Resolution #109: Join Richard Simmons Project Hope!!!
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Date: 4-19-2014
Due Date: 4-19-2015
Resolution: Though this resolution falls into the April Fools theme, it's not because I think Richard Simmons is a shyster. I just personally feel foolish exercising along to a DVD. I've tried it before and for whatever reason, it just feels weird.
I always imagine someone catching me flopping around even though I live alone. To add to the awkwardness I will also buy short shorts and a tank top and hopefully, my afro will arrive from the You'fro pills I'm taking.
Result #109: I Successfully Completed All Three Months Of Richard Simmons' Project Hope!!! And Should Probably Do It Again!!!
Update #1: It Begins…
Date: 5-17-2014
Well, I just finished my second Richard Simmons workout. This challenge is part of my April Fools Themed Resolutions. As I pointed out in the initial resolution, I included this challenge not because I feel the product is foolish but because I knew, going into this, I would feel foolish flailing around my apartment to the count of my geriatric DVD personal trainer.
The short shorts and tank top doesn't help.
Lucky for you I'm into living experiences to write about and not out to be a Youtube celebrity. I'm sure my fat ass awkwardly dancing around in these shorts would draw some attention. Fortunately, I'm not comfortable with myself to share such an image.
I found it pretty interesting that even though I knew I was all alone and knew for sure that no one could see me, I still felt real foolish doing this workout. It's weird how I’m not ashamed to share the story, I’m not ashamed to admit to how awkward I feel, I’m willing to write and share every detail of my life as far as my thoughts go yet I'm completely uncomfortable with my being. Too uncomfortable to let down my guard even though I’m all by myself.
Part of the reason I chose this workout was for the novelty of it all. Again I find novelty to be one of my greatest motivators. Why am I so uptight about certain things even while I'm alone? I often find myself jealous of those who are comfortable enough with themselves to commit to physical comedy, or dancing, or acting, or anything else that requires using their body and movement to add to an expression.
I think I'm fine being heard, I just don't want to be seen.
Who knew that uncomfortably Cha-Chaing across my living room would lead to this type of insight? I'm beginning to think that this resolution is going to be as much about becoming comfortable with myself as it's going to be about getting healthy. In order to let my guard down to be comfortable around others, I guess it would help to be comfortable with myself first?
So I felt stupid dancing around my apartment in my short shorts but I made it through all the workouts that were assigned for each day.
For the first month, there are three different workouts.
A 20-minute Cardio Workout. This is where the dancing takes place. It's made up of stretching, leg lifts, marching, and as I said dancing. It's not an overwhelming workout but it gets you moving.
A 15-minute Toning Workout. This is made up of stretching and light weight lifting. Again nothing too intense, but it's something.
A 10-minute balance Workout. This is made up of lifting your legs in different ways and trying to keep your balance. Again pretty simple but it's something.
The first week you have to do all three workouts every day. They note which ones you can skip if you're lazy, but these exercises are easy enough that there is no reason to not do them all.
When I got to the Toning Workout I didn't realize that I needed weights. Thinking quickly I grabbed these...
...the next best thing. It was pretty gross feeling the contents of the One Whole Chicken in a can sloshing around, but it worked in a pinch.
This may not be P90X but I'm not a P90X type of person. I feel this workout regimen is easy enough, novel enough, and surreal enough to keep me interested. I'm hoping that after 90 days of exercising I'll be ready to move up to the next level of DVD workouts.
I do have a little over a year and a half left in this 365 Days of Resolution adventure. I'm hoping everything will eventually ramp up as I go.
I'll keep you posted!
Update #2: I Traded In My Canned Food For A Legitimate Pair Of Weights To Start Week 2 of 12!!!
Date: 5-24-2014
Today I started week two of Richard Simmons' Project Hope. I feel less foolish doing the exercises, and am down in weight. This is definitely not the workout for someone who wants to feel "the burn," but it's a pretty good workout for someone looking for something low impact to ease you into working out.
We'll see what happens after three months.
Update #3: One Month Down!!!
Date: 6-13-2014
It's been one month since I started doing the Richard Simmons Project Hope workout. This was part of my April Fools themed Resolutions. As I pointed out from the get-go, the only thing that I thought was foolish was the idea of me flailing around my apartment in running shorts and a tank top.
No matter how healthy I get you will never see me in this outfit.
I'm holding off on weighing myself until the end of the three-month challenge but I can tell that I've already lost some weight. My face isn't as fat and my clothes fit better.
Again this isn't a workout for you P90Xers but it's perfect for people who want to get some beneficial physical activity without trying to kill themselves. This week I got up early before work a couple of times to get my workout out of the way so that I could hang out with friends in the evening.
I know for a fact I would have probably failed this resolution already if the workout was too intense. The fact that it's manageable makes me feel like I have no excuse not to see this one through to the end.
I have a couple of problems with the workout though. There are three DVDs, each with three different workouts, a 20-minute cardio, a 15-minute toning, and a 10-minute challenge. You usually do at least two workouts a day, but toward week four of each month, they have you doing the cardio twice and the toning twice, depending on the day.
I don't have a problem with the work but between the job and this blog it's hard to commit to what turns out to be an hour and a half on a resolution that I can't multitask through, but I'm getting healthier so it's worth it.
The only other problem that I have is that my Doppelganger appears in the first workout. You can never see him all that clearly but he not only looks like me, he also seems to be a bit uncoordinated and off timing-wise.
When the camera does land on him he's usually rushing to catch up, or going too fast from his last attempt to catch up.
Stupid Doppelgangers and their amplifying of your flaws.
Tomorrow I start month two. I can't wait to see which participants return and what crazy outfits Richard Simmons will be wearing in these new workouts.
Update #4: Two months down!
Date: 7-14-2014
Two days ago I finished my second month of the Richard Simmons Project Hope workout. I've yet to miss a single workout even toward the end of the month where the works outs got longer causing my schedule to get tighter.
I have five more weeks of dancing around my apartment until I'll finally weigh-in to see what I've lost but it's now visibly obvious that I've lost weight and more importantly I just feel healthier.
Again, my favorite part about each new workout is getting to see the new people and the new crazy outfits worn by Richard. Above is a small collage of last month’s combo.
Update #5: The Conclusion…
Date: 4-19-2015
I actually finished Richard Simmons' Project Hope Workout a long time ago but never got around to posting my month three update. Oh well, it was the fitness aspect of this resolution that I was after and not the blog posts.
I remember the third month being the hardest while still being manageable. I never felt like any of the workouts were too extreme so I never felt discouraged about continuing on. I did however find that some of the workout combinations to be a bit long.
Between this blog and the full-time job I was working at the time, it was sometimes hard to fit in a full workout, but I managed to pull it off and lost about fifteen pounds.
As I said from the get-go, though this resolution was part of my April Fool's themed experiments, I never felt that Richard Simmons or his workouts were foolish in any way. I just felt foolish dancing around my apartment in my little short shorts.
