Update... Getting Back in Shape

A lot has happened since my last blog entry. Diep ended up going to Saigon with Megan for the lunar new year afterall, but her reasoning was sound. As her mother gets older, there is no telling when the last time Diep will see her, and I didn't want the guilt of having pressured Diep into staying in Hanoi rather than possibly seeing her mother for the last time. What I would give to have a better last time with my mother!!! Anyway, ends up Diep's sister is the one that had the inflamed gall bladder and got hospitalized on the last trip back. What is it about Tet and going to the hospital with her family?!

Today I just finished my sixth week of the basic program in the book "You Are Your Own Gym" by Mark Lauren. This is significant for me for several reasons, the biggest being that I don't think I have stuck to a regimented program like this for this long, ever. Don't get me wrong, I work out all of the time and I have been in pretty good aerobic and anaerobic shape most of my life; though there were those, ahem, embarrassing periods that I "let myself go."

There are many things that I like about this program, and many things that I will take away from it even if I veer from the provided structure. I think the thing I like most about this program is that most of each stage, taken in 10 week blocks and intended for specific fitness abilities, takes less than forty minutes a day, and only four days a week with the exception of weeks seven through 10. Everything is done with a timer so the workout period doesn't deviate and that means no screwing around with watching TV or daydreaming or just plain huffing and puffing instead of working out. Sticking with the program is easy because of this and enables me to do other physical activities like tennis, running or walking without feeling guilty that I am not doing a "real" work out.

A close second in the positives of this book is that I am balancing out my body. I have worked out most of my life, but tend to focus on those things I am good at and consequently like doing, i.e. chest, arms, and running, biking, swimming. The exercises in this program make you work all of your body and that means chest, shoulders, arms, upper back, lower back, core, and legs (quads and hamstrings). This truly total body workout made me realize that I have been neglecting my lower abdomen... and consequently it took quite a while before I got over the tenderness I experienced in this area. Not only am I more balanced, but I feel these functional exercises give me added fitness in practical strength, endurance and speed. As a matter of fact, my running has improved even though I run less than I did before I started this program.

The last big thing I like about this book is that it doesn't require any weights or equipment, even though props such as doors and tables are required for some of the back work. I still do the work out in the gym at the office when I can, but I have a program I can work out with on the road now, too. How practical this will be is still yet to be seen, especially since being on the road and team meals makes it hard to find "me" time. Even if I deviate from the bodyweight aspects of the program and go back to using weights, the methods Lauren incorporates in his book like timed ladders, intervals, supersets, tabatas and stappers will keep my programs regimented and more time conscious in the future.

I guess it is obvious how excited I am about this program by how much I wrote. I haven't seen any big gains in the mirror, but I have lost some weight and I am almost two belt notches slimmer. I really want to finish this 10-week block to at least be able to honestly evaluate the program in my own mind.

In other news, the first Joint Field Activity in Vietnam has already begun. We are only in the advance work phase, albeit, but the fun has started and people will be on the move from now all the way through the summer. Everything is fine now, but when it warms up, I will be complaining about the heat almost as much as this stupid weather we have endured in Hanoi since last November. My goodness, I can't remember the last time Hanoi has suffered this much crappy weather without a break. The only good thing is the wet weather will translate into a much lusher late spring.

One of my favorite ex-bosses is in Hanoi right now. I have to be careful about saying too much because everyone wants to be my favorite... unlike my Dad talking about his three kids, I don't have to say I loved them all the same. And, in all honesty I didn't. This guy, though, had the maturity, calm and life experience to be a great Det Commander and I miss him immensely. But everything changes and adaptation is key. Hopefully things will come full circle and we will hit an apex here in Vietnam again like we enjoyed when he was here. In the meantime, I wait.

I head to Danang on Tuesday and I will be taking my bride with me. Megan is going to Sapa on a class trip so there is no reason for Diep to hang out in Hanoi hating me for my five-star lifestyle. She will hate me the next time I have to leave without her, but we will take this one day at a time.

I have been chastised for not updating my blog lately by more than one person. That motivates me to write, but also scares me a little because it reminds me that people do, in fact, read this thing. In a way, I lose a little literary license when I think about that too much. No one wants to be classified as a moron, lunatic, or just plain meanie... not even me. At the same time, this allows me to blast stuff out to a wide audience and saves me time because I write fewer personal emails.