The Year In Review:
I haven’t really been keeping track of my fitness calendar like in previous years. It’s mostly a consistency thing, coupled with the knowledge I haven’t been disciplined about my diet and therefore shouldn’t expect any positive changes. I did weigh north of 205 pounds earlier this year when I was with my ex, but after we broke up I dropped like 20 pounds, so I’m around 185 pounds or so.
I think I set a goal for myself of being around 170 pounds, but mostly with a low body fat percentage. That’s not a system though, and I think I’ll look to describe some dieting and nutrition habits for myself in this year’s resolutions.
Originally during my New Year’s Resolutions I had set a goal for myself to meet some powerlifting PRs. I made good progress during the year on those, and I’m excited to present some results.
Bench:
- 2022 New Year’s Resolution: 429 pounds x 1 rep
- 2022 year-end deadlift PR: 315 pounds x 1 rep
- Proof:
Squat:
- 2022 New Year’s Resolution: 371 pounds x 1 rep
- 2022 year-end squat PR: 198 pounds x 5 reps -> estimated 215 pounds x 1 rep
- Proof:
Bench:
- 2022 New Year’s Resolution: 281 pounds x 1 rep
- 2022 year-end bench PR: 165 pounds x 1 rep
- Proof:
Some observations:
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The squat and bench PRs were made April of this year. Yup, I didn’t make a whole lot of progress after my Hawaii trip until maybe October. That’s a long period to go without making progress. Maybe next year, I’m not going to take a 4 week vacation. At least without using the hotel gym or something.
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I ate very poorly: A lot of times for personal training, I only ate some popcorn for dinner the night before. Yup. The results kind of showed. This cut deeply into my ability to make gains during my personal training sessions. I didn’t start seriously tracking my macros until maybe November of this year.
I should be detailing this in my New Year’s Resolutions.
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I didn’t exercise on my own on a regular basis: If I didn’t have my personal training sessions, I would have fell off the map in March. Definitely after my Hawaii trip in June. I didn’t go to the gym by myself some months, instead of the twice weekly by myself like my trainer had asked me to, and I didn’t walk 10,000 steps a day.
My cardio is noticeably shit, and personal training doesn’t really focus on that. I have found that watching movies or TV while on the cycling machine really helps me out here, I can work up a sweat and watch some episodes of Netflix or something there. I did watch all of “Andor” Season 1 during Thanksgiving, which I was really happy about.
- Combine TV watching with using the cycling machine at the gym.
So what’s changed:
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Going back to visit my parents in Michigan: It’s so incredibly boring. Most people I haven’t stayed in touch with, most people I’ve stayed in touch with have moved out of state, and I’m not around enough in order to make new friends (I come for a week during Thanksgiving and Christmas). So I signed up for Anytime Fitness down the street. The gym owner charges $40 cash for the week. The relatively high price, combined with having nothing really to do, means I go very often, sometimes 4 or 5 times a week. That really kickstarted my gym routine when I went back home.
Also my parents are good cooks, and they eat very very healthy. I shouldn’t take them for granted.
- Consider going home once a week every quarter for a “pit stop”.