Whew.... Yesterday was Day 1 of Phase 1 of the "Get Jeff's Ass Back in Shape Program". I did the first high intensity cardio workout I've done in probably years (other than the occasional walk through the park or Thanksgiving day football game) yesterday when I decided to go rollerblading for 45 minutes. Probably a little too intense of a workout to start off with but hey, I made it through. Up and down hills too, not just going in circles on flat land. I must say for a guy who's been smoking for the past 7 years I did a pretty damn good job. I though I was toast about 10 minutes into the session, but I picked up a second wind and pushed myself to do 35 intense minutes and about a 10 min cool-down period. It was pretty cold out during my skate as well, which in turn made my tar infested lungs burn a bit. My back was sore about halfway into the skate as well because it had been so long since I was accustomed to the position you put your body in when rollerblading. Oddly enough, my legs were fine.

Back to the "Get Jeff's Ass Back in Shape Program" though. So since I'm not truly a "fatty" (I've just got the spare tire / chunky ass combo going on) and I am still relatively active and not totally out of shape (I do a quite a bit of manual labor still at work) I don't think I need to go too crazy on the exercise and diet. My basic goals are to:

A) Be Smoke free

B) Maintain my current weight, but replace 95% of my body fat with lean muscle

C) Increase my cardiovascular endurance (so that I may get back into playing some organized sports, hockey or baseball; this may also help my power and range when I sing)

D) Gain upper body strength and increase muscle mass

E) Eventually develop a well toned figure that is proportionate to my size (Hint: I don't want to look like Arnold circa 1978, I just want to look very fit and healthy)

F) Raise my metabolism back up closer to where it used to be so that I can eat what I want, and with exercise, not gain weight.

Phase one is basically just going to introduce me to some exercise and some light diet restrictions. This section of my little plan will probably last about 2 or 3 weeks. Here's what I got going so far:

A) 30 minutes of cardio 5 times at week performed by either jogging, rollerblading, or speed walking up and down the bluff trails at Castlewood. Also add in some crunches and a few minutes with the dumbbells each evening.

B) Reduce my smoking for now to just a few cigarettes a day, and eventually to only smoking when I drink.

C) Cut out unnecessary sugars that I eat / drink on a daily basis. For example my morning cappucino from QT has 57 grams of carbs which is mostly pure sugar. Soda is almost as bad. Cutting those two out right there make a huge difference.

D) No more food after about 10:30 PM (or roughly 3 hours before I go to bed).

E) No matter what.... at least 8 glasses of water a day.

F) Make a conscious effort to eat less carbs and sugars, and if I do eat some, try to eat them earlier in the day.

Like I said, I don't need to on some sort of crazy ass diet or extreme crosstraining / pilates / impact training exercise program. I just want to start small and get comfortable. Phase 2 will become even more strict with the diet and will increase my exercise levels, but I plan on not going overboard with this thing. I'll keep you posted on how I'm doing.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 1:23 PM