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Friday, July 23, 2021

Fitness Update: Lessons being learned 7/23/2021

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 So I have been at the "Insanity" fitness videos for the past month or so (Click on the Amazon product ad above for more into about it). While they are designed to be done 6 out of 7 days, I am lucky to get in as many as five, more often, three or four, but I have tried to make up for some of those missing days with a 30-minute workout I found on YouTube, or a routine with various weights I have at home. This is mostly because my double-work schedule often means that if I am home and not working, I must chose between sleeping and doing anything else in the world, and sleeping is the thing that most needs to be done.

That having been said,  I have discovered a few things:

Initially, my cardio was stronger than my muscles, meaning my legs would give out before my cardio reached its peak. The muscles have been catching up a little bit, though, or else my cardio has gotten a little worse.

I need to do squats and other leg exercises with weights, because on pure body weight I am just not getting the power I need.

About 2/3 to 3/4 of the way through a set, I find my self flagging. I can dig in and do the move great about 3 or 4 times, then I fall out again.

Judging by my push-ups and chest presses, much of my chest size must be fat, not muscle.

My serratus anteriors are starting to show definition, if you look real hard.

There is a layer of fat around the middle of my torso. It juggles on my back when doing things like "floor sprints" and "in-and-out abs. It is still there, but it is "jiggling' just a little bit les, like it is becoming more solid.

My weight can vary as much a 3 lbs a day!

My weight was getting just under 200 lbs, when I went to a wedding. The next day I was at 304lbs. I could not get back under 200 lbs until just yesterday, after a couple of days in which I spent most of the daytime in bed, asleep, after working overnight shifts. Maybe that weight was just bloat from eating?

As the program goes on, I am using a pair of Indian clubs I have by carrying them in my hands through the warm-ups and some of the regular exercises. I started after the first week, and have been gradually increasing the number of sets I do with them in my hands. They combined weight is barely equal to my daily weight fluctuations, but it does add just a bit of resistance to the movement of my arms, particularly if I hold them at the ends of the handles during certain moves. I consider the number of times I pump my biceps and shoulders when jogging in place, doing the "Heisman, or jumping jacks, that little bit of resistance must be accentuating the work out here just a little bit. Eventually I will move up to wearing my steel gauntlets, which I did the last time I went though a hardcore period of these workouts.

But these workouts alone will not get me back to anything near my top physical shape, I don't think. For that I have to get back to serious weight training, fighting in armor, and doing kickboxing, BJJ, or both, five days a week. For that, I will have to quit one of my jobs.

Stay tuned...

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