Saturday, January 29, 2011

Practice, practice, practice...and the benefits of regular exercise

If you've followed my exercise saga you know that last year I transitioned from Richard Simmons to Wii Fit Plus to power-walking/jogging/running and ultimately to the P90X workout regimen. Then, in September, an injury and subsequent tumble off the exercise-wagon gave me a bad case of couchpotatoitis. Travel and holidays and conflicting demands on my time, as well as a reluctance to dive back into the P90X all-out time commitment, contributed to my putting off any serious renewal of an exercise routine.

This year, my workout efforts are stumbling along in fits and starts; an hour here, 30 minutes there. As part of my 3 Words for 2011 and my goals defined for this year I decided that 4 hours per week should be sufficient to move me toward my fitness goals and to maintain some balance in my life. This week (the last week in January) is the first time I've met the 4-hour goal.

I know P90X is a great way to get in shape (such as the notable P90X devotee in congress that a friend highlighted for me). I know I was making fabulous progress toward my goals when I was exercising an hour to an hour and a half every day and strictly adhering to the P90X routine, but the trade-offs were high. I sacrificed the time available for reading & writing and that's not acceptable. But sitting around on an expanding tush isn't acceptable either.

Just as November's novel-writing effort required tremendous determination to push through the resistance of inertia brought on by a long spell of not writing, getting back into the swing of writing & exercising and having the discipline to set my own routine for reading, writing and using the P90X workouts is requiring determination. But I am not giving up. I will stick with my goals and commitments. I will practice discipline and I will benefit.

Saturday, January 01, 2011

Viva Las Vegas!

I started out embedding photos, then decided to go for the gusto in true Vegas style. Here's a video montage of sights and sites from our four-day stay in Las Vegas.