Saturday, December 24, 2022

Top Four Things I Learned About Fitness Over the Past Year (Rowing Example 2023)

I'm an active type person and do lots of things for recreation, sport and even sometimes compete in various activities. Reflecting back over the past year and some of the fitness mini experiments on myself to see what works and what doesn't work to improve fitness (In this context, it just means trying new things and taking notice of changesColloquial language). Four things I found interesting over the past year are listed below.

Earned a fitness trainers license and have some experience in general fitness activities (I have been on different teams throughout my life from sailing to chess). While that is perfectly good knowledge for me, it may not be precisely the right knowledge for you! The only way to know with reasonable assurances is to talk to your doctor and make sure you are ready for physical stress. Because I regularly try and push the limits and in turn I must monitor my general health and have regular check ups. 

Four Things I Learned

1. Consistency. Keeping at it with a schedule and not allowing others to derail.

2. Food Quality. Higher protein, complex carbs, and good fats. 

3. Loading Properly. Ensuring you are burning yourself into fatigue.

4. Imagery. Know what your trying to accomplish and have an image of it.

(Over the past year+ I have been getting into rowing. About 5 years ago I started rowing and then sort of dropped out as other interests took precedence. Anyway, over the past year I have found out that it is a great sport for fitness and when you get into it there are other life benefits. My goal over 2023 is to move from being sort of on the cusp of lower level of a rowing team/group to somewhere in the middle. Then I will have to decide what goals to add after that {Its about options in most things.}. 

If you don't know me very well you will come to find that my life is a series of goals and efforts to accomplish those goals. I can barely see where I started anymore. For the most part the important ones have been accomplished and those that started out with hopes but lost precedence sort of fizzled in the practicalities of life (i.e Everest)

In order for me to achieve my goals I will need to condition more on the muscles and activities that specifically apply to rowing {or any other activity). Each sport has their own fitness requirements and the process of engaging in multiple sports until I get pretty good before exploring new sports has some general fitness advantages. Yet each sport requires a period of adaptation to proficiency that leads to multiskills which further create complex fitness {i.e. I'm not saying its all that! I'm just saying variety, especially variety to proficiency, leads to new self mastery paths. Skills and abilities are additive.}  

I like to set and work with concrete goals so mine is to drop 30+ seconds for the 500 meter this year. I'm good enough to row in a fairly seasoned group/team, but am on the lower end of the pack. {Yaaa sad I know. 😢} I don't blame myself because as my sport specific body mechanics become more finely tuned, pace becomes consistent, muscle memory grows, and specific fitness requirements adjust, those 30 seconds will drop quickly. It must be the way I, we, us learn or something. Beyond that, it would be slow time shaving. Its kind of like dropping 10 lbs when you first start dieting and then find out the rest of the pounds are much harder.)

You may be interested in this motivating video....

(Your probably thinking I'm going to add more videos on rowing and yes that among many other videos from other stuff I'm interested in because I find them motivating. However, I think you might sort of see a general blog demographic forming based on shared interests, likes, knowledge sets and lifestyle. If your going to write about something you might want to make sure it does general good for society and that it is stuff that interests you!)

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