The Lowly Pushup
My body is still sore from the situps and pushups I did a couple of days ago. That's good because it means the exercise actually had an effect. Nothing special about my regimen, just do steady training until my body is conditioned to do sixty consecutive pushups in two minutes, and sixty consecutive situps in the same amount of time. Currently I can do thirty of each straight before failure. Now I just need to keep the conditioning to maintain it, and add more reps as I get stronger.
I also plan to eventually be in good enough shape to be able to run/jog two miles in twenty minutes. The running is a bit more challenging because of my weak ankle and the cold weather. So although I dislike indoor gyms, I have no choice but to use the elliptical trainer and treadmills to build up endurance until it is warm enough to run outside.
Diet-wise, I just need to stay disciplined and eat more of the healthy stuff: fruits and vegetables, unprocessed foods. Minimize the fast food and junk. I still like the occasional McDonald's on weekends where I can relax and read.
Pushups - this is one of the most balanced strength and body exercises you can do. Several days ago my abdominals muscles were sore from a workout. Then I thought this would not affect my pushup ability. But as it turned out, I felt the strain on the stomach muscles while doing the pushups. It proves that pushups affect a variety of muscle groups, chest, triceps, arms, including the abdominals. A good all-around exercise, no wonder the US army uses it to measure physical fitness of its recruits.
Situps - I used to do crunches after I read that situps are bad because they unnecessarily work the hip flexors instead of concentrating on the abdominals. But for some reason I could never get a good burn with crunches alone. Situps work very well. You can feel it a day after you do it.
I was definitely more fanatical about working out when I was younger. A lot of pickup basketball games with friends, jumprope to increase my vertical jump (probably one cause of the weak ankles I have now), a lot of running up and down stairs in the university buildings to stay in shape, and a lot of walking, that's how I stayed in shape. Then I deteriorated a bit, got complacent, got involved in a lot of stress at work.
Several days ago I celebrated my thirty-first birthday. As a kid I never imagined myself in the future as being thirty years old! I remember when I was four, and I learned my father's age was thirty-two. It seemed so old to me, so adult. And now I have become my parents, amazing. Now all I have to do is make sure I reach my prime physical form before thirty-two.