6 Month Exercise Progress Before & After - Staying Committed To The Goal

This post is a week late because I resent selfies and this is the epitome of agony for me. I almost didn't, but decided to remain accountable and post my ~6 month mark update after starting to go to the gym again after a 714 day drought.

While I've made some decent muscle gains, I'm actually 6-7 pounds lighter in the current shot below versus Jan 1.

My starting point with an injured left shoulder. Sayonara twerp...

Pics taken in my premier bathroom mirror photo studio, accentuated by what could very well be the world's worst tile color.

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I know that I'm not flashing washboard abs, and that's ok with me.

I play baseball and like to stay around 200 pounds to maintain my power. My core is very strong for my rotational sport, and that's all that matters for now. With a little focus, I could burn fat for cosmetic reasons, but I'm not concerned.

I was about 210 pounds two months ago in growth mode, eating what I wanted, but got down to 198 as of last week. That's some good progress. I did this because I wanted to get faster on the bases.

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Overall, I'll grade my score as a B. I could've done a lot more, but I did stay fairly consistent.

Of all months, I'd say that I was the least productive in April, and the most active in January.

I overcame two lower back pulls (a hard baseball check swing and a stupid Cross-fit exercise experiment gone wrong) that had me out of commission for a week each. Right now, I'm strong and efficient at the gym, dodging vain/trendy millennials admiring themselves in the mirror with ease. Clothes fit well and I look and feel much younger. I'm confident in the gym now, when I certainly wasn't for a while because I wasn't lifting the weights I used to.

I hate cardio. I rarely do it and never run. However, I do walk a lot and do some short bursts of aerobic activity at the gym. I usually have to trick myself to do cardio, but know I'd trim up right away if I put just a little more effort into it.

That's my next mental hurdle to overcome. I'd like to maintain 198-200 pounds and get leaner. I've adjusted my eating habits quite a bit in the last 2 months to aid with this, and am fairly confident that another 2 months of the same will pay off with less body fat. As long as I can replace that with more muscle, I'll be happy.

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I've seen outstanding improvement in my baseball stats, bat speed, and power. Informally, I'm definitely in the top 10 offensive players in the entire league right now.

The biggest difference between this year and previous years is that I've forced myself to continue lifting during the days between my games. In the past, I'd usually recover for a day and then skip the gym to make sure I didn't get sore, tight or inflexible for pitching. I've pushed myself to overcome that mental block, and while not perfect, exercise often enough between games to continue developing.

With about 2 more months of baseball to go (including playoffs & All-Star game), I'll be primed for more focus in the gym in the Fall. I'm mostly trying to maintain right now until I don't have to be concerned with keeping myself fresh to be my best on the field.

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I hope that someone somewhere can get a little motivation from this. I know that posting something like this gets me fired up to improve now that I'm exposed here.

*I'd also like to point out that I've never taken any supplements or shortcuts outside of an occasional protein bar. Everything is natural, and that's why my results are not fitness magazine level as some may expect. I don't believe in anything that makes my body do things that it couldn't do naturally. I don't even have coffee or caffeine, so every rep I do is because of my inner drive and natural capability. I take great pride in that.

P.S. - You are what you eat.

Thanks for reading,
@steemmatt