It has been a successful few months since my last post. I stuck to my routine diligently for two more cycles, before taking a two-week winter break, and then ramping things up again over another fortnight. After that, I spent four weeks experimenting with adding extra cardio to my pre-break activities. There have not been many milestones, but my fitness has continued to improve at a satisfying pace. Life has been gruelling, challenging, and all that jazz, but no more difficult than anything to date. The practical returns from being constantly exhausted have started to diminish, but I am progressing enough to justify seeing out the year as planned.

To line up the winter break with a physio session, during the first training cycle, I attempted six weeks straight instead of five. On the fourth and fifth week, after realising I would struggle to last the distance, I skipped one main workout and the following day’s recovery workout. I also did this once during the second five weeks, but apart from that, I followed my routine perfectly. I contemplated dropping my upper body workout over winter, but I saw better results from that during the first six weeks than any previous time, and decided it was worth persevering.

During this period, I continued to spend around thirty hours a week focusing on rehab. Monday, Wednesday and Friday remained drawn-out days of strength training, followed by dumbbell-assisted stretching in the evening. On the days after, I continued to focus on more conventional stretching and active recovery on the exercise bike. Sunday remained a sacred day of rest. I still walked 500m in the morning six days a week, but my legs have been too fatigued to set any records recently.

The main change to my routine was the addition of a whole body vibration (WBV) machine. I hoped it would help build muscle in my right leg, where some areas are wasted due to nerve damage. In the second week of the first training cycle, I cautiously started experimenting with it. Holding on to the end of the reformer for balance, I tentatively shifted my weight around, trying to find positions that would make the muscles around my right hip move about the most. First I tried standing on it for a few minutes after my morning limbering session. That made me somewhat wobbly during my walk, the muscles in my right leg were extra sore for the rest of the day, and elevated nerve pain bothered me at night. I was just happy the machine seemed to do something. Next I attempted it at the end of my lower body workout. Although my legs were already fatigued, this did not impact my ability to soak in some vibrations. Since I wanted to be able to enjoy my morning walk with fresh legs, I decided post-workout was the best time to use it.

From there, I used the machine three days a week, gradually increasing the amount of time, and after four weeks, I stood on it for ten minutes at once. I experimented with various positions, usually not holding them for more than a minute at a time. For a couple of weeks, nerve pain remained elevated in the evenings, and one night in bed I was jolted awake by sharp electric shocks in my leg, which had not happened in a long time. Fortunately, after a fortnight, nerve pain returned to normal levels. In the afternoon, my legs remained slightly sorer than previously, but that has no real impact. More recently, I have been using the machine on Saturdays as well.

The machine has not caused any dramatic changes, but I think it has definitely helped. With all the other exercises I am doing, it is hard to say what improvements are vibration-induced, but subjectively, my right side has progressed a bit quicker since I started using it. The machine I have is actually very limited in what it can do. I got it as a cheap way to try out the technology, not fully understanding the nuances of WBV at the time. It helped me decide that WBV is worth pursuing further, but I have already outgrown it.

When I first read about WBV, it was hard to find good information online, as there is a lot of misrepresentation of research by some of the companies selling the machines. I recently found a more reliable source, which made things clearer. It turns out the cheap models, mine included, do not actually vibrate at a high enough frequency to match what was used by researchers to induce muscle growth. They can still be useful for improving balance and some other things, but they probably do not provide the muscle-building stimulus advertised. Now that I have a better understanding of WBV, and am confident it has merits, I will look into acquiring a more capable machine.

Apart from the vibration machine, my lower body routine remained basically the same. I actually decreased the resistance on the reformer for leg presses, and improved my form and the range of motion. On my left leg I went from three green springs and one yellow spring to one green and one yellow, and for my right leg, one green and one blue became one yellow and one blue. With the changes in form, eight repetitions was still challenging.

My upper body workout remained fairly similar to before, but I made a few modifications. They are not all worth mentioning, but the most notable ones follow. I stopped doing bodyweight rows completely, and increased dumbbell rows from 3 sets of 10-15 at 3kg, to 5 sets of 8-10 at 4kg. In the second cycle I upped the weight to 5kg, which meant I could only manage 5 sets of 5. After my break, I tried doing rows with only one arm at once, and realised I should have done them like that from the beginning. I was able to get a fuller range of motion, so I dropped the weight back to 4kg, and did 3 sets of 10 on each arm.

I also started experimenting with some new dumbbell exercises: chest presses (4kg), internal rotations, and external rotations, all one arm at a time. I did the rotations lying on my side on the reformer, initially using a 1kg dumbbell. After a while, I realised this was too heavy, and switched to 0.5kg on both sides. Just before my winter break, I started working on shoulder extension too, and stood when training shoulder abduction instead of lying on my side. All of the new exercises have been useful, and the rotations in particular would have been good to start earlier.

I tried increasing the weight for shrugs, but that was too much, and I actually ended up dropping from 7kg to 5kg dumbbells for a while and focusing on technique. Eventually, I switched back to 7kg. For shoulder presses, I went from 3kg to 4kg dumbbells. After realising I was cheating when doing biceps curls, I dropped them from 7kg to 5kg, then 4kg, and, for my left arm only, 3kg.

Towards the end of the first block of training, I had a free-standing pull-up bar assembled inside. Except for Sundays, I have been hanging from it multiple times a day since then. This is usually just done as a warm-up or a stretch, but three times a week, during my upper body workout, I also do one or two longer hangs until my grip starts to give way. I really should have acquired an indoor bar a year earlier. Previously I only had gymnastics rings, and they are outside, so not as convenient for intermittent use. They also hang somewhat low, whereas the bar is high enough for me fully extend my arms and legs, with my feet only just touching the ground. This position has been great for engaging my lower back muscles while pulling my upper body into better alignment. When my shoulders were in a disastrous state, the rings’ ability to rotate and compensate for poor mobility was a blessing. Now, a stiff bar makes it much easier to analyse and improve the discrepancies between my right and left side.

I continued to do a lot of dumbbell-assisted stretching, although slightly less than during the first four months of the year. Between that, hanging from the pull-up bar, and the new dumbbell exercises, my upper body mobility has continued to improve at a quicker rate than before. As it gets better, however, I keep discovering new ways in which it is deficient. If I keep working at it, I think that will eventually stop happening, but I have no idea how long it will take to reach that point.

In other news, I have significantly reduced my dose of Lyrica. I stopped tapering it when nerve pain increased after using the vibration machine, though. At the start of the year I took 300mg morning and night, and now I take 75mg in the morning and 150mg at night. I was sceptical about being able to discontinue it, but now I am optimistic. Lyrica has certainly been difficult to taper, but since stabilising at a lower dose, nerve pain is overall no more bothersome than it used to be. The occasional shocks I get are sometimes sharper, but their frequency has not increased, and the mild, constant background sensation is usually unchanged. I will not reduce the dose any further this year, but I will attempt to discontinue Lyrica for good once I am less focused on rehab.

My one real practical achievement was successfully navigating a night out in the city. With well-pocketed pants, I can now carry all the supplies I need without a backpack, which enables a sense of freedom I have sorely missed. Just me, my clothes, and nothing external to keep track of. I climbed multiple flights of stairs, handled sizeable stray steps with no railing, stood for long periods, and generally walked about without drawing too much attention to myself. My balance is now good enough that I did all this inebriated without feeling at risk of falling over. My legs were sore and fatigued by the end of the night, but I was quite pleased with their capabilities.

At physio during my winter break I managed 525m in the six-minute walk test. I thought I walked more powerfully than three months earlier, but I only went five metres further. I was surprised by how puffed I was after the test, so I decided to focus on the exercise bike for two weeks before resuming my full routine. Although I have cycled six days a week for most of this year, and logged 1070km to date, I peddled at too leisurely a pace to improve my cardiovascular conditioning. It did not get any worse — by the second week I rode 21.7km in 60 minutes — but my muscles finally caught up so that at physio, when walking as fast as possible, cardio was a limiting factor. Around a year ago, when I last rode for 60 minutes, I only managed 17.9km, so adding nearly 4km to that helped make up for the minimal improvement walking. My legs are certainly a lot more powerful than they were then.

After two weeks of steady-state cardio, I decided to attempt high-intensity interval training (HIIT) each Wednesday for four weeks. By doing this during my lower body workout, and reducing some of the other exercises, I hoped to get most of the previous benefits while also improving my conditioning. On the first Wednesday I was cautious, and just did HIIT and nothing else. That felt good, so the following week I tried most of my usual activities as well. I did HIIT in place of my normal warm-up, then one set for each leg on the reformer, no lunges or squats, and all my other exercises. I got through it all, but was left extremely wiped out that afternoon. I forced myself through my three-hour upper body workout anyway, but such an intense Wednesday felt unsustainable.

I ended up getting sick for the first time this year, so it was an interrupted few weeks of experimentation. I still managed one HIIT session per week, but I had to take it pretty easy otherwise. Given how draining HIIT was, for the rest of the year I will revert to doing the same thing on Wednesday as on Monday and Friday. After that, I think HIIT will work well as a time-efficient way to maintain fitness.

The exact HIIT workout was 20 seconds of max-effort pedalling, followed by 40 seconds spinning slowly to catch my breath. I did ten sets of this, with a relaxed 5 minutes to start and finish. By the fourth week, I could sustain ~80 RPM on level 7 (~30km/h) for most of the intense bursts, starting to fade in the last few seconds of the last few sets. Between them I cruised at 40-45 RPM on level 4. It is hard to remember exactly, but two years ago, when I last focused on HIIT, I think flat-out pedalling meant 55 RPM on level 8. Before my partially dislocated hip was replaced it was impossible to spin any faster, so extra resistance provided the intensity. (I initially tried level 8 this time, but at 80 RPM I could only maintain it for two sets.)

As well as HIIT, when using the bike on the days after my main workouts, I pedalled faster and rode for 30 minutes instead of 20. Previously, I usually spent most of the 20 minutes sitting around 50 RPM on level 4. Increasing the resistance felt like too much, but it seems possible to maintain 60 RPM for most of 30 minutes without impacting my recovery from strength training. I will continue to do that, and maybe even try 45 minutes on Saturdays, since I have Sunday to recuperate. That should be more than enough to maintain the cardio gains made in the last month. I might even attempt HIIT on Saturday once to see how that goes. I originally thought doing HIIT the day after strength training would be too much, but with a complete rest day afterwards it might be possible. Saturday morning is when I am most zombified, though, so it might seem less achievable when the time comes.

My next physio session is in five weeks, and given my renewed focus on cardio, I am hoping 550m will be possible in the six-minute walk test. If I did not have to turn around every 25m, I am sure I could do more. Eventually, when I test myself on a proper path somewhere, at least 600m should be achievable. I intended to test my maximum walking distance after my break, but since this year is all about improving fitness, I decided riding for an hour was a better use of my time. It does seem a bit silly to not have walked over 800m since doing 2.3km back in January, though. Oh well. On fresh legs, I am sure I could easily walk 3km at a much better pace. 5km would probably be achievable, too, but I will cautiously work up to that next year.

This winter was easier than the last, but I still hope the warm weather again brings me some enthusiasm. Although I have seen good results, I am completely fed up with my current lifestyle, and all its side-effects. It will be hard to match the mood elevation from last year, when I stopped taking opioids and walked unaided for the first time, but with the finish line now in sight, excitement might start to stir within. Given the amount of time left in the year, I think it will be best to attempt three more short bursts of training, and then call it a day. Four weeks, rest week, three weeks, rest week, four weeks then the end. Compared to the first half of the year, that seems like a piece of cake, so it should be relatively smooth sailing from here. It might actually be hard to stay motivated, as the difference between continuing and relenting early shrinks, but I will try to last the distance. The hardest parts are well behind me, and I am on the home stretch now.