1RF week 3
It’s utterly crazy how weak you can get from a tiny little organism invading yours. You feel weak, out of “whack”, unable to do the simplest things you usually don’t think twice about doing …
I missed one workout on the Thursday I was hit with fever; and the following Sunday I felt too weak to lift even 10 lbs, so I rested. However, I only missed one workout total, because I changed my Day 1 workout from that Sunday to the following Tuesday, thus setting the last day on this program to May 3rd rather than April 30th. In the long run, this is not a big deal, and it’s kept me in the gym and pretty much on track in spite of the flu.
The only things I noticed was that I had to reduce my weight loads, and cut the cardio due to the coughing. On some exercises I found that I could only manage half the weight I used the week before I got sick! Yikes, right? But I left my ego at the door and concentrated on the movement, on the muscle-mind connection, and the intensity of the workout. Believe me, I got the sore feeling 24 hours later anyway!
Starting Monday (tomorrow) I’ll be in the gym at 4:50 am for 20-30 minutes of cardio 5 days a week before going to work, and keeping the Tuesday-Thursday-Sunday weight training days.
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Cardio was simply not really an option this week. Sure, I could have gone on the stair stepper and done a minute, stopped for a minute to cough my lungs out (or so it seemed), back on the machine for a little while, off to cough, etc; but frankly this seemed pretty counterproductive to any training logic, so I decided to simply skip cardio for a week!
Weights were no problem, I was able to push, pull, yank and press without getting those spells of coughing – albeit with the lower loads!
If anything, this shows that you have to be flexible. You cannot give up and quit just because some small germ decides to attack you. Sure, I could have said “OK, I’m only in week 2, I’ll quit, get over this flu thing, and start over afterwards.” Would this have been optimal? I don’t believe so.
By moving my workout Day 1 from Sunday to Tuesday, I “bought” myself two extra days of rest. By lowering the loads, I was able to keep going to the gym and training, keeping my body moving, my muscles working, the germs frustrated that they were being ignored (yes, I believe they do dislike my ignoring them and thus clear out faster, lol – it may be wishful thinking, but the powers of suggestion …). Of course, having the gym in-house and not risking contaminating others or getting those ugly looks of “how dare you come here spreading your germs?!” helped a lot.
You can still adapt your workout by using bodyweight exercises if it’s just to keep moving for a week before you go back to the commercial gym, it’s better than not doing anything at all.
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I have no leg c.url machine – I do Swiss ball leg c.urls. I’m hopeless at hanging leg raises because my grip gives out way before my abs even start feeling anything, so I do lying leg raises. Gluteus-machine and abductor/adductor machine I don’t have either, the low-pulley on the lat tower gets me through these exercises as well. There is always a way, if you want to find it!
Last night we felt well enough to be able to go out and actually enjoy a meal at a restaurant – last week we didn’t even make our usual lean, grilled sirloin, knowing we’d not be able to taste it at all. We were “bad” J ending the otherwise reasonable meal with a chocolate mousse!
I surprised myself though; I was unable to finish it! I was not just a couch potato, I was also a chocoholic; and for me to leave half of my chocolate mousse … I feel cured! It was preceded by a Caesar salad, and a grilled chicken breast topped with a slice of goat cheese (also grilled) accompanied by grilled vegetables – and a couple of tablespoons of homemade mashed potatoes.
Next week, the treat meal is going to be that grilled sirloin we didn’t have last week, with garlic, mushrooms and salad. The next meal out is not till the following week – make the treats different, and of better quality by spacing them out a little more.
Right now, I’m off to do Day 3 week 3, Tuesday will be the first day of the fourth week, and yes, I am curious about phase 2! You’ll have to wait 2 weeks to see me write about that though – next update will be on the end of phase 1.
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Have a great week!