Getting Back in the Saddle...

After literally months of coming up with petty excuses to "wait until next week", I finally took my first step back into the gym to get this ass back in some type of shape. This was suppose to begin on January 1st! It goes to show that just crossing the mental challenge can be really hard. It wasn't that I was afraid of doing it again as I'd worked out for 8 months solid a few years back with some great partners. It was rather the idea of adding a new discipline that would impact all corners of my daily life. I have to curb my eating habits and maintain what I'm calling a "civil diet". I need to maintain the discipline to workout on the days that just feel like crap and keep the focus on the goal. I also need to learn to sleep! 4-5 hours a night will not provide my body with enough time to recover AND rebuild.

So...here is the plan:

Right now I'm doing general workouts to gauge what exactly my body is ready to handle. The last thing I want to do is be mentally ready to actually do this and then hurt myself because I think I'm Macho Man Randy Savage.

After I do this for two weeks at a broad ratio of doing 80% weight training and 20% cardio, I intend to change the focus specifically on cardio and at least have my weekly workouts up to 50/50 for a few months. I've never enjoyed cardio as it's been brutal on my feet and joints, but it MUST BE DONE!

After a couple of months of cramming cardio down my throat, I will then focus on power and strength training for 4 weeks going on a 60/40 weight training/cardio ratio. This will really reward my body and allow me to start bringing the good pain I was getting a few years ago.

Afterwards, I'll change the style up completely and focus on defining whatever bulk I've gained. The weight training/cardio ratio will go at 50/50 and I'll have a more body building or "cutting" approach to really lean out any muscle gained in the previous weeks.

So there you have it! My master plan to take the bull by the horns. I'll be using this blog to chart my progressions as I think it'll be interesting to reflect back on this process. Wish me luck!