Now I have zero qualifications in exercise. What I have though is a 40 years of solid exercise behind me. I have really paid a lot of attention to how I feel, recover and actually perform. I have been a real data geek for a few years.
High Volume, hard intensity, and day after day sessions are fun. I love them.
They keep my mind clear. The body hurting. And the soul knowing I am actually working hard.
Why do I train? This is a question I have asked myself a few times….At 54 it is habit. I actually enjoy it. It also creates silence for me from the never ending tinnitus screaming in my right ear.
When the volume is high and the intensity bites, something settles down in me. The noise drops. The usual mental clutter gets quiet. The tinnitus is there but I can switch off from it.
I am in the moment. Legs burning, lungs scraping, heart rate high.
My body needs to hurt sometimes. Not injury pain. Working pain.
I want a body that can still absorb hard work in my fifties and sixties. A mind that clears when the effort rises. And the quiet satisfaction of knowing the day was not wasted on comfort.
Hard sessions are not a problem to be managed. They are the point for me. I have adapted my warm ups, cool downs and stretches. I have discovered recovery. The best thing has been the dog walk in an evening. Yesterday I SkiErged for 90 mins. 2 hours after this I walked the dog for 40 mins. A slow recovery. The dog walk is now as much for me as it is her. The movement of a slow walk eases the muscles and the mind can appreciate the hard work, doing slow work.
Take away the hard gym work and the recovery becomes empty for me. I simply stop thinking or being aware of stretching or recovery methods if I am not thrashing myself.
I will keep the volume. I will keep the intensity. And I will keep the sessions that leave me tired in the right way. Even the ones that leave me tired in the wrong way.
That is where the clarity lives for me.
The garmin telling me I am strained I love. Obviously I ignore it.
#garmin
