I Missed Three Workouts This Week

You absolutely cannot over estimate the power of habit in maintaining a healthy lifestyle and consistent training program. Over the past week I missed three workouts. That's actually more but I missed in the entirety of last year and it's all due to trying to establish new habits

Whereas pre-retirement, I always used to hit the gym immediately after work, I now am trying to get up and get my primary workout in before breakfast. This is just not easy to do and it is not yet an established habit. At the same time, waiting until later in the day to get a workout in, is just not working either. If I wait until later, I always find something else that I would rather do. So, early mornings is the most viable time, but that habit is just not yet established.

My current plan, is to continue to try to get up early, take a brief run to get my core temperature elevated, and then hit the gym. The secret will be to ease back on the intensity until the habit is firmly established. In that way, I think I can get myself out of bed and get to the gym without any feeling of dread or trepidation. If I can maintain that habit for 4 to 6 weeks, I think I can then try to up the intensity.

To date, I've been able to get 2 to 3 weeks of study workouts in before I fall back into wanting to sleep in. But, I think it's because I've upped the intensity too soon and I just can't force myself to get out of bed to face those heavy weights.

I'll report back in a few days and tell you how it's going.

Feeling a bit Guilty

I'm feeling a bit guilty today.  There was a GS race at Whitetail yesterday. I had been eyeing it for months and intended to participate, hoping to both win my age group and crack the top five overall.

But, with the seventy degree heat all of last week and the loss of snow, I lost all enthusiasm for driving out for the race.  I was even thinking that they may have canceled it, but with heroic efforts by the grooming crew, they were able to set up a nice venue. So, bad on me.

If I intend to attain my stated goals, I need to start taking scheduled competitions a bit more seriously.

To make things worse, this was likely the last weekend that the local resorts will be open.  Now if I want to get any racing in this season, I'll need to travel North or West and with the way my days are playing out, that seems unlikely.

We shall see.  Things just don't always go the way you plan or intend.

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.

Snowboarding is Imminent.

I had a very good leg workout yesterday, setting a new PR in the Front Squat.  I have been working on a few of the Olympic lifts and some of the related exercises that are a part of the Cross-Fit mix.  I have it in the back of my mind that I may try some Cross-Fit competition in a year or two, after I have established a few milestones in my currently targeted areas of competition. So, I'm always happy to see my numbers go up in those lifts.

My history of shoulder issues, most importantly my torn scapularis which has never healed correctly, makes overhead lifts and holds difficult.  Nevertheless, I'm confident I can get the numbers up as high as I need to.  Looking at last Spring's Cross-Fit games 60+ events, I'm already at a point where I can handle the prescribed weights.  Now its a matter of honing form and improving the type of fitness that Cross-Fit demands.  Most of the events are of greater duration than the more explosive sprinting and jumping kinds of things that I am now focused on.

Looks like out local slopes are going to be open on Friday.  I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get out.  I have a conflict on my schedule until noon.  Saturday and Sunday look like a bust with rain scheduled.  So, I may not hit the slopes until the latter portion of next week.  I'm a bit disappointed, but with retirement pending and the ability to get on the snow more days per week, I'm not sweating it.  Everything is looking good.

Trying to schedule heavy leg workouts in the middle of snowboarding season is always difficult.  One always seems to compromise the other.  Recovery is difficult when you're really taxing your legs four or five times a week.  At the same time, the fun greatly outweighs the concern.  No worries.

A Couple of Setbacks to Deal With

I thought I'd write a brief post just to provide some continuity.  I'm in a somewhat slack time, at the moment, between the active bodybuilding season and the start of snowboarding.  I'm actually hoping to hit the slopes in the next week or two and am looking forward to some freestyle and racing competition.

In the meantime, I have been getting all of my workouts in as well as staying on the "straight and narrow" when it comes to feeding and recovery.  The week before and the week of Thanksgiving I did have a bit of a hard time staying on track.  First, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving I slightly hyper-extended my knee during the acceleration phase of my sprints.  It made running the next day very difficult, I ran extremely slowly with very short strides, and made the schedule sprint workout impossible.  Then, on the Sunday before the holiday, I came down with the first cold I have suffered in almost 10 years. 

The knee healed quickly with relative rest and I was able to sprint and lift heavy again within a week.  The cold responded well to a regimen of Zicam and steam inhalation and lasted just about the requisite week.  I did take two days off, when I was feeling particularly beat, but still managed to get in some walking and stair climbing on those days, so did not lose any ground.

Two weeks later, I'm feeling better than ever with some PRs coming in both the weight room and on the road.

I'm hoping to close out the year and hit my 60th birthday by being in all time best shape and hope to start posting some workout videos to INSTAGRAM, which I'll also share here, or provide a link.

Grit and Discipline Gets the Job Done

Competing at anything has been far from my mind over the past two weeks.  I have been quite stressed with my retirement countdown and getting my financial house in order to allow my departure from Government service after 33 years.  That, plus the brouhaha surrounding the election has been quite powerful in distracting from my long-term ambitions.

Nevertheless, I have managed to get to the gym, or hit the road for all of my scheduled workouts.  I have continued to eat healthfully with an eye toward proper recovery and strength maintenance, with only an occasional indulgence.  My workouts have been nothing to write home about, but I did get them done.  Putting another brick in the wall, so to speak.

Life happens.  If you're aiming to improve only on the days when you're motivated and the calendar is clear, it just ain't gonna happen.  Its the habits, the discipline, the grit to do what needs to be done, that gets you where you need to go.

Don't get me wrong, those days when you're focused and motivated are great and makes the whole journey worthwhile.  But I'm here to tell you, after 45 years of training, that those golden days are in the minority.  Keep your nose to the grindstone and grind.

As you get older, the habits and the grit and the mind are everything.  Cultivate discipline always and, just like muscle itself, your discipline and your will power will get stronger and carry you through.

A Slight Change of Plans

I have been leaning out in preparation for the Mid-Atlantic Pro Blow Out, slated for 19 November.  My body fat is in the low 5% range and I'm ready to compete.  Unfortunately, when I went to fill in the entry form today, I saw that polygraphs are only being given on theThursday and Friday before the event. With my current work schedule, I'm not going to be able to make that work.

So, it looks like my next bodybuilding contest will not be until next Spring, sometime.  I am a bit disappointed, to say the least.  I'm not sure how well I would actually place, but I am in great condition and it would have been nice to get some professional photos, under the lights, with a competition tan.

My current strategy is to stay closer to competition condition year round, so this is a good time to start that experiment.  I'm usually not more than 5-8 ponds over contest condition, but now I'm aiming to stay only 2-3 pounds away from target weight, while still trying to incrementally gain muscle.  No sure I would recommend that for everyone, but I think its going to work better for me.

I'll keep you informed.