Elevating my Exercise Routine and Health goals in 2025 – Q2 &Q3 check-in

I promised you (and more so myself) to do quarterly check-ins. Well, I missed Q2. Did you realize? I wanted to but by end of June I was a bit stuck and things weren’t all so fun. I didnt know what to talk about. It would have been smart to do the check-in but I had no time, no motivation and just didn’t do it. But in order to push myself and elevate my exercise routine for the next six months I better do an update and check-in on my health goals with you.

As a reminder: The main goal is to take part in an arctic expedition next spring. I have booked said expedition in September. The date is March 8 which leaves me with 5 more months of preparation.

How it is going

I upped my game. I am sweating during the work-outs.
This is the short version. Let’s have a closer look.

Last check-in my main exercises had been yoga and weights. That has shifted.
In April I started using ChatGPT as my personal trainer. I wanted to create a Custom GPT but had no time so I ended up an existing GPT. It wasn’t specifically for arctic adventures but I figured I first had to lay some base to actually get fit.

I used that all during April to July. In May I torn a muscle fiber which had me sit out a lot of exercises. I focused a lot on breathing techniques and upper body. Many yoga poses were not possible. By June I realized my GPT is buggy and it was becoming a nusiance. So much so that I didn’t take my exercise routine that serious anymore. I slacked off a bit. Then in July, I was in Warsaw and a few other things happened. And I didn’t really pay much attention to my diet. By August my weight was up, my muscle mass down and overall I wasn’t not happy with the situation. So I finally created my own custom GPT specific to my travel plans.

My exercise routine shifted completely. While I focused on yoga and weights at the beginning of the year I was suddenly thrown into more core work and endurance stuff. At the beginning there was no Yoga included and I missed it.

In August I started my long walks. Meaning every Saturday I would walk one hour along the river, staying in a certain bpm and see how far I make it. And then I would return. It’s been a good indicator of my fitness and showed a major problem.

Every single time for the first six weeks I had a migraine afterwards. (Or I had a mild one that gotten more sever). It was frustrated. So with the help of Chatty I was able to work on my food intake prior during and after the walk. And I have managed to do a few walks without a migraine. I am very glad I discovered this during training and learning how my body needs to be fueled. I don’t remember that ever being an issue but then I may have never been so serious. My active sports career drizzled out when my migraine started showing up.

Another thing I have included is using protein powder. Who is this girl? I always laughed about people doing that but apparently it’s necessary. And it does help me. I have included a lot Skyr and oats and I have discovered almond butter. Overall I am eating so much more. And my cravings for candy has been gone. I can actually eat just a piece of chocolate and not the whole bar. I try to stay of sweets during weekdays and give myself a bit of wiggle room on weekends. For now I am very happy how I can handle it.

Overall I am back on track – according to Chatty this is my Status Quo
(please note I take everything with a grain of salt and only see those things as a rough indicator).

Total Preparation Index: ~72% 🟡
→ Solid base, but limited by sleep/immune stability and load progression in strength.

My biggest issue is my fractured sleep and that I never really get into much needed recovery. Honestly at this point I have almost given up to see any major improvement here. I do basically everything the textbook says and it’s not getting better. Even the APAP is giving me such tiny improvement that I don’t bother wearing it really.

Here are a few quick numbers:

• For Q2 my every daily step is at 6,742 and for Q3 its been 7,600 (my goal is 7,000 daily steps) → putting me into high 90% in Q2 and over 100% in Q3.
• So far I have walked 1,400 km from my set annual goal of at least 1,900 km → putting me at 73,7% percent and I am right on track
• So far I have done 106 yoga sessions (minimum goal was 104 this year) → putting me at 101,9% which is awesome. I have seen great improvement here and it helps me a lot when stressed, sore or if I just need to work of some anxiety or anger.
• So far I have done 91 weight lifting sessions (minimum goal was 52 sessions) → putting me at 175% Need to adapt this goal towards core strength.
• So far my muscle mass has increased by 1% (my goal is 2%) → I am not completely trusting my scale as the numbers recorded are severely volatile but I can see a trend and that is in the right direction. I have not done the professional measuring of my body mass I planned earlier this year.
• My cardio fitness is finally improving and I managed to catapult myself into the average in my age group. Slowly but steadily I am getting there.

What needs to be elevated or changed

My goal during last check-in was to work on my cardio. While it is still rather low I came to understand that I don’t need to have the ability to run quick or do a high intensity workout for an hour. For the arctic adventure it is more important to have the ability to stay consistent over a period of time. For now I am pretty solid here. My plan will be to do more long walks back to back in order to simulate the arctic adventure. With temperatures dropping it will be even more realistic. At this moment I feel this is possible.

However as of right now I have always done my walks with no or very light weight in my backpack. And this is something I need to focus on. I learned that my pulka sledge will have a weight of 25kg. Can I pull 25kg for 6 hours a day on 6 days in a row? Most definitely not and I don’t even want to try right now. So as much as I hate core work this is where my focus needs to be. I have started going grocery shopping and carrying it home (instead of using the bike). I have bought myself a business backpack. We are not talking about heavy weights here but everything is better than nothing.

The weights I am currently using which I have at home are starting to not be heavy enough. I am planning on snatching another set during the Black Friday or Prime Day sales – hoping it will be sufficient. At this point I really don’t want to sign up in a studio. I will need to figure out some sort of way to simulate pulka pulling. I don’t have any tires lying around. I don’t have kids I could pull on a sledge or wagon – not that it sounds fun to be perfectly honest.

Another big issue is my immune stability. I have managed to snatch another cold or virus after being out of the home office for three days. Ever since Covid it seems like I catch everything as soon as I am outside. I hate it. I used to be never sick. I need to find a way to strengthen my immune system. I do NOT want to get sick on the plane to the arctic adventure.

Some thoughts and strategies

As previously mentioned I am pretty confident, that I can manage my preparation without using a real personal trainer. I am sure a professional might be quicker in telling me what needs adapting and it might help in pushing myself more BUT I think it is not necessary.

Some things I have planned to take action in

• I have started using a Vitamin C complex daily. I am sticking to my magnesium which doesn’t help only with migraine but apparently should help with sleep. I will most likely add some vitamin D into the mix. I have always believed that eating healthy will be enough. I guess not.
• I may book a pilates class to push myself into doing more core work.
• I will work on being able to do a push up. Or maybe even hold a plank for a minute.
• I will incorporate longer bike rides around the neighborhood. Maybe go to the drugstore 7km away and not the one 4km. You know.
• I will carry home groceries from distances that I previously consider too long and things too heavy. Use every opportunity to get fitter.
• I pledge to use the stairs and not the escalator.
• I will warm up for every training by jump roping 1 min.
• I will do a long walk every week with minimum 10km.
• I will take the APAP serious again and see if I can improve sleep. Working less would also help.

As mentioned in my previous check-in I am planning to get my flue shot and also a Covid one if they give it to me. Everything to steer clear of any infection that could take me down before the trip. I have also tried to incorporate cold showers but fell of the bandwagon a little. It is easy during summer after a tough exercise – not so fun in fall/winter when you are freezing getting into the shower. I have prompted ChatGPT to give me a daily tip on how to stabilize my immune system. Let’s see how adaptable that is. Also regular sauna would be nice – but pricy.

I am still struggling with time management to be honest. All this exercising takes up a lot of time. I am okays to sacrifice some reading time but I am also sacrificing paid work time and that puts me into some stress and overwhelming to do lists. I have not yet found a real solution but I am trying with using an app religiously and it might help a bit. But overall it is a big commitment.

How do you manage to have a strong immune system? How is your fitness journey going? What do you do for core training? Do you struggle with migraine (or any other disease) and exercise? How are your health goals overall?