Have you ever noticed how your enthusiasm for something can wander a little, the longer the day goes on? Take St. Patrick’s Day for example. As a child, many of us will have suffered the joys of the parade, either in Dublin or in some other town or city around Ireland. Of course, going to the Dublin parade meant you had to leave your house the previous Thursday if you were to stand any chance of seeing anything that wasn’t somebody else’s back. As a five year old, there are height issues to consider.
Invariably, we didn’t leave on time, but the prospect of four hours in the rain looking at nothing was usually averted by climbing on to daddy’s shoulders. Then it was spent getting cold, as the plumes of colour suddenly lost their attraction, and the sad realisation dawned that the dragon was not, in fact real. By the end of the day, five year old me just wanted to go home, but the following year, my enthusiasm for St. Patrick and the day of strident binge drinking that he inspired had returned.
So it is with the gym. My experience has taught me so far that early in the morning is the best time to go. Early is good, because later in the day, my enthusiasm is dampened and I end up feeling a bit like five-year-old-me. The earlier you go, the better. I always find that it’s less busy in the early hours of the morning, so you can have more space and access to equipment. However, I’ve recently been thinking about looking at some of the steel buildings indiana, or somewhere more local to me. This could give me a space to add some gym equipment, ensuring that I can do my workouts from home. That way, I’ll be able to exercise whenever I feel like it. That’s something I’m thinking about.
Not to turn me into Arnold Schwarzenegger so much as Hey Arnold, albeit just a bit more ‘toned’.
One week into the challenge of getting Ireland’s most adept armchair critic into exercise, and the struggle is much greater than I initially imagined. Mostly because the hour a day, three or four times a week, that I spend lifting heavy things and running to stand still while in the gym, is easier than you might imagine. Sure, I come out of it drenched in sweat and quietly cursing my personal trainer for the previously-undiscovered contortions that she has been forcing me into. This is difficult, but it pales in comparison to the other half of this challenge – diet.
Niamh Rudden, my dietary advisor and a personal trainer at the gym, explains that diet is at least as important as the exercise regime that accompanies it. I found this difficult to believe – surely living on a regimen of parsnips and celery is useless if one doesn’t exercise to lose weight too? Apparently not – a balanced diet (consisting of rather more balanced constituents than parsnips and celery, it must be said) is invaluable in the fight to get fit. I was left feeling sheepish.
Personal trainers at TCD Sport are able to provide students and staff with tailored plans to address their individual dietary needs. Working with Niamh, we first decided what it was I wanted to get out of this experience. Obviously, my initial reaction was say “I want to emerge like a new man, a veritable Adonis”, but what came out of my mouth was something rather different; “Toning”, I said, with an air of a man who knew what he was talking about but patently hadn’t a notion.
So that became the goal – not to turn me into Arnold Schwarzenegger so much as Hey Arnold, albeit just a bit more ‘toned’. Niamh came back to me with a diet plan, and I was stunned at the simple changes that can make a big difference. In my case, it was difficult to make obvious amendments to my diet – I wasn’t having takeaways that I could cut out, and chicken fillet rolls couldn’t be eliminated since they weren’t there in the first place. I don’t smoke and I don’t really drink a whole lot either. Some simple gremlins did exist though. Sugar my tea? Not anymore – drinking several cups a day with sugar is, I’m assured, lethal.
What emerged was a diet stripped of my biggest vice – sugar. Reflecting on it taught me a lot about things that I thought were doing me good, but in fact were not. Corner yogurts with that lovely fruit compote were swiftly abandoned in favour of a natural equivalent. Breakfast cereal was ditched in favour of porridge.
A lot about things that I thought were doing me good, but in fact were not.
One other, fundamental change was made – the introduction of protein shakes, post-exercise. I was aghast at the thought, but I was assured it was necessary for muscle recovery after training. Read more about my introduction to protein shakes and other dietary tips during the week on the website – www.universitytimes.ie – and on twitter.
It’s already making a difference. Coupled with exercise, I’m losing weight at a safe, sustainable rate, and feeling healthier than before. My tummy doesn’t home into view before the rest of me at such an alarming rate either. It’s enough to make sure my enthusiasm, this time at least, doesn’t wander.
