Two Minutes Hate

Door Mounted Exercise Equipment

I am trying to get more fit, so I am paying slightly more attention to commercials for exercise equipment.  Door Mounted Equipment seems to be the trend now with all kinds of pull-up bars, bungee straps, and pulley type machines now available.  I'm sure they all work fine, with one major exception - does anyone actually have a place to do this?  On the commercial it looks nice...they have a nice big doorway, without a door, in the middle of the wall, and the wall is in a huge open space.  No furniture, no perpendicular walls, no hallways to get in the way or crowd the space.  I don't have a doorway like this.  All my door jambs have doors and are very offset to one end of the room...so doing any exercise, I would feel very cramped and limited by the wall four inches to my side.  I know I wouldn't be getting full extension, I know I wouldn't be comfortable, I just can't see it as viable exercise equipment.  It is not as ridiculous as the $15,000 ROM that needs a complete room to itself, but I just can't imagine 90% of people able to comfortably use door mounted equipment.  I've been checking every house I've been in for the last couple months and have yet to see a doorway that would work well.  There were a couple closets that might work, but who wants to do pull ups with a closet full of clothing pushing against them?  Not me.

It's a nice idea in theory, I just haven't seen a house that it would work well in...at least for me.  Your experience may vary.  I just think there are going to be a lot of these at garage sales in a year or two.  of course, I may also just be lazy and finding any excuse not to exercise.

End Hate

Avoiding the Inner Fat Guy

I've been trying to workout lately.  I don't think that I am horribly out of shape, but I do have the beginnings of a pot belly and gone are my size 26 jeans...damn you size 32!   So I figure I need to probably change my lifestyle to be healthy and avoid the inner fat guy lurking within.  I haven't gotten into 100% routine but have been at least getting in a workout semi-regularly.  Those who know me personally and know that I am totally lazy, should know that this is a pretty big step for me. 

I've been doing the FMS 45 Minute Fat Burning Workout, which I like because it is short, seems to be a decent overall body workout and doesn't have a whole lot of pep talk in it.  That's really all I want, someone to show me how to do the workout and maybe count the reps.  Billy Blanks, why can't you just shut up?  I am not ready for Tae Bo quite yet...but am getting there, but dread listening to Billy tell me to reach for my higher power.  If anyone has suggestions for other workouts let me know, admittedly I am a amateur at this. 

Unfortunately, my motivation for getting up early and working out is making myself a sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit; thereby undoing probably 98% of my workout...but I am feeling slightly fitter and have been on time to work more times in the past two weeks than I have in the previous 6 months.  So I consider it to be going well.  I just hope that once I am more fit that I can avoid the John Basedow "standing like I have scoliosis to make my abs pop" pose and the ever constant threat of my button-down shirt coming open.  The threats are real.

John Basedow - love your workout, hate your poses.

Having said all that, March is a totally horrible time to try a fitness plan.  First of all, there are the Girl Scout cookies.  Congrats Girl Scouts on getting my orders right this year, unlike last year's debacle.  Then there is the Cadbury Creme Eggs...one of the greatest food stuffs ever invented.  Money spent on Cadbury Eggs this year (so far): $20; portion of the eggs eaten (so far): $3.  Then there is chocolate Easter bunnies, and many flavored jelly beans to consider.  Finally, March is my birthday month and that means cheesecake...more specifically Jello No Bake Cheesecake topped with cherries.  It really is the Cadillac of cheesecakes at a Kia price.  Delicious.  This year, I am trying to control my impulses and only eat these things in moderation and as rewards for doing something good in my life...this is a far cry from eating only Girl Scout cookies for two days or having an entire meal of Cadbury Eggs.  If nothing else, I am sure my pancreas is thankful.  Sensible eating?  Moderation! I feel so grown up!

Top 5 Things I did on my birthday weekend:
5) Ate at PF Changs with my family
4) Went to see local band Cold Filtered
3) Ate Cheesecake
2) Went to the pre-season roller derby bout
1) Went to see Alice in Wonderland 3D XD

All in all, I would call that a pretty good birthday...only thing missing was getting lucky, and I didn't really even try at that one.