"Running is awesome" Part 2, or, "How body pump is awesome too"

This post follows from Running is Awesome, Part 1.

Using my new energy for good!

After learning how to run 5k, I felt like I had some more energy during the day! This, in combo with the fact that I had moved within easy cycling distance to work, I bought a decent bike so I could start riding to work twice a week! 

My legs after returning home from work
when I rode my bicycle.

After a few weeks of horrible once-a-week rides where my legs were useless when I got back home, I pushed through and got to twice a week. It was particularly horrible because there's a huge hill I had to ride up to get back up to my house (which was great going the other direction in the mornings). The upside of this cycle was that when I got back home, my legs had their daily exercise sorted and my quads were getting bigger! (Who needs a gym?)

While doing this, I had also started the 5-10k running app, but it takes a fairly long time to do each of these runs :(. Also some other things regularly got in the way, urgh, damn you life! At the time I couldn't find many three one-hour brackets (or longer) spaced apart evenly to commit to this, so I didn't get that far into the 5-10k program, but I was still running every now and again.

A change in commute! The glass is half full!

Coming forward to two years ago, I got a new job. This had the mixed blessing that my twice-weekly 20-minute bike ride into a 25 minute drive on a freeway (with generally no traffic). This was a mixed blessing because although I no longer have regular awesome bike rides, I've used the time for many other things which have been very valuable. I'll touch on how I get the most out of my commute in a future post.

This is a classic glass half full situation. Sometimes you lose something, but you get gains in different areas of your life. Even if some changes in your life seem horribly bad, most changes in life aren't all bad..There's usually at least a small upside to be found somewhere. I've found that we need to see how change can generally be a good thing, otherwise it gets very hard to be happy with your life.

Anyway, my running had also seemed to happen at fairly random times during the week, sometimes a week or two between runs, mostly on Sundays, which were generally great, but a lot of time, life just seemed to "get in the way". This concept of how life "gets in the way" is one of the more common reasons as to why people don't stick to their goal, but this can change!

Let's go back.. it's gym time again!

After a year of this, my girlfriend wanted to join the local gym, and after her spending a few conversations to convince me, we decided to join together! I had just bought a kettle-bell and started using it about once a week and kinda wanted to do some more weights and functional movement classes, but didn't particularly want to waste money again on a gym membership that I didn't always use. But I agreed and I started with a Body Pump class. I thought it covered a good range of exercises with weights and soon I was hooked and I started going at least twice a week!

As I said earlier, change is generally a good thing!

To be completely honest main reason I've convinced myself that I have to go to the gym at least twice a week is that I get the benefit of more value from my membership than if I paid casually for two classes a week. My inner frugality is helping my health. Go figure!

It's not that scary!

If you haven't ever done a Body Pump class before, and you don't have any existing injuries, I highly recommend giving it a go. It's definitely not as scary as it may sound. The weights can be varied and very light weights are available. No instructor is going to single you out even if you choose to have no weights on the bar for some exercises (just using the bar as a weight). Your weight choices are entirely up to you, movements are explained fairly well, and it's all timed with the music, so it's fairly easy to catch on to what's happening. 

If you haven't done weight training before, a lot of the movements when done correctly will improve not only your physique aesthetically, but also your posture, stability, and help you prevent future injuries by showing you how to lift things properly (if you pay attention). You could get a personal trainer at a gym to show you these things, but for some people that aren't too confident with having a PT for whatever reason, this may be a good bridge to build that confidence.

Note: I don't like disclaimers, but I think I have to state that you are responsible for your health. You and your gym instructors are responsible to ensure you remain injury free if you follow my advice above. Sorry for including this, but I don't want people being silly and trying to sue me. :)

Now why am I really talking about this?

I particularly enjoy the Body Pump classes for all the above reasons, but I can also actually see muscle-gain results (especially if I go three times a week). Earlier I had said I couldn't find a few one hour blocks each week to go running, but I shifted some things around and made extra time. It's not hard to find extra time if you really want to, you just need to schedule your time a bit better (You're not alone! I'll help with a blog post on this soon!). After finding at least two hours free a week, it worked out well as each Body Pump class goes for less than 1 hour, and it provides quite a decent full-body workout, with a short cool-down stretch included!

I've always been a skinny guy and it's always been a bit difficult for me to get a muscular gains that stick around, but just like in part one of this post, it comes down to consistency. As it took me a very long time to learn it, it's worth repeating:

Most people can achieve amazing results and skills just by setting up a routine and plan for working on something!

Please note, I'm still a fairly thin guy at the moment, but I'm not looking to let exercise consume most of my week so I can get huge within a six months - there are other things in life that I also want to spend time on. Progress is definitely happening, and as I'll continue to be consistent with this, two years from now I'll definitely have awesome results.

To close this post, I'm just going to state that I hope you've gained something from this post. Whether it's learning about what Body Pump is, learning for the first time about consistent routines creating results, or, if you're quite far in your personal development, maybe just having the idea of consistent routines to create results reinforced, which is important to never lose sight of.

Thank you for spending your valuable time to read this today. Make your day an awesome one!