Day Eighteen- Flips, Fitness & Second Chances: A Middle-Aged Man's Return to Gymnastics
- Jay M. Horne
- Apr 22
- 4 min read
Day 18: Aquatic Adaptation
Eighteen days into this transformation journey, and today brought a shift in training focus with a return to swimming as a primary activity. This kind of strategic rotation helps maintain forward momentum while allowing specific recovery for areas that need it.
The Numbers Check-In
My weight remained stable at 190 pounds for the second consecutive day. After the recent period of steady decline, this stabilization likely represents a temporary plateau – a normal part of any weight loss journey. The overall progress remains impressive at 10 pounds lost from my starting weight.
My 5K time today was 37:02, showing an increase from yesterday's 31:45. However, this comparison isn't particularly meaningful given today's significant training shift toward swimming, which likely impacted my running energy and performance.
Swimming as Cross-Training
Today's standout activity was swimming 600 meters in 25 minutes. Swimming represents an excellent cross-training choice for several reasons:
Full-body engagement – Unlike running, which primarily targets the lower body, swimming engages nearly every major muscle group simultaneously.
Low-impact recovery – The buoyancy of water significantly reduces impact stress on joints and connective tissue, allowing for intense training with minimal mechanical stress.
Respiratory conditioning – The controlled breathing patterns required in swimming develop both lung capacity and breathing efficiency.
Core engagement – Maintaining proper body position in water requires continuous core activation, building the same stabilizing muscles needed for gymnastics.
Upper body development – The resistance of water provides natural strength training for the arms, shoulders, and back – all crucial areas for gymnastics performance.
The 600-meter distance represents a significant increase from my previous swimming session of 300 meters on Day 6. This progression demonstrates improved endurance and comfort in the water, suggesting that the general cardiovascular conditioning from running is transferring effectively to other modalities.
Shoulder Management Continues
The push-up approach continues to reflect strategic management of the shoulder issue. Today I completed 75 push-ups (25+25+25), maintaining the distributed set approach that's been working well. This volume is lower than yesterday's 125 but still represents strong upper body work while allowing appropriate recovery.
The sit-up count isn't specified in today's notes, suggesting either a day of rest for the core or perhaps just a focus on the swimming, which naturally engages the core through rotational movements and stabilization requirements.
Nutrition Approach
Today's nutritional intake maintained the ketogenic approach:
Salad (300 calories)
Egg whites (200 calories)
Pumpkin seeds (250 calories)
Total: 750 calories
This represents a moderate restriction day, continuing the pattern of caloric cycling that's been effective throughout this journey. The focus remains on nutrient-dense, protein-rich foods that support recovery while maintaining the overall caloric deficit needed for continued fat loss.
The Evolution of Recovery
As this journey progresses, the concept of recovery becomes increasingly important. In the early days, the focus was primarily on consistent effort and establishing the habit of daily training. Now, with over two weeks of consistent work accumulated, strategic recovery becomes equally important to continued progress.
Today's emphasis on swimming exemplifies this evolved approach – maintaining training momentum and cardiovascular stimulus while allowing specific recovery for the shoulder. This isn't a reduction in effort but rather an intelligent redistribution of that effort to areas that can productively absorb it.
The shoulder discomfort noted again in today's entry ("Shoulder still hurts") serves as a reminder that healing processes take time. The distributed push-up approach and incorporation of swimming represent adaptations that allow continued progress despite this limitation.
The Mental Game
Eighteen days of consistent training represents a significant achievement in itself. The discipline required to maintain this level of consistency – through physical discomfort, motivational fluctuations, and the inevitable challenges of daily life – builds mental resilience alongside physical capacity.
This mental toughness becomes particularly important during plateaus, where the visible markers of progress may temporarily slow. The ability to trust the process and maintain consistent effort during these periods often determines long-term success.
Looking Forward
As I approach the three-week mark of this journey, the strategy continues to evolve:
Cross-training rotation – Swimming, running, biking, and gymnastics movements provide complementary stimuli while preventing overuse.
Shoulder recovery – Continuing the distributed push-up approach while incorporating upper body activities that don't aggravate the issue.
Nutritional consistency – Maintaining the ketogenic approach with strategic caloric cycling to support both performance and continued fat loss.
Skill development – Building on yesterday's introduction of gymnastics-specific movements with gradually increasing complexity.
Patience with plateaus – Recognizing that weight stabilization is a normal part of the adaptation process, not a failure of the approach.
The journey continues with each day bringing new challenges, adaptations, and small victories that accumulate toward the larger transformation.
Day 18: Aquatic Adaptation
Weight stable at 190 pounds for second consecutive day after recent losses, with 5K time at 37:02 (slower than yesterday, but after significant swimming). Made swimming the primary focus today, doubling my previous distance to 600 meters in 25 minutes—an excellent full-body, low-impact cross-training choice that engages muscles differently while allowing shoulder recovery. Continued the distributed push-up approach with 75 total (25+25+25), strategically reducing volume from yesterday's 125 while still maintaining upper body work. Maintained ketogenic nutrition with just 750 calories from salad, egg whites, and pumpkin seeds. As this journey approaches the three-week mark, recovery becomes as important as consistent effort—today's emphasis on swimming exemplifies this evolved approach, maintaining cardiovascular stimulus while allowing specific recovery for the still-hurting shoulder. Eighteen consecutive days of training represents significant discipline through physical discomfort, motivational fluctuations, and the inevitable challenges of daily life—building mental resilience alongside physical capacity.
A Middle-Aged Man’s Guide to Beginner Gymnastics is awaiting an official announcement, but has a planned latest release date of January 2026.
Jay Horne is the author of the science fiction fantasy realm of Rootworld where magic came before science. His latest works explore the discovery of magic on the Earth when the first witch is born and turns water into wine. Now, both realms are trying to educate and acclimate their students into new subjects.
Jay is the father of four and works as a cardiac monitor tech while he writes. He has a newsletter at substack called Stories that Slap. The only thing he loves more than writing is fooling his children.
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