Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke
My Adaptive Bicep Curl Progress
Two years in, and my arms are finally starting to cooperate. After four months of sticking to my new bicep curl strategy, I hit a milestone this week: I added five pounds to my previous session’s weight. Five pounds! It may not sound like much, but when you’ve been coaxing your body along the long road of adaptive training, those five pounds feel like a standing ovation.
My Exercise Routine
Here’s the thing about my exercise routine: I don’t work every muscle group every day. Instead, I’ve assigned specific body parts to specific days, a little scheduling system that keeps me on track without overwhelming my system. For resistance training in particular, consistency is the magic word. Show up, do the work, repeat. The gains come (eventually, grudgingly, like a cat that finally decides your lap is acceptable).
Now, the catch, and there’s always a catch, is that my body doesn’t process protein the way a typical healthy adult can. So I have to be extra tuned in to how I’m feeling during every session. I fatigue more easily, my muscles recover more slowly, and some days, after a particularly active stretch, I arrive at my workout already running on fumes. On those days, improving my numbers is simply off the table.
I’d actually tried bumping up this weight a couple of times before and had to dial it back both times. So I won’t be celebrating too hard just yet. Instead, it’ll be a few more weeks before I know if this heavier weight is going to stick. But the new approach seems to be working: slower progress, maybe, but more consistent. And consistent beats heroic every time.
One small bonus this week
It’s a skip week for kombucha bottling. No tea brewing, no bottle rinsing, no navigating a kitchen that smells like a fermentation lab. Given that I’ve got two lab and doctor appointments on the calendar today, the lighter chore list is a genuine gift. I still have nearly three hours before my first appointment, and I plan to use every one of them wrapping up my exercise and stretching routine, unbothered, unhurried, and hopefully a little stronger than last week.
Until next time, keep showing up, even (especially) when the weights are heavy, and the protein is sparse.