Introduction & Background post
(read this if you want, or bypass to my first log post, which I'll post at the end of each day)
I'm laying out the embarrassing truth for the first time, for all to see, for accountability, feedback, and maybe even occasional encouragement.
At age 33 (15 years ago) I was a fat, weak, inactive guy (5-5, 175 or 180 lbs). I'd never been fit, strong or athletic. I'd been vegetarian, fasted, skinny-fat, in younger days but never good lean. Then, at 33 yrs, with my young son, started martial arts classes. The good news is I never stopped and that has changed my life completely.
For about the first 10 years, I largely only did class two or three times a week and that was it for practice and conditioning. I got through a third degree black belt that way, and was just conditioned and skilled enough to minimally get the job done. About five years ago, I started messing around with additional strength and conditioning work. The Men's Health Home Grown Muscle routine was my introduction to regular time with iron. However, the bad news . . .
Largely, I've spun my wheels during these past five years. I never found how to blend strength and conditioning work (as a still fairly weak, 40-something year old guy) with the martial arts activity. I've laid off strength work when my flexibility, recovery and my martial arts motivation & training suffered. When I'd stick with the extra work, I accepted doing less in classes because I was recovering from the extra activity. When I've made progress with strength, I've chubbed up a bit, then dieted to lean out, and lost strength, feeling like I'd gone back to square one.
I've also noticed this past year, as a 47/48 year old, that progress is slower to come by, if at all at times, and recovery is tough it I push things at all. I've got to find a new balance.
So, I'm starting over in a sense. Starting slowly. I want to refocus on my martial arts practice in a new way, and then just wrap some strength and conditioning work around that.
Stated as goals, I want to
1. Improve my martial arts skills (I've got to say that first to keep it there.)
2. Improve my conditioning.
3. Increase my strength and power (and presumeably muscle) (in support of #1)
4. Get leaner (to look better and better look the part, as well as to support #1) I've been stuck between 155-160 forever now, and I'd like to at least stabilize between 145-150 (I've been there before). Then reassess.
I'm today starting at 159 lbs at 5-5 (that won't change
) and a (mid day) Tanita reading (for what it's worth) of about 20.2.
Here we go . . .