What a difference a year makes

About a year ago, I was arguably in the best physical shape of my life. This was due mainly to the amount and to the frequency of exercise I was doing at the time. Gym three times a week, tennis three times a week, and a long distance run on the weekend meant I had a pretty intense level of athletic activity every day of the week.

With my schedule getting freed up quite a bit recently, I decided to replicate that exercise schedule. So I started hitting the gym again, with three workouts every week. I alternated that with tennis lessons twice a week. Then I would play badminton during the weekend. So not as intense as last year’s regimen, but it definitely isn’t a sedentary lifestyle.

Unfortunately, I cannot say that my fitness level is anywhere near where it was last year. It seems that the frequency of my physical activity now leaves my muscles feeling sore most of the time. If I had to guess, I would say that this can mainly be attributed to the fact that my body is not repairing itself as quickly as it used to and I end up exercising even if my muscles still haven’t recovered 100% . I’ve started to feel better much more quickly now than about a month ago, but I do wish I didn’t feel sore as often as I do.

Of course, it could also be due to the fact that my tennis lessons are tougher now. Which is good because it would seem to indicate that I have marginally improved. Something must have clicked in my brain too (or with my coordination), because my backhand is now stronger, more accurate, and more consistent. I can’t say the same about my forehand though. Hopefully I can get that to change soon enough.

Then again, my gym workouts aren’t as hard as they were last year. Or at least I don’t think they are. I am probably bench-pressing about 70% of what I bench-pressed last year. Maybe I had bad form last year (although I did have a trainer so I am guessing that wasn’t the case). Or maybe the stress I experienced at work led me to lose muscle mass and strength.

I could spend a lot more time trying to come up with a lot of theories as to what’s going on. But at the end of the day, I wouldn’t arrive at any useful conclusion. In truth, I shouldn’t dwell too much on the difference between where I am now and where I was before. I should just focus on trying to be as fit as I can.

I have decided though that I should already start training for next year’s marathon. The plan: run 5km on a treadmill (which I did last week) and increase that each week by one kilometer. If I can keep this up, then by the time we get to next year’s Milo marathon, I should be in fairly decent shape. Or at least hopefully in better shape than I was last July.