searching for a good workout plan

[seppuku]

hello again. sorry if i was harsh on you last night, i didnt mean to be. im more than happy to try and help if you like, and im not actually as bastard i promise

[Aikido_Girl918]

hehe, i never thaught youwere a bastard, ortoo harsh, you were just obviously in a bad mood. sure, i'm always open to a little help, hit me with your best shot, can't be much worse than my dad!

[treelizard]

What do you like to do? I find I stick to a workout plan better if I'm actually doing something I like (which for me is hiking, swimming, riding my bike, etc.) You can work on endurance (do it for a longer time) and then work on speed. Just make sure you do SOMETHING 3-6 days a week... Jumping rope is great, too.

[treelizard]

Oh yeah! I almost forgot. I totally agree on you about the food thing. I am addicted to chocolate. I did manage to stop eating all refined sugar, fried and fatty foods, white flour, meat and anything other than whole grains, fruit and vegetables for 30 days while doing a purification diet for Warriorschool, but it was *really* hard. I drank a lot of apple juice...

I wanted to let you in on my secret for cutting back on junk food, though. It's really easy. I just make sure I'm eating three really good meals a day. I make sure I have a lot of healthy snacks around (fruit, nuts and seeds, etc.) and take some to work and the gym and other places I will be where there are vending machines or junk food on sale.

I've found that when I am eating *enough* I am less likely to want to eat donuts and cookies for breakfast lunch and dinner. I also bake my own deserts when I can and I will use all kinds of substitutes. For example, I have this awesome cookie recipe that uses corn oil and maple syrup instead of butter and sugar (not to mention whole wheat pastry flour and oats instead of white flour, and lots of other delicious spices, mmm!!)

I also try to mix my chocolate chips in with trail mix so I'm not eating straight chocolate all the time. Sometimes a gal's gotta eat what a gal's gotta eat though.

I could go into a big explanation about potential imbalances in Chinese five element theory leading to food cravings, but I'll spare you. Suffice it to say that sometimes stuffing myself with chocolate (don't know if you have this problem, but I do) is due to bad nutrition, low iron (I take Floradix Iron and Herbs) and elemental imbalances (aka emotional issues.) The good news is that there are other outlets (such as exercise! see last post!) and also just generally feeling nurtured in other ways. Ooh, see how the physical, emotional and spiritual all intermesh? Who'dathunkit??

Good luck!!!!

-a very happy treelizard, who just ROCKED on her bicycle ride. 8:03!!!!

[Aikido_Girl918]

and therein lies another of my problems. the ONLY athletic or otherwise tiring things I acually enjoy are those involed in the Martial Arts, which would work, if I wasn't taking Aikido. I take practical Aikido, which, at least in the style I take, involves kicks and 5 weapon katas, but you can only do the same kicks and katas for a so long without getting bored. I hate bike riding. I used to like skateboarding, until I realized I had been doing it for like 3 months and I wasn't getting much better. I like my little Razor kick scooter, but where we just moved to there are no sidewalks, and the roads are so bumpy that it's awful. i got one of those huge kick scooters in the summer, which is fun, but with all the hills around us and the amount of energy it takes to ride it for 20 min. it sucks (at least it does when it's 98 degrees ferenheigt with like 80% humidity). I love water, but I can't swim. we don't even have a pool. i like walking, but not by myself, i want somebody to talk to, and i know another girl who loves to go for walks, but wants somebody to talk to. we were going to start walking about a week ago, the only problem is it has rained from about 3:00 on for the last 2 1/2 weeks!!! and when jumping rope, i make it to about 5 before i trip. i have almost had to do a front roll a couple of times. i guess the best exercise i get is at the dojo, we do LOTS of rolls and i do lots of breakfalls before and after class. i also beg to be uke, and i am usually the uke when i am teaching (sempai, not sensei) and they need someone who can do breakfalls. i would just practice rolls for a couple hours a day at home, but i am not able to roll safley on concrete, mom wont let me roll in the house, and in florid there is sand everywhere, so i refuse to roll in the grass and get all disgusting.
i don't mean to be a kill-all, but thats the cold hard truth. and you know none of this would be a problem if i would diet instead, but i would rather be doing crunches (which i dispise) than missing out on salt or sugar.

[treelizard]

Get better workout music so you'll be less bored. Ask your teachers to show you more stuff. Try doing 15 minutes a day two to four times instead of all in one sitting. Ride your scooter when it gets cooler out. Tell your friend to walk with you already. Bring umbrellas! Keep working on the jumprope, it gets easier. Trust me on that one... Get some matts to set up outside to practice rolls. It's important to stay fit no matter how you eat... How often do you train? Can you get there early or go on days off to practice more? My brother and I used to watch those workout TV shows when I was in grade school, it was fun. Parents got any workout videos? Those get boring too, but the more you mix it up and options you have, the better. You said you had an hour a day, right?

[seppuku]

finding exercise you enjoy is a good thing. i love muay thai. i HATE running with a passion. i really dont like how bad ive got at swimming after years of neglect. and i keep breaking my bike cos i ride it as fast as i can at night.

exercise is not meant to be fun. if your enjoying it, you arent working nearly hard enough at it. (crunches will not remove fat btw)

you need cardio, and cardio is not particularly fun. i dont know what your aikido club is like but it might not be as energetic as could be ideal. how do you feel when you leave it?

for comparison with that, when i leave my gym im limping, arms killing me from lactate build up, leg muscles hammered from the conditioning, and abs burning from the conditioning. several times ive wanted to be sick as i leave.
im not suggesting pushing yourself so hard it hurts 2 days later is wise, but it would burn off fat faster....

you run up a hill yet? you wont find anything faster acting, and not much thats less fun

[Aikido_Girl918]

Ask your teachers to show you more stuff.

My instructors teach me more than any other student under 14 in the dojo. I would be willing to bet that I know more adult class techniques and more fun little things than any other student in the kids class. The problem is, in Aiki Tora Ryu Aikido, the opponent ALWAYS makes the first move, and practicing on an imaginary opponent doesn't fly by me.

Get better workout music so you'll be less bored.

Music is NOT a problem, have an iPod Mini with 267 tracks, some comedy, some upbeat, some metal, some inspirational, and some just my favorites, and if I don't want earphones, I have speakers to go with it. In your next suggestion,

Tell your friend to walk with you already. Bring umbrellas!

you uncover another problem, we both have overprotective parents who won't let us out in the rain, umbrellas or not, and worse, she's 8!! There is NOBODY my age that is nice in the neighborhood. Other than the ones who have plans nearly every day. Jen is a lot more mature than 10 year old Tabatha. It's insane.

Get some matts to set up outside to practice rolls.

I might, but I'll wait till after Christmas, my parents want to get me a trampoline, if we can afford it. That would be just as good if not better. However if the same thing happens with it as did my last big Christmas gift.......

I already burned myself out on most workout videos, however Richard Simmons is fun, it's all I can do not to laugh at...well...technically, it's a he..... I don't have a problem with gay people(no rasism intended), it's just kinda funny watching Richard doing some of the dance moves.

No I haven't run up a hill, there are a lot of them in the neighborhood, but they are short, and I am only allowed to go 2 blocks on foot, the closest good hill is like 3 or 4 blocks away.

[Aikido_Girl918]

oh yeah and does mowing about 1/4 acre with a push mower count as a good workout? cause I just did.

[treelizard]

Okay, so don't go out in the rain if your parents won't let you. But hey, if your parents pay for your aikido classes, maybe they will pay for a gym membership or step aerobics class or something. Or new workout videos.

Otherwise, just be patient. You usually get more freedom when you grow up. But if you really want to get in shape, don't let anything stop you--you can find a way! Even if it means doing those pesky exercises you hate.

[blitz]

If you want a workout plan you have to go with it, and you said you only like doing Aikido :P Running is very important, and as long as you dont want 6 packs you can eat normally though not overeat.. seppuku is talking like he wanted to tell you how to get 6 packs ><

Get a Heavy bag and some ma equipment if your only interested in doing ma, shadow box with evasion and lots of moving around, eating a chocolate or two after a workout is ok, id rather eat chewing gum DURING workout so i can stay in focus because sugar gives you energy. Try taking another form of martial arts or, you can just do shadow boxing/situps/pushups daily which would keep you in shape.

[seppuku]

was i? damn... didnt want to put spin towards six packs lol. if running up hills achieves that im gonna be both very surprised and quite happy, since im starting to enjoy running now i can make it further than my garage door (like 10 meters). i need to fix my bike before i run myself into the ground tho

a heavy bag might not be wise... your about 14 arent you? not sure how well aikido and heavy bags get on either. it is good exercise tho, thats true.

chewing gum rules lol, good stuff that.

(p.s. i hope your right there blitz, six packs would be nice to see again)

[blitz]

I meant about the food part, but is one of the factors that help get your six packs. And if she enjoys MA, she has to do something she enjoys doing at home to actually workout and unless she can get someone to practice aikido with whenever she wants, a heavy bag will do

[Aikido_Girl918]

good suggestions, however, a heavybag would be a waste. it wont work. i have thought about it. but, i like to bring home my weapons (sai, jo, bokken, nunchuku) to practice katas. one of my fave things to do when i get mad is to take two pair of nunchuks and two purse straps (no, i am not insane) hang the purse straps from the tree opposite each other, atatch the nunchuku using the hooks at the ends of the purse straps, this creates a triangle between the tree and the sets of chuks and i can easily practice kicks against multiple opponents. fun, but only if i have my ipod mini and i am pissed off.
i just realized whats going on, i forgot to tell you, my parents get upset about the average $90 a month for Aikido. mom works at curves and i have hinted a couple of times about joining, and she just hinted back that i would have to quit aikido. and because my chores are done to earn aikido every month, i get no income.

if my parents don't stop bugging me though, i am gonna have to start kicking something, HARD. they are so annoying. but it's for my own good so....

[vadrip]

Aidiko girl, I have a book on calisthentics, pm me if you're interested in it.