Ok, I am not sure how many of you remember a year ago, while I was getting ready for DragonCon, I was doing some serious working out. I was down at the Gym every day after work and it really felt good. The primary reason for all of that working out was the Spiderman costume. I didn’t want to look like “Beer gut Spidey” so I hit the work out hard. The downside of course being that after DragonCon was over, I didn’t continue. It’s been a year now and I still haven’t continued. This isn’t good. I have often told myself that I need to get going again and just make the move to do it. Those of you who know me know how well that works. I know this is having an effect on Amy as well. If I am not motivated to do it, it drags down her motivation as well.
So it’s now time to stop that. One of the things I kept thinking to myself while I was working out is that I would really like to have a Personal trainer. I am far too cheap to go to a real gym and have one though. I don’t like the Idea of using these DVD’s of workouts because they are far too static and impersonal. So yesterday I am reading one of my computer gaming magazines and they have an article on a new “game” that’s all about fitness. Only it’s not a game, it’s a full workout program. It runs on the X-box and saves your profile for tracking. Enter Yourself Fitness. (Here is where I start sounding like one of those late night exercise commercials) I did a good amount of reading up on what all is contained in this little X-box disk. Needless to say, I was impressed. It is indeed a fully tailored workout regime, meal plan, and stress reliever all rolled into one.
I headed out last night to pick up a copy. The website said that it can be purchased at Target, EBGames, and Best Buy. Well, there is a Target right close to work, as well as an EBGames. I walked into Target and browsed through the visible games. Of course I see nothing pertaining to fitness. Just for S&G’s I walked over to the fitness section and browsed there… nothing of course. Here is where it gets fun. I walk up to the counter and start asking the guy there about this ……. Wait, what is it again? Is it a game? Well, it’s for the x-box, but it’s not a game. It’s a Fitness Video, but it’s not a video… How the heck do I ask about this? I do my best to explain that I am looking for an X-box title of “Yourself Fitness” and that it’s not a game. The guy looks at me like I have 10 heads. I gave up on Target at this point. Next stop, EBGames!
At least at EBGames I didn’t feel like a moron. When I asked about it the guy said “Oh yeah, that fitness program. I’ve heard about that and it sounds like a cool idea. Sadly we don’t have any in stock though” GAH! Ok, that’s only 2 stores, how hard can this be? I have an hour before I need to pick Amy up at work (we carpool) so I head off to Toy’s-R-Us. Again, the guy knows what I am talking about, and the computer there even said he had 4 in stock. Now the problem is that he can’t find them. We pour through the X-box titles out on the floor, then again through the case behind the counter, nothing. A quick scan from the back room and he comes out with a sad look on his face. Ok, well, there is another Target and a Wal-Mart nearby. I go and glance through them (I don’t bother asking in these stores) and also nothing.
When I was looking up information on where to buy it I noticed that I could check, via their website, store inventory. The store that is near my house didn’t show any in stock, but the store in Manassas had a few. Problem is that Manassas is west of where I live and at 5:30pm that’s a bad idea as traffic is all pouring out of DC and heading west. Ok, so this is probably just a better idea to wait and pick up Amy, then go get it. I haven’t even told Amy that we were doing this yet! She gets in and we head off. Thankfully they have a few in stock and we were able to get one. Finally! Homeward bound.
We arrive back home and it’s about 7:30. Not really enough time to start a full workout, but we can at least load in some profiles. The trainers name is Maya. She asks me all of the normal information, Name, Age, Weight, etc. then rolls into my starting heart rate. Ok, I rest for a while and count. 10 seconds and 10 beats, guess I am pretty relaxed. Ok next step, she wants an escalated heart rate. Ok, this shouldn’t be too rough, what do I need to do? Jumping Jacks, for 2 min. Wow, 2 min, well that doesn’t seem so hard. She has a little computer generated figure there I can keep pace with. How hard can Jumping Jacks be? About 1 min in I am wishing for a power failure. I haven’t done jumping jacks in about 10 years! I had to pause a few times but never for more than a quick second, but I did make it all the way to 2 min. I believe my next heart rate was 25 beats in that 10 second window. Now I had to do squats. Squats were easy, it had a max of 50 and that’s what I did. Push-ups were next. I suck at push-ups. I mean horribly suck at them. I have very long and skinny arms, and with my gaining weight over the years, it hasn’t helped. It said a max of 40 push-ups, I think I did 20. (Sigh) Next Maya asks me to do 60 crunches. I think to myself, “Last year I was doing 60 crunches easy (after I had worked up to them).” She was so encouraging too, every now and then she would shout out “Let’s keep it going” and “Good Job!” I guess it’s good that she couldn’t really see me straining on number 15. Last up is flexibility. You sit down and basically try and touch your toes, then using the models on the screen, you show how far you got. My finger tips got to about mid shin.
So much for it being too early to start a workout! I was already wiped! Maya determined that I needed to work on a cardio workout for 30 min a day for 5 days out of the week. That’s not too bad at all! The program will keep track of my heart rate and my weight and track my progress. It even has a meal plan with calorie tracking and recipes. If I have too stressful of a day at work there is a meditation garden option where I can do Yoga and center myself. I plan on starting this tonight so it should be interesting the rest of the week. I will, of course, keep you all updated. I may even take some before pictures with the hopes of taking some much better after pictures. Wish me Luck!
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