Totally Out of Shape – Jump from the bottom rock

Dry-summer squirrel

Over the years, my condition has been degrading at an accelerating pace, and the only thing that has kept my physique even at an inadequate level is working. Sports in their various forms have always been close to my heart but because of busy everyday life and various other excuses, I haven’t trained properly for years, except for occasional jogging and weightlifting.

Of course, I have never been a super fit athlete, but my general conditioning has been moderately good when I was in high school but started to drop steadily from there. My external habitus has always resembled a ”dry summer squirrel” more than a bronze sculpture. Now climbing the stairs raises my heart rate and trans-fat-loaded worker lunch up. I think I’m turning into something called “Skinny Fat”. I’m seriously out of shape.

I recently turned 35 and received a bulged lumbar disc and the resulting sciatic nerve pain as a birthday present.

So all the sporting activity over the last eight years has been kind of “pending”. Many times I made the decision to start. I did start, eh, many times. And just as quickly finished. Either to run out of motivation or to get injured. I recently turned 35 and received a bulged lumbar disc and the resulting sciatic nerve pain as a birthday present.

It has been preceded by the birth of four children, the construction of a house, hectic working life, and thousands of smaller reasons to put me in poor physical conditioning. The ”dry summer squirrel” begins to quietly resemble a truffle pig. I have learned that entropy is not on our side.

With bulged lumbar disc, I had time to think and prioritize things. This woke the sleeping athlete in me…

I started systematically studying bodyweight training and rehabilitating my bulged disc. I read hundreds of pages on the subject and became familiar with the world of bodyweight training. I am gaining tremendous knowledge of how to build an exercise program and how to train progressively and above all, sensibly. I began to understand what I wanted to strive for and what my goals were. Still, the four biggest problems by far were definitely:

• How to stay consistent
• Where to find time for training
• How to stay motivated
• Diet

I believe I am not the only parent of young children who have struggled with these issues. It has only been about half a year since I started this journey but I am more than surprised by the results. On both the physical and mental sides. I have been able to make training a part of my life and have overcome 90% of the problems mentioned above. The journey is just beginning, new problems have emerged to overcome and overall much remains to be done, but reconciling family life and personal well-being has come to stay. Still, I haven’t had to sacrifice that time for family time together. In the following posts, I will gradually look at where I have started and where I’m going at the moment.

Though I’m not a trained PT or an athlete with a long sports career, I have succeeded in something which is challenging for many of us average Joes. Nor am I still in excellent shape, but I know the direction is right. Training intensity and volume are in a good balance and the progress has continued steadily after the initial leap.

Whatever the situation in life, the same features of procrastination infiltrate them and can only be affected by certain lifestyle changes. I also realize that I will not be the next Markku Vahtila or Konsta Koivuranta with these years, but damn, I am going to get as close as possible. I have set certain goals, written them down, and decided that on my 40-year-old birthday I will be in the best shape ever!

The main purpose of this blog is to feed the flame of creation within me and to share information with other people on how to start from scratch. The main emphasis in the writings is definitely on bodyweight training but the writings will come from all walks of life. I try to post steadily throughout the year, without taking unnecessary stress on it. If the topic and my writings speak for themselves, I would be taken if you subscribe to the newsletter so you will be notified by email whenever a new post appears.

Out of shapely yours,
Vesa