baby steps

that I've not updated in over a month is less a testament to inactivity than it is spare time to do so.

In starting back to more serious training, I reeled back everything else I was doing in terms of exercise. I hit the reset button, and elected to instead pursue bjj practice, and little else, until my body re-acquainted itself to those rigors and demands.

several weeks later, I'm ready to start adding things back in. Some weight training, but chiefly some interval training for cardio. Right now, that's only being paired with my lift days. ~24-30 minutes of HIIT cardio followed by sets of maybe 2-3 exercises per major body part/mechanism to failure. A friend recommended it to me after I whined about my quads crapping out on me/filling with lactic acid - enzymatic training.

Since everything I've tried doesn't seem to elicit the results I want, I'm taking his advice for a few months. Or at least, I'm going to try to. I need to add more HIIT sessions of just cardio, since really my primary goal is weight loss at this point. I'm way too heavy to execute, and it's also impeding my flexibility. And I'm sure it's probably inviting injury as well. I've just been lucky with that.

and aside from recovery drinks/shakes, no carbs after 7pm. This will be hard. It will mean dinner = muscle milk or some similar derivative for the foreseeable future. Evenings that I am training bjj/etc I rarely get home before 830pm. But carb restriction is also something I've yet to try, so I'm certainly not going to pass judgment on it until I have at least given it its fair shot.

I would like to be able to do HIIT in the mornings, but I'm not precisely sure whether that means getting up doubly early to go to the gym for cardio machines, or if maybe I'll do something along the ilk of CST/flow-fit/bodyweight activities. Or even going downstairs to do some bas rutten thai boxing on the heavy bag.

I'm also going to have to figure out a means of getting to sleep faster on my bjj nights. None of this will be as effective if I don't get rest.

ON A MORE BJJ RELATED RANT... training has been going okay. I'm still a little overwhelmed really with all of the material, and last week was derailed by a family emergency that feels as though it lasted weeks in terms of interrupting my training. But hopefully all will get back on track soon. I'm hoping to get to start attending the judo class followed perhaps by muay thai, since I'm never really certain if/when I'll train bjj on weekends.

Trying to do private lessons at least every other week, and I think it is helping, but it's just difficult to see sometimes. With so many people intent on going full bore (when they are already stronger than me), that nullifies some of my new technique. I don't want to stoop to she-hulking my way through things, but the temptation to do so is always there.

with injury usually lurking close behind it.

that said, time to suit up and go do HIIT and pick some new upper/mid back lifts to torture myself with.