Wednesday, May 28, 2014

How quickly it goes



Last week was what I call "assessment week."

While we got in some great walking on our vacation, our strength workouts were nil.  Oh don't get me wrong, we took our resistance bands and told ourselves we were going to do two strength workouts per week to maintain the muscle we worked so hard for, but they never saw the light of day.  When you're as sore as we would be at the end of the day from walking an average of seven miles per day, busting out a strength workout wasn't high on the priority list.  I knew we would pay for it when we came back and we did.

I will do a low weight free weight session for our first workout after every vacation to see where I am. Before we left, I was using 15's to warm up and using 20's and the occasional 25 lb dumbbell depending on the exercise.  For the assessment workout, I used 10's to warm up and 15's for the rest.  If I tried going right back into it using the weights pre-vacation, I would've seriously risked injury or being so sore I couldn't do much else.  The next day, I was sore.  Not so much that I couldn't move or anything but enough to know that I made the right decision in going slow.  We did a hike the following day, then did a Fitness Blender workout to see how we'd do with something a little more "formal" but I stuck to mostly 15's, one 20 and I think two exercises with 10's like reverse flies so I could still have good form.    We got through two rounds and when she said time to repeat for round three, we had to check out.  We instead took the same amount of time doing stretching and light yoga.  Then the next day came and I could barely walk.  We didn't stretch on vacation either so going back into a stretchy pigeon pose, while it felt good at the time, did not bode well for the next day.  We did Walk Away the Pounds for that day's workout and it felt like it was dragggggging. We both commented on how it felt like she slipped an extra segment in on us.

When the next day came, I was not in great shape.  I didn't want to take a rest day but the Mr said we should think about it.  I decided after his telework day was done, we could do some work on the patio to get it ready.  I think doing Turbo Fire would've been easier at that point!  Three hours of scrubbing, running around and such and I felt whooped.  Come the next day, I needed the Mr to give me a deep tissue massage on the back of my legs so I could function.

This week, we were doing a lot of busy work and yesterday was our first "okay, we're back at this full force" kind of workout.  We did Turbo Fire 45 EZ...one that we did quite a bit beforehand and man, we were beat.  The Mr said it took a lot out of him and I agree, it was tiring.  Tonight will be a strength workout and I want to try to shed the 10 pounders if I feel comfortable with it but I'll let my body dictate that.

Maybe I'm a weirdo, but I always kind of look forward to this part after a vacation where you're rebuilding your strength and endurance.  It makes you not take that stuff for granted as much because you know how quickly it goes.

When you're out of your fitness routine for any period of time, have you ever tried to jump back in the routine you had or ease yourself back in?

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8 comments:

  1. It is a shame how quickly your progress can recede in a short time but I know it will only take a few weeks for us to get back to where we were and hopefully the hiatus can give us a chance to tweak things on the way back enough to make a difference and keep our bodies guessing. I do like getting a really tough workout out of a DVD we've done many times before.

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    1. I'm looking forward to getting my lean, toned (for me) forearms back. Right now they're looking a little vienna sausage like for my taste. I like getting served by a regular workout after a hiatus as well. I was starting to hallucinate by the end so I was ready to be done with it.

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  2. I have always taken "adventure" vacations so I've usually come home more fit!! However, I did fall out if my fitness routine HARD when a tragedy struck and I fell into depression- I went from being a gym rat with a physical job to never working out and having a desk job... I didn't purposely work out for 6 months. I had to ease back in slowly because my body had lost an incredible amount of strength, endurance and flexibility!! I'm back to normal now and hope to never get off the train that long again!

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    1. Definitely after to ease back into it after a 6 month break. Glad to hear you're back up to speed and kickin' bum!

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  3. I learned the hard way to ease myself back in.

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    1. Isn't that always the way? I've done it too and learned the same hard lesson in the past.

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  4. Each and every time I've restarted my routine, I go full throttle thinking my body will adjust quickly. WRONG!! I think the thing that surprises me the most is how much harder my breathing is. I'm usually not surprised by my arm strength not being as good, but how taxing it is on my heart and being out of breath. Probably that more than anything really shows me that even a short time off is not good for my body because I tend to lose all I've done in a short amount of time.

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    1. LOL, it can be hard when you don't FEEL like you're not as strong as you were but your body can bitch slap you back to reality and quick! I know what you mean about the endurance...I can be sucking wind much quicker than before when I'm getting back to the "normal" routine. Kind of like tonight. I'm gonna be SORE tomorrow!

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