Stepping Up The Endurance

Friday, I jumped rope for about 40 or 50 minutes - consecutive.  The last 5 minutes, I double-jumped 14, then 22 consecutive jumps.  Just a bit over 3 months since my knee surgery...not bad for an old bag.  Saturday, it was back to Muay Thai.  My legs are getting stronger, but my cardio really lacks and slacks.

So, today, I've enrolled myself into my "Stage 2" of my 'Wellnes For Life' program.  Now that I can run, jump and basically perform all the activities necessary to burn off all this fat (so I can better fit on the back of that Harley!), I'm going to step up the cardio and concentrate on endurance.  I've done quite a few triathlons in the past (never liked them...boring after the thrill of Muay Thai), but I learned quite a bit about endurance training from tri training.  Endurance training is fabulous for the heart muscles, the lungs and the whole body in general.  Unlike Muay Thai, nobody's getting beat up here (less chance of injury).

Last week, I had increased speed on the treadmill, but kept the distance the same.  I'm running with 3lb weights in my hands to add a little 'umph' into the mix.  Today, I will slow down the speed and increase the distance; staying within the fat-burning zone.  My reward for the boredom of being on the treadmill for an hour will be to go kick a heavy bag and have some fun after the experience.  The physical therapist gave me the green light to start some cardio exercises that were always integral to Muay Thai training, so I'll start working on them as well.

Here's Your Tip of the Day:  The big picture can sometimes be quite overwhelming.  Set some short term goals for yourself and limit the frustration factor of underachievement.  Short term goals give us a sense of being a winner and achiever.  This transcends into our everyday lives.  Better self atttitude leads to better attitude with others at work, home and social settings.  What's my short term goal right now?  Mine is to get back into some sort of decent training condition and walk into a Muay Thai class and represent again.  I don't need to go back into the ring, but I can get myself into good training condition.  When that happens, I'll think of something else....like, a new sexy summer dress!  Wish me luck, write me some encouragement.  It's easier to receuperate from surgery than it is to lose 20 lbs.