LAYERS

STRENGTH AND COMPOSITION

I feel a shift in my body. For me, the easiest and most effective form of exercise is strength training. After only a handful of workouts I'm seeing and feeling small changes in the foundation of my body. There is visible curve on both my biceps and triceps. Also my waist is tightening. Unfortunately my fatty layer does nothing to showcase these positive changes. Fat is a substance that is light and takes up lots of real-estate. Muscle on the other hand is dense, heavy and smooth. Also, muscle is active. Muscle eats fat. It's a vascular tissue; the driving force behind your metabolism. Muscle is an active tissue that is constantly renewing itself therefore requiring energy (calories). The primary source of energy for muscle is fat.

While building muscle is helping decrease my fatty layers, I'm also looking to cardio to speed up the process. I mean, saying should I do cardio or weight training is sort of like saying should I drink water or breathe? I view cardio as an opportunity to have a huge impact in the state of my over all health. It relieves stress, while lowering my chance of getting diabetes (which is in my family.) Also, I'm on medication for asthma. While exercise won't cure asthma, it certainly helps lung function.

Any worthwhile fitness and life-style program needs to address the concept of body composition. In physical fitness, body composition is used to describe the percentages of fat, bone and muscle in human bodies. Because muscular tissue takes up less space in our body than fat tissue, our body composition, as well as our weight, determines leanness. Two people at the same height and same body weight may look completely different from each other because they have a different body composition. They also might wear totally different sizes of clothing.

Fitness and health don't just serve vanity. A fit lean body helps an individual live both longer and better. By better I mean better to express their soul. There is a basic boost in confidence that comes from being in shape. A person feeling that boost in confidence is often more likely to express their opinions, and stand up for their beliefs.

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I keep reading that a key way to stick to a fitness program is to keep an exercise journal. I've now been keeping one for the last couple of weeks. Sure enough, I've been exercising most days. But the thing is, I don't seem to be able to keep a journal that is is just cut and dried boring. I mean I started writing things like treadmill for three miles, four sets of bicep curls....but let's face it, that makes for totally boring reading. Anyone who knows me knows that writing and reading are at the forefront of my identity. My "exercise journal" began being filled with concepts, emotions, and (God I'm a geek!) vocabulary. Yeah...I wish I was kidding.

I've taken some time to get really quiet, and explore the idea of goal setting. I think it's important to recognize that you can't always predict/control the outcome of your efforts. For instance, instead of saying I'll lost thirty pounds in three months, you might be better off saying I'm going to eat thirteen hundred calories a day, do sixty minutes of vigorous cardio five days a week, strength train every other day, and cut out sugar. See the difference? You may lose those thirty pounds if you adhere to those guidelines. This puts you more in control of your destiny.

It's helpful to list your goals, maybe even show them to a trusted comrade. These lists can be helpful to look at when you are feeling sore, tired, bored, or mindlessly hungry. It's also important to be setting goals for yourself because you want to make the changes. You can't really sustain a lifestyle change just to please someone else. This is not to say that can't find inspiration in others. But ultimately you are doing this for you. When you commit those goals to paper, make sure you mean it. A series of failed attempts can dampen your spirit.

It sucks to start with baby steps...but it pays to start with baby steps. Those first weeks of diet and exercise can be really tough. My frustration comes from having done all this before. I'm a card carrying member of the Yo-Yo Sisterhood. I've been doing a personal inventory, trying to figure what the possible silver lining there is in having lost a great deal of weight, then after several years gained it all back. Surprisingly, I did come up with one. As a person who has been through this before I know that I can do it again (it's really hard, but it can be done.) I also know that I can combine my love of writing (and the advent of blogging) with my current effort. Therefor I may actually be able to help other people (I firmly believe that you can't live a good life, or truly be happy if you don't help others.)

Still, these early days of building a foundation for a more rigorous life-long fitness plan are frustrating. My body is not even near strong enough to do the workout I know will get me into the shape I want to be in. But that is why I'm doing the foundation work out that I'm doing right now. It involves the most basic types of exercise. I'm mainly doing the treadmill, with free weights for my upper body. I'm also throwing in a small amount of basic yoga for flexibility and stress relief.