Skip to main content

Writing It Down

A little while ago, the Mild Fiancée and I decided to set a weekly fitness goal for ourselves. It started before the new year, so it wasn't quite a new year's resolution. Still, we wanted some way to hold ourselves accountable, even if we weren't going to the gym super regularly.

Every week, we set a target for ourselves. It's not meant to be a ridiculously high number or a complex movement that takes lots of equipment. No, we pick something simple that you can do just about anywhere, whether that be our apartment or the gym of our choice. Something like squats or push ups (incidentally, those happened to be the exercises we picked for the first couple of weeks).

However, the idea was that it had to be a high enough target that you wouldn't reasonably do it all in a single day. For example, the very first week, we said that we had to complete 1000 air squats that week. That works out to, on average, a little more than 140 squats every day. That's the sort of thing where you have to put in some effort to hit, but it's also not going to kill you. You can safely do that in a day and come back the next day to do it again. It doesn't even have to be consecutive reps: if I do 10 squats when I wake up and 10 squats before I go to bed, that counts as 20 for the day. Essentially, it's meant to be a reachable goal.

Of course, none of us is perfect. Sometimes, we lag on things, so we have to catch up the following day. I know I've had that happen to me. One day, I did something like 20 push ups, and the next day, I did over 100. Yeah, I'm not always good about doing my reps.

In fact, I turned a white board we had lying around the house into an unofficial-official scoreboard, precisely so that we could remind ourselves not to slack that day. If you see a big fat 0 for a single day, you know that the number in the next row is going to have to be much bigger. It's a visual reminder, if you will.

Well, one day, the Mild Fiancée had to catch up. It was the end of the week, and she had a big number to reach in order to hit the weekly goal. We both knew she could bang it out, it was just a matter of concerted effort. So, she set her mind to it, and did every last one of those reps. I know, because I helped her count (think of it as moral support).

She was understandably proud of herself for finishing it all out, so she put it out there on social media. My favorite response was, paraphrased, "so, yeah ... you and Sam are meant for each other. You're both crazy enough to do stuff like that." We were both thoroughly, thoroughly amused by that.

We really need to keep this whole weekly goal thing going. It might lead to a few more funny social media posts.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Nicknames Again

In a post from a while back , I mentioned that people around me end up with nicknames fairly frequently. It's not always my doing, but I am more than happy to play along. Of course, the best part isn't the actual nickname, it's always the back story that leads to the nickname. And since it's been a while since that previous post, I've picked up a few more stories about nicknames that are worth a chuckle. So, without further ado, I present to you: "ADT" You know how people pay for security systems for their houses? One of the most well-known companies is called ADT . My brother likes to say that he has no need for said security systems because one of his neighbors is constantly on the lookout for what's going on in the neighborhood. She's like a one-person neighborhood watch, complete with a side of the neighborhood gossip. He has actually come home and had her tell him about the comings and goings of his wife. My brother's smart aleck str...

Combinations

Unfortunately, this pandemic seems to be drawing out even farther. I'd started to think that we might be getting over the hump, but the number of cases keep rising and there are new variants that seem to be causing concern all over again. I'm not predicting doom and gloom, but let's just say that I'm not surprised that some counties are starting to issue lockdown and mask rules again. Ultimately, that means that the Mild Wife and I have to ensure our mask game is on point again. We still have a few from the initial bout of sewing  but it's sure looking like we're going to need masks in the near future. Given that, I figured I might as well start making a few more. Of course, I've got a few more reps under my belt now, so I can start to think more about how we want the finished product to look rather than the mechanics of whether or not I threaded the machine properly. The latest sewing blog post happened to be about masks, and it was from a few weeks ago, s...

Ceviche Fest

Let me start this post by saying that ceviche happens to be my favorite food. If you've never had it, it's delicious. There are a bunch of different ways to make it, but the Peruvian version that I grew up with always hits a nostalgic spot in my heart. Keep that little nugget in mind, because it will make the rest of this post just a little more entertaining. That said, a while back, I was joking around with some of my family. I don't quite remember how it started, but someone said something along the lines of, "I wish I had more time to do X." I responded with a smart aleck, "I wish I had ceviche." Well, my brother and sister happened to be part of that conversation, and they also concurred that ceviche would be pretty awesome. We did grow up together, after all. After that, though, a magical thing happened: my brother suggested we make this happen. Do you have certain traditions that you always did with your parents? It doesn't really matter...