Fun and Fitness: Behold the before and aftermath
Meet Rick Melo, January 2006 (left picture below); unshaven, unmotivated, and absolutely unimpressed with himself. This picture was taken outside of the Mission (food bank) on Dundas Street. Times were tuff. Now meet Rick Melo, February 2006 (pictured far-right); clean cut, self determined, large and in-charge.
After down spiraling into a complete disgrace a month earlier, he got back up, dusted himself off and rejuvenated his sad life.
This was a six-week project that I called “the before and aftermath”. The objective was simple: Transform myself beyond recognition from January 15th — March 1st (No Lumpy, I did not use vitamin “J” during those six weeks). The result: Mission accomplished and feeling like my hero, Marky Mark. Moral of the story: Finding a means of measurement is crucial in keeping track of your progress. The way in which you measure your progress has to be practical in relation to what you're trying to improve.
If you're practicing basketball free throws, you might take note of your shooting percentage over the course of time. If you're a sprinter, you'd probably time your runs and readjust yourself based on your finishing times. If you're learning to dance, you can observe the gradual decrease in people laughing at you as you slowly improve your one-two step. As for cardio and resistance training, there are several methods.
Checking your heart rate and logging your weekly cardio session improvements are just a couple ways to note your cardiovascular gains. Body measurements and before/after pictures are a solid means of measuring how much your body composition has changed. Sometimes it's harder to notice our own body changes because we see ourselves every day in the mirror. You might not notice a difference until your pants start falling-down and you have to tighten that belt up a notch. However, friends and family who haven't seen you in several weeks will tell you how much you've changed because they'll remember you the way they last saw you.
Positive results boost one's inner drive. Training can be a drag when you first start, but once you actually start seeing changes, you'll think it's a drag when you DON”T train. Make a goal, set a time limit, measure it. If it's a physical transformation goal, why not try taking progress pictures? If you can't see the changes, pictures will tell you the truth. Cameras don't lie, they only show you what's put in front of them.
After down spiraling into a complete disgrace a month earlier, he got back up, dusted himself off and rejuvenated his sad life.
This was a six-week project that I called “the before and aftermath”. The objective was simple: Transform myself beyond recognition from January 15th — March 1st (No Lumpy, I did not use vitamin “J” during those six weeks). The result: Mission accomplished and feeling like my hero, Marky Mark. Moral of the story: Finding a means of measurement is crucial in keeping track of your progress. The way in which you measure your progress has to be practical in relation to what you're trying to improve.
If you're practicing basketball free throws, you might take note of your shooting percentage over the course of time. If you're a sprinter, you'd probably time your runs and readjust yourself based on your finishing times. If you're learning to dance, you can observe the gradual decrease in people laughing at you as you slowly improve your one-two step. As for cardio and resistance training, there are several methods.
Checking your heart rate and logging your weekly cardio session improvements are just a couple ways to note your cardiovascular gains. Body measurements and before/after pictures are a solid means of measuring how much your body composition has changed. Sometimes it's harder to notice our own body changes because we see ourselves every day in the mirror. You might not notice a difference until your pants start falling-down and you have to tighten that belt up a notch. However, friends and family who haven't seen you in several weeks will tell you how much you've changed because they'll remember you the way they last saw you.
Positive results boost one's inner drive. Training can be a drag when you first start, but once you actually start seeing changes, you'll think it's a drag when you DON”T train. Make a goal, set a time limit, measure it. If it's a physical transformation goal, why not try taking progress pictures? If you can't see the changes, pictures will tell you the truth. Cameras don't lie, they only show you what's put in front of them.
