Back into the swing.

Oh wow how things have changed!

I'm feeling like an absolute mess right now starting back into my GST journey. The mornings up at 4:30am are cold and my muscles are stiff. I've gone back up to my previous weight of 160 lbs from 135 lbs. Absolutely abysmal! I would guess my BF % is around 17% currently. I've sat idle far too long I find I've lost strength, mobility, flexibility... Being fat. Yes I said fat! It sucks!

Doing the new SL/PE1 was tough. My ROM was just dreadful and my knees kept splitting apart. My neck abs and shoulders were sore from the previous day as well.

Guys I really need to know how to better warmup. I'm getting taxed from 5 minutes of Jump Rope! Ugh! I foam roll a bit. I mobilize my joints in multiple ways limbering up as much as I can. I rest about 2 minutes before I start in.

Sorry for the rant guys. It's just hard feeling like you've fallen.

Any key things you could point in my direction or point me to would be amazing. Thanks for being such a supportive community

5 minutes of jump rope is brutal, and it has very little range of motion.  You would probably be better off riding a stationary bike, jogging in place (high knees), and jumping jacks to get warm.  Then do some dynamic stretching: "plow to pancake", side to side squat, seated twists, arm circles, "up dog to child's pose".

I would highly recommend jogging/running as a warmup. It's tough at first if you aren't accustomed to it, and it's possible your workout will be affected somewhat in the beginning.

It won't be long though before the benefits of warming up your body balance out the downside of exhaustion, and as your cardiovascular conditioning (and more importantly, your CV health) improves, the exertion required for the warmup goes down and it's a pleasant activity that leaves the body actually better able to do the day's GST.

It's my opinion that it just doesn't matter how short your efforts are at first. Literally just run around the block at first, to the end of your sidewalk, whatever. As Coach has said, consistency is the constant among many training variables.

Consistently push a bit past your comfort level and before long you'll be well past where you were before got off track. Happy improving and keep us posted!

If I remember, Coach said he likes to keep the weekly volume at about 7 miles, so you might keep that in the back of your mind as a long term goal.

Thanks for the tips guys I'll try to be better at my warm ups and just keep pushing.