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.

An Active Weekend Experiment

Other than a very active snowboard season, I'm usually not a weekend warrior.  Typically I use the weekend to recover from the cumulative stress of my highly intense workweek workouts.  However, as my retirement date draws near, I find myself concerned with how I'm going to structure my workouts and how I will use the days of the week, once "Monday Morning" becomes meaningless.

Currently, I hit the gym, and/or my main workout of the day, immediately after work, no thought required.  It is an ingrained habit.  When I have an unstructured day, if I have a chance to think about it, it becomes really hard to do that workout.  It's always too easy to talk myself into doing something else.  Habits and routines rule.

So, both while on vacation the week before last, and this past weekend, I have started to experiment a bit with early morning workouts.  I have tried it in the past and absolutely hated it.  I dreaded getting out of bed, my joints ached and felt vulnerable, and, my strength and endurance were noticeably reduced, as much as 30%, in some exercises. Still, the thought of "same time, same station," I'm convinced,  is the only way I'm going to be able to maintain the discipline I need to achieve the goals I have set for myself.

The results of this little experiment have been promising.  I have been able to get out of bed, feeling motivated and not dreading what's to come.  That my friend, is the key on which to build.  You simply cannot sustain something you hate or dread. Granted, the runs have been slow and the weights have been light, with very low overall volume.  Still, Im encouraged.  I think I can buld on it.

More to come.

Vacations Can be a Challenge

I'm always amazed at how much conditioning can be lost in just a week or two of inactivity.  For me,  every week off requires three weeks to get back to the same level of conditioning I was in, prior.  That may seem like a long time, but it has proven to be the case, for me, over at least the last 3 decades.  If I try to rush back faster, it just doesn't work, the percieved level of effort goes "through the roof," and I end up just where I would have been had I followed the plan to ease back to my previous levels.

However, on those times when I do at least a little running, a little lifting, keep my overall activity level pretty high, and eat well, every day, I can cut that time in half. And, that's just what I did over the past week while vising Cape May, New Jersey.  (A beautiful locale, by-the-way).  I ran every morning, lifted for just 15 minutes four of the nine days I was away, and walked and cyled with my wife every day. 

I also ate well, enjoying myself, but did not exceed the calorie targets I had set.  That was critical, as I'm approaching a couple of Fall bodybuilding contests, I have my eye on and, keeping my body fat down to the 5% range is crucial in any hopes for placing well in any "Natural" contest.  Conditioning usually trumps size in drug free competition.

I did chest, delts, and tris on Monday, legs, yesterday, and will hit back and bis today.  I think I am hitting the intensity just about right and my soreness is just noticeable without being a detriment.  I'll also be doing some 150 meter sprints after my post workout cardio today.  That, more than anything may make me sore.  Time will tell.

My advice to anyone, is stay active during your vacation time.  You can scale back, but don't be a couch potato.  The comeback is just too hard and painful, otherwise.
 

Catch Up

I find it hard to believe that its been almost two weeks since I last posted.  I really thought my enthusiasm was going to get me to write something almost every day.  Nevertheless, I'm back with a short catch-up post.

I have been able to get all of my workouts in over the past two weeks and believe I hit the right balance, working hard enough to stimulate increasing fitness without getting into the area of over-training.  I will say, I have been more than normally fatigued over the past two weeks, so have been really focused on staying within my recovery zone.

I had a treatment from my accupunturist this past Monday and it seems to have improved both my overall mood and my energy levels.  I find that energy, for me, is more often tied to my emotional state than to any changes in workload, nutrition, or recovery.  That emotional state seems to just run in cycles without apparent connection to real world events or stressors.  So I just need to ride-out the low points in the cycle and stick with my routines, albeit in a conscious, controlled manner.

I do believe that this most recent bout of "depression" was fueled by "decision fatigue" related to whether or not I want to retire this year and what, specifically, I want to do in the first couple of years of my retirement. I have not reached any firm decisions but have been able to put the constant mental grappling on the "back burner."

On a training note, I'm going to start doing some trampoline work this afternoon in preparation for the upcoming snowboard season.  I can practice several dozen grabs and spins in 15 or 20 minutes, numbers that might take a couple of hours in the terrain park.