exercise

[quarrel]

I've kept things simple and unstrenuous so far since I basically started cold. The goal, arranged with a friend for mutual support, was originally 60 minutes a day, every day. It's dropped to 30 for both of us: for him because he doesn't have the time, for me because I can't handle it. I've got a jumprope for cardiovascular work, and I'm doing crunches and pushups every other day for muscle tone. I'd like to be doing pullups as well, but I don't have a spot to do them.

Results are mixed so far. On one hand, I've already felt improvements after one week. On the other, it's a big relative improvement over practically nothing. Jumping rope is surprisingly difficult, and even now I can't sustain it for even ten minutes. My legs tire too fast. If things don't improve, I'll need to switch or supplant it with something like biking or hard walking. Over the Olympics I walked around Vancouver something like five to ten miles per day for three days straight and it didn't tire me out, so I can't consider it a workout. It wasn't a strenuous pace and it was spread over the course of an entire day.

Comments

update: more failure

[quarrel.livejournal.com]

Jumping jacks are only slightly less strenuous than skipping rope. They're still too taxing to use as a way to keep my heart rate elevated to a consistently high enough level, for long enough, to be meaningful.

I set a 15 minute timer today and pushed myself probably harder than I should have. It read around 11:00 when I had to stop. I walked off the burn for a minute and did short sets to finish out the time. Then I noticed the timer read about 8:30. Yeah, that's right. It was counting down. I hadn't even hit the four-minute mark. How the hell am I supposed to do half an hour a day?

And yet I was able to ride a bike fourteen miles yesterday. I don't know what's going on. This isn't making any sense.