Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Fitness erosion


Yesterday was my second day back to the gym for Olympic lift training after my grueling tax season work schedule the past three months. Let’s just say that I’m rusty with a capital R. My timing is off and so is my technique. My absolute strength has declined and so has my strength endurance.

It’s nothing to get excited about, as I believe I have lots of fitness shelf life with my many years of training. It’s just going to take some time to restore my fitness performance, or at least get it closer, to past performance efforts. I’m OK with that and am willing to do the necessary work.

The good news is that I’m 15 pounds lighter and I can feel it in my movement. I can better see my facial cheekbones and if I tighten my ab/core muscles I see a restoration in progress of my old four and a half pack when looking at myself in the mirror. My pants fit looser, my posture is good and my bodyfat is definitely lower. Thanks be to God for me not having any bodily aches or pains and being prescription medicine free at this point in my middle-age man life.

Yesterday’s training effort was a confirmation that my 2/24 intermittent fasting way of eating is incompatible with top-level absolute strength and strength endurance performance. That means I’ll have to make some business decisions about fitness and health goals I have, some of which may be incompatible with each other.

It’s not the end of the world by any stretch of my imagination, but it does suck knowing that I’ve experienced some fitness erosion.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

6 comments:

Charles Long said...

You probably go through this every year with whatever training modality you're using at the time. When tax season rolls around, if you don't have time to train, you can't keep up. You'll emerge from this better than ever.

Anonymous said...

I was wondering if when you started training again that your appetite would increase accordingly.

Keep us posted,
Donna

Anonymous said...

Better go for your pull-up PR before you start bulking back up. Bob

Pierini Fitness said...

Charles, the fitness erosion was a little harsher this year but I agree with you.

Donna, there's no doubt that energy expended fuels energy required and one's resultant appetite. I will continue to ramble about my IF experiences here so stay tuned.

Bob, what a pleasant surprise, where have you been hiding. I was looking for middle-age man guest bloggers and I thought of you, but you were hiding behind the cyberspace curtin.

Hope all is well with you.

Thanks all for your visits.

Stayed tuned next week for some outstanding blogflections by the Pierini Fitness Dream Team of middle-age men guest bloggers.

Anonymous said...

There is nothing magic about 2/24. 3/24, 5/24, 6/24, 5/24 with a pre-workout meal, whatever it takes.

Tom

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