Upping the Gym Stakes

Something to look forward to.

That's how it is with life, isn't it? at first, you're forced into something you don't like. Then at the start, your resolve and motivation is to just finish the job as fast as possible. Then afterwards, all of a sudden, you start liking it. Then it suddenly doesn't become a chore anymore, but a challenge. Then you look for new things related to the same thing, but with a larger scope, of the same thing that you simply initially hated in the first place.

That's how I was with my current career as an Oracle DBA, and it seems that the same thing is happening for my gym sessions.

Well, the history for my gym experiences is pretty long. The whole thing started out with me not liking exercising at all.. and that was like back when I was in college. My entire pre-college life was basically a mess of inactivity (except for the occasional sing and dance that was required for choir presentations/concerts). My ex liked working out, so I followed suit. I didn't like the weights much, but I started liking aerobics almost after the first few sessions. That continued on up until my whole college, and then when I came to Hong Kong, and up until now.

When I started out here, I had this crazy goal of making my triceps as toned as possible. That was the goal. Nothing else. Nothing about actually slimming down, losing 10 pounds, or toning my legs. I just wanted to get those unbelievable triceps I once saw on a Caucasian mom who was carrying a baby outside the Wellcome supermarket at Causeway Bay .. her arms where ripped, and her triceps were darn toned, and yes, that was the motivation for the whole 21 weeks that I've been chattering about for the past.. well, 21 weeks.

Well, on the road to that funny tricep goal, I've gotten healthier, more active, better cardiovascularly, more fit, lost 10 pounds... well, everything except getting those toned triceps. But I don't mind anyway. One of my brother has an ripped body now (together with those disgusting protruding nerves you see on professional weightlifters.. really disgusting actually) and it took him 2 years to get where he is now. I'm just at week 21, so I don't think my current state is actually bad. I do have a few defined muscles here and there that I like to (given the chance anyway) showoff.

Now I have this crazy idea of getting those really nice triceps... and also training for a marathon.

Yes, that's right. Marathon.

It would be an interesting experience, wouldn't it? Join in an event where everyone is extremely fit, and see how you fare against them.. meet a few new people, learn a few new tricks, expand your horizons. That would be extremely awesome. I don't expect to win the marathon, but at least I'd like to see if I can brave the length and see if I can finish the whole activity, and also see if at the end of the race I'd already be wishing I was dying , or dead already, or just plain fine and dandy.

There's also thought about wall climbing and mountain climbing, which I've already previously thought of, but didn't really see it as a goal since I didn't really see the connection between mountain climbing and gymming, aside from the fact that I'd be using the gym as a way of getting myself to be fit enough to wall climb pretty well. But that's for another time.

Marathon first. I think that's a pretty modest, and still a big enough goal to look forward to.

Every year there's a Standard Chartered sponsored marathon, usually during February. Since I'm too late to enter this year's marathon, I figured I should prepare for the marathon next year. Should be very very interesting. I think I should revise a plan to achieve that total body conditioning for a race like that. A triathlon would be nice, but I dont know sh*t about biking (I don't know how to bike) or swimming properly (most involve gulping down the whole swimming pool contents). In the meantime...

A marathon sounds like a swell goal! :)

Think in the future I'd be silly enough to prepare and try and climb Mount Everest? How cool.