Okay, so after much hemming and hawing and polling select friends, I ponied up the money and joined the 12 week body training program run by Michelle Bridges. There are eight pre-season tasks to help prepare for the launch on Monday (the site says Sunday but that makes no sense at all). For each of these Michelle recorded a short clip explaining the task and the rationale.
The first is to introduce ourselves on the discussion forums, which was a little frightening - many members had joined over a month ago, and the first few posts I saw were from fit, thin people looking to cut their four-packs into six-packs. But then I read posts from people who had as much, or more, as me to lose, and some who seemed to have more pressure and less knowledge than I, which was more reassuring.
The second task is to get real - write down all the excuses that have gotten in the way of doing this before. Excuses can be internal (like self talk), external and within my control (I can't exercise, it's raining) or external and out of my control (work crisis) - this last should be rare and is acceptable, but it these occur all the time we need to reexamine how uncontrollable they really are.
A key part of this step is taking responsibility for our own progress and behaviour, which segues into step four, making a commitment to complete the program. This combines telling other people in our lives with writing and publicly posting our commitments in the forum. I imagine writing it here doesn't really count since, with the exception of Lynn, nobody reading this knows who I am outside the blogosphere.
I skipped over step four - gearing up, by picking the kinds of exercise locations (indoor at home, gym or outdoor) we'll use, and looking at suggested (but not mandatory) equipment like a heart rate monitor, new training clothes and good quality shoes. For home exercisers, which I'll mostly be, Michelle also recommends DVDs, a step, and weights. The outdoor work requires a track, stairs, a bench, and a grassy area for circuit work. My local park has all those, so I'm set!
Step six was clearing the kitchen of crap - this wasn't too hard, as I already have a pretty clean pantry and fridge. Michelle said to chuck out nuts but because I can eat two or three then stop, and because all my nuts are raw and unsalted, I'm happy to keep them. As I reorganised my shelves I was amazed to discover how many cans of legumes (over 12), types of rice (6) and grain (5), and varieties of pasta (6) I have. The jelly babies and gingernuts I found will go to work, and the TimTams are already earmarked for my supervisor.
Step seven is scheduling workouts and noting (and planning for) 'red flag interruptions.' The workout schedule is six days a week, with three days of fitness mixed with two toning and one light fitness/core/stretch day. I can fit exercise in before work any day except a late/early combination, and as I'm going to be on all evening and nights for the next six months that should be fine. As I don't have external, set commitments (like school holidays, business lunches, anniversaries or kids' birthdays) to worry about, I acknowledged but skipped this stage
The final pre season task was measurement: weight and girth, with an option of posting a before picture. My weight was a pleasant surprise - I've lost 3.6k in the last two months without doing much except avoiding lures like the chicken shop but not really eating particularly brilliantly, and with only incidental exercise. The measuring was less enjoyable - it seems that all these years I've been measuring my waist wrongly, at the narrowest part instead of at the belly button. Result - I'm 14cm wider than I thought. And the bad news continued, because I've been measuring my hips on the bone, instead of making sure I included the swell of my buttocks. Add 11cm. The fact that my bust and thigh measurements were accurate was of scant comfort.
But this is the last time I'll have those measurements, and I'll hold on to that! Tomorrow is the launch, and I'm more pumped that apprehensive :) Alex
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