The Long Hard Road Back To Fitness...

Welcome, dear readers, to the latest of my blogs. This one will be a bit of a personal one as I am addressing my current weight and fitness level.

Approximately 2 years ago, I started to take my fitness seriously. I had previously gotten by doing the warm ups at ninjutsu but, seeing as there was now an overabundance of fitness classes available to me, I started doing the fitness and the circuits classes. These both showed up just how unfit I actually was. I had never seriously trained to any significant level and these classes were very tough, to begin with.
I didn’t start to notice any changes in my fitness until a few months in. I didn’t get as out of breath during the work outs, I got stronger and my stamina started to reach a proper level.

During these classes I was introduced to such things as animal crawls, kettle bells, body weight rows, pull ups and other such delights and I began to hate them all! Animal crawls are simply no fun. Who ever thought that impersonating a tiger, gorilla, spider or caterpillar was a good idea? Kettle bells are weighty lumps of annoyance. Swinging them about involves more hip action than most people see in a lifetime. Pull ups are evil, especially if you are trying to move a body of over 100 kg. I don’t care what people say about muscles being in proportion to body size, you’re still pulling over 100 kilos against gravity!

But despite the evil nature of all of these things, they worked. Muscles I hadn’t employed in such a capacity began to get stronger. Tendons I had never used in such a way began to become more supple. My body also began to become slimmer. That was a very welcome change, I can tell you! There’s nothing like being a little less podgy to make the male ego swell. It does wonders for your self esteem!

But, for various reasons, my fitness level has dropped of late. I am no longer the svelte person I was and I am also unable to last through a warm up without being absolutely knackered by the end of it. I won’t go into the reasons why. Instead I will say that an increase in my meal sizes and an addiction to cake are the main culprits. A drop in class attendance did play a part in this, too. Hey, I had a life to live! Also drinking copious amounts of Monster energy drinks didn’t help, either. I adore the caffeine content but the sugar content was simply insane.

So I have stopped the energy drink consumption, curbed the cake addiction and reduced my portion sizes. I am also returning to the kettle bell class that once made me fit and healthy.
I will give regular updates on my progress and keep a running blog of my class activities. This will serve a few purposes. One, it will give me a visible record of how well I am doing and two, it might inspire some of you to do the same.

I am under no illusions that this will be an easy road back to fitness. I know it will be a hard uphill slog but I am fully prepared to make the journey. All you need is the will to fight or, at the very least, the will to prove something, even if that’s just proving something to yourself.

Wish me luck!