Crunch: Weights, Swimming, & Recovery

I went into the Crunch gym in Stratford last weekend, and the guys at the front desk kind of gave me a hard time.  "Hey, we haven't seen you in here this year."

It's true.  Time really got away from me in the later part of the year.  With that, I leaned into the pool more than the weight room, and I swam okay, but that's about all I could say for myself.  I'm still battling a little hamstring pull, and that makes running tough, and between rain days and Christmas vacation, I wasn't even bike commuting over-much.  For several weeks, it was pretty much just swim-or-bust.

I finally got back into the weight room on Sunday, January 8th.  I kept it simple, but at least I went.  I then had class Tuesday night, and we shot the AFF podcast Wednesday, but with Sally's encouragement I went back to the gym Thursday, doing a slightly longer back/biceps workout.  I did a long set of pull-downs, some bent-over rows, and a few sets to work my core and lower back.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving has become one of my favorite days of the year.  There aren't any presents to worry about, lots of football is on TV, and we have abundant friends to keep us in good cheer.  It's great!  This year, we're headed over to our friends Bruce and Tammy's house.  I don't even have to grill the turkey because Bruce is doing it.

I'm getting over!

Crunch: Entry-Level Weight-Lifting Concepts (Part 1)

Talking to my buddy the other day, I mentioned that I’d started taking my daughters to the gym again recently, and he got surprisingly interested.  He and his son met us on Tuesday, and when I showed him what we were doing, he said, “Oh wow.  You have, like, a plan and everything.  I always just come here and do maybe half an hour on the treadmill and then hit some of the machines.  I’ve never, like, tried to hit multiple muscle groups on purpose or anything.”

His son followed up with, “I always just do five sets on the leg-press machine and a bunch of arms.  This is cool.”

Crunch: Looking Forward to the Next Thing

If you’ve been following this blog, you will already know that I’m swimming across Long Island Sound with a few friends on August 4th.  Before you ask, yes, we could still use your support.  We’re a little more than $2K away from our fundraising goal with less than a month to go.  A few good-sized donations could put us over the top.  That would be very nice.

Crunch: Knowing When to Get Help

I had a physical a few years ago during which the doctor said, “You have to be careful when you train.  You know, you’re not Lance Armstrong.”

“Yeah,” I replied, “but I can train as hard as he does… at my level, anyway.”

Crunch: Holding On Tightly

I’ve been back in the weight room for a few months, back in the water for a few weeks, and running regularly for just over a fortnight.  I finally feel good.  I don’t feel quite like myself in the water just yet, but I feel better than I did.  And I caught myself having fun on the treadmill yesterday, so much so that I started doing tempo intervals at a 7:30/mile pace.  That’s not too bad.  I feel like I’m finally getting there.

But man, it also feels like it’s been a hard road back.

Crunch: Too Much, Too Soon

You may remember me talking a bit about executing a “kamikaze fitness attack” for my buddy’s APFT last time out.  It probably sounded like at least half of a dumb idea, am I right?

Yeah.  It kinda was.

It’s been a humbling week, honestly.  If my mother was still alive, she’d be delighted.

Crunch: Managing Weight Gain

I got into the gym a few months ago mostly because I needed a break from the pool.  I like swimming, and I will probably always feel more graceful in the water than I do on land, but it can be a grind.  Even if you’re swimming just two to three times per week, it can be mentally and emotionally exhausting trying to stay focused.  It’s not like there’s a lot of scenery.  You’ve got the little black line and whatever songs you can play back in your head.

Crunch: Hitting Our First Milestone

I was on the train home from work last Thursday night when my daughter texted me.

Thursday's texts

This was something of a milestone.  It was the first time that Hannah had ever pushed me to go to the gym.  After weeks of my pushing her, it seemed that we’d finally started a self-sustaining reaction.  She wanted to be there.  She actually wanted to get stronger.

Crunch: New Year’s Resolutionaries

Hannah and I went to the gym together this week—for the first time in a very long time.  I’ve been trying to get her to go with me for the past several months now, and I’m glad that she finally agreed.  Spoiler alert: my eldest could use a little more exercise.  She does gymnastics once per week, and she does basic calisthenic conditioning a little more often, but her routine is not quite a lifestyle.  It’s fine as far as it goes, but it’s not necessarily enough to ensure her long term health, nor is she consistently building the habits that will make her a lifelong athlete as an adult.  Her timing was extremely fortuitous.  Crunch has been running a deal for high schoolers ($100 for a year with student ID), and this month in particular, the sign-up fee is just $1—not just for high schoolers, but for everyone.

That is awesome.

Blog in Review: Top Posts of 2017

New Year’s Eve is a time for goal-setting and reflection.  As we’ve done for the past few years, let’s take a moment to look back on the year that was before moving on to something new.

2017 was a successful year on the blog, especially once I started going through the numbers.  This past year didn’t have any super-hits on the scale of 2015’s “The Mystery of Malvern Manor,” but readership was up, often by 50% or more.  Most posts got at least 100 readers and many did considerably better than that.  200 reader posts were once a rarity; now I see them at least once per week.

Crunch: Journey before Destination

I read Oathbringer last week, the third book in Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archives.  Though a best-selling author in his own right, Sanderson is most famous for finishing Robert Jordan’s magnum opus The Wheel of Time.  But where Wheel of Time is concerned mostly with destiny and the cyclical nature of historical events,Stormlight Archives anchors itself in individual growth.  To this end, its heroes, the so-called Knights Radiant, have a saying by which they summon their godlike magical powers:

“Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination.”

Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson.

Every time I read this, I am reminded of the sport of triathlon.

Crunch: The Hardest Part

The hardest part, to me, is just getting out the door.  Whatever I’m doing, be it swimming, running, lifting weights, or something else, if I can get all the way out my front door, I’m usually good to go.

It was not this hard growing up.  Even when I had to get up at four-thirty in the morning to be on the pool deck by five, working out didn’t typically feel like a struggle, exactly.  It was more like a gut-check.

Crunch: Back in the Gym

I’m back in the gym after much wailing and gnashing of teeth.  

And actually, yeah, it’s been really great.

Lat pull-downs at Crunch Fitness in Stratford, CT.