Little Successes

I have to cheer the little successes that are accomplished, otherwise all of this exercise stuff will just get tiring and I'll find myself wanting to quit it all.

A part of the reason I ended up looking like a pear on a pair of toothpicks is that I've spent the better part of the last 20 years of my life in and out of bowling centers - both working and bowling in them.  For those of you who have been bowling once or twice, you probably know that the food offered in such establishments isn't exactly on the top of the nutritional scale.  Deep fried chicken, fries, hamburgers, soda, salty popcorn - ah, the memories!

Interestingly, bowling is part of the reason that I don't look far worse that I currently do.  Despite beliefs to the contrary, bowling burns a lot of calories.  When I practice (I suppose it's worth mentioning that I am a professional bowler, so this is something I do quite a bit), I might bowl 8-12 games.  Without getting into the details of how the following numbers are reached, over the course of 10 games I will walk 3528 feet carrying a 15 pound weight for half that distance.  I will have lifted 2205 pounds 15 pounds at a time.  I will have performed 147 deep-knee bends while throwing a 15 pound sphere at an average speed of 16 mph.  Do that a couple times a week, and you only gain a marginal amount of weight.

Now, what is that success I was talking about?

Ah, yes.  Yesterday I had the opportunity to bowl a few games (6 to be precise) while my wife was at a meeting.  The last time I bowled (a few weeks ago), I had terrible knee pain, shoulder pain, and I hurt all over the day after.  I was expecting, at the very least, next-day soreness and knee pain when I bowled yesterday.  To my surprise, I felt pretty good for the entire 6-game stretch.  I still sweat bullets while bowling, but my knees gave me no trouble at all and my body felt fine when I woke up this morning.  I also managed to average 203 for the 6 games despite the lanes being pretty used up when I got there (it's a bowling thing, but used up lanes are hard to bowl well on).

The only thing I can attribute this success to is a regular weight training regimen and modified food intake.  I still look overweight, but there are small changes occurring that show up under certain conditions - in this case, 6 games of bowling.  I can only imagine what more of the same will bring.  I do recall that some of my best bowling was done at 176 pounds with about 18% body fat.  By the time I'm 40, I'll be WELL into that range of fitness.

Little successes mean a lot.  I shall celebrate them as they come.

Be well.