Thursday, December 2, 2021

31 Days of Journaling: Days 1 & 2

 


Hello. The Unleashed One here. Welcome to a new month, which is also the final month in 2021.

It has been a very long time since I have committed daily to journaling. However, as they say, if you do something often enough, it becomes a habit.

I miss when journaling was second nature and I am hoping that at the end of this challenge, it will return to some sense of normalcy.

Will it be every day from here on out? How I feel at the end will tell the tale.

What I am not going to do is get caught up in the planning of what I want to talk about. I am going to take it old school. Yahoo 360! style, if you will. Those who know me from that time frame will get the reference.


Day 1: December 1st




Today, I am sitting in the laundromat, just across the bridge. Initially, I traveled to this one but the one I normally go to stayed crowded and started packing wire baskets. It makes me think that someone was making off with them or that they were raggedy and hadn't got repaired.

Well, I discovered I like the setup of this one, so this has become my mainstay for the moment. At the time I am starting this entry, it's around 10:30.

Quiet.

A great number of machines are available.

Weekday.

This past Monday marked the 1st day of everyone being back in the office. I told my Spirit Sista that I felt it was a bit too soon. That if they really wanted everyone to return, the departments should have been on a staggered schedule, not everyone back in the building at once.

After Monday, my vacation started. I still had "use or lose" time left.

Initially, it was supposed to be Jazz, Gino, and I going to Florida, but since we were already down there in September, it didn't make sense to go there again. Besides, after my appointment with Dr. Kyle, he told me to not have so many long-distance trips with me driving. Florida in September and Mississippi in October did a number on me. My knee joints were in significant pain and discomfort leading up to my cortisone injections once I returned.

Well, one of my co-workers called me (since I am not one who checks my work email while on vacation) to let me know that someone had tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, so all of the buildings has to be thoroughly sanitized. 2 days in and positive cases already popping up? They may as well reinstate the hybrid schedule. I actually like it and wouldn't mind it being a mainstay.

This is the 1st time in years that I have actually felt like decorating and celebrating the holidays. My mood tends to shift during the winter anyway. Honestly, since my grandfather died, celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas has not felt the same. It wasn't even the same with significant others because they either weren't into it or didn't celebrate it. That made it easier for depression to arrive and just seep in until the temperatures got warmer.

However, I want to do a different take on Christmas. I don't want it to be heavily focused on loads of gifts but on activities. Creating moments. I also don't want to do the staple foods one normally associated with Christmas. Yet, if it cannot be helped, I would like a traditional take on the tried and true.

More to come tomorrow.


Day 2: December 2nd




Can you guess which body part I'm training today?


I am here at the gym. Currently a little past five in the morning. I am pleased that I am almost back to where it was before the knee tear I had sometime back. Some people assume that the injuries that happened to me were mostly caused in the gym.

That isn't always the case.

This recent knee tweak happened some weeks ago while I was outside walking. 

The one prior (which led to the specialist diagnosing me with arthritis and deterioration of my knee joint in the first place) happened during one of my vacations years ago. I was squatting to grab something from a shelf at Walmart. There was a pop. The end, as I say, is HERstory.

The only ones I can contribute so far to the gym were the one and only time I attempted the stepping machine and a shoulder blade tear from increasing my weight too soon on my shoulder press.



Back in November, I opted to do a switch from my regimen. My previous regimen involved the following:

  • CST (Chest, Shoulder, Triceps)
  • B&B (Back & Biceps)
  • Legs
  • Rest Day/Cardio Focused
  • Repeat

Currently, I am trying cardio focus/rest on the weekends and doing strength training on the weekdays.

The reasons for exploring this change:
  1. The gym I go to now doesn't open until 7 on the weekends. By the time I have done strength and cardio training, it's close to 9. On the weekends, I prefer to eat my breakfast earlier than later.
  2. I want to see if circuit workouts will suffice on days when I have less time to do full training.
  3. I am attempting to intermingle isolated abdominals training (usually on my leg day).
  4. I am experimenting with different splits on alternating weeks. Instead of doing Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps: Chest and Back. Instead of doing Back & Biceps: Shoulders and Arms. On those weeks is when I combine abs and legs, plus 1 circuit (to ensure each body part is still getting trained twice a week).
  5. Since returning to work, I can utilize my breaks to get walking (cardio in), which cuts down on the time I spend on cardio at the gym. That is, on days when it isn't too chilly.
Since the switch, here are the Pros and Cons thus far.

Pros

  1. On the weekends, I can choose to sleep a little later, since I am not doing strength training.
  2. On cardio-focused days, I can maximize the opportunity to get more steps.
  3. If I run late or don't feel motivated to wake up early for strength training, I can pack my things and choose to train after work.
  4. On those days when I work out later, it gives me the opportunity to work through my anxiety, especially in situations where the gym is packed.
  5. When I work out later, the chance of me falling asleep quickly increases.
  6. With the circuit days. I can get a full-body workout (sans legs) in a fraction of the time.

Cons

  1. There's not as much time to recover when exercising back to back.
  2. For me, there are certain body parts that take longer to recover when going heavy.
  3. With the Chest & Back training, I discovered that I have to choose which body part to do more weight on. I found out the hard way that going heavy with both on the same day is a bad idea.
  4. It takes more inner motivation to get going, especially when one was used to getting a rest day every 4th day.
  5. On days when I end up working out later, there's less availability with certain machines.




Just to expand a bit more, let's take this week. On Monday, I did CST. Tuesday, I did B&B. Originally, I was going to train legs yesterday, but I was (1) feeling muscle soreness from Monday's training and (2) experiencing some side effects from my flu shot. Therefore, I decided to take Wednesday as rest/cardio day. I felt well enough to do my legs training today, but I still feel sore from the training that I did prior. 

The end of January will mark 90 days. I will access and give my verdict as to whether I want to continue with this one, go back to my push-pull-legs-rest split, or a hybrid of the two.

Okay. I will check in tomorrow.

Deuces.


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