Goals for this week - exercise!

[LostPancake]

[this is kind of thinking out loud - just wanting a decent exercise routine]

I seriously need to get into an exercise routine. I don't have enough energy to get all my stuff done.

So I'll start gradually and build up to 30mins aerobic exercise a day.

Today I'll just do 5 mins. Even though that might not even get into the aerobic regime. It's tricky starting, cause you get tired out, and finals are approaching.

The other thing is - what exercise? I have a bike but am not crazy about riding around the neighborhood. I want to build a stand for it but it'll take a few hours. If I had stairs I'd just do that. And I ditched my little floor exercycle thing when I moved. Bad idea. Maybe just a block of wood I could do steps on and off? Or jogging in place? Jumprope?

I also don't want to make too much noise in my apartment (which has squeaky floors), cause then the people above me might step up their noise again also. They've been much quieter lately. Otherwise I'd pace around my apartment, which is pretty decent exercise.

Or I could go for a walk. Again, not crazy about it.

And also, I should probably do pushups and situps everyday - those are my fav exercises. And maybe the squat things.

So maybe I'll try the jogging in place for 5 mins, then add 5 mins a day until I get to 30 min.

But how will I keep from getting bored?? Maybe I could read a book while I do it? Or listen to podcasts? Or music? Or go through project ideas and stuff? Urgh. I'll have to find something or I'll just avoid doing it. I'll have to experiment.

Okay, so I'll to do that this week.

[sadsurvivor]

Jumping rope, jogging in place and step aerobics could be noisy in your apartment. I also wouldn't recommend jumping rope or jogging to someone who doesn't exercise regularly. It is too intense. You could get injured or give up. Besides, jogging in place is so boring. You need to find something enjoyable so you will stick with it. Is going to a gym an option? Apartments and schools sometimes have gyms. If not, riding your bike or walking around the neighborhood sounds like one of the better options. I would definitely do some conditioning exercises (like sit ups and pushups). Those aren't usually noisy exercises but can get boring. So, keep changing up your routine. There is lots of stuff on the internet (like youtube and sparkpeople) that tell you how to keep an exercise routine interesting. "Exercisetv" is just one of the youtube channels you can try.

[Recusant]

If its people seeing you riding your bike that bothers you, or if theres too much traffic, do what i do and right it at night

[LostPancake]

Thanks for the suggestions guys - I am kind of reluctant to exercise in public because there are some days I would probably not feel up to it, and I'd wind up skipping exercise for the day. Plus weather might interfere, being too hot or rainy. So I'd like to have a base routine that is just indoors at home, and maybe if I'm feeling better I could try the bike riding or gym - there is one at my school I haven't tried yet.

I might also try walking or biking at night - I recently had a final that got out at 10pm on Saturday night (!), and it was actually the first time I'd walked around this neighborhood at night, and even the busy intersection wasn't very busy. The rest of the neighborhood was surprisingly quiet. I only heard one drunken scream in the distance. So on weeknights I imagine it would be fairly nice. Unless this was just due to it being so near the end of the semester, but I might give it a shot sometime.

As for the indoor exercise, I wound up setting a timer, putting on my ipod and doing anything that got my heart rate up - squats, marching in place with knees high, shadowboxing, etc. I wound up only increasing it by a minute or two a day, so I'm up to about 16minutes by now. I think it's already been helping with my energy levels, and maybe even a little bit with anxiety.

This summer I'm gonna try to set up a floor exercycle thing and hook it up to a generator and battery, and then use that to charge my ipod and phone, so it'll give me some more motivation to exercise. Also could have it quantify how much energy I'm generating - the other time I had a floor exercycle I think I wound up tapering off the intensity gradually out of laziness - it didn't have any calorie readouts or anything.

Also I'd like to get one of those chest-strap heart monitor things, to make sure I'm staying in the target zone.

So anyway, I think actually posting this publicly helped me stick with the goal, cause I knew I didn't want to have to post and say aw, I gave up, or something.

[slylikeafox]

Congrats on being successful with the exercising. Hooking an exercycle up to a generator sounds like a fun idea.

Originally Posted by LostPancake

So anyway, I think actually posting this publicly helped me stick with the goal, cause I knew I didn't want to have to post and say aw, I gave up, or something.

I think posting on this forum helps me for the same reason. I tend to give up on goals that I do on my own.

[danstelter]

Originally Posted by LostPancake

[this is kind of thinking out loud - just wanting a decent exercise routine]

I seriously need to get into an exercise routine. I don't have enough energy to get all my stuff done.

So I'll start gradually and build up to 30mins aerobic exercise a day.

Today I'll just do 5 mins. Even though that might not even get into the aerobic regime. It's tricky starting, cause you get tired out, and finals are approaching.

The other thing is - what exercise? I have a bike but am not crazy about riding around the neighborhood. I want to build a stand for it but it'll take a few hours. If I had stairs I'd just do that. And I ditched my little floor exercycle thing when I moved. Bad idea. Maybe just a block of wood I could do steps on and off? Or jogging in place? Jumprope?

I also don't want to make too much noise in my apartment (which has squeaky floors), cause then the people above me might step up their noise again also. They've been much quieter lately. Otherwise I'd pace around my apartment, which is pretty decent exercise.

Or I could go for a walk. Again, not crazy about it.

And also, I should probably do pushups and situps everyday - those are my fav exercises. And maybe the squat things.

So maybe I'll try the jogging in place for 5 mins, then add 5 mins a day until I get to 30 min.

But how will I keep from getting bored?? Maybe I could read a book while I do it? Or listen to podcasts? Or music? Or go through project ideas and stuff? Urgh. I'll have to find something or I'll just avoid doing it. I'll have to experiment.

Okay, so I'll to do that this week.

I am a regular exercise person, and I'll admit that I hate and get bored by running too. I found that playing a sport, basketball, which I could do by myself at the campus gym, was a good way to give myself some cardio and keep my legs in shape. I don't know if that is too much for your anxiety to handle at this point, but its a suggestion. If you have friends or family, you could ask them to go for a walk; being with another person always helped me with exercise. Some people are entertained by reading a book or listening to music. I can't say what works for you, but I can give you ideas and encourage you to try different things. Try going for a walk; it's pretty non-threatening. People on streets who ride bikes or jog (like myself) do occasionally get harassed by jerks, but most of the time we don't. Going on a walk, though, you could be doing anything and going anywhere, so people tend to leave you to your business.

Either way, I really support your commitment to exercise, and you should give yourself credit for beginning to start it once again. Starting in small steps and working your way up is the right thing to do. Exercise helps to reduce anxiety and produce feelings of happiness and a general sense of well-being, so you will notice that your anxiety reduces over time as you stay in your exercise routine!

[LostPancake]

Originally Posted by slylikeafox

Congrats on being successful with the exercising. Hooking an exercycle up to a generator sounds like a fun idea.
I think posting on this forum helps me for the same reason. I tend to give up on goals that I do on my own.

Originally Posted by danstelter

Either way, I really support your commitment to exercise, and you should give yourself credit for beginning to start it once again. Starting in small steps and working your way up is the right thing to do. Exercise helps to reduce anxiety and produce feelings of happiness and a general sense of well-being, so you will notice that your anxiety reduces over time as you stay in your exercise routine!

Thanks for the encouragement guys, I really appreciate it.

So far I haven't actually gotten bored yet - I'm still at about 16 mins a day, which is fine for now, and the iPod really keeps me going. I have a playlist with my favorite energetic songs on it - it's about 8 hours of music, so it won't be running out anytime soon. I tried it on the randomize everything, but when a slow or depressing song comes on it just sucks the life out of me!

One thing to watch out for, if anyone else is trying to start exercising - don't overdo it! A couple of days ago I got a little too into the shadowboxing towards the end - a really fast and good song was on and I think I did too much and pulled a muscle in my back a bit, though I didn't even feel it. I spent the rest of the day a bit too inspired, and at night had a hard time getting to sleep. I couldn't sleep enough either, so the next day I felt like crap, and couldn't get up the energy to exercise. It was like I OD'd on endorphins or something.

So I'm trying to take it easier, keeping it at a level where I'm just slightly out of breath.

Anyway, yeah, increasing things gradually seems to be important - I think the other day it was sort of like being in a plane on a runway, and instead of pulling up very gradually on the stick, I yanked it up too hard, and the plane stalled and crashed.