[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by StrangeGator

I'll have better luck on the expenditure side, but it's a struggle. I'm lifting three days a week with a cardio session at the end, doing one HIIT workout a week, then I have two nights of Aikido, hour and a half on Tuesday, then two hour long classes back-to-back on Friday nights. I only rest my body one day a week and I'm sore all the time, mainly my legs, glutes and lower back.

Like Thomas, I've switched to a lower weight, higher rep weight routine, though I still do a high weight routine every other week. I'm thinking I might go ahead and do a light cardio session early on the mornings when I go to Aikido at night.

Kind of stubborn on the calorie cutting side. It's a real struggle when I'm working from home. The other challenge is that I have to shop and cook for all four of us, and it's hard to do what you need to do for yourself when you're trying to satisfy everyone else's needs. Both kids are headed to college in September, so that part will get a lot easier. That will also give me more time to devote to fitness stuff, especially Aikido. Will start attending Thursday night classes, one hour of body art and one hour of weapons, at a sister dojo 15 miles west of us.

For the moment, I'm stuck at about 185-190, 14-16% body fat. I'd like to get to the high 170s and see how that feels.

Strange, I can't do anything about your martial arts schedule. But as to your conditioning, remember that fatigue masks fitness. If you're tired and sore all the time then reducing on the conditioning side may have you feeling and performing better.