Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Exercise and Keeping Fit

For almost 5 months now, I have been conscientiously sweating away at the gym to improve both my looks and the disaster that has been my fitness for the better part of the last five years.

I was almost fit for a while after the South American trip, the altitude and plenty of walking meant that I can back leaner, with a incredibly high oxygen absorption rate.  But that was all a very temporary arrangement as my weight bounced back quickly and even with some initial attempts to maintain the fitness I was lost it after 4 months.

But this time round I feel that I really can it will be different - I have averaged around 5 days at the gym in most weeks and even when I went back to Cape Town and Hong Kongfor a short holidays I have managed to go jogging occasionally to make sure that my fitness doesn't slip away while I was on holiday.

My fitness is still far from being called good - but my numbers (according to the heart rate monitor and the treadmilss) has been steadily improving.  I recently (last 3 weeks) seem to have reached a plateau and realised that I have reached the limited effects of only running at  constant speed.  Now I have returned to lifting some weights and doing short but strenuous runs at either high speeds or high inclines.

However this rather stable arrangement has a few challenges coming up on the horizon.  Firstly I will be moving from my current location to another place that will not be as convenient as the place I'm staying right now and since I started working properly full time again it will be harder for me to find the quality time to exercise.

With luck this will be a challenge to rise to and with perseverance (and compulsive obsession) I will continue.

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