Day 8 – Week 2 – 2 mins
Well – that is a milestone. We have made it all the way to week 2 without losing a single day of exercise.
I know, I know, it’s all very easy at this stage. We’re only doing a minute or two of jigging about – you can’t call that proper exercise, you say. And you are right. But I tell you – if I had told myself I had to do half an hour of exercise every day for a week, I sincerely doubt I would have managed it. This way, I am learning to deal with all my resistance, all my excuses, all the million and one ways I’ve managed to get out of exercise in the past BEFORE it gets hard, BEFORE I lose the will to live at the thought of having to get hot and sweaty for half an hour.
Does that make some kind of sense?
Believe me – this habit of getting up and exercising first thing in the morning has to be well and truly ingrained before I get a chance to wimp out at the tough stuff.
So today. Two minutes of arm exercises with the mini medicine ball, and my work was done. How did you go?
Suzi
Day 5 – Week 1 – 1 minute
One minute bosu and 146 pounds (66 kgs).
So far – it really hasn’t been much of a challenge this week. I just follow my morning routine and there you are, it’s done. But tomorrow is my first real test.
I am staying overnight with a group of friends, in a seaside town about an hour and a half from London. In the morning, I will need to get up early and catch a 7.00 train into London for work. This will be quite a challenge – I am not in my own house and I have to be on the road early.
Tomorrow is ‘arms/strength’ day, but I won’t have my mini-medicine ball with me. Instead I will need to try and find something around the house that is heavy enough to cause me a bit of strain when I lift it above my head (like a large can of tinned fruit!). And I have to hope there is one spare room in the house that no-one is sleeping in, so that I can do my little arm lifts unobserved!
Wish me luck! I cannot fail this early in the task!!
Suzi
Day 4 – Week 1 – 1 minute
One minute of arms and the mini-medicine ball. Weight unchanged at 146 pounds (66 kgs).
I am SO looking forward to the day I get to see some progress in that department – though I’m afraid my scales are less than sophisticated. They are the type that has a dial showing the weight, rather than a digital type readout, so they are not incredible accurate. Even worse than that – they are these very trendy glass based scales, with not particularly dark markings on, and when I look down at the reading, I have to admit, it’s a struggle to see it. I tried squatting down to read it, but it sends the dial haywire – so you’ll have to put up with my vague type readings.
So by now – you might be wondering – do I feel silly doing just that one minute each day? A little, I guess. But it is nice to finish a workout so quickly, and feeling like you want more, rather than falling in a heap on the floor with exhaustion. But the main thing to remember is that the hard part of this is not the exercise, it’s the getting up, getting changed, and getting yourself motivated to do SOMETHING which is difficult. Believe me, I still feel the resistance each day – and the only thing that makes me do it, is knowing that it is just one minute. I’m hoping I eventually beat that resistance down to nothing by the time I’m having to get up and do half an hour each day, otherwise that is when I will really struggle.
Suzi
Day 2 – Week 1 – 1 minute
Harder to get out of bed this morning. Isn’t that crazy? I only have to get up and do one minute, yet still there is resistance. But after 15 minutes of arguing with myself, I managed to get myself into the bathroom, weighed myself (146 pounds, 66 kgs) and got changed.
Today I did one minute of arm work, with a small medicine ball.
The plan is to alternate between cardio one day, and other stuff (like push ups, abs, arm and leg strengthening, squats etc) on the next. That way we get a good balance.
Then in the shower, and back into bed with breakfast and a cup of tea feeling virtuous. Who knew just one minute could bring such pleasure!
