannot comprehend as an idea of "fun". Biking up the Sea to Sky (and I do mean "up") on a 30 degree C day sounds more like a punishment, and I think the only prize is "accolade". Forgive me for not rushing to get my camera, I mean Lance isn't entering is he? But whatever, different horses for different courses.

 But in a way I was looking forward to it, much in the same way I look forward to the Bike park closing (Oct. 10th) - we're inching ever closer to the winter season. And you know what that means.

 It's ski movie time.

 A couple have already premiered, but the one that everyone is frothing over tickets (sold out people, sorry) is Brain Farm's follow up to the 2008 hit That's It That's All, The Art of Flight. Premiering tomorrow night at the Telus Conference Centre, this promises those jaw-dropping scenes and breathtaking lines that we've come to expect from Travis Rice, Scotty Lago, and the rest.

 And I've seen it.

 It doesn't matter how this worked in my favour, but let's just say I have some good friends that had access to a prescreening.

 This movie is perfect. It makes you realise how amazing people can be in the air, how athletic they must be to be able to backflip into a tree bonk, just to get the perfect shot. It's a testament to what snowboarding should be for everyone - fun, exciting, a little scary (there's an epic set in Nelson that's just avalanche after avalanche) and refreshing. It reminds me how much fun it can be, and with the right soundtrack it's a session to remember (I reviewed The Naked and Famous' album a while back, and they scored not one but two tracks on TAOF).

 So yeah. Bring the snow. I'm already pumped.