Thursday, February 23, 2017

New Life New Routines

It's hard to believe that it has been over two months since last I wrote.  A lot has happened during that span, which is my excuse for not writing.

As planned, I retired from Federal service on 31 January and the resulting change in lifestyle has resulted in a significant change to my daily fitness and training routines.

The walking, stretching and stair climbing that used to be a part of my workday are no longer part of the equation.  Whereas I used to automatically head to the gym after finishing my work day, I now get up early to get in my primary workout of the day.  I find that if I don't get it done and try to leave it until later, I can easily talk myself out of it.  The time must be a habit that I automatically respond to.

On the down-side, I find early morning workouts to be much more difficult.  My joints do not feel as fluid as mid-afternoon and my strength levels are noticeably reduced. I'm giving myself 3-4 months to acclimate and get my weights back to where they were, pre-retirement.

During the eight weeks since my retirement, I have been steady with the scheduled workouts, missing only a ten day stretch when I was recovering from a minor shoulder injury suffered while snowboarding.  Even then, I only missed the gym.  I still got my days on the snow, so all is good.

Nutrition has been more problematic, particularly pre and post-workout feedings.  Since I workout before my official breakfast, I was unsure how much to eat and whether or not I would need any caffeine to make it through the workout.  The answer has been, a pre-workout shake made with milk, whey, creatine and BCAA's has been sufficient and I don't need the coffee before I finish and shower.

All-in-all things are pretty much on track.  More on upcoming competitions in future postings.

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