Welcome...

Since this is my first blog entry, I thought I would take a minute for introductions. My name is Rob, and I'm a 30-something husband & dad who lives in Phoenix with his beautiful family. I work as a consultant in the financial services industry - so I can quickly fall into the "workaholic" mode many are familiar with.

The purpose of this blog is to provide a sense of accountability to myself for another important aspect of my life: my health and fitness. If you are reading this blog, then you are likely also in the "mature" phase of your life and looking achieve a similar sense of balance. I welcome your feedback and commentary.

Throughout my life, my fitness level has fluctuated considerably. I think I have explored almost every conceivable method of achieving fitness: endurance running, interval training, martial arts, weight training, yoga...you get the idea. But "life" always seems to get in the way and things get off track. The 20 pounds I lost slowly came back (more than once). Training gets derailed due to tendonitis. Work becomes overwhelming and I "fall off the wagon" when it comes to going to the gym. Sound familiar to anyone?

So, we come to the main idea of my first posting: Why do we fail to achieve our goals, especially in the arena of health and fitness? Is it lack of a punishment and reward system for motivation? Is it lack of planning? Lack of time? In the end, for myself, I suppose it just becomes a mess of excuses.

I will start with a clear goal statement: For the next three months, I will exercise at least three times per week for at least 20 minutes. This is by no means and end-state, just a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely) goal. If anyone (other than me) has taken the time to read this - I encourage you to set out some goals for yourself and report your own progress.

Best of luck, and talk to you again soon.