Pandemic Training Diary Week 1 Day 2

Pandemic Training Diary

Week 1 Day 2

I started day 2, Week 1 waking up late and in pain. I didn’t sleep well. Again. Bad nightmares. Or more accurately. Morning Mares. I’m on specific meds to help with my PTSD related nightmares. The help, but they wear off early in the morning and the nightmares kick in. I get a few hours’ sleep. More than I used to get. But early mornings are hell. At least with the Pandemic I don’t have any appointments and I can sleep in. It’s mostly drifting in and out, but better than nothing. The pain was bad, and it tempted me to take the day off, but I know as a trainer and from experience that movement is essential in dealing with pain. It gets the blood moving and the joints lubricated and it gives you something to focus on other than the pain. And once I got moving I felt a lot better. I started with a Dog Run(See my past post at: https://www.facebook.com/HITTScarborough for a description of this exercise). The first few were barely jogs, but once I got warmed up my pace picked up and the pain started to fade. It was a rainy day in Toronto and that gave me plenty of room outside. There’s a principle for experienced trainees known as Instinctive Training in which you listen to your body and take advantage of conditions to adjust your training. Again, this principle only applies if you’ve had some experience training. If you haven’t it can throw your program off track and even lead to injury as a result of trying something that you haven’t properly prepared for. (That’s how I ended up compressing my lumbar spine. I didn’t warm up properly and tried squatting a heavy weight just because the weights were already on the rack.) I took advantage of the empty park as a result of the rain and brought in Hill Sprints supersetted with High Rep Push Ups. Not that long ago I could still bang out 100 Push Ups with good form, but now I’m down to 40 and 30 Reps with strict form. It wasn’t a big hill. I did four Sprints alternated with Push Ups, ending up with 140 Push Ups. I then picked a flat rock that was a little over knee height and did four sets of 10 Plyo Jumps and 10 Plyo Push Ups off of a pair of rocks. Don’t try this if you’ve never done it before. Again not that long ago I do bang out box jumps with a box at about chest height. I can’t do heavy Barbell Squats anymore because of my spine, and I don’t have access to barbells right now anyway, so the Plyo Jumps are a way of working my legs and glutes. I was well warmed up from the Dog Run and Hill Sprints, so no problem with pain. If fact by then I was in very little pain and I was feeling pretty strong. I could do this because of the rain. With the park empty I had no concerns with social distancing. I finished my walk and did a Lying Series Hatha Yoga set at home. When you’re warmed up is the best time to stretch and using Hatha (Slow Moving) Yoga with focus on the breath helps focus my mind and prevent the pain from returning, at least for a little while. Once that was done, I could finally break my Fast. My focus is on eating clean with a variety of foods, not on any specific diet. While Keto, Paleo, Low Carb, High Protein or Vegan diets work for lots of people, they have had little success for me. So I just keep it simple. A variety of food with lots of raw vegetables. But that’s me. If you have a diet that is working for you in the long term then stick to it. Same goes for the specifics of my training. I’m doing what has worked for me. This might be too much or too dangerous for you. Just adding Push Ups to a good walk can bring in almost the entire upper body. When I was in my prime, in the military, I was rock solid just based on lots of Push Ups and Chin Ups along with cardio. If you can’t do traditional Push Ups for at least 10 Reps, try Push Ups against the wall, moving your feet further and further away to make it harder as you progress. Instead of Rock/Box Jumps you can do High Rep Hops on a Curb, or even just Walk Ups on a Curb to increase your leg strength. All those people who tell you that you can’t build muscle with high reps should try telling that to Speed Skaters or Sprinters, both of who depend on a regime of very high rep leg work. I rested, did some writing and played with the dog in my home while I ate frequent healthy meals. Stopped eating by 8 pm. I find that I’m most prone to eating bad foods later at night, so I’m hoping, by setting a time limit, I can get that under control. I don’t know about the arguments against eating late. Late evening walk. No running. Just a brisk walk. It was painful to start out, but as soon as I got going for a bit, the pain eased up quite a bit. Then I walked Benji and worked on my breathing and posture. The weather kept the trail empty. He met a coyote along the way. Having a great old time with all the people inside. Home. Restful Yoga Series. (See previous post). That’s it for Day 2. So far so good...

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