Getting Ready for Soccer Season

[Radii]

I've had two "failed" diet dynasties. They went strong for a month or two and then died. Or maybe it was just a week, but it seemed like a month or two. The dynasties last as long as the diets themselves, unfortunately. This one will be slightly different.

I've been an assistant coach on my son's youth soccer team for the last two seasons(spring 06 and fall 05). They never have enough volunteers and I'm happy to do it, despite the fact that I don't have enough soccer knowledge to be a major help. You can't run a team with one coach, the kids get out of control. As the assistant/volunteer parent who doesn't have a lot of soccer skills, I really only have one goal to help the team in practices... be as energetic as possible to keep the kids interested, paying attention, and on task. But there's a problem with that. I'm fat. No two ways around that. And I'm out of shape. I work 7-10 hours a day in front of a computer, plus do all these awesome online sports sim leagues. The only exercise I get is mowing our puny little lawn(takes 15 minutes) and shooting hoops in the driveway with my son(HORSE doesn't burn a lot of calories though!)

The last two seasons I went into the soccer seasons completely lethargic and probably borderline sedentary, saying "practice two days a week and a game, that'll get me moving! This will kick start the exercise I need to be getting, build some good habits!" But what really happens? I get out there and end up doing as little as required to avoid embarrassing myself in front of everyone b/c I'm so out of shape. The last practice of last season we did a drill that required me to chase down a lot of balls, and after 3 or 4 minutes I was exhausted, my back hurt, and I could barely catch my breath. It was embarrassing beyond belief. Thankfully, we have a wonderful coach who appreciates my enthusiasm and that I get along well with(or... he keeps his comments to himself).

The Goal
This year, I'm going to have to do it differently. I have to be in at least a little better shape before the season starts, so that when the season does start I can chase down balls, run with the kids, and really have the energy that I need. Starting today, I'm going to do *something* every day to work towards being more physically active. On bad days that could be as little as 100 crunches or something. But I'm going to do something, anything, every day to stimulate a little physical activity.

I'm lucky. There is a gym in my office right across the hall, and I get free access to it(its $10/mo but the company pays for it). I work in the office Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and work at home Tuesday/Thursday. That's 3 days a week that I'd better be getting my ass into the gym at work The other days, whatever, walk around the neighborhood, watch something on FitTV and stand in the living room jumping around like an idiot like they do, do some work outside... it doesn't matter what.

The Deadline
Soccer games start September 9th. Practice will start 2 or 3 weeks before that. Most likely, our first practice will be August 22nd. If I can do something every day between now and August 22nd, then I really will put myself in a position to use the soccer season to build up some more energy and to form some good exercise habits.

I will post in this thread every day, listing what I've done for the day. Once a week at work I plan on walking/jogging on the treadmill for 30 minutes, to see what speed/distance I can handle without getting seriously winded. That should be a reasonable gauge of how I'm doing.

[Radii]

Sunday July 16th

Preperation Day:

I'm making myself start this on a tough day. I didn't have the best night last night, and I'm going on about 3 hours sleep. Today's goal is simple. Get a reasonable night's sleep so that I can work a full day tomorrow and then walk for 30 minutes without feeling like I'm going to die.

Also, I have a little money on a gift card to sports authority. I'll be buying a gym bag and a lock. The bag I was planning on using isn't totally feminine looking, but, uh yeah, its my wife's, not mine. It also has a big purple lock on it that we wouldn't be getting off b/c its been there for years and who knows what the combination is

And finally, I'm running by Publix and picking up some chicken breasts and cooking them. I don't know if I'll get back on Atkins all out(I was on it for a few weeks around Memorial Day and allowed myself to fall off the wagon when a little stress hit), but I'm going to have to try to avoid fast food if nothing else. This week I'm going to make sure I have some romaine both at home and work, and some ready to microwave chicken breasts. If there's no leftovers, I'll have Chicken Caesar Salads for lunch.

[Radii]

Monday, July 17

I am a moron, I just typed up a post, previewed it, and exited without posting.

Anyway, I ended up going to the gym at the office at 6pm. I hopped on the treadmill and got used to it and started walking at a blazing 2.5 mph. I did that for 7 or 8 minutes and started playing with the heart rate monitor on the treadmill(its a nice one). There's a little chart showing "fat burning" heart rate and "cardio" heart rate based on age. 2.5 mph had me in the fat burning area. At 2.5 mph I figure I could have gone for quite awhile without getting seriously winded. I decided to push myself up to the "cardio" level and see how I did. At 3mph I was up to the "cardio" heart rate level, and I lasted a whole 4 minutes at that level before I started to feel like I was overexerting myself. I ended up doing a quick cooldown at that point and stopping for the day.

20 minutes, 0.6 miles walked. UGH.

If I wasn't aware that so many Americans are in this kind of shitty shape, I'd probably be too embarrassed to post. But I have to start somewhere, and I know I can make drastic improvements in a short amount of time, and I've now got my starting point.

[dixieflatline]

Good luck Radii. I would forget about the atkins now and just concentrate on working out but whatever you find that works for you is certainly the way to go.

[Izulde]

I've been walking for roughly an hour every day, but at a fairly leisurely pace. I need to ramp things up myself to get in shape for university soccer club team tryouts next month.

[Dawgfan1980]

Good Luck Radii! My small piece of advice (being a bit portly myself) is to kick fast food, and drink water, lots of it (they say half an ounce for every pound you are, every day. If you are 256 lbs, that is a gallon of water a day) and avoid soda and the such, even diet. Just keep up the good work!