Fitness My Retrospective

2000-2004
My exercise over the last 20 years has been a series of ups and downs. Back in 2000 at the age of 30 I realized I really needed to lose some weight and work at getting healthier. I bought a used exercise bike for $10 from Kijiji and started with 10 minutes a day and added a minute a day until I was up over 2 hours a day when the restraining bolt snapped from heat fatigue. About that same time I got a great offer to join GoodLife as a Student and did so. I spent the rest of that year doing cardio and circuit training. I made good progress but in 2001 I decided to do Body for Life. During the twelve weeks I went from 204lbs to 190lbs and from 22.9 to 11.9% body fat. Things were going well and I was in my second 12 week challenge I pulled a muscle in my back and had reoccurring problems for over a year. I went from working out 2 hours a day 7 days a week to being very inconsistent. Over the next few years I was married, moved out of town, back to town and was no longer walking distance to the gym.

2005-2009
Then in 2005 I tore my rotator cuff in an accident at work. For the next year I was doing physio therapy 5 days a week. Then had surgery and then another year and a half of physio therapy. Permanent restrictions were put on my working. No repetitive or sustained work at shoulder height or above, no lifting above shoulder height of 10lbs or at shoulder height of 15 lbs. These were now permanent restrictions - something I will have to abide by the rest of my working life. I wrote a three part series for my University Newspaper Imprint called 'From Injury Back to Work Again' on this experience:

Part I - The road to recovery
Part II - The first year
Part III - The light at the end of the tunnel

Other than physio I did not do any exercise during this time other than walking. During this time I also donated Bone Marrow through what is now the One Match stem cell and marrow network. I wrote a 4 part series on that experience:

Part 1 - There's more than blood in you to give
Part 2 - The Callback
Part 3 - The Donation
Part 4 - The Followup

2009-2012
Also during this time our first child was born. While I was at the park with her I saw dad's that could not keep up with even toddlers, and I was not there yet but did not want to be either. So I decided to start working out again and jumped in to do P90X in 2009 again I wrote a 6 part series on P90X:

Phase I Nearly 40 and 40 Pounds to Lose
Phase II The Fitness Journey of a 40 year old undergraduate
Gear to Bring It for P90X
Phase III The 90 Days of P90X is really just the beginning
Fitness Options
P90X at 120 Days Out

I love P90X and working out with Tony Horton. During the 12 weeks I went from 244 to 211lbs and from 34.7 to 18% body fat. During the next two years I did pretty good working or 5-7 days a week then when our third child was born in late in 2010 I just could not get up at 4am and workout before being at work for 6:30AM. From mid 2010-Presnt I did do some health challenges through trifit we have an in house consultant and they constantly have different great programs on the go. In the summer of 2011, I decided to get back to weights. Tam our consultant from trifit has created 3 awesome workout programs for me. I have been tracking my workouts in both a Google Document and a Macro Enabled Excel Sheet with Random Workout Generator. And currently I am in the middle of a Winning At Losing challenge a 12 week program. And lately I have discovered Fitocracy an amazing workout website that turns exercise into a social game. On Fitocracy you earn points for every workout, there are achievement badges you can earn, Quests you can compete in, groups you join an amazing forums board and more.

The reason I took this look back was to help me look forward and work on the road map for the future to make sure I don't fall off the fitness train again. One of my biggest goals in life is finding balance between Mind, Body and Spiritual development. This exercise was to help with finding and maintaining that balance.


Other Fitness Articles:
Fall 2011 Programs
Workout program March 2012
My Gear February 2012
Fitness My Retrospective

TRX Articles:
TRX an Introduction
TRX Force
TRX Force Tactical
TRX Essential Flexibility

My P90X Series:
Phase I, Phase II, Gear, Phase III, Fitness Options, P90X at 120 Days Out

Health & Fitness Book Reviews:
The Primal Blueprint 21 Day Total Body Transformation - Mark Sisson
The Ten Commandments Of Lifting Weights - Jared Zimmerer
Toadally Primal Smoothies - Todd Dosenberry
Caveman Resurection - Jeff Pickett
40 Days to Optimal Health - Dr. Scott Morris
Eat Stop Eat - Brad Pilon
The Primal Blueprint - Mark Sisson
The New Rules of Lifting - Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove
Bench Press by: Sven Lindqvist
Sly Moves by: Sylvester Stallone
Fit for Eternal Life: A Christian Approach to Working Out, Eating Right, and Building the Virtues of Fitness in Your Soul by: Dr. Kevin Vost
Body for Life 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strenght by: Bill Phillips
Lose Fat Not Faith by Jeremy R. Likeness
Living The Good Life: Your Guide to Health and Success by: David Patchell-Evans
Dump your Trainer by: Ashley Marriott and Marc L. Paulsen