I have been walking / jogging almost regularly during weeknights for the past several weeks. Well - occasionally, Friday decides to give me the evening off. Still, that is a mighty improvement over my past lack of athletic endeavors.

This evening I tromped out 1.84 miles. Yesterday evening, 1.74 miles.

3.58 miles in two days.

I am happy with that, though I feel the pressure to eek out more tomorrow evening. I present to you masochism at its finest. *bows*

I should probably create a page where I can record my journey so that I at least have something quasi-tangible to mark my passage over all of these miles.

You could have a sticky beak too if you desired.

A major factor in making workouts bearable and even pleasant for me is music.

Whenever I am exercising on the treadmill or lifting weights, I am listening to a specially selected mix of songs on my MobiBlu. The music helps me zone out so that I am not concentrating on the physical torture I am putting my body through or on the length of time that it is taking me.

The time thing is especially important, because after a short period of time I start thinking of excuses to stop.
Consider the phrase “A watched kettle never boils”.

If you are watching the clock while your exercise it will take forever. In fact I have noticed that I am much less motivated to do pilates via an instructional DVD than I am doing weights or walking on the treadmill. I think that is because I have been listening to the instructor guiding me on the pilates moves and hence I am concentrating on not only the physical effort I am going through but also how long it is taking me. Now that I have the moves down, and I can take visual clues from the TV and from my wife whom is almost always joining me. I am going to start listening to music while I do pilates and see if my attitude toward it improves.

Portable MP3 players are fantastic for this purpose. Steer clear of ones that have a hard drive, as they generally don’t suffer kindly to vibrations and being banged around. For your exercise MP3 player, select one that stores your songs on a memory chip. While they will have lower capacity, there are no mechanical parts and should endure your workouts much more successfully. My MP3 player of choice is the MobiBlu because of it tiny size and a convenient cord that hangs around your neck.

As to the type of music you should listen to while you exercise, its really up to you. Pick tracks that you will be able to focus on. Songs that will take your mind off the physical activity that you are engaged in.

For me personally, I look for one of two things in a song in order for it to make it onto my exercise play list (if a song has both, even better):

• A rapid beat that will in itself motivate me to move in time with the music.
• Positive or inspirational lyrics.

So dig into your music collection and select music that you think will make your exercise routing more endurable, transfer them to your computer and upload them to your MP3 player. You’ll find that your exercise routine goes by much quicker and that you begin to enjoy the work out more.

I was going to write down various tips that I have learned as I continue my workouts on my treadmill for the benefit of others, but I realized that my good friend Crickie has a comprehensive set of tips over on her post: Confessions of a treadmill moron, Chapter 3. So I will simply point you over there for some of her helpful insights into making your workout more enjoyable. I’ve got some additions to contribute as well:

• In addition to turning on the ceiling fan, consider lowering the thermostat a degree or two just prior to working out. While it is important that you build up a sweat, you want that to be because you are burning off energy, not because the room around you is sweltering hot.
• Close the door to the room that you are working out in. If people in the house know that you are working out, they won’t open the door, and you’ll be less likely to be distracted by things going on outside your room.
• As a distraction from the grind of your workout, if music is a good distraction for you, I recommend the MobiBlu MP3 player as a perfect tool (full review to follow). It’s about the size of a slightly large six sided die, and has a cord that connects to the player and hangs around your neck. Its extremely light and won’t jump or skip as you move around.
• If you find yourself compulsively looking at how much time you’ve got left, then try counting the number of songs that get you to roughly half way through your workout. From then on use that as a guide and listen to that number of songs before checking the time. This way you can absorb yourself more in the music instead of watching the seconds click by on the clock.

When you think about losing weight, you probably think: I have to go on a diet and deprive myself of the foods that I like to eat. I have to work out, and working out is no fun. I should stop drinking, but I really don’t want to.

These negative thoughts are understandable, but they are not conducive to motivating you to lose weight. They are sabotaging traps that keep you from action and perpetuate the problem. Its your body’s fear response kicking into overdrive because it thinks it is going to be deprived of something whether food, the level of relaxation its used to or the amount of alcohol its accustomed to.

When you think like that, you are attempting to storm the gates of a heavily defended castle. Your odds of succeeding are stacked against you. Instead of trying the direct approach, why not decide on coming in from a different angle?

Steve Pavlina, in his article, Do It Now, suggests grabbing a dumbbell equivalent to the excess weight that you want to get rid of and picking it up. Feel how heavy it is? Walk around with it a little while. Just carry it for a few minutes. It’s a pain isn’t it? Now consider that you are lugging this excess weight around with you every single day. Isn’t that awful? Can you imagine how much easier everything in your life might be if you didn’t have to carry that excess weight around?

Crickie points out that she thinks about the weight in terms of sacks of flour. This is a powerful visual. Think about the number of sacks of flour it would take to make up the excess weight that you want to lose, and then visualize strapping them to your back and carrying them around with you on a day to day basis. Not only will you start feeling like you’re the new Hunchback of Notre Dame, you’ll probably also have some idea of the wasted energy that you are throwing away every day carrying around all that unwanted and unneeded weight.

So when you start thinking about eating less, working out more, or drinking less, don’t focus on what you are doing, but focus on all that extra weight you are hauling around with you. That should make it easier to storm that castle, from the less defended side entrance.