Day 1.

I was tempted to start this blog with an inspirational quote about beginnings, but meh. The truth is, starting any routine/journey/challenge that’s supposed to help you get better is fucking hard. If it were easy, it wouldn’t be called a “challenge.”

I woke up at 6 AM. Then I woke up at 6:30. Then I actually got up at 6:55, put my workout clothes on and got ready to take this “7 minutes for 28 days” challenge that I’d found online yesterday. A bit of advice – make sure all your clothes and shoes are laid out, ready to go or even the slightest bit of delay can cause you to start making excuses for starting tomorrow, instead. I couldn’t find my hoodie and I almost took it as a sign that I wasn’t supposed to start today, which is bullshit.

My husband has decided to take this challenge with me. He’s in pretty good shape, so I know that he’s doing this for support, and I wholeheartedly appreciate it. We got out our yoga mats (better than a hardwood floor), I put on my short workout playlist (entitled “Work, bitch.”), and we rolled through the 7-minute workout. Just to be clear, when I say, “rolled,” I don’t mean that we breezed right through it. We both winced, grunted and groaned, and not in a happy way. If you have any misconceptions (like I did) that a short workout would be fairly easy, you’re in for an unpleasant surprise. Shorter, in this case, means tougher. They’ve gotta pack as much of a workout as they can in those 7 short minutes. My upper body hates me. The good news is that, as tough as it gets, it’s over in 8 minutes (you need 10 seconds of rest between exercises). Suffering for 8 minutes doesn’t seem so bad when you think of it that way.

I still need cardio, but I’m heading to Japantown and then to Ocean Beach with my dogs, so I can move at a brisk pace for 25 minutes somewhere along the way.

I don’t feel that differently, but what did I expect? I do feel better knowing that I did something good for my body. I like getting up and getting things done, not having to worry about where to fit them in later.

The other part of this fitness equation is healthy eating. We can work out all we want to, but if we eat crappy food and we eat too much of it, we’re gonna end up with crappy bodies. I’m heading over to Japantown to grab some fish and rice and veggies. Ever watch Samurai Gourmet? I’m obsessed with that show lately. I read somewhere that Asians outnumber everyone else in the world for most octogenarians. I live between two Chinatowns and one Japantown. I can vouch for the amount of elderly people who are still up and walking around, doing their own shopping, enjoying their golden years. The diet and daily exercise that they follow is obviously working. Besides, I love Japanese and Chinese Food.

Anyway, Day 1. Not horrible. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow when my muscles have realized what I’ve done to them.

Here’s a link to the 7-minute challenge if you want to try it out for yourself. I hope you love it, or at least love hating it for only 7 minutes.