Getting Stronger

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I’ve mentioned on here a time or two my love of Zumba.  I get a great workout and I smile the whole time (almost).  For a few months I have also added a cardio kickboxing class to my regime twice a week.  So three days a week I kill it at the gym.  This frees me up for eating junk the rest of the week relatively guilt-free.

Here’s the problem.  My body has gotten stronger, become more fit and is annoyed at me for the junk.  Another problem is that this isn’t completely sustainable with the way my life is functioning right now.  My diet is completely controllable.  My sleep, however, is not.

Right now my sleep “patterns” are under the iron-fisted dictatorship of a feisty 3 year old boy.  I can count on one hand the full nights’ sleep I’ve had in the past year or so.  This is not beneficial to your anaerobic threshold.   It’s caught me for my past 3 workouts.  I’m going along fine, then my heart rate jumps and I’m out of the game.  No fun!

After some discussion with my instructor for these two classes I’ve learned about some changes I need to make.  1) I need to improve my nutrition and caloric intake.  This also includes supplementing my protein amounts with some sort of post-workout recovery drink.  2)I need to back off one of the classes and focus on some more strength training to get all of my body up to speed with the more developed parts.

So, here’s where I’m at.  Today I’ll be trying something new.  I’m going to take a barbell strength class for the first time.  I did some Body Pump when that was all the craze in the mid-90’s, but I think this will be different.  I’ve also done some weight work with machines.  I’ve heard good things, but some scary things, too.  I’ll let you know how it goes. I’m learning more about my body and how to make it function better.

What have you learned that has required you to change your tactics?




This post is linked up to Life In Bloom.