Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Last Day Of September's Shred

Today is the last day of Syl's September Shred Challenge.  I have one last round to fit in tonight.  (Oh wait, didn't Syl tack on some extra days because I laughed at her for loosing her shorts???)

I was hesitant to join, and it hasn't always been smooth sailing ... but I'm so glad I did it.  If the only thing I got from it was getting to know more wonderful bloggers then I can't ask for anything else.  You guys are all great!

Tomorrow will be the final results and while I don't expect anything earth shattering, I have definitely learned some things:

1) I'm already pretty darn fit.  The Shred is super tough, super challenging and sometimes I wanted to cry.  But in the end I haven't seen huge changes in my body, my cardiovascular fitness, or my strength.  I've seen small changes, but not what I had hoped for.  Would that be because the Shred is ineffective?  ABSOLUTELY NOT!  I believe the Shred is highly effective, especially if you are not accustomed to that type of workout.  If you believe you are already doing a great, well rounded workout - I challenge you to test that theory by following the 30 day shred.  You certainly will not loose your fitness level, but you may learn to believe in yourself and your program.

2)  Exercise is not MY demon.  I LOVE to exercise.  Very rarely do I not want to work out.  Even more rare is the day that I do work out and don't enjoy it.  If I'm not loosing weight or changing my body shape I don't believe it is due to lack of (or ineffective) exercise.  Which leads me to ....

3) If I want further changes in my body I'm going to have to be more thorough with my diet.  I'm in the process of analyzing more what's going into my body and trying to make decisions based more upon what it needs rather than just what I want, what is convenient, or basically what's worked in the past. 

4)  Albert Einstein said "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".  That's what I've been doing and it's time to change that cycle.  I eat pretty much the same format day in, day out and cycle through similar workouts on a regular basis.  It's great in the aspects of a healthy life and it most certainly got me to the point I'm at today .... but if I want more I'm going to have to take that path unknown.

Tomorrow I'm going to be laying out some goals for the month of October. Stay tuned......

4 comments:

Missy said...

Sounds like October is going to be quite the month for people! I'm excited to hear about your goals.

I too saw through the Shred that my diet is what is holding me back. Time to change that! Good luck!!

Glad I got to "know" you through this crazy challenge!

Syl said...

I'll let that one slide, but just this once :-) can't wait to hear about your goals!

Hafa said...

Can't wait to see your October goals :) keep up the great work ;)

OldGoogleAccount said...

Yay! More October goals!

I like being reminded of that Einstein quote. It's a really really good one. It's all about being open to new ways of thinking and doing things.

Congratulations on doing the Shred almost every day! You only didn't exercise three days out of 30 in September! That's amazing.