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I had set my goals for 2008, but ran into a problem last night / this morning when two of them conflicted with each other. These two often do: fitness & finance.

Long story short, I was up late working & didn’t make it to the gym this morning. I was awake, momentarily, but there’s no way I can workout on only 5 hours of sleep. Maybe a weekend of hard work will allow me to keep on track for my fitness goals next week.

This entry was posted by Eric on Friday, January 4th, 2008 at 7:54 am and is filed under Fitness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

With 2008 right around the corner, I’ve come up with a list of my goals & resolutions for the year

Affiliate Marketing

• I’d like to win a contest. The type where the top affiliates win something, not a luck-of-the-draw type contest. I haven’t found one yet, but I’ll keep looking
• I’m hoping to go to Affiliate Summit East in Boston this summer

Fitness

• I’d like to get to 11% body fat, or lower. Based on my previous 3 measurements, I think that’d doable.

Finance

• I’d like to have enough money in 2008 to max out my IRA, Laura’s IRA (after she opens one), and the kids 529 accounts.

Other

• I really need to watch less TV. I did this back in June and got so much done! But then I fell back into watching TV, and became a mindless blob. I’m not completely cutting out TV, but limiting what I watch. Of course, I’ll watch LOST, and football, but all that other junk can go.

I’m sure there should be more, and hopefully I’ll add to this list as the year goes on.

Happy 2008!

This entry was posted by Eric on Tuesday, January 1st, 2008 at 9:00 am and is filed under Affiliate Marketing, Finance, Fitness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

I had a rare chance to double-up on my workout today since my trainer was teaching a class at 7:15. So I showed up at 6, worked on bi’s and back, then went to class where we did legs and some chest. I’d like to be able to do this many years from now, when I retire, but it sure is tiring. Good thing I was in bed at 8:30 last night! The good news is that I got to eat a big breakfast when I got back, and I feel great now!

I may run this weekend (Sunday, if I make it out), but things will be light until after New Year’s.

This entry was posted by Eric on Friday, December 28th, 2007 at 9:56 am and is filed under Fitness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Jason’s teacher & class sent over a bunch of “Get Well Soon” cards yesterday. Each one was very nice & unique in it’s own right. One of my favorites read:

Dear Mr. Nagel, I hop you feel better. May God bless you and heel you. Jason feels realy sad. He dos’ent want you to die. Your friend Max

It was really nice to receive the cards - each one made me smile.

I woke up this morning in more pain than on Wednesday, but a few Advil later, everything was fine. I sure hope this heals quickly, and doesn’t take the full 6-8 weeks!

This entry was posted by Eric on Friday, December 21st, 2007 at 9:58 am and is filed under Fitness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

No sooner do I make a couple of posts about my fitness routine and some healthy eating tips than I find myself going to the ER this morning because of chest pains. That, my friends, is the definition of irony.

Turns out I have Costochondritis, which means the cartilage that connects my ribs & sternum is inflamed. I felt a bit silly for going to the ER for heart pains (a 28-year-old shouldn’t be having a heart-attack) but after I read that “Costochondritis symptoms are similar to the chest pain associated with a heart attack,” I felt a bit better.

So now I have to take it easy and pop some pills to ease the pain & inflammation. Good news is that my heart was given a clean bill of health!

This entry was posted by Eric on Wednesday, December 19th, 2007 at 10:55 am and is filed under Fitness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

I started writing a reply to a comment on my 9-month update, but it got to be too long. So here’s a brief summary of my fitness routine:

Fitness
I’ve been doing plyometrics twice a week and (lately) lifting 3 days / week. When the weather is nicer (not too hot, not too cold, not too dark) I run about 3.5 miles. Ideally, I’d do plyometrics twice a week, run twice a week and lift twice a week. Oh, and I try to bike to the gym, but I don’t like biking in the dark (almost got hit by a car one day).

Having someone to workout with is key. There’s a group of us that keep each other motivated, and harass one another if someone skips a workout. The trainer we work with pushes us hard, and I wouldn’t be where I am if it weren’t for him. I think his military background helps… I need someone calling me a cheese-puff when I want to quit.

The other key ingredient in getting fit is time. Stick with it. It took me 9 months to do what I did. The first day the weather passes 50 degrees, don’t decide to go to the gym to get fit by summer. If you want to be fit for next summer, you should’ve started last summer.

Dieting
As for dieting, I’m horrible at that. There’s a few reasons why… healthy food is more expensive than processed stuff, I have kids in the house, and my wife loves to bake.

That being said, I do have a few diet tips:

1. Drink lots of water
2. Eat every 3 hours
3. Eat with your left hand. It’ll slow you down. Take a bite, but down your fork, swallow, take a sip of water, repeat
4. Use the small plate. You’ll put less food on your plate, and it’ll look fuller
5. Right after dinner, brush, floss and rinse. If you’re like me and hate the flossing routine, you’ll be far less likely to eat at night

Any of those fad diets or pills or whatever all have fine print: “diet and exercise are recommended”. Save your money, skip the other stuff and just go with diet and exercise.

I’ve followed Weight Watchers before and learned a lot from it. In my opinion, it’s not a diet but rather an education on how to pick the right foods to eat. It also gets you in the habit of writing down everything you eat, which is key when you’re dieting. You don’t have to run out & join the program - look for Weight Watchers Starter Kits on eBay. It’s all you need.

My final tips are to stay off the scale! Get a trainer to measure your body fat and weigh you every 3 months or so. If I only used a scale, I would have been very depressed that I work out very hard, and have only a 1-pound difference to show. However, since I was getting my body fat measured, I now know I replaced 16 pounds of fat with muscle. If you need to, use photos. Since you see yourself in the mirror every day, you won’t notice the difference, but looking back 3 months at a time, you’ll be able to see it.

I once told Steve, “Money doesn’t come easy, or else everyone would be rich“. The same goes for fitness:

Getting in shape doesn’t come easy, or else everyone would have the body of their dreams.

Stick with it, and good luck!

This entry was posted by Eric on Tuesday, December 18th, 2007 at 7:36 pm and is filed under Fitness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.