Starting Shape
I am not in great shape at all ... in fact, I am downright grateful just to be alive AT ALL. When the doctors gave up on me a few years and asked the priest to give me last rights, I was resigned to the fact that I would die within a few hours ... when I didn't die, I guessed there was some sort of reason that I'd been kept alive [and there was] but I didn't count on a relapse ... dealing with a serious recurrent health issue gives one a kind of humility and faith that you can't understand until you've been through it.Oddly enough, I am grateful for poor health because it has changed my perspective on what matters most in life -- frankly, I see very few people with my perspective except for people who also believe that they have only months left to live and every second of extra life is an incredible bonus. Now after recovering from the relapse, I ecstatic at finally being able to spend most of day out of bed ... it's great to be able do really simple things again like putting on my shirt or walking around the house.
Before I started this, I'd already come a long way ... there might be people in who started in worse shape than I was in last May, but probably not that many ... and I still have a long ways to go. I am fifty-three and I am almost getting to the place that might be typical for out-of-shape fifty-three-year old [who hasn't had dealt with a life-threatening illness] so there's a bit of headwind that all men in their fifties face in terms of regaining strength, endurance, muscle mass. I know that the climb will not be easy, but it's an incredible luxury and gift from God to be able to even think about rebuilding my strength and endurance -- I am blessed to be alive; I take nothing for granted!
My Ninety Day Goal
I has taken a little while for me to think about long term scenarios for personal planning ... like ninety days out. It wasn't that long ago that the old joke about not buying green bananas because I didn't know whether I'd get to use was actually a pretty decent description of how I perceived my future. But I am starting to get an idea of what I'd really like to do again ... it involves like being able to carry a 65 lb pack for a 16 mile hike over rough terrain ... basically, being able to do that would give me the level of endurance, strength, conditioning, balance and flexibility I need to do lots of different physical project that I want to do ... before I get to that point, it might be more practical for me to think about something like carrying a 25 lb pack for a 6 mile hike ... but my 90 day goal is carrying 65 lb pack for a 16 mile hike -- I'm not yet really sure if that is a realistic goal at all, but that's what I'm aiming for.Priority of Fitness Objectives
The fundamental thing that I need to do is build endurance and to condition all kinds of different muscles. I also need to work on balance and flexibility -- strength and physical appearance have absolutely no importance to me right now ... other than what is necessary to hump a 65-lb pack over rough terrain.I have several injuries that I need to contend with ... ONE really bad shoulder and two shaky knees ... I am not at all interested in strengthening or rehabbing these injuries -- I been through that already, I can use my head and adapt to what function I have ...
The fundamental priority is cardiovascular conditioning, the second priority is flexibility, the third priority is balance ... AFTER I have conditioning and flexibility and balance, I will worry about strength but not until I have sufficient conditioning, flexibility and balance.
Nutrition
My diet must support my fundamental objectives of build endurance and to condition and tone all kinds of different muscles. The problem is that I have almost ZERO knowledge of nutrition for good fitness ...I arrogantly always thought that I knew enough, but I didn't ... not even close! I imagined that it was as simple as eating lots of leafy green vegetables, avoid fat as much as possible, keep portion sizes small ... and I didn't even really bother eating that way, but I thought that I should. So I never really thought about what I was eating at all ... I steered clear of most junk food and most fast food [including pizza] but otherwise, I basically ate what I wanted to ... I've eaten a LOT of stuff from vending machines over the years because I NEVER, NEVER, NEVER took time for a regular meal of breakfast, lunch or dinner except if it involved eating with clients, vendors or colleagues for some business purpose or special occasion ... I think this sort of mindless eating is typical of most American knowledge worker and project managers who imagine that eating healthy is a matter of trying to eat whole grains, lots of stuff from the garden and avoiding junk food, fast food and food from vending machines ... but the pressures of work vs available time almost rule out eating smart.
I recognize now that I really do need to THINK about my diet and about what practical steps that I can take to make my diet more optimal ... changing my diet, nutrition, cooking habits might be even tougher than changing my approach to physical conditioning, flexibility and balance ... it will certainly be more time consuming and involve more mental effort and forethought.
