The Resolutionists

I'm sure that every gym has them in January. Those fresh-faced gym-goers, brushing dust from sneakers that have languished since September, pretending to remember how someone told them to use the machines months ago. If they just smile and act like they know what they're doing, then no one will notice they're using the leg machine backwards.

They crowd the gym through the first month of the year, full of determination and hope. They clutter the machines and take over the hand weights. Mats are in short supply and the track is almost never empty. I would blame the lack of respect for the posted lane usages on them, but it seems that no one ever pays much attention to them (walk on the inside, run on the outside - is it really that hard?).

Aerobics classes are packed, and the spin classes might not have bikes to spare for a walk-in. The climbing wall attracts new crowds and reservations are required for the racquetball courts. No room to lay down in the sauna and good luck squeezing into the hot tub, a favorite spot for resolutionists.

And it's good they're there. Sure, the crowds are a bit irksome to the regulars, but we know they won't last. Mid-February, March at the latest, and the crowds will have thinned back to those of us who put going to the gym high on the list of priorities. The crazy ones among whom I now count myself.

The few who join our ranks will be as I once was. They will find that exercise does more than work the body. It focuses the mind and soothes the spirit. Hard physical effort can exhaust the body, but it brings compensatory satisfaction. These realizations are what turn resolutionists into regulars.

Break Week

I'm going to be doing some traveling this week, and so I decided to take a break in my pull up workout.

This is the 16th week of my re-started pull up workout. I started back in May, managed nearly 15 weeks of solid work and then had some vacation and illness issues. I stopped for about 6 weeks before restarting.

And, after 15 more weeks of work and some weight loss, I'm close. I can almost taste that bar. I can get my chin over the bar by using the smallest of kips to get my elbows sharply bent and I can bend my arms from a dead hang, but not quite complete the motion. I just need to put those pieces together. And they are close.

Taking a break from the pull up workout makes sense with my travel schedule, but I also think that the rest might help me come back fresher. Although, I'm still doing the tabata challenge, so I won't be entirely resting. I even plan on doing some tabatas at the airport. I think chair triceps dips will work, and then maybe carry-on bag weighted walking lunges if nothing else strikes my fancy.

Repeating Tabatas

I made it halfway through January 11th before I repeated a tabata for the January Tabata Challenge. My original goal was a week, but then I kept thinking of other exercises I could do - especially when I went to the gym and had access to more equipment.

And, to be honest, I could have kept from repeating myself on Monday by doing a set of sprints instead of walking lunges. But I wasn't feeling well, and I didn't want to challenge my lungs with running of any kind. Or I could have done american kettle bell swings, which are distinct from russian kettle bell swings. I could even have attempted a set of double unders, but I still can't do two in a row with any consistency (double unders are my next goal after I get a pull up).

So, with the no-repeats streak broken, I went with sit ups and push ups on Tuesday morning, the first morning that I actually got the exercises done after I woke up instead of waiting until the end of the day - a trend I hope to continue.

I've been feeling like I have the cold that never ends, and there's no way I would have kept up doing 2 tabatas a day this month without the challenge. I'm on a streak, and streaks are powerful. Each day's exercise seems smaller and not as challenging when viewed in context as pieces within the larger challenge. The form of the tabatas themselves work that way as well - all I need to do is 20 seconds, 8 times. That's hardly any time at all!

The first set is easy. Maybe the second set, too. Once it starts getting hard, you're on a roll. Four sets? That's halfway - you can't quit now! It's over before you know it, and one more day of the challenge is complete.

And from the perspective of now, I plan to keep going. Maybe not every day, but I can see and feel the differences in my body as I focus on doing those 2 sets each day, no matter which exercise I end up doing. There isn't really a reward for doing this challenge. No one is going to hand me a prize if I complete it. But I already feel like I've won.

Tabata Challenge

Someone at my CrossFit box posted a challenge Facebook. A 31 day, January Tabata challenge.

And when I first saw it, I thought it looked cool and proceeded to ignore it.

But then, the new year approached, and I felt compelled to give it a closer look. Could I go 31 days, the entire month of January, doing 2 tabata sets every single day? Why not? Tabata is simple. It can be done at home with body weight exercises. It's just 8 sets of 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest. Twice.

And so, on January 1st, I completed with sit ups and jumping jacks.

On the 2nd, I made it to the gym and tackled planks and single under jump ropes.

I didn't want to go to the gym on the 3rd, but my husband dragged me along and I reluctantly kept my streak going with dead hang and rowing. Both of them were harder than I thought they'd be. (Actually, everything has been harder than I thought it would be.)

On the 4th day of the challenge, I decided to try and make it 7 days without repeating an exercise, leading me to knee push ups and chair triceps dips.

The triceps dips were a last second substitution. I tried doing air squats before completing the dips, but my quads were still wrecked from last Thursday's WOD. Sure, I only completed 25 sets out of 30 in the allotted 30 minutes, but that's still an awful lot of box assisted pull ups (125), knee push ups(250) and air squats (375). After attempting a single round of tabata for air squats, I decided my legs were, in fact, hurting with bad pain, not "work through it" pain.

I had the best of intentions on the 5th day. I was going to get up and just do them, whatever they might be, most likely a glute bridge and mountain climbers. Instead, my husband woke me at 6:04. The alarm was set. Ambrose tells me the alarm went off at its designated time of 5:42. But I didn't wake up enough to do more than hit the off button - not the snooze button, the off button. And I don't remember hitting it.

And so it was nearly 7pm before I managed to get my glute bridge and v-up tabatas done. But I did. And I will complete challenge.