January Review

With January traditionally being the most miserable of months I made a plan to keep busy and keep the post Christmas homesickness and general depression at bay. As reviewed a couple of weeks ago, this was proceeding with varying degrees of success.

1 Training

I followed a five times a week routine along these general lines;

Monday; Spinning, core, flexibility
Tuesday; Day off
Wednesday; 'Dynamic' weights circuit, core, flexibility
Thursday; Day off
Friday; 'Dynamic' weights circuit, core class, flexibility
Saturday; 2*15mins on the bike, 2*15mins on the cross trainer, core express, flexibility
Sunday; Weights - strength focus, core, flexibility

It made for a busy month and you'd really look forward to a Tuesday / Thursday off. Of course, you must be careful not to overdo it so you can let the body recover and maximise the benefit of your work. Also, in the sessions themselves, you should be upping the weight or intensity of the cardio a notch as you go and I probably didn't do that enough.

To make a routine like this work, you need to do it with someone else. Generally, I'd go with Collins but Collie B, Crusher and Hudson all joined on occasion. You might get away with one or two sessions a week on your own but maintaining the motivation over a period of time would be a challenge. Also, routine is everything, even the nights you don't want to go, you must push yourself because once you skip the first one, you can be sure your discipline will break again. I missed the Monday session last week and I was p1ssed off for a few days about it. That’s the kind of effect it has when you buy into it.

There was no pitch session in above plan and I only have a few tentative ones scheduled for February. I don't think Hudson can understand how I can do the gym work but not the field training. I see his point but the minute I start twisting or turning and kicking and pucking ball, the pain in the back gets worse. So I follow Paddy Tiedt’s advice go up to the pain barrier and when you get to it, step back.

2 Eating

The main thing to tackle this month was the pizza. I set the target of one a week with Sunday being the breakout day!! Actually, this proved to be much easier than I thought. Previously my dependence on it was down to laziness, a dispute with vegetables and the bland nature of my food preparation. I started to do a proper food shop once or twice a week and made sure I always had enough food in the house. Peppers, pepper, herbs, oregano, carrots, soya sauce and a selection of other ingredients started to become regulars in the shopping basket.

The result was a much more varied and tasty menu and a knock-on effect to my eating habits. I actually look forward to cooking now and the temptation for pizza is virtually gone. I had been looking forward to having one in Dublin last weekend but when I got it, I didn't even finish it. Still, that's not to say I've gone off it totally. Those two Sundays in January I skipped were very much in preparation for this weekend’s trip to Rome!! You can bank credits right?

Sweets remain an issue and will be the next thing on the list to tackle.

3 Drinking

Out went the fizzy drinks and they stayed out. Only last weekend did I come close to blinking. Also out was beer. No problem there (but a seriously reduced amount of craic as a result). I stayed solely on water for virtually the entire month. Last Sunday I had fresh orange juice and a hot chocolate at breakfast and that was the only time I deviated.

4 The Results

Physically and mentally I feel in good shape. My weight is stable but as I said previously keeping it at that level or increasing slightly was ok. The body fat % is coming down slower than I had expected. I must check it today but I'd say I've gone from around 20% to 18/19%. Not such good progress but I think I know the countermeasure for that. The back is marginally better. I'd hoped to be in a bit better shape but I think a slightly more focused approach to this will help.

5 February Targets

> Training - I need to incorporate more lower back exercises into my routine and start to up the intensity of the sessions.
> Eating - Maintain current improvements, reduce carb intake after 18h, no more chocolate/biscuits on weekdays in the evening.
> Drinking - Green tea will be added to the water and alcohol will come back into the fray. This isn't such an issue as I don't drink that frequently anyway. It’s the fizzy drinks that need to be kept in check.
> Body Fat % reduction - Direct link to the sweet intake!!