The chapters of my training journey over the past decade can be categorised like Taylor Swift-esque eras. There was the period during which I Irish danced in hours-long classes four times per week; the HIIT phase, where I scowled through seemingly endless sets of burpees; there was the summer I got super into skipping; and the time I made learning to do unassisted chin-ups my entire personality (I succeeded, and then Covid removed both my access to a pull-up bar and my motivation to maintain the skill). As for right now, I’d say I’m in my rediscovery era.
In the years since the pandemic upended our lives, I’ve really struggled to settle into a routine. I’ve moved homes four times, meanwhile my work has become evermore consuming – both in time and energy. I’ve joined and then abandoned three fitness facilities, picked up and then discarded various activities, downloaded and later deleted countless exercise apps. I was desperate to fall back into my former training routine, forgetting that those habits – the frictionless gym workouts, post-session mobility wiggles and daily step counts – were the result of years spent consistently showing up in small ways, constantly tweaking to craft a system that suited me at that time. If I wanted any semblance of structure again, I was going to have to adjust my expectations and start afresh with my new circumstances in mind. This began with the reworking of my home workouts, and the inclusion of an exercise I consider to be massively underrated: step downs.
