30.03.2011
"Bigger, Stronger, Faster"
Determining what my physical goals should be is as tough a proposition as I've had to deal with in quite some time. A month or two back I could easily have mapped out what I hoped to achieve in 6 months time. However, in the past few weeks especially my conditioning, and indeed my physical stature too, has been in sharp decline and with it my confidence in myself have dipped significantly.
Just over 6 weeks ago my improvement targets for 6 months from that point would have been very ambitious considering that I was in the best physical shape of my life, had gained a significant amount of weight and was generally feeling good about my capabilities on an athletic front.
I don't have quite the same ambition now. Because of the limitations res life has on my diet, I now eat 3 highly un-nutritious meals a day as opposed to the 6 good meals I was eating at home, I have lost most of my recent gains in weight. With that loss of good lean mass has come a dip in strength although at the moment I am too afraid to find out how significant that loss in strength has been - I have not visited the gym (which I used to frequent) in over 3 weeks. I am made most aware of how far I have slipped when I grapple during MMA practice where I often do not feel as strong as I have previously.
Alright, on to some good ol' fashioned new year's resolution-type goal setting. I have decided to set reasonably challenging goals in a number of areas basing my decision to do so on the rationale that should I fail I will still have made decent progress.
Goals:
-Gain 3/3.5 kg's
-Increase my flexibility (evaluating my progress will be quite discretionary)
-Lower resting heart rate: from 62 to 58/56 (probably the toughest)
-Be able to run further, faster (again, evaluation will be quite discretionary)
-Incorporate something from each new issue of Men's Health into my routine (this week it is men-friendly yoga)
-Be able to do this:
Progress updates to follow...
