I usually post a “Flex Friday” update in February each year, but due to a few health reasons I’m going to postpone for just a bit as I recoup and get some muscle back on these old bones.

I am so thankful to be back at the gym after a 4 1/2 month hiatus. It’s going to be a long, slow process to heal my body, my soul, and my sanity, but I’m ready.

Let’s do this!

See my journey

Yup. it’s that time again, my yearly Flex Friday post. I know I look a little scruffy, I really should have trimmed the ol’ whiskers before I took this pic but it’s been a crazy year of ups and downs but things seem to be back on track!

So, I’ve been making progress since The Great Covid Deficit of 2020™, but the powers that be did throw a couple of wrenches in there to keep it spicy. I was informed late June that my beloved gym would be closing down permanently. I was totally bummed as the place was pretty awesome, it was huge, lots of free and machine weights, treadmills, ellipticals, rowers, bikes, stairs, an awesome basket/volley ball court, giant locker room with steam room, and lots and lots of space. The thought of switching to another gym was truly frightening.

Thankfully we have two other gyms in town, one that was much smaller and open 24 hours, and another that’s been around forever and a lot more old school when it came to the weights. I bit my cheek and chose the old school gym as it seemed to be more my style. It was nice to see some of the people from the old gym had chose the same, but it was going to be an interesting switch indeed, as everything felt so different at the new place.

I tell you, everyone agreed the change was difficult… even the weights felt heavier as I transitioned to a more free weight workout compared to the lazy machine/free weight workout I had grown accustomed too. I quickly found that I was getting a much better workout then I had at the old place. I guess it’s good to shake it up a bit from time to time in order to see progress.

As I familiarized myself with the area around me, I was still dealing with aches and pains in my knees and ankles that seemed to have started during the Covid break. I was unable to keep up on my legs like I had been, and it wasn’t until recently that I’m finally able to get some more regular exercise out of them and hopefully soon I’ll be back on track like I was before.

Everything else is improving nicely. I’m still not quite up to where I was before the lockdowns but I’m pretty damn close hitting just under my maxes prior to closures. As I get older I’m hoping to be able to keep up. People at the gym don’t believe me when I tell them my age, and it brings a little joy knowing that for the most part I feel much younger than my age. 🙂

So much has changed since I started this journey seven years ago, but I won’t let anything get in my way. I hope to be even stronger and lighter when I’m sixty, so look out all you young whippersnappers, this old man is coming for ya.

See my journey

Sure, 2020 was a complete mess, but things didn’t get too much better in 2021. Still dealing with restrictions forced upon us by the virus debacle, I wasn’t able to get back into the gym until late March.

It was such a wonderful feeling getting back into the gym, and getting back into my groove. Unfortunately, the time off and lack of motivation really took its toll on my knees and ankles. That’s right, I said ankles. I’ve been dealing with knee issues for some time, but ankles? This is something new… I don’t recommend getting old my friends.

Anyway, I couldn’t believe how much was lost, and how tough it was going to be to just get back to where I was before all this mess. I started off slow, and very frustrated. I wanted to do so much more but just couldn’t find the strength, and my endurance was totally shot. After settling down a bit and realizing nothing was going to happen overnight, I relaxed my mind and slowly began to regain the strength that was lost. Just as I started reaching many new goals and feeling better and stronger than ever, life got in the way. I fell out of my normal routine due to community obligations as well as my personal health.

Unfortunately, I hit another low.

It was pretty hard to take. Surprisingly, prior to this I had been hitting goals and lifting weight I have never lifted before. Things were looking good for hitting the goals I made for myself by the end of the year. It’s funny how frustrated you can get when you know that with every day or week that goes by, you are losing more and more of the hard work you’ve put in. When I was finally able to get back to a regular schedule, I was again surprised at how much was lost so quickly. After coming back the first time and hitting highs like never before, I found that once again I had to start well below where I thought I’d be.

This time I was more prepared for how long it would take me to get back to the weight I was lifting before. I’m still not quite there, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m feeling healthier and stronger everyday, and I feel confident that I will hit and quite possibly exceed the goals I had missed last year.

Let’s go 2022, I’m ready!!!

See my journey

Well hell… five years ago I started my adventure into a new lifestyle that I had never attempted before. With the help from good friends and family I worked hard to better my body, and in turn my soul.

In the last few years, I’ve been posting my journey on each anniversary and I was pleased to report that every new year had brought more strength, and a huge feeling of accomplishment. That all came to a halt this year with the closing of our local gyms due to this virus debacle.

Now, I’m not going to go on a rant here about why our government leaders think it’s a good idea to remove healthy people from one of the ways they stay healthy, but I will say that my fitness level and health has dropped significantly this year and I have a hard time finding that motivation I once had.

I haven’t given up, far from it. I’m hoping we can soon move past all this craziness and I’m still ready and eager to get back at it, as soon as the the current regime allows the gyms to open back up. I’m just hoping that the local gyms can hang on long enough to actually reopen some time in the near future.