“How much weight should I start with?”
The answer provided fits in with the mentality I’ve seen
before: start wherever you start, and small or nothing is fine. The initial language is about how many
barbells/dumbells/somethingbells you should lift, but I’m hoping that I don’t
have to go to an actual gym. If I do, I’ll
deal, but still.
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“What happens if I can’t complete the recommended repetitions?”
The answer: if that happens, then I progressed too
fast. This makes me happy to see. It encourages “leveling” slowly and surely.
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“Types of Workout Routines”
Basically, I can divide this into splits or full
body. Option A is the “Bro, don’t miss
leg day!” method.
Nothing wrong with that, but they suggest Option B for
beginners: doing full body routines.
How about rest days?
24-48 hours. This’ll help me
build a routine, and not feel like I have to constantly push. Rest is encouraged – nay, required!
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#1. Walk to Mordor
One of my favorite books ever is “Fellowship of the
Rings.” The imagery, especially early
on, of setting out on a quest through simply walking (and walking and walking)
across the hills of Middle Earth is so energizing and refreshing for me. I haven’t walked much of late, but it’s been
one of my favorite activities anyway.
A part of me was excited to see this as the first quest
because I thought, “Awesome! A big ol’
epic quest to start out with! Walk 1350
miles over the next x months!” Forgot
where I was for a sec. That’s the
unhealthy part of me thinking that, the binge-and-purge side.
The segment instead goes over how awesome walking is in a
variety of ways. Totally there,
broseph. Totally there.
The actual first quest is, as with so much of NFA, about
starting to build good habits. The
quest: walk for five minutes per day, for seven consecutive days.
Oh. Before going
to the next quest, I have to actually start this one. Dammit NFA!
Stop getting me to actually do fitness, and just let me think about
it! Back in a few.
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Did it. God, late
summer Minnesota evenings smell and feel FANTASTIC.
#2. Select Your
Warm-Up
So much for just trying to touch my toes a couple of
times and then going to town.
NFA provides a few options for beginner warm-up routines,
and a more advanced option. Of course, I
can pick and choose elements if I want, but I’ll just go with one of the
beginner routines. It’s kind of complex, with 10 separate sets of actions, so I’ll
have to record this somewhere easy to see.
Next steps:
-Practice each exercise in the warm-up. Done!
-Modify any exercises you can’t do or select
alternatives.
Done! I had to
modify two of the ten steps. Instead of
two minutes of jumping jacks, I’ll start with one minute. Instead of 10 “Spiderman steps” per leg, I’ll
start with five. Other that, all set.
I hadn’t heard of Spiderman steps before. Here’s a video of them. Note: this is not me. Just some random Youtuber:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGyfvUTp94M
-Log the modified workout somewhere accessible. I’ll put it in two places: in my personal
notebook, and in case I forget that somewhere, on this post.
#1) 30 seconds march to jog in place.
#2) 1 min jumping jacks
#3) 10 arm circles, each direction
#4) 10 twists, side-to-side
#5) 10 reach down sideways
#6) 10 hip circles with toe touch
#7) 10 moon the sky
#8) 5 Spiderman steps per leg
#9) 10 leg swings per leg
#10) 5 fence steppers per leg
Done!
Next up: select a
cool-down routine.
