The university down the street, my alma mater, hosted a 5k this morning for cancer research. I gave it a whirl and hit a new personal best. While the official times haven’t been posted, I finished about 25:06 according to finish line clock. My lovely wife snapped a picture of me sprinting towards the finish line.

Update: Official times are posted: I was 11th in my age division at 25:08. 79th overall.

Most of the time, my degree in computer science only gets used as resume stuffing, but occasionally, all that nonsense creeps into the most mundane of my activities. Recently, I’ve found that my workout process follows the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). In fact, I think just about anyone could benefit from a little SDLC in their workouts.

What the heck is the Software Development Life Cycle?

In computer science, peeps like to over-analyze everything. So, CIS gurus don’t just go out and build software. They follow a six step process to “develop” software. Sounds fancy. It is. In fact, depending on the text book you’re using, the SDLC will be a waterfall, a cycle, or some kind of swirly graph that is impossible to replicate on a test. Generally, it’ll consist of 6 steps, something like this:

• Requirements
• Analysis
• Design
• Implementation
• Testing
• Maintenance

Note: Please don’t critique my CIS skills/knowledge, I took a softcore focus track and don’t care

Requirements

In CIS, the first step is always to determine what the problem is. As they say, you can’t solve the problem until you really understand it. Our first inclination might be that we know what we’re trying to do, we’re trying to get in shape dammit. On closer inspection, that proves to be too vague. Do you want to lose weight? Why? Because your current weight is a health risk? Because you want to be more attractive? Different goals require different approaches. You can simply diet to lose weight, but if you want six-pack abs, you’ll have to do exercise as well. If you want to run a marathon, you’re likely to do very different exercises than you would to get that six-pack.

Analysis

Now that you’ve found out that you want to lose weight, get a six-pack, and run a marathon, it’s time to be honest. First, what’s it going to take to get there? In other words, why don’t you have a six pack now? This is where you have to be painfully honest with yourself … so honest, in fact, that those CIS peeps include Feasibility in this step. If you want a six-pack, you’re going to have come to terms that you might not ever have one. You should consult a doctor if you have any health issues. You might also want to try running a 10k or 5k before working up to that marathon. If you can’t be real with yourself, you’re not ever going to see real results.

Design

We tossed out unrealistic expectations. We have clear, attainable goals. Now, we need to figure out how to get there.

For the most part, fitness involves two processes: Building strength and muscle, and burning fat and calories. Most exercises will do both to some degree but will do one task way better than the other. For instance, lifting weights builds muscle mass. It also burns fat/calories, but it’s always going to be a crappy way to burn fat/calories compared with running. And any other activity is going to suck at building muscle compared with weight lifting. More than likely, to reach any goal you set, you’ll have to develop a schedule that involves both. There’s tons of resources out there on different exercises. I like this muscle map to pick weight lifting exercises for specific muscle groups (Male/Female, click on the muscle for a list of different exercises), and I’ve had a lot of success with these running schedules: 5k/10K, Half Marathon, and how to use them properly.

Implementation

Umm…Did you think you weren’t going to have to exercise? Enough talk, this is where you do it.

Testing

It’s time to take stock and see if you’re reaching the goals you defined. If not, try changing whatever isn’t working for you. Don’t like the days you’re running? Switch them. Running too much? Too little? This step is the reason this process works. Instead of giving up, you find the problems with your approach and fix them. Need motivation? Look in the mirror. Getting bored? Buy an ipod shuffle.

Maintenance

Now, here’s the real secret. It’s a cycle! So, you get here, and you go right back to the beginning. I like to do it at different intervals. After each workout, I record what I did (I use excel for weight lifting and mapmyrun.com for running.) Once I improve a certain amount, I increase the difficulty. At the end of a week, I try to take a picture of myself to have a record of progress. And at the end of a month, I plan ahead for next month. I weigh myself daily with a fancy scale that measures weight, % body fat and % water (which I also record in a my excel file.)

Using the SDLC, I’ve been pretty happy with my results, and that’s why I’m keeping at it. Of course, just about every exercise I do has changed as my goals have changed. My college professors should be proud.