Fitness: Make it a Choice

Turning 40 was a milestone I wanted to remember with a smile, not as the start of new aches and pains, and this has been my biggest motivation over the last couple of years to reach a stage where fitness is a big part of my life. If I don't workout or do something active on a certain day, I feel uncomfortable, like I'm missing something. I know that many factors might change, maybe I will start that full-time job or something else might take up more of my time, but I know now that I will always manage to make time for myself and my fitness. I felt compelled to write down my thoughts on how I got here, so here goes:

Find what works for you: Different ways of exercising might work for different folks, for example - many would swear by a gym routine or a group class as the dynamic is great and setting a regular schedule works well for them. In my case though, this just wasn't the right fit as I find it easier to keep my workout timing a bit flexible. I realized that I was finding it a challenge to get to my one group workout once a week - it seems like something or the other keeps coming up just at that time!! What has clicked for me is to find home workouts that are interesting, and to set a time limit of pre-lunch at the latest to get it done. This means that I have to change up and re-plan workouts every now and then, but I don't mind that. Fitness Blender is a great example of a site that offers free workouts with a whole lot of variations and you can choose the one that fits your current fitness level and work your way up!

Plan ahead: There was a point when I ended up missing days simply because I spent too much time looking for what to do on a particular day :P. I learnt my lesson and now make sure to have at least a general idea of what I want to do for a week or month. Picking up a challenge or a 60/90 day workout plan works even better as long as you plan according to your fitness level. In my case for example, I feel comfortable with a one hour workout but sometimes have to modify some of it to low impact to be able to complete it. I prefer to stick to challenging workouts, that I almost can't complete, rather than aim too low, as this is the only way to keep getting better. You can also keep track of number of reps, weight lifted etc so that you can easily make out your improvement over the days/weeks.

Watch your form: If you're new to working out, doing new exercises at a gym under a trainer's eye might be a good approach. I would recommend this for yoga as well, as personal feedback about poses helps a lot for beginners. Once you are clear in your mind about the form, then doing it at home becomes a good option, possibly in front of a mirror to check if you're doing it right. This is essential because just expending energy and sweating it out will not have the results that you want, if the form for the exercises is incorrect.

Don't let setbacks stop you: There will be illnesses, work, travel, and a million other reasons for a break in your workout schedule. Don't let this dishearten you - just back sure that you get back every single time. I am currently trying out the P90X workout, and have been joking that it might take me 180 days instead of 90 :). But the important thing is, I know I'll get it done.

Develop your knowledge: I started going to the gym in my 20s, but now I realize that I had no clue what I was trying to achieve (except to lose that tummy, which remains an eternal goal ;)). I just used to blindly follow what the trainer told me, and while I'm sure they were well-meaning, you need to understand your own body to get the results you want. With the learning from classes I've been to, and understanding better about how specific types of workouts affect my body, I can now workout a schedule tailor-made for me. While cardio/steps taken were the main focus earlier, I now find strength training to be the most important component of my workout plans. I don't think anyone should wait to turn 30 or 40 to start weights, the earlier the better! I make sure my workouts are intense enough, while at the same time know when to take a break or a rest day when I cannot manage a full workout. On such days, even a light walk or an hour of your favorite game helps keep the momentum going.

Motivators: Only you can find your own - It could be a workout partner, your family, or it could be an online group. A wonderful fitness conscious group on Facebook called "Fit Right In" was a big reason for my growth in this area. Folks who don't just share knowledge freely, but also follow up on you if you go missing, that's what you get with a good fitness support group or partner. In a smaller way, the Fitbit and other stats-based apps have also helped to quantify my improvement, so these could be worth checking out as well. I recently wrote about the Fitbit Blaze, and its earlier version, the Flex, was one of the motivators for my getting on a fitness regimen.

Catch 'em young!

I know that was a long one, so thank you for reading this far :). This is the story of how I decided to be #fitbyforty and now am very close to my goal of being #fitatforty.

Do you have a workout plan? How did you arrive at it? Do share with me in the comments!

Fitness and the Fitbit Blaze

Fitness is something I have spoken about on my FB timeline on and off, and I truly believe that this is something we MUST prioritize in our lives. I have traversed quite a roundabout route to get to my present state, starting with gym memberships in my younger working days that I made use of for hardly a few weeks in a year, to many varieties of yoga classes (some learnings definitely stuck with me!). It was in my late 30s that I acquired some additional incentive to work on my fitness, as I found that joints and muscles that go about their functioning without much thought in the 20s, start showing signs of aging unless you consciously work on strengthening them in the next decade. What works for me now is a combination of home videos for cardio and strength training (Fitness Blender/Leslie Sansone), Yoga and my latest love - Aqua Aerobics. I still have quite a way to go, but at least I know I'm getting there :).

I love metrics and statistics (funny that I never had a career in this area, but I always enjoyed this part of any job I was in), and found to my delight that a device like the Fitbit really helped to improve my motivation. Competing with like-minded friends, or even just with yourself, is a real feel-good factor and keeps you going on days when you would rather just relax on the couch and watch the latest TV show, or yes, while away time on Facebook. After a couple of years of using the Fitbit Flex, I decided it was time for an upgrade ;). My main requirement was a device that doubled as a watch, and also helped with heart rate monitoring. I decided to stick to the already familiar interface and so - Enter the Fitbit Blaze.

Availability: I looked around a bit, and ordering on Amazon.com seemed to work the best for now. If you have someone in the US who could bring it back for you, or if you travel there on work, jump at the chance. I did when the spouse offered to bring back something on a work trip ;).

Looks: I love large-dial watches, so the size of the Blaze works well for me. I thought it was a bit sleeker(though broader) than the Fitbit Surge, and the screen size is nice for navigating menus or looking at stats for the day. If you're not used to a slightly big watch on your wrist, it's best to check out the size of the Blaze in a store in your city. Another fun aspect that the Blaze offers over the Surge is the option of replacement straps. There are quite a few on offer including leather and metal ones. I ordered a metal one as I had some allergy issues with the Flex bands and wanted to make sure I had a replacement handy when I needed it.

Steps: The calculation of steps remains the same as in the Flex, depending on the movement/cadence of the arm. This means that if you're pushing a cart in a supermarket, there's a chance your steps might not be counted. In my time of using the Flex, I found it quite accurate, and I expect the same of the Blaze. Other friends who use Fitness bands have also reported the Fitbit step calculation to be one of the best.

The "Today" section gives a view into the day's statistics.
I have been very low on exercise in the last couple of weeks
and it shows in my resting Heart Rate :P

Heart Rate Monitor: This was a big reason for my upgrading to the Blaze, and I have been getting interesting readings and trying to make sense of it all. My base rate is around 62-64 and it feels as though even a short walk sends me into fat burn mode.. which is a good thing I suppose. I am still trying to understand how the different routines of cardio and strength would impact heart rate and what is the optimum balance I should aim at. For now, I am happy with fat burn ;).

Calories: The Fitbit calculates calories based on all your activities not just exercise. This means that it might show 200-300 calories soon after you get up, and about 2000 calories expenditure for a moderate to slightly high exercise day with ease. You need to set a baseline of what Fitbit calculates for you on a sedentary day and aim accordingly.

Floors: The calculation of floors climbed is not strictly accurate, and it may consider uneven terrain with ups and downs, and probably even an escalator climb or two as steps climbed. This was not a big requirement for me, so I have no issues here. For those who would like an accurate count here, you might need to keep track of your counter before any intensive climbing to be able to make sense of your final tally.

Active Minutes: The active minutes on the Flex were measured based on the steps - any continuous walking of 10 minutes or more contributed to the active minutes. On the Blaze, any exercise that I enter counts also towards the active minutes, and that makes it a bit more accurate to track your actual activity for the day.

Exercise tracking: Other than the ability to enter exercise details that was available with earlier models, the Blaze also brings with it an automatic sensing of exercise (walk, bike and a few others) when done for 15 minutes or more. This means that a walk for grocery shopping that I might not think to enter in myself is counted by the Blaze as exercise :). It also comes with a built-in set of exercise options, FitStar, which is apparently one of it's unique selling points even compared to the Surge.

Battery life: The promised battery life is 5 days, but I was initially getting only about 3 days worth. I later realized that I was probably looking at the screen a bit too much (common with a new toy!), and checking my phone for the metrics instead keeps it going longer, so I'm at about 4 days as of now. As looking at the time is one of my major needs behind buying it, and this would possible take up battery as the display is turned on every time, I am happy with this much for now, which is still an improvement over the Flex.

Notifications: These are restricted to just calls and messages at the moment, and I hope they would be adding more apps as we go along. I am finding even this much useful though, as it saves me from missing calls in noisy places, even if finding your wrist vibrating can be a bit startling :).

Other possible points of consideration (do let me know in the comments if there are any other Blaze features you would like me to add in this post, and I'll add my personal view):

• The Blaze doesn't come with GPS but can use the GPS of your phone. 
• It is water resistant not waterproof, which some have found surprising for the price range of this model. 

Current price at the time of this blog: 179.99 USD on Amazon.com

PS: Please pardon the quality of pics, as an amateur, I found it challenging to find the right light and eliminate reflections. Please see other pics online, and the product in person to get a clear idea of size and looks :).