Well, today was a milestone for me. I finally came to a startling realization about myself. I can say with 100% certainty that I am consistently inconsistent. This is true in many areas of my life but it is probably most prevalent in my “quest” to get healthy. Over the years, I have spent countless hours, dollars, and effort on trying to get myself into shape physically. What exactly have I done? Well, I have spent a good chunk of money on workout books, programs, equipment and gym memberships: what has it gotten me?

NOTHING!

I have spent countess hours searching the internet and amassing quite an extensive collection of articles relating to fitness: what has it gotten me?

NOTHING!

I have poured out my effort into many different training programs like weight training, running, biking, intervals, volume training density training, etc: what has it gotten me?

NOTHING!

Now to be fair to myself, the knowledge I have gained and the experiences I have had in my “adventures in training” do actually count for something; I am smarter about health then I was before I started. However, this means nothing really as I sit here, banging on this keyboard, years later still overweight and out of shape. No sense beating around the bush, for all the time and money I have put in I have gotten very little in terms of real results.

The truth is I have no one to blame but myself. It all boils down to motivation and my lack of consistency to remain motivated long enough to see true results. I know that one of my major issues is always chasing the “new shiny”. I have a tendency to get caught up in the latest and greatest program or advice and switch routines like people change socks. I also have a hard time because I tend to bite off more than I can chew. I go too hard too fast, injure myself and then I end up getting discouraged and laying off for much longer than the injury requires. In fact, many times I could have been doing something else while healing.

Now, here I sit at 42 and I am 85 pounds over where I’d like to be, have a hard time taking stairs and my clothes fit funny. I don’t like to way I look in the mirror and I don’t like the way I feel. I can say I have been here before but this somehow feels different than all the other times. I feel like my time to “course correct” is running out and I need to do something about it now. There is no more time to waste.

So what am I going to do about it? Well, I have decided to start small. In order to keep myself from injury and hopefully to get some small wins under my belt, I have decided to keep it simple and pick one thing to start with. Something that does not require a ton of equipment, something that is simple and easy to follow and something that will allow me to easily track progress. Thanks to my cousin Mark Struczewski I have decided to start with the Couch to 5K workout. I downloaded the Zenlabs app on my phone, and this morning was the first day. Seems pretty simple really: start the app, follow the queues and go.

I never thought of myself as a runner but again I used to try and run for more than a beginner should and I’d end up hurt and discouraged and the running would stop. With this program, you build up slowly from walking/jogging to jogging a 3K. You can repeat the program as many times as you want increasing speeds until you reach your goal 5K time. Simple is good.

So, today I began the journey… Hence the title of this post… I’ll keep you updated as I progress.

Until Next Time, God Bless.