Back Workout

In case anyone is interested, here is the workout I'm doing this afternoon. Today is Back day.

For all:
4-5 sets each, 10-12 reps first set decreasing about 2-3 reps each set with increasing weight or same weight.

Dumbbell Row



Barbell Row



Cable Front Pulldown



I'll post the other two workouts we're doing next week.

So much to say so much to do...

Weigh-in: 218.4 (what?!)

Yes, sometimes I go up in weight too for no reason. Yesterday's weigh in was 216 even. Today? 218.4. Sup with that?

Don't know. Don't care.

I ran my 5k this morning. It felt great. I actually ran 3.5 miles.

Right.

So...I did a lot more manual labor yesterday. That was nice.

And uhh. Things are pretty good.

Gonna lift some weights on Monday.

So, well, I guess I'll talk to you all later.

Maybe I'll have something better to say next time..

Work Work Work

weight-in: 216.5 lbs

Another new low today. I'm kinda beat today. The last two days I've done the following:

Monday:

-ran 5k in the AM
-did manual labor in the evening for 3-4 hours
-started new lifting routine at night, chest and bicepts

Tuesday:
- ran 5k in the AM
-did manual labor for 5 hours, including moving a clothes washer down a flight of stairs.
- lifted again, shoulders

This morning:
-ran another 5k

In addition to all that my eating has been light as I've been so busy. My caloric intake was probably slightly lower than it should have been, hence to new lowsThe good news is that I am still drinking a LOT of water, over 100 ounces a day which is good.

Over the next few days I'm going to make sure I get all the nutrients I need and spend a little time recovering. I won't stop running, but I might tone it down slightly in addition to letting my muscles recover from the lifting and hard work I've been doing.

That's all I've got today, I'm late for a meeting.

have a great day!

Weight Training 101

Weigh-In: 217.4 lbs (new low)

So I finally started my lifting routine last night with my buddy Dan. We did chest and biceps.

I'm sore. I mean, I can still lift up the phone, drive the car and whatnot, but I'm pretty sore. We didn't "max out" or anything like that, but did 10-12 reps for 4-5 sets.

We did bench presses (I maxed out at 115 lbs for 4 reps, I told you my upper body strength sucked), curls, flies, some above the chest type thing, and a few other things I can't remember. I let Dan do most of the planning and basically tell me what to do. Once it becomes routine I'll write down some more details here.

Dan can lift much more than me which is good because it makes me push myself. He maxed out last night at 195. Both of our goals are to be able to bench our body weight, and right now we both weigh around 220. So I have a bit more work to do than he does to meet our goal.

Tonight we'll be working triceps and back, I think.

I brought my camera to the gym this morning and took some pics before and after my workout. They're not serious pics or anything (as you'll see in a minute).I wanted something other than the normal poses so I could really see what I look like in other positions. They're to serve more as a record of what I looked like after the first day of lifting for later comparison. Hopefully in a few months I'll be able to see some real progress.

I still have love handles and a small gut that I want to get rid of, which is why I'm looking to lose another +- 10 lbs.

Anyway:

Beck, now you can see why I really need that new Monkey Hair Style you were talking about in your blog..

Deconstruction of Goals

Weigh-In: 219.8 lbs
5k Time: 25:30

Today I attempted to push myself a little further and see how close I could get to my sub 25 minute 5k goal. As you can see, I was able to record a 25:30. That time included 8 or 9 intervals at 5.3/7.5 then 5.3/8.0. I think if from the start I would have bumped up my lower interval time to say, 6.0 I might have been able to get under 25 minutes. I like to try to attempt to break personal records on Monday's since I'm usually fairly well rested from the weekend, so maybe I'll make this a weekly thing.

Tonight I'm FINALLY starting my lifting program with my friend who lives down the street. I'd been putting it off because I've been gutting my kitchen, tearing down walls and ceilings and so forth so i didn't want to be so sore I couldn't put my arms over my head.

The kitchen still isn't done, but the demo work is, so hopefully I can move on with my lifting. Although installing drywall on the 12 foot ceiling might be interesting with sore arms...

Pain is a part of achievement

weigh-in: 219.7 lbs
weight lost: 76.3 lbs
Day Number: 165

I've been running at least a 5k (on the treadmill) every day M-F for maybe a month now. Yesterday I recorded a best time so far of 26:01. Most days I incorporate some form of H.I.I.T while running it.

Running really is very therapeutic. Several times I've been in a bad mood for whatever reason at the beginning of the run. Usually when that is the case I run further than usual. At the end of the run I'm always feeling great, and that feeling tends to stick with me for several hours.

If I take more than two days off from running I tend to find myself thinking about it. The longest I've gone without running at least for 20-30 minutes is three days, but only one or two times in the past few months.

It's funny because before I started this new lifestyle I'd been thinking about jogging for a while. I was worried about turning my ankle as I'd always been prone to it ever since injuring it a few times. Now I'm realizing weighing close to 80 pounds less really has an effect on turning your ankle. It doesn't happen; at least not at the rate I'd expect it to. I'll knock on wood now because I'll probably walk out to my car at lunch today and fall down the stairs or something...

Another deterrent for me was back pain. The few times I ran in high school I remember hating it so much; it was hard on my knees, my back hurt, trouble breathing.

There are a lot of the reasons why I took this on. One of them was because I wanted to be able to confront those issues. I'd never have thought I could actually enjoy something I despised so much. Sometimes it just takes a different approach and a lot of patience.

Overall I think I realized that losing weight was going to be hard. Therefor, I expected some discomfort in order to achieve my goals.

What is it they say? "Anything worth anything takes work."

Something like that anyway.

I'll take it a step further and say that "anything worth anything takes work, and that work is probably at least occasionally going to hurt".

Pain is a part of achievement. I think once you can realize that and in a way, embrace it, you can be successful at just about anything.

Pain means progress. Mistakes also can mean progress. You teach yourself what works and what doesn't. Every mistake should teach you something. Each mistake, each pain session you recover from makes you stronger. For yet another cliche, what doesn't kill you truly does make you stronger.

These are some of the things I've learned and what I believe has made me successful in this endeavour.

I expect pain and I expect mistakes.

I persistently expect them.

So, don't be afraid to fail. Don't be afraid to get hurt. It really is good for you and makes you a better, stronger, smarter person. Once you truly realize this you will start to meet your goals and in the process improve yourself.


I often imagine where I'd be right now if I'd realized this 10 or 15 years earlier? Bah, who cares, I've got work to do...

Próspero año nuevo!

Weigh-In: 219.8 lbs

Happy New Year to every one!

New Years resolutions? I'm not making any. Why? I don't know really. Maybe I made mine 6 months ago. More likely, News Years resolutions always have seemed doomed to fail for me. Not that I wouldn't encourage anyone else to make them, they just don't ever seem to pan out in my favor.

In other news, if you haven't noticed, I've met the last weight loss goal I had in the right column. It was 220 pounds by Feb 15th. I picked that date semi-randomly months ago and I probably should have moved it up once I knew at what rate I was going to be losing. I never did, so it's not really as impressive as it looks.

So I've decided to make a new goal of 210 by February 15th. That time frame is a bit longer than usual for me because I really want to concentrate on weight lifting and trading muscle for fat. I want to slow down the weight loss just a tad just to make sure that it is gone for good and I'm doing it right. It's another step towards that "normal life" mode that I'm trying to ween myself onto.

Speaking of goals, I should have some more updated ones soon as it relates to lifting. I've yet to have a chance to start my routine with the new bench press and weights my friend and I purchased, but that should be happening later this week.

As for today, I'm happy to report I broke my 5k record again with a new best time of 26:33 on the treadmill. You know what the trick was? Music! A friend gave me an Ipod shuffle and I wore it today while running and it really had this effect on me that made me maintain a higher speed throughout the run. It also really helps to take your mind off of the run and get into that "auto pilot" mode. Whenever I get in that mode I find it easier to go farther, faster, longer.

I also just eeked by a faster time on the 5 mile run last Sunday. I highly recommend those toe socks that look like gloves for your feet for longer runs. Whenever I ran that far before I'd get a blister on the side of my big toe where it touches the next one. No more. Here's the socks I'm referring to:

Toe Socks

So here's to a great new year!

Much like Billy has said; a year will go by regardless...what will you do to meet your goals?