Living Your Life
Folks, as you’ve probably noticed, I’ve not been working out this week. I’m afraid my Mother’s issue last week, through my schedule out of whack. Since she’s come home, I have to help with cooking, run more errands, and help my Dad out with some of his appointments (he no longer drives a car).
I know some folks when they begin a workout routine do not want to let anything disrupt their routine, but frankly, this is not realistic. Life happens and you will be disrupted by it because that’s just the way life is. Life is one big dice roll and it is better to ride the wave than fight it.
I’ve decided to kick in my routine again tomorrow, now that my Dad’s appointments are knocked out. This leads me to my next topic–documentation.
Documenting your Workout
I cannot tell you how important it is to document what you do (or don’t do) in the gym. This should be done while you’re there, so you don’t miss any weights you are using, or any special things you learned that day. Your body is a terrific teacher. It will tell you when it is stronger, weaker, or just plain tired. It will tell you that it’s ready to go and will also tell you to take one more minute of rest.
The only way to truly hold yourself accountable is to document what you do. You pretty much track the things you eat and the weights you use for each exercise, along with the number of reps you complete. If you do this, it will be very easy to pick up right where you left off.
Setting Goals
Realize the body will do what the body will do. You need to be careful when setting goals because if you push yourself too hard, you will burn out and stop going to the gym. On the other hand, you don’t want to set your goals too low either. This will only result in you doing what I call as “sandbagging”. Sandbagging is doing less weight that you need to be doing. Don’t let yourself fall into this trap.
The only way you gain muscle mass is by increasing the loads you work with or the number of reps or a combination of both. If you are not pushing your limits each time you go to the gym, even if it’s only a 2.5lb increase in weight or maybe one or two more reps, you will not see the improvements you seek, but I digress.
Let’s talk about the goals you have. My goal is simple. I want to remain healthy, increase my muscle mass, maintain my bone density, and have good endurance. Muscle mass is gained very slowly. The changes in your muscle mass and body composition are so minute that you will not see them instantly. They improve over time. The easiest way to gauge yourself is to take a photo of yourself at the beginning of every routine you begin and one at the end. You can also track your weights. The more weight you are pushing, the bigger that muscle is getting, even though you cannot see it yet.
I’ll get into more specifics tomorrow. Hope everyone has a great Thursday!!
See you tomorrow…
