The past month has been one of rest and recovery: it takes the body some time to adjust to eating again after six months of being deprived. The digestive system has got to come back online, and the body has to rebuild its stores of glycogen and whatnot. There is inevitably some significant weight gain--it's unavoidable--but most of it is just muscles being replenished and re-bulked. So after a month of resting and eating--clean, healthy food, but as much of it as I wanted (with the exception of one night I allowed myself for eating pizza, donuts, gummi bears, and chocolate. And beer!), I'm at 212 and 21% bodyfat. That means that out of 23 pounds re-gained I've only put on 3% bf, or about 6 pounds, which really is not bad at all; like I said, it's just unavoidable, because when you end a fast your body goes into hardcore, overtime fat-storage mode. It's a survival mechanism.
So, now for the final phase of my fitness quest: tightening and toning. I've decided not to go back to the gym for now, and leave weights alone completely--I really don't need to add any more bulk; if my arms get much bigger, I'm going to have to get my shirts tailor-made. Instead, I'm going to focus on functional strength and overall athleticism, doing bodyweight exercises and concentrating on good form. My current workout is:
3x/week:
3 sets of 10 good morning squats; an exercise of my own creation, which combines a prison squat with a good-morning to work the lower back.
3 sets of 10 perfect pushups; no fudging, body plank-stiff, chest all the way to the floor.
3 sets of 10 incline pullups. I'm not quite where I can do that many regular pullups yet.
3 sets of 10 burpees. Hoorah! Burpees are the the exercise that makes you feel like you're exercising.
3 sets of 20 situps. Again, no fudging: no rocking or bouncing, except maybe at the very end to get a little beyond muscle failure.
Full-body stretching. Few things feel as good as a really good, long, slow stretch after a hard workout. And with all my injuries, it's a necessity.
2x/week
A hike on the Appalachian Trail, with a light day-pack (and a high-tech knee brace). Up the mountain, rest, and back down, about 3 miles.
Diet: about 2,000 calories/day of good, clean, healthy food. Chicken, eggs, tuna, fresh vegetables & fruit, Ezekiel bread, olive oil. My biggest challenge these days is actually limiting my fruit intake: I LOVE fruit now. It's fun to have a pizza and candy night now and then, but I really don't even crave that stuff anymore. I'll save it for holidays and special occasions.
The final goal is to get back down to about 189, but with more muscle mass; at somewhere between 10 and 12% bodyfat. Which looks like this:
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