What the heck do I do now?

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I have not posted in a while, since getting a new job here in Baltimore, and I have not been getting the workouts in as I once was. As I move on in my life and grow older and wiser, I have noticed a change in my body and thus a change in my workouts. When I reflect back, I have achieved every goal I initially pursued, from getting a 30 in vertical, squatting over 400 lbs, benching 300 lbs, and running in 5k and 10k events, but now I am in a state of “what the heck do I do now?”

My body has noticed the increased hours of sitting, and inactivity, and as I try to avoid the posture to the left, my workouts must change. Ironically, my body also seems to be more receptive then ever, and each workout I can get more out of in less time. I think this is a process that has occurred from being active my whole life, and is something I am still getting used to. Currently 1-3 sets of squats, and certain push ups/pull ups can get me sore for days whereas before it would take much more. The quality of movement goes a long way, and I believe this is why I have stayed injury free all these years.

I also notice myself passing on the strength and high intensity interval work and prefer to stretch and work on my posture more than anything these days. These days I save those hard workouts to 1-2x/wk at most because they are CNS intensive and I get so much out of those methods. This is good because I don’t have to devote all the hours towards fitness, I can get quality workouts in 15-30 minutes, which would normally take someone 60-120 min for the same quality of work.

These graphs, adopted from the Long Term Athlete Development Model (LTAD)  from Canada Sport for Life helps demonstrate the different levels of sport involvement and where general fitness plays a role in  your life. I have been in sport my entire life, but recently have begun to realize I just want to stay healthy and injury free or “Active for life.” However, I also realize life is the ultimate sport, and being prepared for it involves a lot more that just fitness. This is a big paradigm shift for me, and my outlook on my career and life has shifted as well. I am attracted to events and activities that are fun and interactive more than just physically demanding, although that competitive mindset will always stay with me. I don’t believe there should be defined age limits on them, as someone may train to compete in a different sport later on in life.

I feel accomplished that I have competed in many events and learned how to apply the scientific principles of training from the deep “underground” fitness world to the more trendy and mainstream fitness realm. Readings from Verkhoshansky, Siff, Valle, Yessis, Bondarchuk, Chek, etc have deepened my knowledge, which is great, but applied knowledge is more powerful. I appreciate the works of those men, but I think true wisdom comes from making things understandable to the everyday person. As Einstein said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler.” If you took all those hours of study and self development I am sure I have a PhD in fitness. I am not saying I know it all, but I have put my time in.

In conclusion, I think fitness should be a part of everyone’s life as it really seems to be the fountain of youth. As I move on, fitness will continue to play role in my life, but right now I am looking to stay fit, enjoy life, and just live.