Day Twenty-Three- Flips, Fitness & Second Chances: A Middle-Aged Man's Return to Gymnastics
- Jay M. Horne
- May 7
- 4 min read
Day 23: Breakthrough Performance
Twenty-three days into this transformation journey, and today brought significant breakthroughs in multiple areas – demonstrating that the consistent foundation established over the past three weeks is yielding impressive results as we move into Phase Two.
The Numbers Tell a Story
My weight showed a slight decrease to 187 pounds, down 1 pound from yesterday and 13 pounds below my starting weight. While the pace of weight loss has naturally slowed from the initial rapid drop, the continuing downward trend confirms that the approach remains effective.
Today's 5K time was 31:00 – a new personal best for this transformation journey and 2 minutes faster than my starting time on Day 1 (33:00). This represents a significant performance breakthrough, especially considering it comes after weeks of training that have included strength work, swimming, and various other physical challenges.
Swimming Progression
Perhaps the most dramatic breakthrough came in swimming, where I completed 1000 meters – a substantial increase from the previous 600 meters on Day 22. This 67% increase in swimming distance represents remarkable progress in cardiovascular endurance and swimming-specific capacity.
The progression from initial swimming sessions to today's achievement demonstrates several important principles of athletic development:
Cross-modal transfer – Cardiovascular improvements from running translate to swimming capacity
Skill efficiency – Technical improvements reduce energy cost, enabling greater distances
Metabolic adaptation – Enhanced fat utilization provides more sustainable energy
Consistent progression – Regular practice leads to predictable improvement over time
This swimming breakthrough is particularly significant because it demonstrates improvement across multiple fitness domains simultaneously – not just the isolated running or strength metrics.
Strength Consistency
Today's resistance training maintained the established patterns:
100 push-ups (unspecified set distribution)
120 sit-ups (unspecified set distribution)
These consistent volumes suggest that the foundation of upper body and core strength is being effectively maintained even as swimming and running performances are improving. This balanced development across multiple fitness modalities is a hallmark of effective training design.
Nutritional Strategy
Today's nutrition represented a reduction in caloric intake:
Atkins protein shake (100 calories)
Steak & broccoli (700 calories)
Total: 800 calories
This moderate reduction from recent days (which were around 950 calories) may be a strategic adjustment to continue progress as metabolism adapts. The focus remains on quality protein (steak, Atkins shake) alongside nutrient-dense vegetables (broccoli), maintaining the ketogenic approach that has been effective throughout.
Phase Two Progression
Today's results validate the Phase Two approach introduced yesterday – demonstrating that the more strategic and nuanced training design is yielding immediate performance benefits. Several key elements of this approach are proving successful:
Strategic exercise rotation – The alternation of swimming and running, with distributed strength work, appears to be providing optimal stimulus without excessive fatigue.
Performance focus beyond weight – While weight loss continues, the improvements in swimming distance and running speed represent more meaningful functional capabilities.
Nutritional cycling – The moderate reduction in calories following several consistent days may be providing a novel stimulus that supports continued progress.
Balanced development – Improvements across multiple fitness domains simultaneously indicate a well-designed overall approach.
Reflecting on Progress
Looking back at where this journey began just over three weeks ago, today's achievements are particularly meaningful:
Starting 5K time: 33:00 → Current: 31:00 (6% improvement)
Starting swimming: Not measured → Current: 1000 meters
Starting push-ups: 40 → Current: 100 (150% improvement)
Starting sit-ups: 0 → Current: 120 (infinite improvement)
Starting weight: 200 lbs → Current: 187 lbs (6.5% reduction)
These improvements span cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength and endurance, technical skill, and body composition – representing a comprehensive transformation rather than improvement in a single isolated metric.
Looking Forward
As I continue deeper into Week 4, today's breakthroughs suggest several promising directions:
Swimming progression – With the jump to 1000 meters established, exploration of interval formats or technical refinement may be appropriate next steps.
Running development – Having surpassed my initial 5K time, introducing more structured interval training could yield further improvements.
Strength expansion – While maintaining the established push-up and sit-up volumes, introducing new movement patterns could provide novel stimulus.
Nutritional experimentation – The effectiveness of today's caloric adjustment suggests that strategic variation may continue to be valuable.
Today's multiple breakthroughs reinforce the effectiveness of the overall approach while providing motivation to continue pushing boundaries as this transformation journey progresses.
Day 23: Breakthrough Performance
Significant breakthroughs across multiple performance domains today! Weight decreased to 187 pounds (-1 from yesterday, -13 total), while my 5K time improved to 31:00—a new personal best that's 2 minutes faster than my starting time. The most dramatic progress came in swimming, where I completed 1000 meters—a massive 67% increase from yesterday's 600 meters. Maintained consistent strength work with 100 push-ups and 120 sit-ups while reducing calories to 800 (Atkins protein shake and steak with broccoli). These improvements span cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, technical skill, and body composition—representing a comprehensive transformation rather than improvement in a single metric. The rapid swimming progression demonstrates several key training principles: cross-modal transfer from running fitness, improved technical efficiency, enhanced metabolic adaptation, and consistent practice leading to predictable improvement. Today's results validate the Phase Two approach introduced yesterday, showing that more strategic and nuanced training design yields immediate performance benefits across multiple domains simultaneously. Looking at the big picture: 5K time improved 6%, swimming distance increased 233% from first recorded session, push-ups up 150%, sit-ups from zero to 120, and weight down 6.5%—true whole-body transformation.
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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