one step forward, two steps back

Returning to my regular workout routine has proven to be something of a nightmare. Despite my efforts on the trail to maintain some sort of form and rigor by carrying a resistance band (and door mount) with me, I obviously atrophied during the walk. Resistance bands, even the thickest ones, don't provide any benefits until they're at full extension: for 80-90% of a movement, you (ironically) feel no resistance at all, and there's a good chance that, when the resistance does finally come, it'll be along a plane that's not the desired one. One way to compensate for this is to bring along more than one resistance band, clip them together, and go through your exercises. Another way is to reach the point of real tension in the movement, then hold that position for a few seconds before entering the eccentric phase (where you perform the tension-releasing part of the movement).

Upshot: I'm weaker. So I have to start back, somewhat, on my workout calendar, then work my way forward in the program again. I'm not saying that I'd lost all of my gains on this walk, but I did backslide. I'm still learning how all of this exercise stuff works and is supposed to fit together; there's a lot of contradictory advice out there on YouTube that a guy has to sift through, and I'm only one humble hominid, small of brain.

In other news: doctor's visit today at 1:30 p.m. I'll have him look at my toe and prescribe some meds. I'm also there to have other meds prescribed. When I leave, I'll head over to the bank to wire two thousand dollars in cash to my US account. That'll cover my Stateside expenses for a while. The one really good piece of news, though, is:

This arrived.

Here's to having more power on future walks. Until this one craps out, too.