Bad Weather Blues

If you're anything like me, winter is the absolute hardest and worst time to exercise. Going outdoors regularly is out of the question. Not unless you love freezing and getting drenched in the rain. Sure you can go to gym or do some exercises at home, but it can be so much harder.
I mean, doesn't it just get you down? Miserable weather, dark overcast days... the only thing I want to do is burrow deep into a nest of blankets, snuggle my cat, and drink some tea or hot chocolate to stave off the chill. Not to mention eventually I'll find myself suffering through a flu or a cold.
I must confess, winter is when I am at my laziest and will indulge all my temptations for chocolate and warm comfort foods to cheer me up. So, the question to ask is how to counter all the negatives of winter and turn them into positives? I'm glad you asked (you probably didn't)!
Diet is just as important as exercise, and you may have to force yourself to be more creative in being active during winter. But it's also a great time to experiment with cooking! Being active is great, but it's no good if your what you eat is working against you. So if hitting the gym or doing those squats is getting a bit hard, and your time spent doing them is shortening, don't sweat it (haha pun intended)! Use the time to reflect on goals, celebrate achievements, and dedicate time to your mental health. Being fit is about physical capabilities, but being a healthy and successful person is about your overall wellbeing.
So if you're like me and you winter gets you down, sit down and take some time to look after yourself in different ways. Take some new hobbies, try some new foods. Find other elements of your wellbeing to focus on, so when the sun does come out again... you'll be ready.

Beginning again

I'm one of those people who has to keep starting from scratch over and over. In just over two years, I've started exercising at least seven times. Thanks to a sometimes ridiculously busy uni schedule (*cough* placement, I'm looking at you) and getting sick upwards of 12 times since the beginning of 2014, I rarely feel that I am able to exercise, and often have to stop whatever exercise program I've started. The sickness is really the bigger issue because every time I have been ill I've had to stop exercising until I am fully recovered. This means a simple cold that lasts a week will knock me out of exercising for three weeks, and a bad cold or a bronchitis or tonsillitis that play off my asthma will mean I need to take it slow for up to 3 months. When I'm at my ill-est, I can't even walk at my normal pace without getting out of breath and having trouble breathing.

Even when I'm on track with exercising, I still have issues. I can't exercise in cold weather or without having taken anti-histamines first, or I'll start itching all over, and my throat will close up. So for most of the year, if I want to exercise I need to go to the gym.

The point is, I have a complicated relationship with exercise. I've never maintained a routine for more than two months because I get sick, or something gets in the way.

So I'm mastering the art of starting from scratch. I'm learning how to start from the beginning. I'm getting a ton of experience in doing the ground work, because I never get further than base camp.

And it's tough. It's tough knowing that I have nothing to show for all of those many times I've gotten started. That when I start all over again, that previous exercise won't help me out much. That the furthest I've ever run was 1km, and that was a year and a half ago.

My experience has also taught me a few things. I know that once I get into exercising regularly, I won't want to stop. I'll get addicted and I won't want to take those days off between workouts. I won't make progress very quickly, especially with cardio, but I'll make some progress, and I know what to expect. I have some idea of what works for me and what doesn't.

I don't mean to complain, but this is my story and this is my relationship with exercise. I worry every time I start up again, because experience tells me that it will all be worthless in just a couple of months. But enough of the negative - you know my history, now it's time to get this new journey started.

Last week I started again.

I planned to start with a workout with a friend on Wednesday. But that plan didn't quite work out - on Tuesday some friends asked me out for lunch, and afterwards one took the rest of us to a rather large hill so that we could walk up it and see the view. I was pretty nervous because I'm very unfit at the moment, and didn't have my ventolin with me (i.e. that thing that stops me from dying if I have an asthma attack).

But they were pretty understanding and we took it slow and eventually we got to the top. It was pretty damn worth it too.



My legs were shaking for the next 8 hours. #startofthejourney

I still then went out as planned with my friend for a workout. The walk to the place we chose nearly killed me. I got through 3 modified sets of the workout we were doing but I only really did about half of the reps for most exercises.



#success

I decided that I would do the program 3 times a week - every two days with an extra break day somewhere, wherever it fit best.

This plan was immediately ruined when I learnt how to skateboard on Thursday night. I'm now completely hooked and can't wait to get some more practice in. There are two important things that you need to know
1) It's a workout, especially for your legs, but I'm sure that when I start doing more turns and other fun things it will be a workout for my core as well.
2) Skateboards pick up a lot of speed very quickly on even the most gentle slope.

Skateboarding was awesome, but I'm already off of the wagon that I had only just jumped on, as I felt it was best not to exercise again on Friday morning as I had planned.

I didn't get around to getting back to the workout until this morning. I'm not sure what's up with me today but the walk up the hill to the 'best exercise place ever' was especially hard. As in I can't remember it ever being that hard ever. I was out of breath and my legs were struggling to move before I even got to the real hill. So I struggled through 2 modified sets of the Black Widow workout with a 10 minute break in between, and then collapsed for a while.

It's pretty disheartening to have struggled so much today, but I think that it's just a low point for me, and I'm just having an off day.

I know that this post is pretty long, and rest assured that it will almost definitely be the longest you'll see from me. This is an introduction to my relationship with exercise, and how I'm beginning again.

Some goals:
In the next month (before 20/5/16) I aim to be able to do:

3 full sets of the black widow workout. - current status: 2 modified sets with long break between.
(Start again) and complete the 30 day squat challenge (beginner level 1) - current status: Day 1 complete, and it was hard.
Do 15 knee push-ups, at least 3/4 depth - current status: 6x 1/4 depth push-ups.
Skate down the longer slope in the Hub skatepark, and up and around the smaller hill. Current status: skating down the smaller hill

In the next 3 months:
5 full sets of the black widow workout
15 full depth push-ups (feet, not knees)
Start running again.
Learn to 'drop in' (skateboard stuff)


P.s. Does anyone know how to change your signature on here? I keep trying but it stays as it is.