Elephants and ice cream sundaes

From a motivational standpoint, the use of data can either help, hinder, or do nothing to aid progress. Pictures are probably the best way to make numbers meaningful. Pictures tell a thousand words, and when I get my Fitlinxx summary in an email, my weight and calorie numbers are communicated with pictures.

During August, my total workout hours and calories trended slightly downward. Bottom line, my weight has plateaued between 168-170 pounds, which is still 15 pounds from my goal. Lifting 3-4 times per week has virtually eliminated the daily shoulder pain from which I suffered for probably 20 years. The tingling in my fingertips went away after I took a half week off late in the summer. The tingling fingers I experienced in July and early August were probably workout related, not diabetes related. Julie had noticed on more than one occasion that I may have been over-training (not surprising for someone with a type A personality).

I need to improve my approach to cardiovascular conditioning. Julie from Audrey Moore Recreation Center suggested that the best way to overcome a plateau is to vary the workout. During August, most of my cardio time was spent in hour-long sessions 2-3 days per week on an eliptical trainer. She recommended that I include more "interval style" training into my routine, short bursts of high intensity. I was attempting interval training, but I had a high blood pressure scare in August, and I was concerned that perhaps I was doing something wrong and raising my heart rate up too high and too long.

When I asked Julie about how interval training is done, she explained that the high intensity bursts do not have to be for 10-15 minutes, which I had been doing. My concern was not knowing what would be a safe target heart rate, how intense, how long, etc. This is an area where I need to do a little research, and if I can earn a little money, I would love to get some coaching from a personal trainer.

Another way to get more variety into the workouts -- boredom is a huge issue for me -- is to possibly add mountain biking into my routine, as there are great trails all around me. Unfortunately, I killed Joe's motivation to bike when I pushed him too hard when he was little, so he unfortunately does not like to ride with me. He couldn't keep up with me anyway at this point.

Joe's personal training sessions with Jerod, unfortunately ended. Joe made nice improvements over his 6 sessions, and I wish we had the money to continue sending him to Jerod. Although Joe is not nearly sufficiently self-motivated enough, he is happy with his increased bat speed, as measured by the radar which we received recently, and by his improved performance at the plate during batting practice. At this point, Joe continues to hope for rain instead of looking forward to batting practice, which is a byproduct of his gaming addiction -- I don't know whether such a clinical diagnosis exists, but I know addiction when I see it. Hopefully, I can drag Joe to the gym this afternoon when I go to do a cardio training session. If I could only get Joe addicted to working out at the gym ...