I attempted the Bodyweight workout, but upon attempting the first set of Incline Push-ups, which I did do, it was clear my Shoulder capsules were not going to be cooperating today. In light of waking to bad allergies, sleeping heavily and longer than usual, and still waking up kind of exhausted (I did some light shoveling after the workout, but trying to push for anything past 5 or 6 Load on the Air Dyne necessarily involves Arms), as well as mentally exhausted, which also threw off the diet yesterday and killed my appetite, it is clear that I'm badly in need of an OFF week to recharge, and that the Bodyweight exercises are more primers, I scrapped the entire thing for today to be recovery (so I will be staying hard on the diet) and I will start my OFF week tomorrow and run it through the following Wednesday. It is supposed to snow again more, though, so I probably won't be entirely clear of activity...
I'm not doing another weigh-in, so I started this at 262 in March and the last weigh-in here was 237, which is -25 lbs (my written goal was -30). I can't quite tell if I'm still building muscle (probably, though at a much slower pace), but am pretty sure I'm in a metabolic stall. Winters seem to put me into a sort of S.A.D. state, so as long as it can continue to go downward, I'll take it. The hard plan is to get into the gym in 2022. The current state of COVID-19 suggests I should hold off on that until at least February, so I can miss the resolutionists, but it will also depend on the numbers. If they seem to be moving in the right direction, I'll probably run until through the third week of January and then start at the beginning of February there. If I elect to pursue the biking path I was strongly considering attempting, that will also throw in a pretty significant change, but as of now, I still need to drop at least another 30 pounds to realistically consider that. As adding either pursuit will obviously significantly impact my workout schedule, I'm going to wait until later to come up with a Goal Post, which I'm not sure I've actually done on this blog as of yet. I did manage to find my old numbers, though, for once I do head back in the gym, but I still need to hunt down some of my actual workouts so I can get them up here.
I started in late March here, struggling to consistently hit 30 minutes and 4 miles. I haven't quite doubled the time, but generally, workouts are regularly running between 40 - 50 minutes and it's been at 10 miles as the minimum for a while now. Air is dramatically improved, as is the Left Achilles I rehabbed throughout this. I have hit 60 minutes and 800+ miles for the year, so the next move is to try to move much harder towards a HIIT-type training for the cadence. Legs are looking way, way better and clothes are fitting better. I still have a gut, because that's just how this body rolls, but I'm finally starting to look more like a bodybuilder in off season than just an old, fat dude. Part of the struggle is me trying really hard not to rely so much on protein shakes as I did before, but I may need to move back to what I was doing before as it seemed to work better (though I also note I was a decade younger then). I might do that on the workout days, but Cardio workouts tend to fry whatever's there, so that might also not be an entirely sensical thing to do. Still pondering...
When I was in the gym rat phase, I tended to go at night. That was not possible prior to this year, but now that it is, I may return to that, at least for the Lifting part. Cardio is actually kind of like in mid morning, as I think it sets a nice tone for the day after, but that will be schedule permitting, I suspect. Anyway, progress has been solid and I have no real reason to complain. It could have been better, sure, but also could have been much worse and I definitely have some notes for next year, namely the two goals I have as of now, which are:
Weight - down another 30
Air Dyne - Sprint at Max
I was considering driving the workouts past 60 minutes, but I strongly feel they can start to get catabolic at extended periods, as it is really hard to load enough calories to get through the workout, yet burn through the carbs at the right pace to encourage and stimulate conversion of body fat for energy, particularly at the higher cadences. I do not really want to lose mass or muscle so much as the excessive body fat. Once I'm able to get into the gym, that will also help that, though I'm nervous about how much has slid away in the intervening years...well, if nothing else, we're back on the right trail once again now...back in 2022.
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