Football Epilogue

Step totals from Feb. 1 until now. Red lines separate the data by week and the black line is a linear fit. I'd like to stay on the upward trajectory. I've been using the Samsung Health(tm) feature on my phone over the last little while to track my steps. Yesterday was an event as I amassed over 17,000 steps!  The error in a lot of these days is pretty big as I often rest my phone on the treadmill at the gym, so a wearable might be in order. Even still, there's lots of room for improvement. Ideally, I'd like hold that coveted 10,000 steps/day goal. I'm also itching to play some golf and this is a good way to start getting warmed up for the courses.

That was my heart rate this morning. While it doesn't reflect a big weight loss, or gaining some superhuman strength or physique, it does say that the cardio is paying off. :) ...now if could only get Samsung S-Health to download my data.

Doldrums, a bedreadded part of a sailing journey (near the equator) where the wind is non-existant/calm, or unpredictable. Colloquially, I've hit the workout doldrums. I've hit the dietary doldrums. I feel like at the beginning of the week I gather some traction. I run several miles. I lift. I do an ok job eating right. The end of the week seems to bring a severe case of apathy. To much junk food is procured and my good feelings that started earlier in the week have diminished. There's plenty of physical activity to be had with the ditch digging and rock breaking I do around the house. I sweat. I huff and puff. I get dirty. Without the structure though I don't entirely feel the same satisfaction as with a structured program.  All I can ask is what is holding me back at the moment? Where is my motivation? There are a lot of reasons to go kick some proverbial butt, but I'm struggling to feel it. Maybe it's time to change gyms? Maybe it's time to find a ...

I've found that a good "baseline" workout routine for me has been a mix of 30 minutes of cardio followed by 30 minutes of lifting for 4ish days per week. By baseline I mean something that I feel good after without needing to go into a coma until soreness subsides. I guess this is also called a "maintenance" workout. I'm not expecting to make huge gains in endurance/strength with this workout, but I do feel good after it and persistence with this work combined with dietary changes will yield some results. I do cardio first for one reason: TO MAKE SURE I DO CARDIO. It can be easy to talk myself out of cardio after an intense lifting session. If I was pushing for faster fat burning, etc. the experts tend to say do cardio after lifting, but that's outside the scope of this being a baseline workout. If time is limited cardio is your best workout "bang for your buck" as well.

I happen to be more on the "cut carbs" side of the fence, but it overall comes down to eating getting used to running on fewer calories...

I've been tired, very tired. Oddly, I find myself wide awake around 6 am, but then the tiredness happens when I opt to roll over and go back to sleep leaving my groggy on my second awakening. There's a lot of stressful stuff going on lately though so I shouldn't be too self-deprecating. I know I mentioned I didn't get a morning run in. Fortunately, I hit the gym last night after I got back to town and put in a 5K on the treadmill and did some lifting: pull-ups (4 sets of 7-10reps), bench press (3 sets of 20reps), biceps curls supersetted with overhead press (3 sets of 10reps) and some triceps dips on the bench (3 sets of 10reps.). Feeling good, but potentially sore tonight/tomorrow.