Day one was one of the most un-pleasant days I've had in a long time. Unfortunately (or perhaps it's a blessing in disguise), I ripped a muscle in my back on the FIRST day of training. It had nothing to do with the exercise or the weight I was using, it was me. My head wasn't in it and I was not concentrating on what I should be doing. I also was still massively inflamed from the week-end's derail. SO... I am making modifications this week. I've made my peace with it and my number ONE priority is staying healthy.
I am altering my workout today and tomorrow, with a "rest" day on Thursday of a long walk in the morning with a dear friend. So today, instead of doing sprints, I did intervals on the stair machine. I've chosen the stair machine because I can hold my body with my arms, as opposed to the hill climber elliptical machine, which I need to maintain my core upright while my hands are push/pulling the hand-holds. I hope this makes sense, but that is my plan: 1 minute of hard and fast climbing followed by a minute of slower walking. That should sort-of emulate sprints. As for weights, I wanted to isolate the upper vs lower muscle groups as much as possible. Instead of thrusters, I did dumbbell shoulder presses followed by sumo goblet squats. I did one-legged hamstring curls and decline crunches, niiiice and sllooooow. I did the push-ups on my knees and renegade rows without the push-up. Last, I did chin ups on the assist machine, and kept it on a slightly heavier assist (which means slightly less effort). While on the floor I took the time to do some hip opening stretches and did some foam rolling. Some is better than none, and again, keeping my back safe so it can heal is my priority. In spite of it all, I managed to feel pretty good about the work-out and I had a nice chat with a gym-buddy about the Whole30 and our deep-seated food issues that we are working to overcome in our own ways. I also listened to two wonderful podcasts that I want to re-listen to and take notes.
And then there's my Whole30 plan. Typically, I have a smoothie or some kind of light break-fast food around 7am and then my main breakfast once I get to work around 10:30, then lunch around 1:30-2, and a quick little tiny snack around 4-4:30 to see me through till supper around 7-7:30. This keeps me from snacking, keeps my energy up, and just generally seems to work for me. I add in an extra snack and/or meal when I have a tough workout or end up doing something really active (like cleaning house for 3 hours, like I did today!)
This morning's food frenzy consisted of a kiwi, mango and grapefruit green smoothie and a lovely cuppa joe with coconut milk (for my fat). Post workout, I had an egg-free 'scramble' of greens, smoked salmon, shredded sweet potato, onion, pepper and mushrooms, and topped with a 1/4 avo. I thoroughly enjoyed the mole chili over zucchini 'noodles' at lunch, and I packed a small apple and a handful of nuts as my snack for on the way home. Tonight, I made an asian-ish stirfry from the leftover cajun pork roast from last night, the usual stir fry veg and cauliflower 'rice'. I still would like to make a few Whole30 approved sauces, but haven't yet mustered up the givadam with the back thing slowing me down.
So far it's been surprisingly easy, but I'm not getting complacent, because I know for me, day 4 and especially the week-ends are really tough for me. This weekend we are going camping with friends and there will be a lot of down time with me just hanging out in the kitchen, so I plan to meditate on that for a while before we actually get there, so I can be mentally and physically prepared. For tonight, though, I'm really beat - not sure if it's detoxing, clean eating, back repair or vigorous workout, but whatever is causing the sleepy-head nod, I'm paying attention and turning in early tonight. Tomorrow is day 3 and hopefully my back will be well enough to give a light jog a try.
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