I was always a fan of keeping my core tone, as much as many may think I never worked out, or ate a lot, the truth is I never really felt the need to tell people about it. Since todays craze in the digital, social media footprint is to let people know that you workout but to even show them screenshots of the workouts & maps to where they ran/walked/biked, here it is:
Be fore my 2013, I never really walked distances, aside from working trade show events. Anyone that has ever done that, knows you definitely get your steps in working at convention centers. I did however always worked on my core & used my own body weight to keep toned & my muscles active. As a Professional Graphic Designer, most of my time is sitting on my @ss, so it was always important to me to continue a workout routine & constantly stretch, ling after I left Alfred I Dupont in Wilmington, Delaware. I simply never shared it or talked about it, because it never even crossed my mind to do so.
It turns out that me keeping up with all of that was very beneficial when my spine started collapsing on itself in 2013. Keeping my core strong was a key element to my physical recovery & I have recently begun a new routine.
I started using an app called Just6Weeks. It has the features I was looking for, along with routines that can be scheduled & work at my own pace. I was looking to keep my core tone along with upper back & arms & this app works for me.
I also began weekly walks at the strongest pace I can, taking the longest strides to help maintain & gain back a strong tolerance in fatigue (ever since the spine surgery, fatigue in doing anything was a constant battle). For this I use MapMyFitness, it records my walks & shows maps, with information about each walk that help me improve each week. For me, it also is somewhat of a push because I can see where I was stronger & weaker which helps me make adjustments on when I walked, was the weather a factor, was the time of day a factor, washy pace quicker or slower, what was my distance, etc. etc.
As anyone knows with AMC, proving theories wrong is what we do best & I am a firm believer that if you think you can do something, you are right … & if you think you cannot do something, well, you are also right.
This may sound strange but I also encourage myself before each workout session by telling myself things like :you got this” “you can do this” “own it” beforehand to set my mind in the mode I want it to be in.
I also do this trick for a workout where you are counting to a specific #, as in push-ups or sit-ups – I count down instead of up & towards the end I also think about & vision myself a few #’s ahead.
It sounds strange, I know for me though, it works. Before I know it, I have reached the goals of the #s setup by the Just6Weeks app. without feeling overly strained & I think it is a complete mental game. If I’m close to reaching the end count & don’t trick myself by thinking ahead or even beginning to count up, then those last few push-ups are the most difficult to accomplish. However, when I began using those mental tricks, as I was counting each one down, I noticed those last few were not as difficult as they used to be because I had already envisioned myself being there.
~ Ted H.
Here’s seek screenshots of what Just6Weeks shows you as you begin their routines & also a screen shot of what MapMyWalk displays:
Just6Weeks:
MapMyWalk:
