We’re nailing down details for the Southeast Asia bike tour and I’m getting excited. But I’ve got to be ready, so I’m working hard to keep and build on my fitness as well as rehab my shoulder. It’s going well.

For overall strength and fitness, I’m doing the best thing possible – high intensity interval training. This is what you do when you want to accomplish a lot in a little time, when you want to build both strength and endurance, or when you want to trim down. Loads of research has been done in this area in the last few decades, and it all adds up to the best workout you can possible do for your body.

So. Three times a week I head into the gym where I can sit on the stationary bike (still can’t ride hard on a real bike, so this has got to do for now) and do an hour of sweating. I worked up to this, of course, and I wouldn’t recommend starting at an hour. Twenty to thirty minutes is the norm. Warm up first, doing whatever activity you enjoy or want to get better at. Then start the intervals. The latest research I read says you should do a high intensity interval (80-90% effort) for 30-60 seconds, followed by a 4-minute active recovery at about 60%. Repeat a few times, lasting up to one hour including warm up and cool down. That’s it. You’ll be surprised how quickly your body snaps to attention and adapts. It doesn’t have to be as exact as this, but those who know me well understand my OCD tendencies when it comes to exercise. I love it!

I’m also motivated to strengthen my shoulder with the intention of getting back to 100% strength and usability. I don’t know how long that will take. I had a pretty bad rotator cuff tear about five years ago that supposedly needed surgery. I worked hard at PT and then in the gym and felt fully back to 100% after about a year. This injury is more complicated, but I feel I can get there again. I’m working my shoulder with free weights and multiple exercises on the cable machine. I even started weight-assisted dips today! I’ll be back on the bike in January, but will keep working on my shoulder as long as it takes to fully recover. I’ll really need it next summer for our sea kayak expedition to circumnavigate Baranof Island in Alaska. More on that later.