Dating, Injury, Sleep, and Efficiency

So I've been dating a lovely woman for a couple of months, and it has certainly taken time away from the gym.  Its a great relationship and we truly enjoy each other's company and each other's kids.  But it is taking me some mental adjusting to become OK with not training 5-6 days a week any time I feel like it.  Being single makes one incredibly selfish, because you only have to answer to yourself.

This has caused me to reevaluate my training and find new ways to reach balance in my life.  One areas that was taking a hit was sleep quality and duration.  I'm dialing it back in and find that as I get closer to 8 hrs a night, my body fat levels and injuries go down.

On the flip side of that, since I've been sleep deprived, I've lost muscle, gained fat, hurt my back twice, experience knee pain in the knee that had surgery, and sweat a lot more during less intense work.

So to get things back on track I've started working on efficiency and time management.

  1. Sleep: getting more of it
  2. Diet: doing more prep and a lot more crock pot meals
  3. Training: 
    1. Taking basic gear (kettlebells, tire sled, barbell) to weekend kid events.  I train while they practice.  I DON'T train during their competitions.  Then I'm all about cheering and taking pictures.
    2. My training is much faster paced, and I'm able to induce as much of a 'pump' in a few supersets as I used to get from 8 straight sets.  Lower weights with shorter rest periods equals improvement in body comp & vascularity, with less injury
And since I'm dating, I'll point out that this type of training also has other benefits.  :)

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