Day 1

Weather: sunny, max of 31ºC
Beach: Maslins (a little close to the nude end for my liking)
Surf: small to moderate
Time: 7.50-8.10am
Observations: never got really frozen like last time. Got yelled at by a fisherman for scaring the fish. The surf aggrevared my wrist-go figure.
Felt warm again: within 5 minutes. Except the frozen boob thing.

Might try a different beach tomorrow. Must invetsigate whether the  gym has a plunge pool.

From today on I will try and track my Resting Heart Rate (RHR) and temperature in the morning. I only thought of this while I was standing around in the water. So I missed this morning.

I’m off to a cracker. Started a new training program today. Didn’t expect it to be quite as full on as it was. Any question of intensity was gone.

This may not look like much on paper but give it a go 3 x 6 (rest 10 secs in between and 90 at the end)
(3a) Renegade row – alternating
(3b) T push-up – alternating
(3c) Wood chop
My shoulders, abs and chest were trying there best to talk me out of it. Got a few looks and one guy remarked that I train harder than most blokes in the gym. Thought to myself, not hard, but took the compliment graciously.
Strange thing is after about 5 minutes of finishing a session like this I forget how hard it felt. Does this mean I could’ve gone harder? Not certain but don’t think so.

Onto a cracker with recovery too. Straight into an espom bath when I got home.
Now to eat the tasty dinner my boy has made.

‘Common’ bodybuilding thinking would have you put 100% effort into your workout and have you staggering out of the gym about to fall over. However, if I doing this leaves me fatigued and putting in a sub-par effort the next workout. Therefor my 100% for the next workout is more like 50% and a slippery slope begins where I spend my whole weekend in bed or grizzling at my loved ones.

I often leave the gym thinking “I was really focused during each exercise, but I don’t feel destroyed” and wonder if I should go back for more. I consider training for hours, then I realise that the people who where in the gym when I got there and are still lifting when I leave haven’t made any visible progress. Not what I’m after.

Generally this whole thought process happens when I’m going down the stairs from the weight room, so this is easily solved. Run stairs until the feeling passes. It’s 3 flights, not air-conditioned so 6 or so repeats and I feel both energised and ready for a big feed. Lately I’m discovering kind of energy-systems work seems to not reek so much havoc on my recovery, leave me mentally charged and sweating for hours. Not a workout I can do before work!

I’ve been musing over the whole energy/recovery/intensity/fatigue thing for a while and know that the only way I’ll improve the amount of output I’m able to perform is by improving my recovery protocols. An entire Sunday dedicated to kids DVD’s just shouldn’t be all I can manage. Lucky for me, I am able to build muscle pretty easily so I’m going to try something new. 1 day off, 1 day on and just work through my program. On the OFF days I’ll do a HIIT session and either foam roll, or sauna for 20 minutes. I’d love to get this all out of the way before work but the post-HIIT sweat factor is gonna prove interesting.

I’m interested in how other set their intensity and recovery level so please leave comment on your thoughts. Does everyone else really “smash it” in the gym everyday?