17 days in a row. That's how many days I've managed to exercise. And while I'm realistic enough to know that it won't last, it's still something I'm extremely happy about achieving.
The main reason was that I pretty much had the entire week off other than some work from home and going into the office on Friday for one meeting. At the same time, my planned holiday to Genting didn't eventuate because the wife and baby came down with bad food poisoning the morning of the trip. But all this gave me ample time to schedule in exercise in between all the eating, and visiting of family and friends.
Here is how the week looked.
- Monday: 40 minutes gym
- Tuesday: 40 minute Cardio Power session
- Wednesday: 40 minute gym
- Thursday: 40 minute Insanity Plyometric session
- Friday: 45 minutes gym
- Saturday: 10k run with hill training
- Sunday: 45 minute gym
Four gym sessions, two Insanity sessions and one 10k run. I'm not only happy about getting so much regular exercise in; I'm happy about the balance of my workouts as well. The ratio of working with weights was higher than cardio-based exercise which is in line with my overall goals of putting on some muscle tone this year instead of burning it up with too much cardio.
For the gym sessions, I spent two of them on the standard compound exercise routine, one focused on chest and back, and one focused on the arms (biceps, triceps and deltoids). I'm seriously considering trying out some protein supplements in future because I feel like I'm working so hard and not seeing much visible results, and so far all my exercise options are free so I can allocate a portion to some basic protein powder. At the same time, my 'trainer' friend can get it cheaper so I'm thinking of starting in March to see if there's any effect.
Insanity was a killer as usual and I really don't recommend doing it right before a day when you're intending to do a hard workout with your legs such as the over 10k runs on Saturday or if you're going to do a 'legs day' in the gym, which I haven't incorporated into my routine yet. Your muscles will be too sore to really push and get a good workout the next day!
The 10k run at Kiara Hill was tough. I had very little sleep the night before because of the baby's food poisoning and diarrhea, and it was a miracle I managed to force myself to wake up and walk out the door at 6am. I probably got 3.5 hours of sporadic sleep and had to stop many times on the uphills, especially with my lower back starting to act up. I'm going to have to be careful about hill training in future because it seems to trigger my old back injury to start throbbing again.
I'm anticipating the coming week to be near impossible to even fulfill my goal of three workouts a week. There's so much to catch up on at work and I'm out late every single night after work for reunion dinners, a belated Valentine's Day celebration, prayer meeting, worship practice and cell group. On Saturday, I'm skipping the 10k run to rest for worship leading later in the day and Sunday may be the only day I can squeeze in a decent workout.
It's going to feel like such an empty week after maintaining such a good run of exercise.
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