Kinetix
Eight weeks ago I began a fitness / nutrition program called Kinetix. The founders of the program designed it as a lifestyle enhancement system, and it has been a good experience. Three days each week I’ve been lifting weights with a personal trainer, and four days a week I do cardio exercise. They also emphasize a healthy diet, which hasn’t required much of an adjustment. I tend to eat pretty lean food, usually salads and fish, with the occasional buffalo burger or something. The biggest single adjustment has been eating breakfast which I usually skip. Getting a little fuel in the morning has been a good change.
Although I have always been in reasonably healthy condition, I am not an athlete. In high school and college when all my buddies were playing sports, I was playing guitar. So I haven’t spent a lot of time in the gym or weight room. In fact, I don’t even enjoy sports. I recently began to throw a softball around for fun. That doesn’t make me an athlete by any stretch. My recent years of studying karate were good for general toning up, but it’s not the same as a focused program designed for strength and endurance. After eight weeks of this program I’d say I’m probably approaching the best physical condition of my life.
Besides toning up and losing weight, my energy level is higher. I don’t seem to suffer from the customary afternoon energy crash as badly. Also, my endurance has greatly increased; in the first week of cardio I could barely get through 20 minutes on the elliptical stepping machine. Now I can do it for an hour at a much higher level of resistance. This is a significant change considering the brief time I’ve invested.
I enjoyed the program enough that I am committed to continuing the workout regimen with the company’s “performance” program. For the next eight weeks I will be doing a more intense weight training schedule six days per week, with interval cardio every day. By the middle of summer I expect that I’ll have lost 12-15 pounds from when starting the program in March. Considering that this has required an investment of one hour per day, it’s been a good payoff and it’s something I intend to continue doing.