Regression

Regression is a difficult thing. Forgetting the fact that you have to re-do part of your training, thus wasting your time, it's simply one of the most disheartening things.

It's basically caused by de-training. My understanding is that if you're weight training, your body adapts to the weights you're putting on it. Those adaptations start to reduce after only two weeks out. Obviously, this is really bad news for those who do a 6-week program, then go out for a kebab every night for a month, and expect to be able to do what they could.

But worse than that, it's a real problem for people who're prone to injury. Injuries take a long time to heal. Many people look to get their fix in, working around the injury, but this obviously carries risks.

I have been out of the weights game for a long time, long enough for any physical benefit I got from it to have long gone. Similarly, I've not taught pole exercise, or a strength session at pole exercise for over a year. I stopped due to a back injury some time ago now. This has long since passed, but I just can't seem to get back on the horse with pole.

Luckily, I've been doing jitsu, but my surprising lack of strength and endurance has taken me by surprise. I thought I'd last longer and be better able to win groundwork by pure strength. I thought I'd be better able to cope with the warm up and strength in jitsu, but I lagged behind my colleagues. I thought that picking myself up off the floor for two hours would be fine, and I'm only just able to start keeping up with them, really.

The truth is that my back healed quite a long time ago now, and that I should not have hesitated at getting back into calisthenics. They are so good, especially when done well. A pull-up bar, and a sturdy chair (or a wobbly chair and a kind partner) are all you really need to get started.

I regret not getting back sooner, and I'm not really sure if I'll ever go back to pole. I keep telling myself that I'll go along to a few Sunday sessions, maybe take a few of the strength class parts, the usual, but I've yet to do it. My schedule is so hectic, with 2 weekday evening jitsu classes, and one on Saturday, combined with seeing family that live over an hour's drive away on weekends, jitsu having regional training, nationals, pre-grading and grading on weekends too, I just don't have the time.

But that's not to say that I can't set aside some time during the weeknights to follow the fitloop.co routine every other weekday night. It should help me gain weight, as it'll give my body something to do with all the damn milk, and hopefully, I'll be more resilient to injury in the future!