Exercising is the first step

It’s already Spring! That means it’s almost summer, and with summer means shorts and T-shirts and bare skin. In short, it’s time for exercising again. I’ve been gaining lots of fat (I’m not even sure if it’s weight) over the winter by eating and not exercising. So I’ve settled it: I will be working out. I will not be trying to work out–I will do it!

I actually started exercising yesterday. Since I’ve taken over my sister’s room, each time I look up from the computer, I see the motto “don’t leave ’til tomorrow what you can do today” written in red on a post-it note. Thus, I decided to stop sitting idly around and pushing off the fact that I needed to go burn calories and actually just jump into action!

So what is my workout routine? Well, since I’m just starting to get back to exercising, I’m letting myself take it easy in the beginning and then go towards a more strenuous workout as my muscles get used to everything. That is to say, I’m walking a lot right now. It sounds a little pathetic, but it actually does help me get used to having to run more. I’m not motivated enough to run two hours at one time, like I did in the Spring of eighth grade for track. No, since I get to work at my own pace, I’ll save myself the trouble of sore muscles and increase my level of activity slowly.

I’ve set aside one hour per day to exercise that includes:

• 30 minutes of running and walking
• 20 sit-ups (I’ll be increasing this by intervals of 5 until I reach 100 per day)
• 20 “arm lifts” (I have no idea what this is called, but I saw it on this workout special)
• 20 “inner arm lifts” (again, I have no idea what this is called)

I’m running and walking on an electrically powered treadmill in my basement. My dad had actually bought this treadmill for a whopping $999 last summer because he wanted my sister and me to workout so we could stay in shape and be healthy. We had the choice of getting the treadmill or a Playstation 2 and DDR. My sister decided to get the treadmill because she thought she would stay more focused on exercising, but instead, a layer of dust settled on it soon after we managed to move it into our basement. Also, we bought the treadmill too hastily because my sister thought she was getting a great deal that would end soon, but it seems that the deal still has not ended. Funny how advertisements can be deceiving, eh?

Well, I decided to get more bang for my buck, so I’m using the money-eating treadmill now. The only problem I foresee is whether I can keep motivated to keep on exercising. But that’s the ultimate challenge that I’ll have to master–making myself know that I have to get down to work, even if I don’t want to.