In a fit of self deprecation, I mentioned in my last entry that you don’t care what I say here. So you won’t care if I turn you into an invisible friend (but unlike the version I had as a five-year old who was the excuse for opening the car door while traveling at speed) you, my imaginary friend, have a purpose. You see, you are going to be my gym buddy.
Ha, I hear you cry, you can’t find the time to go to the gym. Your busy social life precludes you from even contemplating exercise. Well, my trusty invisible friend, that is but a weak excuse and I am going to take you with me. I will not tolerate that lazy and unhealthy attitude. You see you are gaining the pounds (don’t tell me you only deal in kilos) and I am going to be the one to make you go and exercise and lose the flab. I won’t listen when you say you’re going to the pub (you should have joined me in giving up drink) and I won’t tolerate you going to sit in the sauna rather than working out. I won’t stand for your nervousness when entering the gym and I won’t listen when you say ‘but everyone’s looking at me’.
No, my invisible friend, we are commencing a journey and it’s for your own good.
And we start next Monday.
UPDATE: The alternative to you becoming my gum buddy was posting a picture of my ever-growing stomach on the site as a motivation. But then I thought I might be visiting you in hospital as you recovered from the shock so you can’t get out of it that way.
Happy to be a gym buddy… so long as you don’t ask me to spot you…
Here are a few hints…
Book a personal trainer – they’re expensive enough to make you thnk twice about skipping and ferocious enough to make you turn up for non-supevised sessions mid-week
Keep a food diary – it’ll put a price on that Mars Bar. Try to keep fat below 30g a day to start with.
Remember that it’s not the hour you spend in the gym that counts it’s the 23 hrs you spend outside of it.
Don’t skimp on the exercises that you hate… they’re the ones you most need to do
remember – no-one is watching, yet… people in the gym care about themselves and people hotter than themselves – when you hit the second stage you’ll be glad they’re watching
Keep a measure of your body fat – update it weekly… remember abs come at around 9% body fat…
Celebrate your successes… they will be few but they will be significant
Make sure the ‘gym list’ on your I-Pod is regularly updated
Hope that this helps
Steve