It’s Friday, it’s Fitness Check time.
First thing’s first, let’s follow up on the previous check. The weight loss I clocked was real, I did in fact drop some lbs. My concern that the big 5+ pound drop was not quite real has also turned out correct. I have consistently clocked higher weight than that big drop, but also lower weight than the previous week, even with some less than great snacking. So I’m pretty happy on all accounts.
To that weight weirdness, I had a thought and it looks like there might be some truth to it. I seem to go up a few pounds directly after workouts. I haven’t checked enough to notice any specific consistencies. I would have guessed that I gain more after strength training than I do cardio or calisthenics, but the numbers haven’t really supported that. Either way, the weight tends to drop back down after a rest, which I can only guess suggests swelling. For my medical situation, swelling gives me concern, but I’m pretty sure this is the healthy kind of swelling. I think this because I’m familiar with the weight lifter’s concept of “The Pump”. I’ve experienced myself. Actually these days I tend to experience it after every strength training session. I suspect I have the actual science here wrong, but the intuition is that the exercise swells your muscles with fluids and stuff for various reasons, including healing. I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter as long as I don’t need to be worried about it. And that seems to be the case, I just want to keep myself aware of it, given I need to weight myself more regularly than is typically recommended to keep an eye on those medical needs.
It’s worth saying again, even if it is just to keep reminding myself, the weight isn’t the real goal here. The fitness is. I had planned to test a few of those goals by my birthday, which is the middle of June. I also planned, or rather expected to fail those. The idea is to see where I’m at to plan where I’m headed. Log a baseline… KPIs, right? Well I did, and I’m quite happy with the results there as well. As predicted, I did miss the goals. Not all of them, I guess. Some goals were just to get going and keep it up. I’ve far exceeded those plans. I hadn’t planned to start my HIIT calisthenics until the end of summer, but I’ve gotten ahead by doing it a good couple times already in June. I’m pretty happy about that, too. My big cardio goal is to run an unbroken mile. I was expecting to fall extremely short of this goal at this time, especially since my preferred training route is a little out of sorts right now. Having tested, I did fall short. However, not anywhere near as far short as I was expecting. I stopped and started a couple of times, but the intervals of running added up to longer than a mile, and my overall pace was higher than expected as well. Very dope.
Okay, next up. I bought some equipment. I’ve had my eye on a few bits of gear for a while and decided that it’s time to shit or get off the pot, as the rather gross saying goes. So to figure out if I actually want them, I read some reviews to get an idea of whether or not they’ll actually help as desired, check price versus quality, etc. If they seem to check out and I have the budget for it, I should just go ahead and do it. Top of the list for years and years has been one of those walking pads. A walking pad is like a specialized treadmill, but the specialization is to actually make it smaller, weaker, and cheaper than a standard treadmill. When I started looking at them, the tech tended to be split into two groups. The first group seemed to deliver on the promise of helping me get my steps in without having to leave the home, but were well above my price range. The second group was cheap, but seemed like hot garbage and as though they’d fall apart immediately and also had no warranty. It’s been a few years and the tech seems to have caught up with my budget.
I’m actually typing this (slowly) while at about 50 minutes walking on one right now. I also got myself one of those standing desks for this. Both are much less expensive than they were just a year or two ago, and they are both way better quality than the cheap ones used to be. I feel pretty confident I’ll get a lot of use out of both, and they both completely fit my current needs. I’m pretty happy with there, too.
I’ve also been looking at those selectable weight dumbbells for years. I’d not really thought of them seriously. Similar to how the walking pads have changed, these used to be split between super pricey or super shitty, leaving them largely as a novelty at best. They are still expensive, but they came down enough that I was able to get a set for a little over $100, and that works for me. I also got a pull-up bar. It was $20. I haven’t set it up, but for that price, I don’t care. I figured I could at least save myself the mental space of constantly asking myself, “Should I get a pull-up bar?” Now, even if I never use it (though I’m sure I will), I can at least stop wasting time on the internet looking at them. Still looking at them – kettle bells. Though not because I’m not sure the worth, I know they are worth it, I’m just cheap and I’m looking for a good price.
It’s also worth saying how happy I am with the weights. I’ve been using an old Bowflex for my strength training. Those are fine and all, but they very much have drawbacks. Most of those drawbacks are fine for my purposes. I’m just trying to get fit, not get huge. But I am a big fan of free weights, and I also really don’t want to go to a gym every day. Perhaps that will change in the future, but that’s where I am now. My tits are pretty sore today, even though I didn’t come near maxing on weight. That really puts things back into perspective.
Last bit. Though I’ve been lamenting my schedule and routine lately, I’ve actually been making little tweaks all this time. I’ve been getting out of bed progressively earlier, which has been a big win. It’s so much easier to manage the other time constraints, needs, and wants when you have a bigger window of “up time” to work with. I’m not saying you can’t be a night owl. When my life was entirely about being at that desk, late nights were regular and actually useful. But those habits had long become less useful to the degree of being detrimental before I’d even noticed. In my life now, I’m at my best when I get to bed at a reasonable time and pull myself out of the envelope early enough to knock out at least one goal before 9 am. Even earlier might be better, but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves just yet.
There are additional tweaks I’d like to make, some already in progress, but the biggest bits left to tackle outside of fitness and academia are really about my social needs. I think those will take more work. However, I don’t seem to be alone in this want amongst my friends, so I think I’ve got a leg up. I just need to keep up with the commitments.
Alright, I’m going to finish up and dick around for the rest of the day. I think I’ve about earned it. Peace out.