The Best Shape of My Life!

There are some things that I hate about spring. Allergies and infections are some of them. It seems that no matter what I do, I always get a horrible sinus/throat infection when the weather turns warmer. I’ve been hacking up absolutely nothing all day for the past 5 days or so, and it’s getting more and more unbearable. I’m trying not to depend too much on medication, but at this point I’m downing about every OTC sinus/throat pill I can find. If history is any indicator of the future, I’ll be stuck with the wheezing cough for another couple weeks, which can make life quite miserable.

But on the flip side, it’s a sign that the weather is changing. The days are getting longer and warmer, and some humidity is finally returning. I guess I should be thankful that winter is leaving me behind and I’ll have more time and energy to get outside and do more of the things I love doing. But not till I get over this stupid allergy thing.

I did my workout this morning, though I had to force myself to get through it. I woke up at 5 am, like usual, but barely. I trudged into the gym and pretty much just went through the motions. I think it was a good enough workout, especially considering that breathing is a problem due to my allergy infection. I’m doing light weights this week. If nothing else, it’s giving me something to do so I can remain consistent. I was planning on using light weights to build endurance, but I had to lower them beyond what I wanted since I couldn’t find the energy to lift this morning. But……..I did make it through.

I’m still planning on doing yoga tomorrow morning.

I’m getting ready to go to Colorado with my wife, daughter, and the in-laws for a spring break ski trip! I AM SO EXCITED! I’ve only been skiing once in my life, and it was after my wife and I got married. It will be fun.

I hope I can keep up with my 18-year-old bro-in-law! Neither of us have "trained" to go skiing, but he usually outdoes me somehow in everything we do. Oh well, it’s fun competition, or something like that.

If we were putting on a theatrical production, we’d say "break a leg." Here, however, we do NOT want to say that, much less actually do it.

I’ll be sore when I get back, but I’m gonna love it! Later, everyone.

My target date for reaching 10% bodyfat was 1 March 2009. I know I am not at 10% as is, so there’s not real point in measuring right now. My final deadline is 9 June 2009. When I turn 28, I want to achieve three things, one of them being the under 10% bodyfat measure. So I figure I have some time.

I’m postponing the full measurement and assessment because I have a lot going on. Sure, it only takes a few minutes on a Sunday afternoon to complete the measurement part, but I don’t want to do that without the fitness assessment (since my annual goals have both as objectives). So I’m going to wait till after spring break when things calm down slightly to do the measurement and assessment. That way I can refocus all my energy on the last couple months before my final annual deadline.

I am attempting to pay more attention to my diet this week, so hopefully some good comes out of that. I don’t think I’m seeing any major physical changes after week 3, but my wife seems to think that my pecs are getting bigger. We’ll see if she’s just imagining things or if she’s right in another week or so.

Workouts are going great!

I did yoga this morning. I loved it! Surprisingly, I could still do a lot of the movements….granted, I’m not nearly as flexible as I could be.

My back is still hurting, though. It’s just the lower left side, and it kills me in certain positions. I’m not sure if the yoga activated the pain more or if I did something to screw it up again, but it is really hurting right now (and I thought I was getting over it).

I should probably make an appointment with a chiropracter and massage therapist. Unfortunately, that may mean taking a 1/2 day from work, which I really can’t afford to do till about April. I’ve got some Icy Hot on it right now, but I’m not sure if that will really do much of anything except make me smell horrible. Oh well, doesn’t hurt to try I guess.

I’m hoping that my back will allow me to do my weight workout in the morning. I was going to a full assessment, including the major barbell lifts (haven’t done an official test since last summer), but I think I’ll cut that out for now. I’ll probably stick to the machines so I can fix my back in a certain position and hope that it’s a good one.

Anyone know some good lifts (besides yoga and machines) that would be safe and good for a hurting back?

I wasn’t going to type a review of this week, but then I thought……why not? So here it is. Overall, it was a very stressful week. Sometimes I think I have really overextended myself in everything that I do at my school, but every time I try to eliminate something, I can’t think of any reason to do so. GGGRRRR. Anyway, went on an out of town trip this weekend, so I had to adjust my workouts. Since we left early Friday morning, I couldn’t do a workout that day. So I did two weight workouts, combining my Wednesday and Friday into one workout on Thursday.

My back was pretty sore all week, so that limited me in what I could do to some degree. Doing two weight workouts was probably better for me anyway, hopefully giving my back some time to recover. I’m still not sure what I did to it, but I probably should go see a chiropractor and a massage therapist. My insurance will pay for it, it’s just a matter of making the appointment.

So last Sunday, I spent about 30 minutes in the pool doing some intense swimming. Monday’s workout is on my tracker (weights), and Tuesday I took off completely due to my back. I really missed going to yoga, and I regret not doing it, since it probably would have helped more than hindered. Lesson learned, I guess. Wednesday’s workout was a light core/flexibility training session, in which I incorporated some yoga holds. Thursday was my second weight workouts, which is posted on my tracker.

I still managed to get in four good workouts during the week, so even with an odd schedule, I stuck to it. I’m really excited about getting back into shape, and I’m hoping that by my 28th b-day in June I can continue to say that this year is the best of my life. Optimism has always come fairly easy for me, so I’m still in good spirits that, at 27 years of age, I can still make progress, and I can still become the person (physically and psychologically) that I want to be.

This week will throw off my schedule just slightly. Today I did go swimming, though it was with my wife and daughter, so not really intense. But I enjoy doing that, and it gives my family some good bonding time. That, too, is important for general health and fitness. Tomorrow, Wednesday, and Friday will be my normal weightlifting sessions, and Tuesday will be, once again, the yoga class. Thursday’s workout will be dropped this week due to an early morning meeting.

Later tonight I’ll be taking my measurements, as today was the target date for my short-term goal. I know I didn’t make the 10% bodyfat mark, but I’m hoping that I’ll start seeing some improvements to the BF as well as some body measurements and strength measures. Hopefully I’ll have all those items posted by tomorrow night.

Another week, another chance to be all that I can be. With God’s grace and some dedication to what is good for me and my family, I know I’ll make it through, and I will continue to improve. It is a great thing to know that there is always hope.