I’ve been feeling mortal since I sprained my ankle in a volleyball injury last December. I didn’t realize how much of a hassle it would be to get around, and I also felt like maybe this was the end of the road for me and my time playing sports.
Sports has always been the one thing keeping me active (and my 40-minute bike commute to the studio), so for me to temporarily not have that in my routine, I was a little depressed. I skipped out on an entire season of snowboarding, and the powder wasn’t bad this year either.
I’ve also generally haven’t felt all that great about my body lately; I’ve gained some weight and haven’t really done much about it. I’m glad that I’m a little bigger, I’m just losing a little bit of the tone that I had pre-covid. I’m also noticing that I’ve been eating a lot of junk since being with Jason, only because if he’s feeling like ordering out I would also love to indulge (the bar was low, as in zero. There was a time I was more on top of meal prep and almost never ordering food or getting fast food. I miss her.) And with that, I’m realizing I don’t have enough fibre, and I don’t remember the last time I had any (partially why I was noodling on Creating a Poop App with AI Tools).
My mortality has brought me to a training arc I didn’t think I’d be in. Struggling in the shower with a sprained ankle was a catalyst in getting my health shit together. I got into physio as soon as I could, and I’ve learned how to strengthen my ankles with a nice stretch routine and stability exercises (I’m waiting for the warmer weather to test out my kickflip flick). Infinit Days has also got me participating in group fitness once a month, which has also been a catalyst for weight training.
Since December, my routine has been as follows:
- Wednesdays: midday low-impact 40-minute cycling; ankle strengthening
- Fridays: morning 30-minute swim (front+back stroke); hot tub + cold shower
- Saturdays: on weeks when I’m doing group fitness, weight training
- Sundays: weight training, or group fitness
I started volleyball again this month. Where I’m now playing:
- Mondays: 3 hours (4 games of 2 sets each)
- Thursdays: 1 hour (1 game, 3 sets)
Upon writing this out I realize I’m doing a lot. Tuesdays and Saturdays as rest days is crazy.
I also recognize that being active is one thing — there’s also the nutrition bit and that’s where I’m fucked. I try to eat healthy but it’s hard to stay on routine when my weeks aren’t always the same. Some weeks I get too tired to keep it together.
I found out about cycle-synced fitness and it’s blowing my mind. I started putting together a Cycle Sync Game Plan to figure out how I can sync my fitness and nutrition based on my menstrual cycle. Will report back.
It’s helpful that Jason’s on top of his health at a functional level (he’s an ex-crossfit + olympic lifting enthusiast, and he knows a lot about community + fitness by way of his PhD), so I’m lucky that I have a head start on what a good meal and form looks like, and how to weight train safely. The furthest I’ve ever gone with my journey is my yoga practice and doing very basic meal prep that was more like, lean Japanese meals. I’m proud that I’ve been doing this for a solid quarter of the year, and it’s part of my routine in a way that I don’t resent it. No day ever feels like a burden (other than the late volleyball games). My [progress](Weight Training Progress) is also worth mentioning: for example, I was deadlifting 35lbs on my first week, and on my 9th week, I’m at 100lbs 🥹. My butt and traps are looking insane.
In the coming weeks, I’ll figure out my 1-rep max so I have a better idea of what my benchmarks look like.