You're one of very few people I've come across who understands how to post a picture of themselves on the internet.
One of my big picture goals from playing online poker is to be able to travel to different places and play live/online poker along the way, both because I enjoy the game and to further fund my adventures, so I really love what you're doing here and it was great reading through.
I've taken away a ton of tips from reading your log, going to go back and reread a few things, especially your post about structuring balance in life, so I'll try and give you a little something back that has helped me.
Quote:
Diet and Exercise
I'm failing miserably. I haven't made it a routine and I'm making excuses why I either don't have time to eat properly or why I can't make it the gym. I recognize this happening, I look forward to revisiting this at the end of the month.
I stopped working out and have had problems getting back into a routine, especially when I realised how much time gets taken up going to the gym. I still have problems but I'm gradually getting back into it. I found some old woody's resistance bands that I used to use along side lifting weights, they are really light and compact and you can take them anywhere and just do a ton of exercises with them, especially if you have somewhere solid to anchor them.
So what I did was:
- Get a notepad, pen, and timer to store with my bands
- Draw a box each for chest, back, legs, arms, and shoulder health and core
- Write down a bunch of exercises to choose from for each category that I can do anywhere without the need for a gym:
-- Chest: Pushup variation, band presses, band flies
-- Back: Pullups, rows with bands, pulldowns with bands
-- Legs: Squats, lunges, squats with bands, jumping squats
-- Arms, etc..
And what I do is:
- Set aside 15 minutes per day
- Pick a box
- Pick a couple of exercises for that category
- Grab a water bottle
- Stop thinking and get busy for 15minutes
- Tick off a box
- Enjoy how good I feel for the rest of the day
Gradually:
- Work through a cycle of boxes, this keeps everything in good balance
- Increase the time set aside to exercise
- Incorporate extra minutes at the end to do burpees, jumping jacks, sprints, kettlebell swings or something really cardio intensive
It doesn't matter if you miss a day, just don't miss any boxes as you cycle through them, eventually you get into a good routine and habit and build on the length of your workout once you see and feel the benefits of exercising again.
Also, if you love learning, it seems like you do from reading your log, it should be motivating to hear that neuroscientists have shown that exercise has a profound effect on learning by stimulating the birth of new neurons and helping newly created neurons survive. In other words, exercise is like injecting your studies with steroids. So is sleep and relaxation, and exercise helps these too!
And if you used to workout in the past, it should also be motivating to hear that muscle memory is no longer mythical and actually proven, you really do make rapid progress.
Sorry for the long post, my posts always turn out to be longer than I want them to be, but I hope you got something from this and do start exercising, as exercise only has benefits.