The first quarter of 2015 is in the books. Wow, that went fast. In that time, I’ve continued to chug along at work, settled a little more into my new house and FINALLY straightened out my garage. That last point is important because my garage is my gym. I don’t have or need any memberships to a commercial gym; I have everything I need at home including a power rack.
So, how has my training been going? Well, good and bad.
First the good:
- I’m finally on a decent schedule. I lift 2 – 3 times a week and when I don’t lift, have been busy working on my house, walking my dog or just trying to be a little more active.
- Strength is coming back. It’s slow, but progress is noticeable. I’m sure that most of it is related to the muscle memory phenomenon, but I’ll take it!
- Recovery is finally not an issue. Man, those first few lifting sessions took a while to recover from. I was sore for almost a week after my first few squat and deadlift sessions. Those had me duck walking at work for a while, but I can now recover within a few days.
Now the bad:
- Technique has suffered. Man, I had some of this stuff down, but I’m struggling with my squat and some of my kettlebell lifts. I have my wife record some of my heavier lifts and I see a lot of no good going on. Which leads me to:
- Mobility is a major issue. I need a lot of work in this area. I don’t want to get hurt again so I’m working on this.
- Diet is still in flux. I know what I need to do – I’ve done it before! However, work and life make it hard to stay on track.
- I need to be more disciplined going forward. There are no more excuses. I’ve worked hard to set myself up to succeed and finally feel like I’m there, so now it’s time to just do it.
So I give m 1Q a passing C+. Lots to work on, but at least I’ve overcome the biggest hurtle – getting started! I really hope to nail down some of my flexibility, technique and diet issues in Q2.
So there it is, my little progress report. I’ll look back on this in a few months and hopefully will have better results to report (even if it is only to myself). In a sense, that’s why I started writing this blog, bot be accountable to myself. I may not promote this blog much, but I also don’t hide it, so this is out there for family and friends to see.
Till next time, keep lifting and moving forward!
