Starting Over

[Bob-gar]

Over two years ago, I did something I never thought possible. I got in shape. I lost over 40 lbs., and built some muscle. I didn’t achieve my ultimate goal of single digit body fat or chiseled abs, however, I made some impressive gains. The whole process sparked an interest in personal fitness that I wanted to continue throughout my life. Somewhere between now and then, I lost my edge. There were a number of life events that happened, from the wife getting her bachelor’s degree, to our first child being born, to buying our first home, that made it difficult to maintain the life I was creating for myself. I just haven’t been the same since. 

 

I’m trying to rekindle the fire and work my way back to where I was and beyond, but I seem to keep falling into the same, or similar, pitfalls. Currently, my ability to workout is somewhat hindered due to, what appears to be, achilles tendonitis. (Haven’t been to a doc yet, but I’m trying to get an appointment scheduled) I’ve been away from running and lifting for over a month and now I’m at a point where it feels like I’m starting over again. Simple body weight workouts have me depressed and wanting to quit. I’m struggling to do push ups, for crying out loud. 

 

Before, when this all started, I had help. I had a trainer to guide and push me, I had my wife right there with me, and I had no other commitments pulling my attention away. Now, there’s no trainer, my wife is still with me, albeit on her own program, we have a home and a child to take care of, and my time is getting shorter by the day. 

 

Needless to say this is all hard for me to take. It’s depressing and frustrating. I know what I’m capable of. I know how strong I’ve been in the past and how strong I can be in the future. I just don’t know how to put it all together. 

 

Where do I begin?

[Zorch]

Start by removing the hurdles/obstacles between you and success - make it *EASIER* to do what you want to do.  I imagine with a young child, time is one of your big challenges.  So find ways to keep your workouts short, but effective - and find ways to work them into your schedule more seamlessly.  Maybe entertain doing bodyweight workouts at home - you can often slip a set of bodyweight exercises in between tasks around the house if you're really crunched for time.  Psychologically, getting to the gym/starting the workout is usually the hardest part.

[Alice Pattinson]

I agree with Zorch And maybe you can also get another trainer. There are a lot there, they know how to help you on your situation

[Bob-gar]

Thanks for the responses guys. 

 

A little more background: We have a decent setup here at home to eliminate having to plan gym time. Also we live in a nice neighborhood, so we can run outside. It's just that, for me, I don't feel comfortable doing anything until my achilles starts feeling better. I'm going to see the doc soon, but I'm afraid of bad news. I guess I'm having trouble dealing with falling so far backwards and now, not truly being able to fix it. 

[ret]

While waiting to see the doctor, I would look into exercises and stretches you could do to help your tendon feel better. Failing that, RICE it.

[Juni0r83]

Your lifestyle seems to almost scream out for the angry birds workout. Start with incline push-ups and dumbbell rows and you should find yourself making progress relatively quickly.

I'm not sure what to suggest for cardio however, as everything that comes to mind includes jumping/impacting the Achilles' tendons. But good luck with it all, and I hope your doctor gives you some good news.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bob-gar]

Thanks again for the responses. I've been trying to RICE it. Admittedly not doing a great job at that. I'm on the go all day so it's pretty tough to sit and elevate it.

 

I've been doing some light body weight stuff, but the tricky part is staying in it mentally. It's hard keeping your motivation up when you know you're not going to be able to do 90% of the stuff you need to do. 

 

Thanks for the advice though. Good luck in all of your personal quests. I'll definitely join y'all on the other side of this issue.

[Spark]

Bob, I'm in a similar situation; I was in a lot better shape than I am now when I stopped working out. Now that I've found this site and am getting back into fitness, it's disheartening to see how far I've fallen and how far I need to go to get to where I was, much less where I want to go.

 

I have two pieces of advice that work for me. First, find a progression workout that makes sense. I mostly use the model from Convict Conditioning, which has the added bonus of not taking up huge chunks of time. Second, take it a single day at a time and record your progress.

 

Good luck!

[Driftwood]

Bob, I've had a similar experience.  In the past (before wife & kid) if I ever got in a situation where I realized I was out of shape, I could always drastically change my lifestyle to get the results I wanted, and it was easy to do so.  If I wanted to try paleo, I just did it.  If I felt like I should go run, I just went and ran, or hiked, or climbed something, or went to the gym.  Nowadays every minute out of work is potential time with the wife/kid.  It's time that I can use to watch my son so my wife has a few minutes to do things she wants to do.  For awhile I used the hours that my son was asleep to do stuff I wanted to do. 

 

When I first had to get back in shape for the Air Force, I would try one of my old harder workouts and get depressed when I couldn't complete it.  I had to readjust my attitude.  Instead of thinking of myself as a hard core guy gone a little soft, I went the opposite route and tought of myself as a lazy fatass getting into shape.  Once I accepted that I mentally didn't feel the pressure to complete the workouts I used to be able to do.  Instead I focused on doing a workout that challenged me at the level I was currently at.  Success for me was advancing that line of what I could do at that moment, and not dwelling on memories of my fitness at age 25.  It was no longer depressing that I couldn't run a 2 mile in 13 min, I instead felt successful that my 2 mile times improved.

 

The second attitude adjustment was about my 'free time'.  I can't go workout whenever I want anymore.  I would get down that I don't have the freedom to go to the gym 5 days a week after work.  Instead I started trying to think about solutions, not the problem.  I would make a game out of it.  Can I do 300 pushups today?  Not in a workout, but by doing sets whenever I can fit them in.  Change a diaper, then do pushups, play with blocks, then do pushups, put my kid down for a nap, then do pushups.  You have to be on the lookout for an opportunity to do small sets whenever you have a chance.  When you look at it this way you can fit in far more reps a day than if you just workout for an hour each day. 

 

Don't mourn what you used to be able to do.  Instead, see where you're at, and then make yourself improve. 

[Bob-gar]

Wow, thanks for those great words. It's definitely encouraging. 

 

I definitely have to fight myself because at times I do feel like I'm not hardcore anymore. I have to be honest in that, yea I'm not hardcore anymore. I have to accept it. 

 

Squeezing in time for a workout is definitely a tricky task. My wife and I invested in a good rack from Rogue and are set for lifting and running. I just need to get my legs healthy and then I can start actually getting into it again.

 

Thank you again.