My New Workout Routine
For the past three months, I've been following a workout routine that best suits my lifestyle. I would like to share my routine with you in hopes that you find some inspiration for your own workout regiment!
Why now?
I track all my workouts. I have done so for a few years at least. I've had a fitness tracker for close to ten years now. This lets me have an overview of my fitness level. I noticed that I was barely clocking in a workout a week. So I decided that things needed to change.
I have been fit for most of my life. In 2023, I moved to Newport and lived a bachelor's life after a long time. This meant my diet was not where I would have liked it to be. Fast forward a year and my eating capacity went down and so did my weight. I was edging towards the high 50s (Kg).
For most of my life, I'd always been conscious about losing weight, not gaining weight. So my feeling felt foreign to me. But I knew that I had to start gaining weight (in a healthy way) by building muscle and eating a proper diet.
And it has to be said, the feather that broke the camels back came in the form of unsolicited comments from relatives during my India trip (where I got to see Rhinos!). In the South (and I'm guessing in most of) India, people think they've done a PhD in other people's body shapes. And my physique seems to always either be too skinny or too chubby.
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If you want something, write it down
If you know me for any length of time, you probably know that I like to go overboard when I'm invested in something. Getting back on track with fitness was no exception.
One weekend, I was determined to write down a routine to follow every week to achieve my fitness goals. Readers at home can probably get away with dusting off an old notebook and writing a workout schedule for each day of the week. Me being me, I had other plans.
I came across Liftosaur, an open source workout tracker. It uses Liftoscript, a syntax that allows you to write down a workout routine in a human and computer readable way. This means that once I have written my routine in Liftoscript, I should be able to import it into my workout tracker app and use it to track my workouts.
This may be a symptom of our generation, but I was too lazy to learn Liftoscript. I instead got a Large Language Model (an AI chatbot app) to learn it and write a routine for me. I then got it to do some tweaks. I then did my own edits to the workout routine to finalise it. You can see my routine at this link (could break at any time).
Here is a short summary of what I came up with:
- Day 1: Push Day (Chest, Shoulders, Triceps)
- Day 2: Pull Day (Back, Biceps)
- Day 3: Legs and Core
- Day 4: Bouldering
- Day 5: Swimming
- Day 6: Running (5km)
- Day 7: Rest
I also planned to do what's known as progressive overload which is when you increase the your workout intensity every week. Doing so should minimise the likelihood of reaching a plateau in gains.
How it's been going
It has been over four months now since I started this routine. It has been really rewarding as I can see myself getting fitter and stronger. I've been able to do intermediate-level boulder problems which I could only dream of six months ago.
I've been cautious not to overdo it by trying to achieve too many things all at once. And so I have not really changed much about my diet, other than adding a small breakfast around 10am every day.
I've also noticed that having a set routine has improved my overall mood and focus at work. I feel a lot less lethargic in the afternoon and my sleep hygiene seems to have improved.
The only issue I've encountered so far is my late starts in the morning. I've had to work for longer in the evening as a result. I hope to start a bit earlier to finish work at a reasonable hour each day.
Thanks for taking the time to read what I’ve created! I’ll catch you in the next one.
Until next time,
Tony
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