Getting in shape!

Getting in shape! Moving your body and improving this machine you inhabit! Do you exercise at all? Why or why not? And if you do, what kind of program do you follow?

I've been working out since about February of this year, ever since I was healthy enough to actually exercise without damaging myself, and I was excited to do so because I was absolutely unsatisfied with my body, being a 6'0" 105 lb skeleton. Over that time I've gone through various self-made calisthenics plans starting with just sit-ups and dumbbell curls every 3 days to now doing the One Punch Man routine* six days per week, minus the 10k (I'm going to work my way up to that starting this spring). And it's seriously paying off! I've gained about 5 lb of healthy weight per month over the past eight months, and I'm actually feeling really, really good. I sleep better because I'm exhausted, I've got more endorphins (I think) so my mood is -200% of what it was a year ago, I've literally never been healthier in my entire life, and I'm only getting better from here.

Spoiler: One Punch Man's training regiment, kind of anime spoiler early season 1

One Punch Man's training regiment is 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and running a 10k every single day, plus a few other lifestyle changes. The thing is, this doesn't do much for arm strength, so I'm working on building a pull-up bar to work the back and arms to actually make it a full body workout.

 

It can be hard to get back in the groove. If I take even two days off back to back, I have that much trouble getting moving again. Maybe start back with one part of your routine and gradually add back more?

I understand, I used to be affected by significant reasons of my own as well before I got the right treatment. You know your own limitations better than anyone. My recommendation is to discover what you *can* do, then do that. Maybe it's taking a longer route on the hike, maybe it's little strength and no cardio, maybe it's cardio with no strength. You're unique.

For little twigs like us, I recommend body weight exercises like the things I mentioned. It's going to feel like a waste going to a gym or a weight room when all you can do is bench press the bar. Plus with body weight exercises you can do them anywhere (if there's a shower nearby), you can do them for free, and since you and I are lightweights, you're working with an easier weight to begin with!

This was how I started, and it worked for me, but you're you: one day I would do sit-ups, and I would write in a grid on a piece of paper (it feels more real that way) how many I could do non-stop, and then work my way up to 100 with as many breaks as I needed after that. Next day I would do just squats, record how many I can do non-stop, then get the rest of the way to 100 again. Same thing the next day with push-ups (my worst enemy), and then repeat that cycle. Always try to meet your current best, even though some days you simply can't (one day I did 70 squats in a row, but this evening I'm going to have trouble getting to 40). If you're like me, you get bored of taking so many breaks and just try to finish faster by resting less and just getting it done (and listening to video game action music helps stave off the boredom some). Take a recovery day if you need it, and be honest with yourself that you need it. Eventually try to do more than one thing 100 times. Do two of your things in one day. Do three things. Do as many as you can do without damaging yourself, and on that note, watch youtube demonstrations to make sure you're doing these things right without hurting your joints. Ignore the haters. Are you doing this for them, or for yourself (and I want you to be selfish, nobody's going to love your truest absolute self because you have sick abs).

The most important thing of all is to still love yourself and your body. You're stuck with it, so don't hate it and do try to make the best of it. You might never be a Dwayne Johnson titan, and that's okay. You might never be an instagram model or a parkour expert, and those are also okay. Just do what you as a unique individual can do. It's like Aperture Science's motto: "We do what we must because we can".

 

The self-prescribed label of "lazy" is one that can be removed. All you have to do is decide on something that you want to do that isn't a habit of a lazy person, and start doing that thing. Maybe it's training. Maybe it's yoga. Maybe it's cooking or drawing or reading. If it's a thing that lazy people don't do and you want to do it, then do it. Label removed.

Why are you exercising? Do you want a different score on your scale, or do you want to stronger, more capable, longer-living? I decided for myself I want to be more capable: be able to help move a couch or carry a bag of feed or to run a 5k, so that's what I started by focusing on. The number on the scale is just an estimator, and I'm using my mathematical 105<145 as a rough gauge. It can give you a general idea of health, but it goes deeper than that. I recommend you get specific goal of what you do want (a body shape, an endurance ability, a strength limit) and then laser-focus on that.

I'm not a doctor or an expert in weight loss, but "diet and exercise" seems like a reasonable phrase. Don't put bad things in your body, and utilize the remaining things which are good? I can't poke a hole in that philosophy.

One short story about body shapes though: I used to work in a warehouse, a job that had me walking about 10 miles per day probably. One of my co-workers was a 50 year old woman who also walked those 10 miles, plus another 2 on her lunch breaks, and maybe also some walks when she was off work. And she was heavyset like a stereotypical American, except her legs were toothpicks. It makes me wonder if exercise-based fat reduction happens only locally on the parts of the body that are using nearby fat as energy. Walk for thinner legs? Hula-hoop for a thinner waist? Again, I'm not a doctor, this is just a people-watching observation.

 

Sometimes healthy eating can be easy, it doesn't have to be all quinoa and salads. Peanut butter jelly sandwich: got your protein, got your carbs, got some vitamins in the jelly. Swap the soda for some limeade or whatever (Simply Lemonade brand is my bae). Scrambled eggs are almost as easy as packet ramen. Trade the can of Monster for some black coffee, or un-blacken it with stuff that matches your goals and health needs. A bagel in the morning is a whole lot of fast carbs for energy as long as you actually get around to using the calories. It's so easy to throw an apple or a banana or a kiwi with a disposable spoon into a backpack. Keep a water bottle with you and fill it every morning. None of that is fancy, but it is easy and healthy.

 

I absolutely see the value in having schools encourage health, sports, and the spirit of competition in their students, but it seems weird for it to have such an impact on your GPA. There's not much use fighting against it, so I wish you luck and ease in living that strenuous life. Maybe it will be easier for you if you're able to do the strenuous activity of your choice. Finding the thing that you like the best, or if you don't like any of it, finding the thing you dislike the least and making yourself like it as much as you can.

It's absolutely possible to be athletically healthy without playing sports. I consider myself to be in the best health of my life, and I've played maybe 30 minutes of pickup basketball in the past four years ("Hey, you're tall, you're good at basketball, right?" "Just because I'm tall doesn't mean, well I am good, but don't just assume it, okay?"). Sports are about trying to be better than someone else, where athletic health is just about being better than yourself of last month or last year.

I'm in a similar situation as you, maybe. My specialist doctor did a major examination and a lot of tests on me last spring, when he said that 110lb me was "more stout than before". I've got a followup this spring, and I can't freaking wait to go in there, demonstrate my physicals, take off my shirt, get weighed at a healthy weight for maybe the first time ever. And the clothes too! US size small used to be usually to big for me (dress shirts especially were bad, I could fit 3 of my arm into a sleeve if I had enough arms), and lately it's pulling across my chest in a good way and is getting snug in my arms. I hope both of those turn out the best way possible for you!