Starting July 4th.

As a preface to this post, I have to say that I do believe strongly in rest. I believe that the human body needs to recover, rebuild, regenerate from workouts and stresses.

With that said, I will also say that if I had to choose between working out 50 days in a row, or *not* working out 50 days in a row, I would choose the former.

In 2009, I had a stretch of workouts that numbered 50 days in a row. I set a goal that in 2010 I would surpass this number. A couple days ago I broke my personal record. The last day I took off was July 3rd, which puts me well past 50 consecutive days of working out after my workout today. I'm still going strong. :)

Here were/are my rules.

1) It only counted as a workout if I was at the gym for at least 45minutes, from when I started my warm-up cardio, to when I finished [travel time, checking in, etc did not count - had to be 45min of working out]. Most of my workouts were longer than this, vast majority longer than 1hr, and some as long as 2hrs or so. But I had a couple really busy times that only allowed 45min.

2) Two workouts in a day did not count towards another day. I had a number of two-for's. :)

3) The workout had to occur on the calendar day itself - so a 1AM workout would not count towards the previous day.

Here are some notes:

I usually rotated through lifting different muscle groups over 5-6 days. When worn out or exhausted, I would do a day of cardio/abs or circuit training, hitting different muscle groups on the same day.

I did not have any major injuries. I did notice a few days of fatigue or aching. In my case these days could usually be remedied with more cardio and lightening up on weights for a day. Occasionally I would have a workout partner, though most workouts were solo. I also incorporated basketball into my weeks, usually Wednesdays, and this was usually a second workout of that day.

I cannot say that my diet was perfect, though it was well regulated. The second month has been better than the first diet-wise. In addition, I had no alcohol during the entire time [the potential subject of a future post]. I have lost 6lbs, which occurred in the second month also. My strength is probably close to the best it's been, and I have made some minor to modest gains, though my goal has not been to increase my lifting weight significantly.

I am perhaps in the best shape of my life today. I am beginning to adhere to the theory that rest days should not be days of inactivity. Instead, having days that are lighter or give specific muscle groups a rest should be incorporated. It may not be necessary to rest at the expense of working out, is what I'm saying.

It has also made me interested in other forms of working out that I do not utilize, but that I see others use with success - such as plyometrics, rotating in various sports, and what has been referred to as "muscle confusion." Working out every day may make these activities possible, or more beneficial. If I start using any other methods of working out, I will report here.

Have a great weekend..

-cb