2023 Season with The Proving Grounds

I decided to participate in The Proving Grounds in the fall of 2022. I had volunteered at a match in July and it looked like fun. I did not feel I had enough fitness prowess to do it. The itch didn't go away plus Sarah from The Proving Grounds and I decided to combine weekends with Quantified Performance, LLC in 2023.

The first combined Event was in Feb of 2023 and was my first match with them. I do need to preface this with a simple fact. When I retired in 2017, I quit working out. I had maybe ran two 5k's in that span of time. Fitness was "FittenThis food in my mouth" so I was very unprepared. My goal for the first match was simple. Don't die.

I did not die. I finished 4th out of 9 competitors. More importantly, it established a baseline for my workout plans. I was also a bit hooked after a decent finish so that helped motivate me. I know I usually talk about longer range shooting and things like that but my wheelhouse is close up, fast shooting so this style match is closer to my baseline than what I do with Quantified Performance.

I had until June to work on issues and of the two weak points I focused on strength over endurance. I began lifting and focused on diet. Now I didn't lose any pounds and any of you thinking about a fitness journey I encourage you to start by throwing the scale in the garbage. It doesn't tell a useful story. If you lose a pound of fat but gain a pound of muscle the scale says you made no progress. Use a monthly photo in your favorite clothes or something else.

June arrives and I am anxious to see how my plan prepared me.

I felt much better but my weak point was again endurance. Strength was solid but my heart rate would spike very quickly and my recovery could have been measured with a sun dial. Keep in mind, this is 90 days of working out after 5 years away from it. Working with a friend I made in Texas, John Navar, I altered my plan for the August match.

August arrived and my confidence was pretty high. I had been on solid plan for 6 months and I was feeling good. Cardio had been the focus and on the hardest stage cardio wise, I missed a stage win by 1 second. Shooting skill cost me that not fitness. Up until that match, shooting well had been saving me from poor fitness. Despite a good finish, shooting cost me and not the fitness.

This past weekend, my season finished at The Sawmill Training Complex . Keep in mind, each match is different with different competitors. Enough is different that only the format of shooting and fitness, makes them comparable. This weekend, I was not prepared. Lots of travel and the short time between matches meant I didn't get much done. That showed on 60 seconds into my first stage and carried on the whole day. Shooting was better but oddly enough, I don't shoot well at 131 beats per minute. The only thing that went really, really well was working with Salty Britches® because saved me from being superty, duperty uncomfortable.

If you are still reading, here is the roll up.

6 months into a fitness journey leveraging The Proving Grounds as a yard stick has resulted in huge gains in strength and endurance. I am down from filling out the belly on an XL shirt to a Large(almost.) Confidence is higher and the chest gets there moments before the belly. Now, it's the offseason and working a plan to be better for next year. Things like excess skin and long duration cardio take time to build. 6 months is a blink of an eye on a fitness journey and I am happy with the results.