Every year I usually kick up into gear around mid-April. It’s almost a tradition.

It was after the first awards dinner at Anytime Fitness that I attended that I told my coach “I’m going to do this!” and push through the next year hard and dropped my initial bulk of weight. It was that following year when I decided to do powerlifting.

2018, however, didn’t have that moment. I felt like I was in a bit of a ‘stasis’ of sorts, and muddled through the year. Added some muscle, added back a little fat, and just pushed through.

That’s changed this year. Almost as if on schedule, I’m starting to feel my motivating reinvigorated again. Part of it is me being fed up with my body composition once and for all, and part of it is refocusing my efforts on something new. Certainly hoping I’m not chasing the shiny new thing, but it’s more like revisiting an old friend who helped you out once, and is ready to lend a hand again.

The Plan

The Plan, which I’ve been thinking about for several weeks now, is now being put into place. It’s a multi-phase attack to respawn my workouts and get me moving again.

I’ve decided to refocus my efforts more on functional fitness and athleticism. It’s through these efforts I will be looking to achieve the most impact on my body composition efforts. Between hard HIIT workouts and endurance strength workouts, I should be able to maintain muscle and burn off fat.

The second part of this plan is to reduce the number of “heavy lift” days, but keep them consistent and rolling. This will enable me to maintain muscle mass and strength while continuing to burn off fat.

I’ve built a schedule…

For rest days, I will take them as needed. I’m adopting an “At Play” philosophy, which I am going to post more about soon. Essentially, we play every day and we rest when we need rest. Listen to our bodies, ensure recovery, and work hard to get to goals.

I am setting some specific targets and goals of things I want to achieve as I lean down and build my athleticism. First, I will run an obstacle race; I hate running, but the obstacles are fun. It will probably be more Rugged Maniac and less Spartan race, but I will get buddy and I will be agile through it.

The second is what’s known as the F45 Playoffs. As I looked at this, I decided this was a great thing to work towards. It’s measurable, it’s objective, and it fits right with my goals. What else could an OCD Autistic person ask for?

The test for Playoffs is 10 minutes, 10 exercises. Each exercise is scored, and there is a potential for 1,000 points.

It reminds me of the old “Fitclub” tests I used to take each year at Anytime Fitness, but a LOT harder and more in depth. There are things on this list I simply can’t do today; bench hops are a little difficult for me, and I can’t do a single chin-up at this point. My inabilities is also part of why I love making this a specific target; it’s things I want to do but simply can’t right now. If I can. do this, it’s a huge step towards that athleticism I want to achieve.

Once I’ve gotten more athletic and leaner, I’ll pivot to building more mass and strength. By doing it one step at a time, I can achieve my leanness I need to become more anabolic to work on my long term goals. All will be done while maintaining the athleticism I will be building.

If I want to call myself an “athlete”, I have be a well rounded athlete. I have to be able to achieve things that is currently out of reach. With time, I’ll get there. One step at a time… and four or five burpees at a time.