In the past I’ve posted attempts to get healthy again only to have my efforts derailed by injury, work demands, sleep deprivation, and an all out apathy to the idea of getting into shape.  But, I’m hoping I’ve found 2 sources of motivation.

1) My lovely wife.  My son recently had his 2nd birthday and that was a pretty rough pregnancy on my wife.  My son was/is a big baby/kid.  People often look at him and wonder why he’s only using 3 and 4 word sentences.  Why?  Because they think he’s at least 3 years old based on his size and coordination.  He has 3T clothes that are too short for him, yet pants fall off of him because a kid his height is “supposed” to be fatter than he is.  He’s always been that way, even before he was born.  The result of which was that he was pretty rough on my wife.  After his 1st birthday she’d decided it was time to reclaim her body and proceeded to lose more than 20 pounds last year and she’s still moving forward this year.  Meanwhile, I gained about 5 pounds.

2) Fit and Busy Dad.  If a guy can find that much time for his kids, wife, job and the rest of life, maybe I can too.  Granted, his job relates to working out, but his workouts are based on the premise that most dads don’t have the time to work out. 

I’ll also grant you that Chris Lopez is 5 years younger than I am.  So what?!  Once upon a time I used to be an in shape athlete who ran up and down a soccer field for 90 minutes.  I used to run up and down a basketball court for 2 hours, go to school, and run up and down the court for a few hours more.  I used to have more than a 6 inch vertical jump.  Used to, used to, used to…

The fact is, my wife is the same age I am and she’s given birth twice.  Talk about abusing your body.  Workouts have nothing on a pregnancy!  And, after all that, she’s gotten back into shape.  So, here’s my plan.

Going to bed at 10:00 on a regular basis is step 1.  Why?  Because I can’t continue to run on 5-6 hours of sleep and as much caffeine as I can consume.  That’s what I’ve done on and off (and more on than off) for the last 15 years.  Why?  Money mostly.  The more I work, the more money I’ll make, right?  Take a look at the economy lately.  There’s a whole bunch of unemployed people who have proven that hypothesis wrong.  They worked their butts off and now they’re unemployed.

Step 2, finding 20 -30 minutes a day to work out.  Probably in the mornings before work.  If I don’t do it then, the day will take over, fly by, and I’ll be asleep on the couch without having lifted a finger to improve my health.

Step 3, the hours of 8 -10 PM need to be dedicated to my marriage.  There are so many things going on in life and so many interruptions with the kids that if I don’t carve out some time daily for my wife, we’ll never communicate until sometime after 10:00 when we’re both exhausted and only partly “there”.

Step 4, leaving work on time.  This is a hard one for me.  There’s always one more thing to finish up.  That one more thing leads to 3 or more and suddenly I’m leaving much later than I planned.  I’ve been doing a better job of it lately, only to turn the computer on at home and work from home.  Yet, this is one that needs to happen for the rest of the steps to be successful.  If I don’t get home on time, I don’t get time with the kids.  If I don’t get time with the kids, my wife spends even more time of her day trying to keep up with them.  8-10 is out the window and that means I’m not going to sleep until 11.  Go to bed at 11 and get up before 5 to workout?  Not sustainable.  And, then I’m right back where I am.

So, there’s my plan.  We’ll see how it works.  I’ve got 3 months before our summer vacation.  I’d like to be able to take my shirt off on the beach without people trying to roll me back into the water.  Wish me luck!