Laugh At Yourself

... it's the key to beginning a workout regimen.

From January to June of this year, I was hitting the weights regularly. By May, I was pretty happy with the results and friends and family said they could notice a difference.

Yes, I did it for cosmetic reasons. Let's be honest here, you lift weights to stroke your ego.

Anywho, we then went on vacation in Spain and came back to nurse my mom who was growing increasingly frail. That put an end to the workouts.

My mom passed away almost two weeks ago and I just recently started going back to the gym. I've put the weight back on and then some and I'm as weak as I was when I started. Who cares? I now find it hilarious that I'm back to lifting what the girls lift. Well, the strong girls, at least. I also find it funny when my muscles cramp up and I have to quit early or when I'm so sore that I can't do any crunches at all. I don't focus on how it might look ridiculous to others, I focus on how ridiculous it looks to me. And I laugh.

That's a key point about starting. Exercise is all about coming back and exercising tomorrow. Today is fine, but tomorrow is always the key. If you don't feel embarrassed by your poor performance or poor appearance because you can laugh at yourself, then you'll feel less like skipping your workout tomorrow.

At least that's my theory.

This is the look I'm trying to get. Well, without the beard, that is. I can't grow any decent facial hair. It all ends up indecent, no matter what I do.