Portional representation - 2 February 2009

Posted by Paul Collins No comments

Like most people, I have an all-too-ready supply of excuses, reasons and explanations as to why I am unable to exercise. I often don’t have time spare to dedicate to getting fit. By the time I finish work it is usually dark, cold and seemingly always raining. Early mornings aren’t really an option as I like to get to the office and prepare for my day, and the daily commute from where I live outside Kingston-upon-Thames to the office in London is much less painful if done earlier rather than later.

So how do I make the time to exercise regularly? The easiest option is to sacrifice something that is currently taking up some of my leisure time. Whether that is time seeing friends, TV watching, sleep, or cooking and preparing food, it doesn’t seem the most ideal solution – if nothing else, if exercise deprives me of something else in my life, I’m likely to resent it, and be even less enthusiastic.

So how to incorporate exercise into my daily life without it becoming a chore, something that is easy to convince myself not to do. I’ve decided to do two things in order to make this happen. Firstly, I’m going to make exercise part of my daily routine in order to get to the office. Instead of my usual train journey followed by bus or tube to the stop closest to the office, I will now be walking to the office from the train station – a journey of around half an hour each way, which should give me a good few miles of walking a day, as well as a good hour of fresh(ish) air in my lungs.

Secondly, I’m going to try to break the habit of missing my lunch hour by taking time to do exercise during the day. Whether it is going swimming in the local municipal pool or taking the time for a quick run in the middle of the day (in daylight at least), I’ll try to make time to use at least two or three lunch hours a week for exercise. I’m sure that by exercising and taking a break from my computer in the middle of the day will mean that I’m much more effective and energetic in the afternoon.

On the other side of things, I’m attempting to practice the art of portion control on my meals. Apparently, the mantra drummed into us all by parents to finish off all of the food on our plates is wrong, and we have to learn to stop eating as soon as we feel full. I’m told it is a technique used by hypnotist Paul McKenna in his programmes to help people with weight loss. Therefore I’m attempting to keep the size of my plates down to a respectable level in order to try to help with getting fit. As usual, these things aren’t quite as simple as they seem – as I do more exercise, I will have to make sure I am taking on enough fuel to keep myself going, but not so much that it negates the exercise I do manage to do.

Finally, just a quick update on the exercise targets as well. I’m now pretty much committed to the challenge of Tough Guy 2010. This will mean a well-structured and planned training scheme building up to the race itself. This year’s edition took place this weekend as wind and cold winds from Russia swept across the country bring the promise of snow storms and freezing conditions. As the results and video footage are posted in the next week I will add links here.

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