Where have I been? What's next?

Well for the past 8 months I've been keeping my body strong and healing it at the same time.  Continuing to exercise, but taking some of the strain off my body from all the weighted workouts.  Focusing primarily on Calisthenics, more functional fitness.  I had tried some programs from GMB and I enjoyed the first one.  Not so much the one I was really looking forward to trying (Integral Strength).  Whatever.  Lately it has been all TRX with a mish-mosh of cardio.  Some running, some T25, some P90X cardio stuff.  It is all good.

Nutrition - well to say I have pretty much ignored macros would be an understatement.  I haven't tracked any food at all in months.  Bummer for sure.  As a result, I've lost whatever abs I had and put on some additional weight.  May 2015 I weighed 167lbs, but still had love handles.  September 2016 I weigh 180lbs, but no love handles.  A little overhang in the front though.  Bummer for sure.  I know I've built more muscle, that much is clear.  I can see it in my legs, arms, back, shoulders - but the gut don't lie.  Work on your nutrition.  Gaining 1lb per month isn't the goal here.

What next?  Why bothering with the blog post now?  I've given it some thought and thought...hmmmm.... why not P90X?  I'm in FAR better shape than the last time I tried it (pre-40).  However the workouts are over an hour long a few days a week.  That's a lot of time to commit.  Especially when you have a hard enough time getting your ass moving in the morning.  I generally don't sleep very well.  Falling asleep - piece of cake.  Staying asleep through the whole night, feeling rested, etc... not the easy part.  That does have me a bit wary with the longer workouts.  All you can do is try though.

That's great Chris - but what about your real issue.... nutrition?  Well, I'm going to try and stick to the P90X Nutrition guidelines.  For someone my weight, they recommend a 2400 cal/per day diet (YES!!).  I've learned a thing or two about macros over the past year so that will certainly help me.  Much like an addict, I'm going to take it one day at a time... one week at a time...  one cycle at a time.  The first cycle is going to be tough though.  Macros 50% protein, 30% carbs & 20% fat.  That means 1200 calories of protein a day.  YEAH! 300g of protein a day.  800 calories of carbs (200grams of healthy carbs... jerk) and just a mere mere 53g of fat.   Serious challenges here.

So why P90X?  Why bother going back to weights?  Honestly - I haven't found a great bodyweight program that can generate the volume of work capacity needed to support the food volume I like to consume.  :)  Yes - I like to fucking eat!  Especially something with the variety that I crave.  I still LOVE bodyweight stuff.  There is so much you can do with it and get a really good workout.  I've learned so much more about proper form, range, mobility, all things that definitely impacted me in past programs.  Hey - you spend time just trying to "keep up" with the speed they are doing it on the DVD vs. concentrating on what YOU are doing and making sure your form is perfect, you are going to suffer.  I did try to just keep up and I paid the price.  As they say, you need to walk before you can run.  I took a step back, so now I can move forward.

Stay tuned for updates.  Here's to getting this body stronger, leaner and simply put - more powerful and healthy.  I go back for another body fat testing in December and my goal is to improve upon the 24.1% BF (131lbs of lean muscle) I got as results in December 2015.