Current efforts toward fitness

I started my latest effort toward fitness two weeks ago. I had taken over my father's office and converted into my new bedroom. About a third of my bedroom is dedicated to the family treadmill. With the extraordinary convenience of having it in my room, I began using it every morning prior to taking the day's shower. Thanks to the calorie monitor, I aimed at burning 250 kcal each morning so that I would add a pound of fat's worth of calories (3,500 kcal) to my calorie deficit every two weeks (with the potential to increase my daily goal over time to burn more, quicker).

After a week of dedication on my part, the treadmill stopped working properly. The belt stops once weight is put on it, such as standing on it. Once it has started going it will arbitrarily stop in response to weight, throwing me off-balance. While this is mostly a nuisance at two to three miles per hour, it is potentially hazardous at six mph. Searches online suggest that either the belt needs tightening or the motor might need to be replaced (which isn't feasible for a treadmill that's no longer produced from what I gathered).

After much cursing and bemoaning cruel fate in response to this problem of luxury (luksusproblem), I moved on to weight training and using the treadmill without power. Without power, the treadmill becomes a pushing exercise machine where I push against the handles while walking. This provides a surprisingly intense calf and cardiovascular workout, with five minutes of it wearing me out far more than a thirty minutes on a powered treadmill (I went for six minutes last time and lay down on my bed afterward for fear of fainting due to shortness of breath). I just had a new idea: pulling on the handles while walking backwards to provide a pulling exercise. If nothing else, it will prepare me for building a pyramid in the Post-apocalyptic period.

It's score one for environmentalism: treadmills are more efficient without electrical power.

With regard to weightlifting, I was recently fortunate enough to receive a foldable incline/decline bench from a friend who had stopped using it. I store it right up to the treadmill (which is also foldable) and have enough space in my room to use it for most exercises (with the notable exception of dumbbell flys, which require too great a wingspan and must therefore be done in the hallway).

I am not following a particular program. Instead, I rely primarily on what exercises I am familiar with and aim at targeting most of the major muscles; for the muscles I fail to target with what I previously know, I pick individual exercises that are convenient and easy to learn from books I have. I work out with a basic structure of three sets of ten repetitions at the same weight for each set (though not the same weight for each exercise; my weak points, such as lateral and front raises and forearm curls, require lighter weights).

I still hate, hate, hate using a chin-up bar. I am considering padding it to stop it from being so torturous against my delicate palms.

I also supplement my weight training and cardio madness with strikes and kicks from Jigoro Kano's Kodokan Judo. To combat soreness, I take a whey shake and a creatine shake each day. I still detest the taste of whey, though near-daily use of it has inured me to its taste (my creatine supplement tastes like Kool-Aid with grit).

Contrary to popular hype, my exercising does not leave me invigorated. I have much less energy throughout the day due to my expenditure when I exercise and my residual soreness in the days after exercise. Maybe, in the long-term, I will experience a net gain in my sense of my daily energy (I started feeling some giddiness earlier today). It will be interesting to see and experience this down the line.

It's getting late here, so I will end it on that note. This still leaves my thoughts on how I am going against the grain for my own goals as well as my ideas for how other over-thinkers and lazibones can get on with their own systems of exercise in spite of themselves. It will have to be next time.