Search For Fitness

I had a really good workout tonight. I'm not quite as aggressive with my muscles as I was when I first got into it this summer. Carlos told me that the best way to achieve rapid muscle growth is to go with a nice high weight, that you can just barely do maybe 8-10 reps, 3 sets... pretty much wears you out. Then drop to a lower weight and repeat. Keep it up until you can barely move any weight at all! Well, I did that to some degree initially. Now I just do the main set with the heaviest weight that I can do close to 3x12. So tonight I did good sets on my biceps and triceps, plus I did around 3x15 leg lifts and 3x20 crunches (each is supposed to work different abdominal muscles.) After that, I rested for a bit, and then hopped on a recumbent bike. I stayed on there for around 45 minutes, past the 10 mile mark, and burning close to 400 calories! I honestly don't remember the last time I got a shirt so sweaty! Anyway...

It might be apparent that I'm kind of set on losing some weight and working on my muscles and improving my body image (and self image). Since high school, I've gained weight. Sometimes I would do something to rein it in, but I've never gotten myself back to an athletic build. And really, in high school, I was mostly just skinny, not muscular. So I've never had a good muscular build. And I want one. Maybe not forever. Maybe just for a little while. But then the closer I get, the more I like it, the more I want it, the more I find some drive to skip that cookie or pudding or beer and get myself to the gym.

While I'm pretty sure this is a pretty healthy fascination, I do wonder if there are any negative sides of the coin. On the plus side, I worry about possibly being at risk for diabetes. While I don't have any direct family history, my dad has told me about some symptoms that I can relate to and that really frighten me. The main one is the energy crash that comes with a drop in blood sugar levels. For a while there, I'd get shaky, weak and extremely hungry a little before lunch time. Not just once in a while, sometimes several times a week. I also believe I've exhibited some signs of poor circulation which can also be an indicator of diabetes trouble. So... to be as healthy and safe about it as I can, I'm trying to avoid sugar binges and even alcohol binges which also spike your blood sugar levels (and have subsequent period of a drop!) And the exercise helps with that, as has my habit of eating more small meals throughout the day. Though I still struggle with dinner, which is often basically 3-4 meals that go as late as 10 or 11PM...

So I guess the only negative I worry about is that I'm already a picky guy when it comes to girls! And I know I'm not perfect, and I don't look for "perfect" in a girl. As I like to say, I'm picky about the relationship, the chemistry. Not the girl. But being physically attracted is one of the wheels on my love bus and I can't leave the station without it! I am not ONLY superficial though. The fun we have together is really much more important, and being able to converse intelligently, sarcastically and positively. So, the way I see it, anyway, is just that me being healthy removes a bit of the road block for a girl to like me... in other words, she won't dismiss me because I'm not fit like her. Sometimes I wonder if that's why I didn't get fit sooner. If I think I have all aspects of my life pretty figured out and squared away, and I still don't find the right girl, then what's wrong with me?! Now I can find out if that's how it'll happen...