“I can’t find the time.”

by Jimmie Curry

Sound familiar? It’s been my automatic response to any proposed workout plan. Who has an hour or two to commit? That has been the biggest stumbling block for me. I now know why that’s the case.

I grew up as a high school athlete until an unfortunate injury ended my short-lived athletic career. It’s been over 50 years, and I still consider it one of my “go-to” excuses.

I have now realized that I have equated working out with cardio exercise. At one point, that was jogging. I even entered a couple of half-marathons in my day, the most recent just a few years ago. My knees couldn’t take the impact, so I extended my walking to account for the intensity. Pre-pandemic, I walked over 20,000 daily steps to account for the lack of intensity.

The pandemic killed that effort, and the weight came back on. For a long time, who wanted to walk around a city with a mask on? Sitting at home waiting on the 5:00 pm cocktail hour was easier. The bottom line was that it didn’t seem worth it if I couldn’t commit to 20,000 steps.

Fast forward three years, I am 40 pounds heavier and know I must recommit. The good news is that I spent three days with a local trainer before Christmas this past year, learning to lift weights. I have never spent much time doing it, even when I was playing football. I was blessed with natural ability, which in retrospect, was equally a curse. I could do what others could only do with effort.

Now that I’m on a more public health kick, I am turning to weightlifting as the foundation of my exercise plan. Fortunately, I have a home gym with most of the equipment unused. I have also purchased a weightlifting plan from Mind Pump Media. I have been listening to Sal, Adam, and Justin on my weekly trips and enjoy their content. Their programs make sense to me.

Given where I am, I will start the pre-phase of MAPS Anabolic, a downloadable web-based program. I am basing my expectations on the various callers who have praised the program. It’s also something I can fit into my day, given my office is beside my workout room. I can commit to multiple periods throughout the day to complete my workout. It’s not an hour+ of committed time, but instead, numerous 5-10 minute efforts.

Hopefully, I have finally found the time.