When I first stopped being bed-ridden from my illnesses, I knew I had to do some physical activity as part of my rehabilitation.

My weight had fallen to 52kg, from around 74kg.

Indulging in a heavy weights session at the gym was not going to be an option!

So I simply started walking. 🚶

Some days I would simply walk in any direction and come back 4 hours later. On days when I really needed to battle some demons I’d drive out to a small country town and do a 50km round-trip hike which took about 9 hours.

Slowly but surely I began to see some beauty in the world again and it made me realise that the best exercise anyone could do for both mental and physical benefits, was walking.

It also made me seek a minimalism in various areas of my life.

In the context of exercise, that meant I was never going to be a gym junkie and have to rely on various pieces of equipment or apparatus to undertake any exercise program I decided to undertake.

OK … I might have a resistance band and some hand-held weights, but apart from that, I wanted to be able to bust-out a session wherever and whenever I wanted, without being constrained by lack of equipment.

So I started exploring body weight exercises … mainly calisthenics. 🙂

Because my working life has been mainly sedentary, sitting down and staring at a computer screen all day, I’ve created some 10 minute workouts I can do with just my own body weight. I’ve also created half-hour workouts, consisting of just calisthenics.

But recently I was going through some old ebooks I have in my library and I discovered a gymnastics manual I had purchased a decade ago, which resparked my interest.

So I’ve now created my own revised calisthenics/gymnastics training exercise regime, that I can do twice a week. Together with some walking and ab work, I’ll be lucky to fit that in during a week.

But as I mentioned in My Health is Non-Negotiable, my health is … umm … non-negotiable.

I’m interested to see how my body may change over the next 6 months if I keep to this routine, but for the moment, I’m happy that I have a way to move forward on the exercise front.

As I sit-back and review what I’ve just written, I realise I’ve taken two significant steps to adhere to my “4 Pillars” framework in my comeback.

I now have secured employment ( ✅ Pillar 1 – Financial Rebuilding) and constructed a new exercise plan ( ✅ PIllar 2 – Health & Fitness).

Pillar 3 – Digital Skills & Technology and Pillar 4 – Social Renaissance are progressing, but at a slower rate.

But for now, I’m going to pat myself on the back and congratulate me for this new milestone.

After all, if you don’t congratulate yourself … no one else will. 🫤