Peaks and Valleys of fitness

[captkronos]

I have realized I can't maintain a steady improvement, or steady focus on much of anything in life.  Everything in this world waxes and wanes.  Knowing this, it takes a little guilt out of those times when I have lost interest in daily workouts.  But likewise there come periods where it comes easier, and you get in the groove.  So is the key to maximize those peaks and minimize the valleys, or to recognize the valleys as the break you needed, the time to recharge for the next battle...?  Just pondering, as I try to refocus and plan the next thing, or get back to the last thing. I don't think it's bad to take a break and reevaluate where you are, is it working/what can be improved on.  Also knowing when it's time to pull the bootstraps up and get back to work.    All the golden boy movie actors, Pitt, Hemsworth, etc. look like normal dudes in almost every pic that isn't in a movie, very few guys walk around at peak all the time. What might be over your next hill?  

[pierinifitness]

Jul 3, 2021 1:01:27 GMT captkronos said:

I have realized I can't maintain a steady improvement, or steady focus on much of anything in life.  Everything in this world waxes and wanes.  Knowing this, it takes a little guilt out of those times when I have lost interest in daily workouts.  But likewise there come periods where it comes easier, and you get in the groove.  So is the key to maximize those peaks and minimize the valleys, or to recognize the valleys as the break you needed, the time to recharge for the next battle...?  Just pondering, as I try to refocus and plan the next thing, or get back to the last thing. I don't think it's bad to take a break and reevaluate where you are, is it working/what can be improved on.  Also knowing when it's time to pull the bootstraps up and get back to work.    All the golden boy movie actors, Pitt, Hemsworth, etc. look like normal dudes in almost every pic that isn't in a movie, very few guys walk around at peak all the time. What might be over your next hill?  

Appreciate your reflective share; it's almost poetic.

Let me toss in my two cents.

At my age, I find it more to my liking to maintain, almost train in a Prozac line of steadiness rather than bipolar with manic highs and depressed lows.  It's too darn hard for me to reclaim (or get close) to where I've been if I take a long sabbatical.  Case in point is my current chapter with burpees.  I'm far off from where I was a year ago, even though I've made improvement since taking them seriously, again, the beginning of the year.  It's too darn hard.  So, my approach is to do them regularly and manage the peaks and valleys by the volume and intensity of my burpees workouts but to still do something.  

Again, it's too darn hard.

Tommy Kono would repeatedly tell me that when he was younger, he always strived to improve, then as he got older, he always strived to maintain.  He told me this as an older man with his grand finale to this lesson being that now that he was an older man, he always strived to survive.  I'm striving to maintain and being at a level that's within plus or minus 10 percent of where I've been recently is maintenance for me.  I was in killer conditioning at age 65.  There was something about almost turning age 65 that lite a fire in my belly to train hard and be an upper-shelf cardiovascular-conditioned age 65 middle-aged man.  Not sure that I'll reclaim my age 65 set point but I'll have fun trying to get close.

My two cents.

[moxohol]

See? Mentoring is a much better form of help & advice then proselytizing about the attributes of self-discipline & rugged individualism. No one ever completely pulls themselves up by their own bootstraps or motivated alone by "tough love".

Bravo!

[stuke]

Nowadays I go through fits and starts of lifting heavy and trying to improve. I don't think I particularly care about putting much muscle on these days (nearly 48 now) but I often fall foul of reading too much online, usually from younger men with much less experience and for whom the laws of what works and what they can get away with are different from mine.
I sort of hate the progessive overload system now, even though I swore by it when I was younger. It is not really wise these days, and when my desire to lift heavy and approach my best again gets the better of me, I usually suffer in some way or feel I am about to.
I am pretty happy to do what I feel like, but I admit I must be more consistant with my workouts. I told my 16 year old son yesterday, it is about the long term, not whether you miss a workout here and there. Doing it week after week, month after month and year after year is what counts, not die hard, never miss a damn workout no matter what, beating yourself into the ground...

So for me, I feel doing something pretty regular is what counts, working hard and enjoying it, riding my bike too. Naturally I like to work pretty hard when on a bike or lifting weights etc so there is no real danger of me just going through the motions all the time.

[Deuce Gunner]

Jul 3, 2021 13:53:05 GMT stuke said:

Nowadays I go through fits and starts of lifting heavy and trying to improve. I don't think I particularly care about putting much muscle on these days (nearly 48 now) but I often fall foul of reading too much online, usually from younger men with much less experience and for whom the laws of what works and what they can get away with are different from mine.
I sort of hate the progessive overload system now, even though I swore by it when I was younger. It is not really wise these days, and when my desire to lift heavy and approach my best again gets the better of me, I usually suffer in some way or feel I am about to.
I am pretty happy to do what I feel like, but I admit I must be more consistant with my workouts. I told my 16 year old son yesterday, it is about the long term, not whether you miss a workout here and there. Doing it week after week, month after month and year after year is what counts, not die hard, never miss a damn workout no matter what, beating yourself into the ground...

So for me, I feel doing something pretty regular is what counts, working hard and enjoying it, riding my bike too. Naturally I like to work pretty hard when on a bike or lifting weights etc so there is no real danger of me just going through the motions all the time.

Everybody hits a certain age where maintenance becomes progress. The Tommy Kono quote that Pierini mentions in his post hits it right on the head.

[Deleted]

Jul 3, 2021 1:01:27 GMT captkronos said:

I have realized I can't maintain a steady improvement, or steady focus on much of anything in life.  Everything in this world waxes and wanes.  Knowing this, it takes a little guilt out of those times when I have lost interest in daily workouts.  But likewise there come periods where it comes easier, and you get in the groove.  So is the key to maximize those peaks and minimize the valleys, or to recognize the valleys as the break you needed, the time to recharge for the next battle...?  Just pondering, as I try to refocus and plan the next thing, or get back to the last thing. I don't think it's bad to take a break and reevaluate where you are, is it working/what can be improved on.  Also knowing when it's time to pull the bootstraps up and get back to work.    All the golden boy movie actors, Pitt, Hemsworth, etc. look like normal dudes in almost every pic that isn't in a movie, very few guys walk around at peak all the time. What might be over your next hill?  

Daily workouts are bound to lead to a loss in enthusiasm. You need the rest days. So no need to feel guilty. I’ll often go 3 or 4 days between workouts.

[mr potatohead]

Having no workout as workout. Using no training as training.
I don't do kill-it-in-the-gym (or at home) "work"outs or "training". I just exercise every day. Some days more, some days less, but usually something unless I have a distraction that needs attention. I moderate my effort so that I can recover and exercise again the next day.
When I don't feel motivated to exercise, I've found that just beginning to do something, anything, to get my body moving builds some inertia that carries me on into an exercise session.
Simple warm-up exercise is enough to start feeling like doing more.

[Deleted]

I guess I should clarify that by workouts I meant resistance training workouts.

[pierinifitness]

You can always shorten the workouts and ratchet up the intensity.  My workout today was 4 minutes long excluding warmup.  Also, a grease-the-groove approach can be productive.  When I was in the rat race, I had a pull-up bar and bar dip station in a spare office and I would GTG pull-ups and bar dips while at work.  It was a nice quick standing break from the drudgery of sitting on my ass all day long.  I'd go run, swing KBs and do burpees during lunch hour at a park near my office.  That felt like elementary school recess time, never drudgery for me.

[MBS]

Jul 3, 2021 18:04:28 GMT mr potatohead said:

Having no workout as workout. Using no training as training.
I don't do kill-it-in-the-gym (or at home) "work"outs or "training". I just exercise every day. Some days more, some days less, but usually something unless I have a distraction that needs attention. I moderate my effort so that I can recover and exercise again the next day.
When I don't feel motivated to exercise, I've found that just beginning to do something, anything, to get my body moving builds some inertia that carries me on into an exercise session.
Simple warm-up exercise is enough to start feeling like doing more.

And try to make it enjoyable,and view it as not so much  working out, but as an activity. The subtle shift in mindset can make a difference. I view scrambling as a fun, albeit challenging, multipurpose activity. Get the benefits of movement and being active without the drudgery of “ I have to go workout now.”  

Movement  begets movement 

My three cents. 

[gruntbrain]

I continue to bet that frequent movement in essential to longevity ; like eating and sexing, it ain't optional.

[Michael]

I sometimes come to this realization. I call it being at a crossroad. I'm at a crossroads now, being that I want to build a little muscle and fight sarcopenia. I do agree with Whiffet about resistance training needing time to recovery. I like what Mr.P does. Not everyone can exercise that way because of time, convenience, and everyone is wired differently. I could not do my resistance training like that. As a working person I usually have one time a day to train. The way I'm wired my body thrives on routine.

When I have regular sleep times, wake times, meal times, and training times my body feels and does better. The more regimented I am with these things the more my body appreciates it and responds accordingly. But I will admit, at times I have ADHD when it comes to exercise. I'm different than most here because I like all types of exercise and I don't discriminate. That's probably my main challenge. I know I should be training to counter act the stresses of my job and reduce my likelihood of injury, but than my mind wants to do something else.

[gruntbrain]

Lately I've been performing single sets of deadlifts for 5 moderately difficult reps ( partial ROM). I do this multiple times daily. In any case, overnight recovery is sufficient. Revisiting Pavel's Power to the People got me off of my wrinkled gray apathy .

[pierinifitness]

Jul 4, 2021 23:37:58 GMT gruntbrain said:

Lately I've been performing single sets of deadlifts for 5 moderately difficult reps ( partial ROM). I do this multiple times daily. In any case, overnight recovery is sufficient. Revisiting Pavel's Power to the People got me off of my wrinkled gray apathy .

You mean to tell me those bowel movement speed intervals you told you've been doing aren't satisfying your fitness needs?

[gruntbrain]

Mucho caffeine and water consumption are the keys to being just another unbloated, peak performing regular guy .