What's next? 2: Get strong again

I'm not someone who has ever (ever) had a weight problem. One of the "lucky" ones eh.
I've been basically the same weight since I was 17. That's literally half a lifetime ago.

Many many years ago, I joined a gym. That's when I was living in the shire. The Sutherland rec centre became my favourite place in the world. At pretty much any time of the day or night, you could get a class, in whatever you wanted. I'd swim, I'd pump class, I'd free weight, I'd circuit. I loved the circuit classes. The more I did, the fitter I got and the more I loved it.

I recall driving home after one class. I'd picked up breakfast from the bakery on the way. (Yes breakfast. I'd done a 6am circuit on a Sunday morning). I got out of the car and I just felt great. I felt that my body was singing, I felt so alive. This was the fittest I'd been in my life and I felt 10 feet tall.

Unfortunately, I hurt my back doing some squats, gave it up for a while to rest. Then I moved away from the Shire. So sad....

Anyway, years later I joined another gym. It was hard to compare to Sutherland, but it was ok. I decided that this time, I wanted to get strong. I'd been fit before, but I guess I always considered myself as still a bit lean. So strength training was the plan this time. I got a training plan and worked out. It was hard! But I persisted. And persisted. An hour and a half to two hours a day, four to five days a week. "Leg day" was hell. For the first month or so, I hated it. But then once again, like in the circuits-of-Sutherland, I started to love it. I actually felt a bit lost if I missed a normal training day. I began to eat more, and eat more often. I was getting stronger, bigger, sharper.

This went on for about 18 months. In all that time, I'd almost doubled my bench strength, and similar amounts in arms, shoulders and back areas. Not so much improvement in legs, but hey, I could still do 300kg incline leg press. Must have been from all those years in high school playing basketball. But I digress.... When I started working out I was only able to do ten push-ups. By the end, I was doing a hundred.

But get this.... my weight was only 4-5kg more than when I'd started. And no, my body fat had not decreased, it was 12% when I'd started and it was still at 12%. All this extra strength meant a bit of extra size and not much extra weight. I felt like I was on a plateau. I did not want to go the extra mile and I eased off and eventually gave it away.

Since then, I've gone through phases and have even bought myself a home gym and all the bits that go along with it. I've run the city-to-surf and bought a bike. I've always thought that I'd be able to pick up from where I'd left off pretty quickly - if I wanted to. In the past year, I've lost weight without trying. About 3 kg. Without wanting to in fact. I'm now lighter than I was when I was 17. I don't like that too much, especially since I don't feel too fit. I mean, I can jump on my bike and ride 40km on a Sunday morning (like last weekend), but I just don't feel fit like I want to. And definitely I don't feel so strong anymore. And I miss feeling good about me in that way. So it's time.

The plan is this. Twice a week for the next month, so some really light weight sessions, to get the kinks out. Just 20-30 minutes a time. And ride once a week, just 10km or so. Then, the month after, ramp up the weights to full hour and about 80%. Then if everything is still moving freely, start a full weights and cardio program again - push myself for two months to get the groove back. I figure that by then, I'll be craving it again. And it will be good.