Getting fit

Just before we went away last month we bought one of those elliptical cross trainer thingies. If you don't know what they are, basically you get on it and while your legs are going up and down in a circular motion, your arms go backwards and forwards. A bit like jogging really except you do it inside and it's gentler on your joints as you don't have the impact that you do when you jog. Not to be mistaken for an air walker, those things are bad for your hips and lower back.

This particular model has a heart rate monitor, so you can set it to keep you at a certain heart rate. If your heart rate is too low it increases the intensity until you get to the target and if you go over that target for too long it beeps at you and stops the timer.

Donna and I have used it just about every day since we got back. I've been setting it to 150 beats per minute and training for 30 minutes. Each time I get on I find I'm going just a little bit further in those 30 minutes, yesterday was the equivalent of 7.2 kilometres. At this rate I should be ready to run the Bridge to Brisbane fun run in August.

Donna hasn't been using the heart rate monitor with it, she just sets it to a certain distance and goes for it. She's going a lot faster than me too as she seems to be doing about 6 kilometres in around 20 minutes. It'll be interesting to see who's training method works the best.

It's interesting that over the nearly 4 weeks that I've been on leave, I haven't been eating as much as I do when I'm at work and I've been exercising most days, yet I haven't lost any weight. Not that I want to lose weight, but I would like to redistribute what weight I do have.

On the other hand, Donna has been on the Herbalife diet for the past 7 weeks and has lost about 6.2 kilograms (that's almost a stone). With the increased exercise this week it'll be interesting to see what she's down to this Sunday morning. She keeps showing me how baggy her pants are getting.

You may be asking why the sudden interest in getting fit. I mentioned in another blog entry last year that I'd like to get rid of the gut I've been developing for the past few years. I'm not overweight, in fact I'm right slap bang in the middle of my ideal weight for height. The thing is, I sit at a computer all day at work and often come home and sit at this computer for a while and work on my photos. I have a very sedentary lifestyle.

The thing that has really inspired me to get fit though is this guy. Damien went on The Biggest Loser weighing 216 kilograms. Half way through the series he was running up and down a steep hill on one of their challenges. I would have trouble doing it more than twice. Damien did it 25 times. He lost 74.6 kilograms throughout the series, he's still a big lad, but he's a hell of a lot fitter than I've ever been, as are all the contestants from that show. Incidentally, Damien lost more weight than I weigh.

Anyway, it's time for me to strap on the heart rate monitor and get on the cross trainer. I hope Sarah's not in the shower for too long because I'll be dripping in sweat by the time I finish.