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Right now I am in the midst of packing an moving from a house into a townhome in a town just 15 minutes out of Calgary.

The move to me seems straightforward and I am very excited. The kids will be in a good school together, we will have a bit of a more laid back lifestyle and we will have a more family like community to live in.

My wife on the other hand is struggling a little bit. There is all the moving plans, getting the kids registered for school, the idea of moving to a small town for the first time in her life and she bears the brunt of coordinating all of the expenses and hiring the movers.

We have moved a few times in the past and each time our roles are the same but the way that we deal with it is always different. One person or both of us is usually tense we each have our own coping mechanisms and in the end we are always happy with our move and how smoothly everything has gone on moving day. Read the rest of this entry »

I was listening into a conversation going on around me yesterday about whether it is worth it to work out. I am sure that my workplace is no different then any other where we talk ourselves into and out of things through conversation with others.

Martin and Christina where talking about whether to work out or not. Christina has not used her treadmill since she got it and Martin said that it is tough and boring to use equipment and that there is so much more to do in life then to walk or run on a treadmill.

Neither Christina nor Martin need to lose weight, I have no idea about their fitness level but if you feel OK when you look in the mirror it is hard to workout or rather easy to make an excuse not to workout.

So here goes the rant.

I know that working out is tough, I know that working out takes time and I know that it can be boring or inconvenient so why not hit all of these factors head-on. Read the rest of this entry »

Now that you have decided that you are going to start doing weights and doing them at home I am sure that you are starting to think of all of your options and when and how and how oftern. Well I can answer those for you.

The best way to get started lifting weights is to setup a schedule. For most people starting to lift weights the best time to start lifting is Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings or mornings. Mornings have to be the best bet because as we all know the day seems to have it’s own way of breaking up our plans for the evening and consistency in lifting weights is the key.

I find in getting started lifting weights you should do a bit of circuit training. The turbulence training program talks about how to do this but in essence this is what you do. Make sure that you stretch and warm-up and get yourself nice and loose and then do 10 reps of each of the following as one long set.

1. Bench press (for chest)

2. One armed rows (back)

3. Military dumbbell presses (shoulders)

4. Lunges (legs)

5. Curls (biceps)

6. Tricep extensions (triceps)

7. Situps or crunches (abs)

That should take you about 5 to 7 minutes and after that you deserve a bit of a rest. After you have done them all like this once you will be winded but after a 2 or 3 or even 4 minute rest you will be able to go again and do the same thing.

Try to do three sets of this routine. It should not take you more than 20 minutes to half an hour. If you do not know how to do each exercise then go to youtube and find the exercises.

After you have done this I hope that you feel a great sense of accomplishment. Doing weights like this is a great way to get yourself into better shape and after doing this three times a week for a couple of months you are going to feel stronger then you have ever felt in your whole life and your metabolism with be moving faster therefore helping you lose more weight. Another thing to remember about lifting weights is that any muscle that you gain will force your body to burn a lot more calories just for maintenance so you will have a bit of a double whammy to aid you in your weight loss.

One last thing. The day after your first few workouts like this your muscles may be sore. If they are very sore then you can take some aspirin to take away the pain but as the day progresses the muscle pain will go away. This is natural but if it is really bad soreness that you are feeling then it is important not to push yourself quite as hard as you did last time.

If this workout causes more then just soreness. There is a chance if you are not warmed up properly that you can pull a muscle. If this is the case I really urge you to go to a doctor and make sure that you are not hurting yourself. Doing weights is about making your self healthier not hurting yourself.