Monthly Fitness Update (July 2020)

These are the months that I do not like looking back at progress as they highlight the failures I have had throughout my life at maintaining an adequate balance of things in my life. As usual, the place most impacted is my health. With the stay at home orders in place and a busy period beginning, I completely got off my focus for fitness and health this past month. While I was able to maintain my activity and worked out almost daily, the diet was left behind which always outweighs any positives I can do with my fitness.

The struggle began with my quick trip back to the island to spend time with family. Given that we were all staying at our family's home, I was quickly tempted with less than optimal options for my diet. While I held out a day or two, I quickly went on binge of carbs and sweets which I have yet to recover from. It is crazy to see how weeks and months of sacrifice and focus can go completely the other way so quickly. I almost feel the weight already back and hampering my ability to improve my fitness (and health).

As mentioned, workouts continue to be positive for me as I look forward to being active for an hour everyday as it provides an opportunity for reflection and awareness. If I was only focused on my fitness schedule, it would have been a great month as having access to some great outdoor routes back in Puerto Rico motivated me to go longer distances. However, I also came to realize some areas of concern. My pace is definitely not at is best and while my aerobic abilities are in a good spot, I found that my strength was not. Specifically, I am seeing areas of weakness at my core and upper body which has given me more soreness than usual.

I believe that these signals are due to my main focus being around cardio and missing out on strength training. I have lost access to strength training given the lockdowns on most facilities. I had also got rid of some of the weights I had at home when we moved months ago. I tried to get some body weight training but have struggled to remain motivated. Given the continued challenges locally with the health concerns, I do not see a solution short term so will need to reconsider what to do to improve. I do not want to lose the opportunity of improving my fitness given the importance it has to health over the long term.

I have been struggling a bit with Hive account@actifit as the motivation has somewhat come down. I have been given feedback that the posts are not welcomed in parts of the community which was disappointing. However, I have challenged myself to improve the content a bit by formatting it a bit more and adding a daily picture once again. The ability to use my wearable has given me great freedom as of late but have seen less activity from the results for some reason. I also have missed out on activities not related to steps which has reduced my average activity as of late. However, I think things will continue to improve over time as the community continues to develop and engage.
"Knowing is half the battle" is said very often and I think forcing myself to write these posts monthly is a part of my journey to be self aware on how I can improve my fitness and health. I know what I need to do but balancing is difficult with the many challenges we often face. I never give up so I am sure that an inflection point will soon appear to shift my focus once again. In the end, I know how I feel much better when these goals are aligned over the long term!