Sept 1 – Leisure swimming at Hill Crest. Conclude the day with P90X’s “Ab Ripper X” workout.

Sept 2 – Shaun T’s Insanity “Cardio Abs” workout followed by an evening 25-minute jog.

Sept 3 – Spent the day scouting for potential workout gyms. Came across Steve Nash’s Fitness World, where they offered us a guided tour of the facilities and a body composition test. Here are my results:

Although the personal trainer was astonished by my results, I was also quite surprised by my lean body composition. Accordingly, armed with this new knowledge, I’ve decided to modify my training goals. Rather than reduce by body mass any further, which can have serious repercussions given my already low body fat, I will aim to increase my lean muscle and a new, heavier target of 160 lbs by the end of my regime.

Sept 4 – 1-hour run/jog/walk with my younger cousins.

Sept 5 – 1-hour morning jog. End the day with Shaun T’s Insanity “Pure Cardio” workout. Feeling slightly stressed, not from exercising, but rather the impending feeling that there’s so much left to do until school begins again on Tuesday.

August 27 – Heading out to Loon Lake, which is just outside of Maple Ridge. The lake and air are amazing clear! That said, I used this day for muscle recuperation.

August 28 – Following a morning and afternoon dedicated to retreat discussions, the group enjoyed two hours of free-time. I used this time for canoeing and swimming in the lake.

August 29 – Back in the city again. Went for a half-hour evening run around Confederation Park.

August 30 – 20 minute upper body workout, focusing on pectorals, biceps, and forearms. Finished the day with “Ab Ripper X”. Definitely seeing a lot more muscle definition in my upper body now.

August 31 – 3 hour leisure swim with my cousins. Spent a lot of time in the hot tub to relax tense leg muscles.

Here’s a status update as to my progress in my re-conditioning, fitness journey:

August 24 – 2-hour leisure swimming at Hill Crest Pool with my cousins. Weigh-in at 154.1 lbs. Perhaps this gain in weight is an indication of greater muscle mass. As goes the fitness principle, gains in muscle must be made before any loss in fat. In the afternoon, I went for a light 1-hour jog. My day concluded with another P90X Ab Ripper X workout.

August 25 – 15 minute upper body workout involving 3 sets x 50 reps of military push-ups and arm curls. Completion of Shaun T’s “Cardio Power and Resistance” Insanity workout. Finish the day with P90X Ab Ripper X. Note: I’m beginning to see some definition around my abdominal area again =D

August 26 – Morning 2-hour workout at Renfrew Fitness Centre. This encompassed 50 minutes of intense cardio and 1-hour of upper body strength training with weights.

So I’ve been back in Vancouver now from my 5-week escapade in Guyana! I had a fantastic time, with much learned on international development, many new friends, and a greater global perspective.

That said, it’s also time for me to get back into shape =D Although I did manage to accommodate 1 run and minor upper body workouts while in Guyana, they have been insufficient to maintain my physique… a cause not helped by the many helpings of delicious, fried Guyanese “bakes” and lack of fresh vegetables. On August 14, I weighed in at an even 153.0 lbs. My fitness goal over the next month will be to restore my body to it’s original ~148 lbs pre-travel weight and acquire more lean muscle mass. I plan to tackle this challenge through a flexible program that combines Shaun T’s “Insanity” workout and my personal endurance training regime. We’ll see how it goes, here are the updates so far:

August 20 – Shaun T’s Insanity Workout #1 “Fit Test” – While only a preliminary fitness assessment, I was sweating VERY profusely by the end of the 30 minutes (potentially also a result of my time roasting under the unforgiving Guyanese sun).

August 21 – Leisure swim with my cousins. Weigh in at 152.4 lbs.

August 22 – In the morning I had an upper body workout comprised of 3 sets x 45 reps each of bicep curls and military push-ups. Later in the afternoon, I went for a 1 hour jog. I finished the day with Shaun T’s “Plyometric Cardio Circuit”.

August 23 – Same morning upper body workout as yesterday. Went for a 25 minute run. Completed the day with the infamous P90X “Ab Ripper X” workout. Feeling slight muscle fatigue, especially in the legs. Hopefully it’ll subside.

My cousins, as young as they were, noted that I had not warmed up first. One day later, with a heavily bruised -but still intact- ego and pulsating calves, I finally admited they were right. Thus, I learned two lessons:

1) Warm-up the muscles you intend to use (especially for explosive activities) prior to using them, and

2) Cockiness is often more detrimental than not

Image Credit: http://www.pulled-muscle.com/images/calf-pull.jpg

Unfortunately I haven’t had much time to make updates to my blog, so I feel slightly obliged to make a post now… Specifically, I want to discuss the value of sleep. After 3 weeks where I’ve averaged 5 hours of sleep a night… working on a multitude of assignments, midterm exams and other projects, I’ve finally gotten to the point where I’m inadvertently falling asleep while standing (leading to some comical and not-so humorous moments). Accordingly, I’ve decided its time to prioritize my sleep, if only for one night before tackling the next mountain of work. I must say, a full 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep has done wonders… I feel both more cognitively awake and physically refreshed… both which were lacking in last night’s kendo practice.

That said, I think it is appropriate to recognize that I need to make some major overhauls on my New Year’s resolution to get more sleep. Perhaps it’s the considerably longer commute time to UBC now that I’ve moved back home, but nonetheless I’ll have to find some way to tackle this issue… I think for now I’ll just have to resolve to better time management (ie. creating a better schedule, capitalizing on commuting time by reading, etc). Feel free to post any other suggestions.

Also of note, Canada’s Kristina Groves won bronze in the 3000 m speed-skating and Jennifer Heil won silver in women’s moguls. Good work and keep on doing Canada proud!

Image Credit: telegraph.co.uk and GETTY IMAGES