I haven’t talked about my body project since 13th January, so let me catch you up.
I worked my arse off from April 2012 for some 18 months until August last year. I was posting pretty regular bicep shots as progress reports (you can see them in the sidebar over here), and you can see the overall results on the right there. I’m pretty happy with myself (but never happy enough!) *smile*.
But I realised in looking at the photos, and the work that I put in to get there, that unless I wanted to expend a whole bunch of serious (I mean Serious with a capital S) energy and effort in both training and diet, I wasn’t going to get the visible muscle that I really wanted. This revelation took the wind out of my sails a bit, and I kind of went into ‘maintenance mode’ while I tried to decide ‘what now’ if that goal wasn’t attainable.
Then I did something to my knee in December, so with a Christmas break and the injury, I slacked off some. To be clear, I didn’t stop going to the gym, but I DID stop eating as well, I stopped pushing myself, and I pretty much cut down my workouts to three a week.
THIS IS NOT BAD (I keep having to say that to myself, and I know it’s true, but I also know what it feels like to *work* vs ‘phoning it in’, and I was doing more of the latter). If you want to see a summary of my sessions month-by-month, I did log it throughout and you can take a look here.
I finally went to the physio for my knee and found that I have a patella tracking problem. He claims that I have a lazy arse that isn’t doing any work. I guess I can’t argue with that.
So all of that blah blah adds up to the fact that I am not really making any progress to speak of, and I’m not sure what sort of progress I want to make exactly, which leads to a motivation problem. This is something that anyone who has worked on their fitness can relate to I imagine.
I think my workout crew has felt it also since I became a lot quieter about it and wasn’t rah rahing as much. Then they were also plagued by injuries and changing circumstances, so it feels a bit like we ALL hit a wall over the last few months.
For the moment, I am stepping it up again to five sessions a week in the lead-up to an island holiday at the end of June. I’m trying to use that as motivation to give myself a kick up the arse for the next two months so I can shamelessly rock a bikini.
In the meantime, there isn’t going to be much new or exciting to talk about or to show you unless I come up with a new definitive goal though, so you probably won’t hear much more about the body project here on the blog. Still, you are always welcome to go check out my workouts and those of my workout crew and yell encouragement at us.
TL;DR I’m still working out, it’s just not really very interesting to write about.
13 comments
Unless that photo is way out of date, you’re already beach-body ready. Just this weekend I started my own body project, which I’m tracking on Tumblr (http://neosbodyproject.tumblr.com/). My primary goal is weight loss for health reasons, followed by fitness to do more of the things I enjoy, and to look better. I know it’s early, but I’m having a surprising amount of success by mostly focusing on being mindful of what I’m doing.
*smile* Thanks, though I’m of the mind that *everyone* is ‘beach-body ready‘!
For me, it’s more about having a personal goal: Without a goal, I tend to flail about and just lose motivation.
“I know it’s early, but I’m having a surprising amount of success by mostly focusing on being mindful of what I’m doing.”
I had a look at your tumblr: Good for you!! I think being mindful is a really big deal. We often zombie through our days without thought and are completely unaware of how little we are moving or how much we are eating. It’s quite shocking really.
Ferns
You’re looking good, Ms. Ferns. I’m glad to see that you haven’t given up, although I’m not sure how much more muscle definition you would have expected. What I see looks pretty consistent with someone who puts in a few good days a week of lifting and watches their diet.
I’d thought about asking to join the crew, but you kids with your cable dip lat machines and bosu ball pilates hot stone yoga classes make me feel a bit backward and inadequate. I’m jut an old guy who’s been quietly, but steadily lifting a bunch of iron weights in my basement all winter, and now I’m looking forward to putting some miles on my road bike when it warms up a little more.
I guess I should stop with the stupid April Fools posts and start putting up real content again, huh?
“I’m not sure how much more muscle definition you would have expected.”
I wanted resting muscle definition (especially in my arms and stomach). I worked as hard as I could (with variations to see what worked), I ate really clean, but finally had to admit that it just ain’t gonna happen without the capital S Serious dedication.
“I’m jut an old guy who’s been quietly, but steadily lifting a bunch of iron weights in my basement all winter, and now I’m looking forward to putting some miles on my road bike when it warms up a little more.”
*smile* Well, I look forward to the pictures… There’ll be pictures, right? Of course there will.
Ferns
STOP! Ferns you look fine I just think you need to accept you’re TEH HAWTZ and get over yourself
Coug (Retd) :D
*laugh* Thank you.
Bitch, I’m fabulous! I just want to be fabulouser (is SO a word!).
Truth is that I’m incredibly lazy and also incredibly vain: This is an unfortunate combination. And if I don’t have a goal to push towards, I’ll just let it slide, and man, all that work goes down the tubes so damn fast. Ugh. So I’m doing a bunch of mental work to avoid that and ‘Eh, I’m fine’ doesn’t work for that.
Ferns
I love that pic!!! from now on it will be forever enshrined in my hall of memory or until you know I forget *shrug*
Coug
Don’t worry, I will keep reminding you when you get the oldtimers… :P
Ferns
A breath taking and inspiring photo. Thank you for sharing it. You already rock out a bikini gorgeous. However, I so understand about the lack of motivation. I am hoping soon I get the funds together for the gym I want to go too and then the investment should motivate me a little. I am still here in the corner cheering you on all the way regardless of goals or not.
Respectfully,
Mysticlez
Thank you for the loveliness *smile*.
I think anyone who has ever tried to get fit understands the lack of motivation.
I read a thing somewhere where the ‘rah rah’ talk was all about “STFU about motivation, you don’t need that shit. You go to work when you don’t feel like it, you cook meals when you don’t feel like it. You do it because that’s how you get income and food. There’s no ‘motivation’. You just do it. So stop waiting to feel ‘motivated’ just go and fucking DO IT.”
I think the issue is that mostly there’s no immediate reward: It’s a slow, long slog. And if you don’t change the bad habits that you have in the process, you WILL backslide. Which is why short term goals are so important for me: I need to feel like I have achieved something.
It should be easier. Truly.
Ferns
You do not look like you need motivation, smile. But I certainly understand motivation and/or the lack thereof.
A long time ago, I saw a runner with a T-Shirt that said, “Training for Life”. I liked that, and if you can mentally frame that to be the goal, perhaps that works.
Otherwise, getting enough sleep is a big help to me in maintaining motivation. And always exploring new routines.
Hang in there, ride the low motivation periods out, motivation comes and goes….
Best
*smile* Thanks for the compliment.
For me it’s having clear goals. Without them I’m all adrift because then I get to ‘eh, why am I doing this then?’ which is a motivation killer.
The holiday will work for the moment. And compliments don’t hurt at all *smile*.
Ferns