Today was my first day back at the gym in half a month.  I was back home in frozen PA for several days to visit my family.  I then was in Miami this past weekend for Cindy’s brother’s wedding.

During the time off I did no organized exercise.  Up north I considered staying warm as exercise as the 5 degree temps freezer burned my exposed skin.  I did do a lot of walking around on several days so I was somewhat active.

The cramped plane rides and cold weather did nothing to make my right knee/hip/IT band feel any better.  I was doing a lot of limping around.  A few days after getting back to Florida I developed a pretty nasty cold that I assume started incubating during the trip.  That cold kept me out of work until yesterday and I still am very symptomatic.

Despite still feeling worn out and sniffling I had to get back to the gym today so I could start the long road back just to get back to where I was health/strength/endurance-wise six weeks ago.  I did a very different type of workout where every set of exercise was different, doing movements that hit chest, back, shoulders, triceps, and biceps either two or three times.  In total I think I did 15 different exercises and no, I’m not going to recant them all below.

It also felt good to resume my pre-workout stretching routine which is something I think my body was sorely missing.