Well This Is Embarrassing

On February 18th, 2017, I created a post where I identified my goal for a full year. Here I am (nearly) a year later, and I've missed the mark in a bad way.

2017 was not a failure, though. Not by a long shot. I'm frustrated that I didn't stick to my plan for the entire year, but I still made huge strides and accomplished some major personal goals. Unfortunately I wasted the 4th quarter of the year and undid my body composition progress almost entirely.

My 2017 goal was to finish the year somewhere around 15% bodyfat, 160 pounds, and doing consistent weight training. Instead I'm 168 pounds and closer to 20% bodyfat, and not weight training at all. In fact I haven't lifted a barbell in over 200 days. Woops.

The good news is that I crushed my cycling goal for the year. 3050 miles, about half commuting to work and half just recreational rides. That's a huge win for me, because I've discovered I love it and can do it all year long. The calorie burns are great, the fitness is great, and I genuinely have found a hobby I can do for pretty much the rest of my life.

What I learned is that with two 1-year-old girls in my life, I don't have the time and freedom to go lift weights at my very-easy-to-access gym. Not lifting for most of the year while cycling a lot has meant that my fitness has been great, but my muscle mass (particularly upper body) has decreased significantly. I really miss lifting weights! So much so that I started to lose motivation in improving my cycling performance because I was generally unhappy not weight training.

The takeaway from this year is that I need strength training. Cycling alone is great, but not quite enough. I light of that I have started assembling a home gym, and expect to complete it in the next week or two. I will have a full squat rack, Olympic barbell and weights, and a bench. I'm excited to be able to add weight training back into my life!!

2018 goals:

No weight goal. No weight goal!! This is kind of a big deal for me. I've always been a bit too focused on the scale number, to the detriment of composition. This year I really am going to stop worrying about the scale number. Too many times I've told myself I can't really weigh less than 160 pounds. Not any longer. This year it's about the real goal...

Visible abs. Definition. Maybe not resting definition, but they have to show at least when I flex. You can't fake it, you can't trick the eye; you either have them or you don't. I don't care if I have to drop another 20 pounds to have them. Gonna do it.

Cycling 4000 miles. This is a fair jump from my 2017 mileage, but I expect to bike commute with more regularity, which will add up the miles quickly.

Weight training! With my home setup I intend to lift three times per week.

My strength goals:

Bench press 1x my bodyweight for working reps,
Squat 1.5x my bodyweight for reps,
Deadlift 2x my bodyweight for reps.

Overall I'm excited and optimistic for 2018. I've learned more about what keeps me going in fitness and health through the experience of success and failure in 2017. I've made strides in understanding how to achieve the goals I really care about, and moving past my own mental blocks to actually do what's needed to reach those goals.

I will weigh in daily (to assist with accurate calorie counting), take weekly progress photos, and measurements biweekly. I will make a concerted effort to post my progress to actually see the changes and be accountable to them.