Working Out is Hard
By Paul Maglietta
Photos courtesy of Google
I want to start this article with the fact that I love working out. I wake up every morning at 4am to get my work out in before my work day starts (not a brag, just the way my schedule works) and I always find my day is better when I start it off in the gym. But man…….some days it sucks. To back track a little, I started really working out when I was 22. I was at that point in my life where the weekends were mostly consumed by plenty of beer, shots, and all the junk food you can imagine. Now when you’re 22 that kind of lifestyle was much easier to attain with a minimal amount of working out, now as I gracefully move into my late 30’s (yikes) I find working out to be a lot different than when I started. and everything changed for me with a little home workout program called P90X
Photo Courtesy of Beachbody
So for those who do not know, P90X was touted as the big thing in home fitness and in its defense it helped a lot of people get into amazing shape. The biggest pull of it was that it guaranteed getting you into the best shape of your life in 90 days and you could do it comfortably at home with minimal equipment. So armed with a set of adjustable weights, a pull up bar, and a can do attitude I bought the entire DVD set and……promptly got my ass kicked. I had never been much of a gym goer and till that point relied solely on martial arts to keep myself in shape so I was quite humbled quite quick. But I stuck with it and soon I became hooked on the rush and pump that came with a good workout. After doing P90X I moved onto other Beachbody products, like Insanity and Body Beast, getting into health and supplementation (more on that in a future article), competing in Spartan and Tough Mudder races, and even meeting the creator of Insanity, Shaun T. But now I find myself in a new part of my fitness life where instead of just lifting heavy weights I have two new challenges, motivation and physical limitation.
Fitness Atlantic with Shaun T
Hitting 30 is quite the interesting experience. Its almost like a light switch flips and suddenly your joints, tendons, sleepiness, and metabolism suddenly all shift and not for the better. At 35 I find it even more challenging and have had to adapt my workout and nutrition drastically. I recently cut back on alcohol and it made a huge difference. I also make sure I eat dinner a little earlier and have introduced more yoga and stretching into my routines. But it was not easy and I fell prey to one of the worst fitness beliefs, that I could change everything overnight. If you are someone who wants to start working out the most sage advice I could ever give is to make little changes that can be sustained over long periods. And of course the most important thing is to not beat yourself up over small failures. Keep working and moving and results will eventually follow.
We interviewed professional Fitness Competitor Kristen Saffo, listen here for her tips and tricks for health and fitness!