"Basic Exercises"

Justin's Post
Today was very similar to yesterday with Kim still being out of town and most of my time spent either at work or watching the kids.  I was really (really, really, really, really, really, really... as my 4-year-old would say) tempted to skip exercising today.  At 10:00 p.m. I realized it was do-or-die time and I decided to go easy on myself with some "basic exercises."  By basic I mean push-ups, crunches, jump rope, etc that were staples of gym class.  Let's just say it was educational.


First of all I learned that I SUCK at jump rope.  Its supposed to be a really good exercise, but you definitely need to meet a minimum skill threshold to really benefit from it.  I was lucky to get more than 30 seconds of sustained activity tonight.  Most of it was due to clumsiness, but I encountered another problem.  I like to listen to my iPod when I exercise and I usually just put it in my pocket, but it kept falling out as I was jumping, which added to the frustration caused by my suckiness.  I ended up only spending about 10 minutes attempting to jump rope.


I also learned that I am really out of practice when it comes to crunches and push-ups.  Especially crunches.  Embarrassingly out of practice.  I tried a number of crunches/ab exercises and couldn't do much of anything.  I suppose you'd only have to take a look at my "before" pictures to understand the neglect of my abs.  I really don't think I need to go into more detail than that.  I'm definitely going to spend more time on my abs than I have in the past.  In comparison the push-ups were a stunning success.  I did two rounds of crunches and pushups for a total of about 15 minutes.


What I was proud of today
I did a really good job of eating small portions and avoiding snacking.  If I can get this down I think it will go a long way towards the 50 pounds I want to lose.


What I wasn't proud of today
The lame exercise attempt.  At least I did something, though.


Track of the day
The Shock of the Lightning - Oasis




Still visiting with El.  The good thing is that El walks almost everywhere since she lives in Chicago and doesn't own a car.  The bad thing is that we've eaten out twice since I've been here.  The absolute best dinner of my life (and I'm not exaggerating here) was to night at the Grand Luxe.  Oh, my holy heck.  Taste of heaven.  Could probably have gone easy on the beignets for dessert... but what would be the fun in that??  I want to recreate the dinner I had for my family for a delicious "Yummy Monday..." more proof that my eating habits are way out of control.  We did walk all over IKEA yesterday and all over the neighborhood where El works today, but I'm pretty sure I need to up the ante.  And by pretty sure I mean "definitely do."


Confession:  Exercise is probably the LAST thing on my priority list right now.  Like right below "root canal."  I need to find something I love as much as Justin loves running.