I need to get in shape...

yankees suck!!

 

I quit smoking (2 packs a day for close to 20 years) about 15 years ago. It takes a long time to get your wind back after all that damage. Even now I am limited when I get held down for too long. I work out every day a minimum of an hour and a half. Mostly cardio with weight training at the end of every workout. I read a book that I can't remmeber right now that helped me a lot. I just came to the conclusion that I was going to quit someday either because a doctor scared the crap out of me or for declining health. Either way it was going to happen and I was gonna have to face it one way or another. If that was the case I decided to quit back then and have a chance at a healthy life. It was hard but not impossible and it gets better over time. After the first 3 years I only thought about it once in a long while. Now I pretty much never think about it. I'm glad I got that monkey off my back and the struggle was worth it. You realize after you quit that cigarettes as with any drug are used to numb you and stop you from growing. After I quit my life started to change for the better, I started a business, started a familly and can finally sit comfortably on the beach as the sun sets taking deep breaths of fresh air without punctuating every resting moment inhaling that garbage.

 

Yeah I quit cold turkey on new years eve 1997. I had tried the patch a couple of years before and it doesn't work if your not ready to quit. You have to be fed up with the whole routine to make it happen. I just made up my mind and stopped, haven't smoked one since.

 

Workout....

Hey man, I've been doing CrossFit for a while now, and I've never felt better in my life. I used to workout with weights like an animal, but I always felt sluggish with surfing and other activities. CrossFit is the way to go. The majority of the stuff is calisthenic exercises, but there are some weights thrown in. Check out this site - http://crossfit.com/, then on the left side under Navigation go to FAQ. Scroll down to #4, WOD (Workout of the Day), and use those workouts. They seem like they're easy, but they will blow your mind! Two good ones to start with are Chelsea and Cindy. Basically the same thing, just different timing. Believe me, you will feel and see a HUGE difference in how you feel and even look. Just be sure to follow each exercise closely (timing, reps, sets, etc).

I tell everyone that I know about these exercises. I encourage EVERYONE to go to that site and start using the WOD workouts and see how you feel after 2 weeks. They will kick your butt the first 2 weeks, but it gets easier after - honest!

If you have any other questions feel free to contact me bro! As for the smoking, I can't help out with that. I've never smoked cigarettes a day in my life, so I'm useless on that topic! I know my grandmother stopped cold turkey after 45 years of smoking, so if she can do it anyone can. Good luck!

 

ill go for long walks with you buddy. wear something nice, not too formal though. underpants are optional.

 

+2 on Crossfit! I did it for about 3 months about 2 years ago, haha, and it was the best thing ever. It was fun, extremely difficult at times, and I've never felt better. That hard part is to really follow it, you need access to a gym. A lot of weights are involved as well as cool things like kettle bells, medicine balls, etc. I wish I could do it again, but currently don't want to pay for a gym membership.

 

Fruit flavored Nicorette gum. Not the store brands but the original. Lots of it. Don't stress over the instructions. You'll get addicted to the gum. Then deal with that problem by working in regular gum. At least you'll be able to breath

 

Hey Bambino- Quitting smoking is the first step if you want to improve your health and also fitness. I quit twice, the first time in 1997 after 20 years smoking up to 1.5 - 2 packs a day, used the nic gum, patches all that nonsense. That is the hard way keeping that nicotine ,even a small amount in your body keeps the addiction alive. took about 6-8 months for the cravings to stop. After 5 years without a smoke, during a period of intense stress I picked up a cigarette, then another .... Smoked for 2 more years.

New years eve 2004 I quit cold turkey (my wife quit then too) much easier than using the patch/gum, the physical addiction lasts 72 hours, then it is just the mental stuff. A book that really helped me is "The Easyway to quit smoking" by Dr. Allen Carr great explanations.
BTW I figured the money I saved (1500/year) buys me a good surf trip every year - trade the butts for a week in Central america!
Good luck
Jim

 

best exercise i know of to get fit is to surf... surf as much as you can.

 

I wasn't a smoker for very long... a pack a day for 5 years, and I slowly phased it out from there. I think not actually trying to quit is what helped me stop. I saw a lot of people around my try to quit every new year and they just kept failing at it.

So at first I never said "I'm quitting smoking!" I just started smoking less. And less. First it was stop smoking during the day. Then it was only smoke when I'm drinking. Then it was only smoke when I'm drinking on weekends (hey, it was college). Eventually it got to the point where I was only smoking 1-2 times a month and I decided I should just stop it all together. There was no physical addiction at that point, so it wasn't too hard.

When I started really cutting back, I think one thing that helped was that I started rolling my own cigarettes. Making it less convenient to have a cigarette means you'll only have one when you really want one.

Swimming is a good way to work on cardio and paddling muscles if you have access to a pool.

 

dude quit frackn smoking today or youll die. the gum works i quit after 15 years. 10 days of the gum and dealing with the anger and freakiness and it was all over. then get a paddleboard and some good running shoes and have at it.every aspect of life is better without them s h i t s. oh ,and go orioles! 15 years straight!!!!!

 

Swim, surf, ...

I grew up playing lacrosse and roller/ice hockey and when I first hit the break I thought I was golden, but after having my butt handed to me a couple times I googled Laird Hamilton's workout and core workouts to help train the upper half of my body, ie shoulders..

I'm not a gym rat, but running, kettle bells and cardio weights can't hurt

 

I agree that cross training is the best workout for a sport like surfing. Weight lifting doesnt quite do it because it only trains your body for the limited motions you are doing when you lift weights which dont really have application outside of the gym for sports like surfing.

for paddling muscles i dont think there is any substitute for old fashioned chin ups which can be done almost anywhere and you dont have to join a gym

 

Rule no.292 (via surfing mag rule book) strong shoulder, better waves; strong legs, better surfing.

did some research and cross referenced a lot core and full body workouts. One of the best pieces of advice I found, and never consciously realized...surfing makes the body unbalanced, i.e. front leg v. back leg during a session is a completely different workout. Things I found from surfing trainers and endurance athletes is to try and work muscle groups in the way they will be used. Like the rule says shoulders and legs are very important large muscle groups, but core and balance training are equally as important to focus on smaller and important muscle groups.

like i said just researched some surf pros and trainers to create a surfing work out, there's a ton of info out there. I have been doing this routine for about three weeks and with cardio workout mixed in, recently jumping rope (got to tired of running the same route and working the tread mill), but can already fell a difference in my surfing.

good luck hope it helps

 

2 sessions are a lot after you turn 30ish.
you did fine
keep smoking, don't be a pusssy