For those of you who have not read my blog before here is a quick summary. Due to multiple and degenerative injuries I had to retire from work. At the time I was madly in love with a woman who turned out not to be what I (and indeed she) thought she was. Plans were made and then broken. I travelled for a couple of months across Europe, going wherever the satnav took me. This gave me the space to make sense of my new situation and allowed me to heal from 5 years of total turmoil.
I have been back from my trip for a couple of weeks now and I need to push on and settle my life. I'm 45 years old and the where and tear on my body and to a lesser degree mentally reflect a life twice as long as that. I also came back from Europe with a terrible injury. I gritted my teeth abroad and managed it with pain killers but they weren't really strong enough.
Now I'm back and I have set balls rolling to set my new life. This starts with my health. My shoulder injury has healed as well as it can without active intervention by myself. I have rested it and now I need to work it. So today I get back in the gym and pool. Effectively I have to start again. I am so weak compared to where I was 5 weeks ago it is scary. So it is a swim today at 1430 with the over 50's in my local pool. I recon it will take me 2 months of hard, painful work to regain what I have lost.
I have a well developed plan that I used in the last several months before I left and I am going to use that as a base for the routine I start today. Basically I will be working "splits". Namely I have divided up my bodies major muscle groups found exercises that avoid damaging my body too much and overlay cardiovascular and abdom routines over the top of the upper body and arm weight/strength training. In effect I will only be working my major muscle groups twice a week. That should allow them to heal, reconfigure and grow in flexibility and power. As I get into this the routine will change and I am hoping to return to the standard I had reached before I left. I was fit enough to work professionally in a gym and/or pool environment and to prove it that is what I did for a few months. Below is my starting routine:
Monday:
Swim - 20 slow lengths to loosen and stretch my arms and back muscles.
Chest - Inclined Pressups, Flys - Light weights - 5-7 kgs, only 2 sets.
Tricep - Overhead Tricep Extensions, Tricep dips - only 2 sets.
Abs - 45 lower ab sit ups, 30 mid ab sit ups, 10 minutes of horse dancing, 5 minutes of the Plank and Stick (if shoulder injury allows) together with some Yoga moves.
Tuesday:
Swim
Shoulders - Mil Press, Lateral Raises, Front Raises - Very, very light and only 2x sets
Wednesday:
Back - Dumbell Rows, Dumbell Pullovers, Dumbell Shrugs
Bicep - Curls
Abs
Thursday:
Swim
Chest
Tricep
Friday:
Swim
Shoulders
Abs
Saturday:
Back
Bicep
Abs
Sunday:
Day off
That routine delivers and it can be expanded very easily. As it is written it is about half as intense as I was doing before I left for my trip. The exercise is only half the story though. I have my weight (I am prone to being a fat bastard) under control at the moment. When you train you must also eat correctly. After all why go to all the pain and effort of training hard if you waste it due to poor diet that does not help your body to change? To start I will drop the well known carbs. No bread or pasta for me. Fruit, salad, fish, chicken and once a week, red meat. I want my gut to be virtually empty so I draw my energy from my fat reserves. I will slightly raise my meat portions to provide a good supply of protein. At first I will lose weight (especially when I get on the crosstrainer again) then as my strength improves I will start to put on weight but loose fat. I have been here before and this weight gain phase is to be feared. You burn so many calories and feel so strong that it is easy to loose control over your food and become massive but fit. I need to avoid this. I need to be light and strong and very strong in my core.
Today is day 1 and I can't wait to hit the pool. The sooner I start the sooner I will feel stronger and better mentally. Working out is it is good for you. In a world where we make choices often based on taking the lesser of two evils. When you exercise there is only good outcomes. It enriches your day and your life. I have a little motto that some of you may not get but here it is: "Wherever you are and whatever you are doing you still need to do the washing up." An interesting, sustainable and varied existence starts with good basics and a realisation that life is for real and not a collection of unfulfilled fantasies. If you want it, go get it - it won't come to you. It is time to light the afterburners once again.
Queue Micheal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSK9kkM7GL4
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