What's great about sharing training advice on a blog like this? The fact that I can use my own advice:-)
Illness has kept me out of the gym for at least a month now and yesterday I felt strong enough to pack my gym bag and go and test my fitness levels for myself. I was a little apprehensive because I know how dangerous it is to train or to do anything strenuous while fighting off a virus.
Anyways, I got my training journal out and started from scratch: The DM First Month Routine.
While paging through my journal I had a chance to glance at all the routines I've progressed up to and wondered if whether I should not just start where I had left off but at a lesser intensity. I toyed with the idea while in the change room but the minute I got to the weight room my common sense took over.
Although I had not been to the gym in a month, my body had been fighting off a virus for that period and was definitely exhausted. I would have wasted my time during that session if I had let my pride get the better of me. So like a good student I set up my weights for the beginner routine thinking that I would breeze through it and end my session with an I told you so.
Without sounding pretentious let me say that I have more belief in this programme now than I can remember. Why do I believe in it so much? My aching legs, chest, shoulders and back are all indicators that some serious training went down yesterday. I did not lift the weight I was lifting before I fell ill but by sticking to good form and using the cadence I made every second of that 30 minute workout count.
So while I'm recovering today and smiling sheepishly I'm really grateful for the time I had away from the gym because it has re-ignited a flame inside of me again. I'll probably take today and tomorrow off to recover and grow but that's the point of this training anyway.
Train smart, train hard, rest, recover and grow:-)
