Workout Routine: Monday

Today I didn't have a whole lot of time, so I managed to chug through a quick workout during my lunch break.  The workout list below is a copy of the workout I used today.  Needless to say, my arms are shot now. lol


Check it out, if you can use it; great, feel free.  If not, thanks for reading.  As always, I am not a doctor or any medical opinion.  Please consult your doctor or physician before undertaking any exercise regiment or workout routine.

Happy Monday!

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Workout Routine: Tuesday

As a new parent, trying to balance home responsibilities with getting fit can be a challenge. It is extremely easy to walk in the front door and run all evening either getting things around the house done, quality family time, and giving the little one attention.  That leaves me with either the late evenings or fitting in a quick workout on my lunch break (when I can).

I usually try to make it a "Workout Lunch" several times a week at a minimum.  With my workload, sometimes that isn't feasible either.  So I try to tailor my workouts to be completed somewhere within a 45 to 50 minutes block of time.  This will give me plenty of time to exercise and still leave a few minutes to get ready before heading back to the job.

So here is today's workout routine:

The sets marked with a (PR) designate my personal record to date.  It looks like a simple workout.  However, it took me about 50 minutes (give or take a minute or so) and I was in a mad sweat when I finished.  I have no clue how to results of this workout will play into my current weight loss.  But I know one thing, my abs and shoulders are going to feel this one later today.

And it sure beats sitting around and eating junk on my lunch break!

PS- I do not substitute a workout for a meal.  I do eat, I just eat a quick lunch after my workouts.  It is prudent to replenish your body with water and proper nutrients after exercising.  (In other words, don't flop down on the couch).

*Disclaimer: I am NOT a medical professional. Before starting or participating in ANY exercise routine, please consult your doctor or physician for advice on what may work best for you.  The record of exercise on this page is simply for my personal records and accountability in my fitness goals. Feel free to use any or all of this workout as you see fit.  However, understand you do so at your own risk.  Improper use of exercises or workout equipment can lead to injury.

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The Building Blocks of Life: Water

We all know how important water is for our daily diet.  Most of us have been taught since we were children that we all need a certain amount of water intake a day in order to help maintain a proper diet, etc.  And I am not refuting this teaching by any means.  Because my logic is, our bodies are mostly made of up water at the very basic level.  Common sense would dictate that we NEED to take in water.

I am not going to tell you that you have to take in 8-12 cups of water a day.  That is entirely up to you.  Your preference.  As I states before, I am NOT a doctor or a medical authority of any kind (I'm a computer geek just trying to get healthy).  For "official" advice consult your doctor.  Give this URL a read sometime from the Mayo Clinic as it covers daily intake etc.  Instead I will tell you what has made a difference in my life.

My Story:

I weighed myself yesterday and found that I have lost a total of 11 pounds within the last 7 weeks.  And I must be honest that I haven't been actually trying to loose weight.  We went on vacation, ended up doing a bunch of walking and drinking a lot of water to stay hydrated and the water habit seemed to make it's way back home with us.  Basically I replaced my soft drinks and sodas with water.  And a couple weeks ago when I hit the scale for the first time in forever, I was amazed to see that I had already lost several pounds.  Sure, the vacation walking helped me.  But I didn't sustain that behavior during the weeks after my vacation (although we have since started back up), the only real difference was changing my soft drinks over to water.  We don't snack much here at home.  So we rarely have the "bad" foods we should probably distance ourselves from.  So it definitely helps that we don't keep that stuff here in the house.

My Result:

I find that by replacing the sugary, soft drinks with water even my appetite is affected.  I don't get hungry quite as easy (or quickly), I have less of a desire to snack (when we do have snack foods).  And I feel better overall.  I have had less headaches and joint aches since being off of the soft drinks as well.  I even rest better now.  Does this mean that I haven't had a Pepsi or another various soft drink.  No way.  I have about one a day.  And that's really about all I need (or want).  I have, in a sense; taught myself moderation of soft drinks.  And I still have a cup of coffee about every morning with breakfast.  So basically 2 caffeinated beverages a day is what I limit myself too. And personally, I feel great.

And the awesome thing about it was, I saw how quickly I dropped a few pounds that otherwise I probably would have killed myself over in the gym.  But you see without making a change, there would have been no catalyst there to help ignite a little weight loss.  And as a result of seeing a few pounds drop off the scale, it ignited a desire to push a little harder and loose a few more in the process.  As a result, I've started working out on my lunch breaks.  Days where I can't go to the gym, I use a small set of free weights I have here and I utilize Xbox Fitness on the Xbox One game console to sneak in a lunchtime workout (when I can).  And being sore has never felt better.

So at least in my case, I don't adhere to a "rule" or a set amount of water.  I drink a glass of water when I get thirsty and with my meals.  Do I NEED more water? Maybe.  Am I comfortable with my current intake.  Yes, I am.  My challenge to you.  Start replacing one of your "non-water" beverages a day with a glass of water.  Do that for a week, and see if you don't start feeling better.  From there start working your way down.  I understand dropping the soft drinks cold turkey is hard.  Been there, done that.  It's a hard, tough process.  But the payoff is well worth it in the end.

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Let's Chat About Sacrifice: What is does and doesn't mean

One word: Sacrifice.

This is something that I have been thinking a lot about over the last month or so.  I'm not really sure why, other than the fact that it feels like with any effort to loose weight, diet, or get fit you have to sacrifice some things to attain your goals.  And for every person, these sacrifices may be different.  So, first let's take a look at what it means to sacrifice something.

In our context, we will look at one of the several definitions of the word from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary: sacrifice- a destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sacrifice

For me personally, I have had to make several sacrifices to reach my goals thus far along my personal fitness journey.  And mostly, I haven't missed the time involved in the things I have put aside as I strive to meet my goals. And let me be clear when I say that you don't have to completely stop doing something you love to try and meet your goal.  Sometimes just scaling back the time spent on something can make all the difference too.  Let's face it, then you'd just be miserable. :)

For me, I am a huge television junky and gamer.  There are several tv shows I like to watch, and I am an avid Guild Wars 2 player.  However, both have been preventing me from becoming (and staying) active.  So, as a result I decided to redirect some of my time doing both of these pastimes and use some of that time to exercise.  This doesn't mean I stopped doing either altogether, I just spend a little less time doing them each day (or week). 

On the other hand, I also love things like candy bars, potato chips, pretty much anything deep fried or chocolate.  I also love a good, cold, can of Pepsi.  Those are my vices.  And they were also hindering my progress.  But in this case, I ended up "sacrificing" most of these items because in the end I felt it was a better investment for me to exclude these items.  Keeping them around the house meant I would eventually end up eating them.  I have very little self control when it comes to the aforementioned items.  And honestly, I haven't missed them.  And now that I have learned my control with these things, I know an occasional candy bar or Pepsi won't hurt my progress that much.  And I can walk away at any time.  For example, I bought a bottle of Pepsi this afternoon, after drinking about half of it on my way home from work, I was done.  I had my fill of it.  And didn't need to splurge on it anymore.  This was a huge step for me, and without being able to initially sacrifice that, I wouldn't have stopped until the whole bottle was empty.  And there was no guilt for not finishing it or even for buying it.  Because I know I haven't had one in 2 weeks.  Which is a great improvement over about 7 cans a day.

Now let's look at a way sacrifice can hinder your progress.  For me personally, I have been down this road as well (as recently as this week).  One thing you shouldn't sacrifice is rest.  I made this mistake the other night.  After pulling a late evening at work, I came home and worked out.  This meant I was going to end up getting less than 5 hours or so of sleep that night.  But I did it anyways.  The next day, I felt terrible from lack of sleep and I was sore from working out on top of that.  Your body needs that rest to rebuild and rehabilitate from the stresses of not only working out, but from life in general.  Don't sacrifice that.  It's far too important.

One other way you can sacrifice to the point of hindrance is by giving in to the "I have to workout" syndrome.  I hear people talk about how they feel they just "have"  to workout.  If you have this mentality, your workout may benefit you as much as you think.  Sure, you're working out.  You're doing something to help yourself.  But with a "have to" mentality, you are sacrificing the "want to" mentality and thus will not push yourself as hard as you normally would.  I'm not saying we don't have "off" days, where it is physically challenging just to tie your gym shoes.  But be careful not to fall into this trap.  Remember, you are choosing to workout for a better, healthier you.  Don't sacrifice that self worth and sell yourself short.

These are just a couple brief ways sacrifices in your everyday life can help (and even hurt) your progress.  It is up to you to evaluate what you could do a little less with each day, or even do without for a few days to help you attain your goal.  Just make sure you aren't sacrificing the right things by mistake like: proper nutrition, rest, activity, and your personal relationships. After all, this fitness thing is all about learning to balance your life with a healthy lifestyle.  Keep that in mind.

And until next time, be happy and be healthy!

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No Gym? Body Weight Routines Can Lend a Hand...

I was faced with an interesting dilemma this week.  As I may have mentioned in a previous post, we recently joined a local gym.  And it is amazing; with great people, plenty of equipment, and a great atmosphere that is conducive to wanting people to succeed with their goals.  We love it there!  But what happens when things arise that prevent us from going to the gym?  To be honest, we don't have a lot of equipment laying around the house.  We have a dumbbell set that includes 4 x 7.5 lbs. plates and a set of light weight resistance bands.  That's it.

I encountered this type of situation twice this week.  Both of which were due to work conflicts, that prevented me from dropping by the gym.  But the beauty of this situation is that a gym is NOT needed to exercise... You may be saying: "Whatever..." or "Yeah, right!".  But it is true. Your physiology is equipped with the basics you need to get in a decent workout.  Admittedly, I was a bit skeptical at first, myself.  But after last nights Body Weight Routine, I can say without a doubt that it does work. *Note: I am NOT a doctor or offering medical advice. As always consult your physician before using any workout program for health and safety purposes.

Don't get me wrong, I love hitting the Elliptical and the Stationary Bikes and I thoroughly enjoy hitting the dumbbells and various bench presses and pulldowns.  But when the event arises where you just have to burn some energy or need to feel that welcome burn in a particular muscle set.  There are other options.  For example, here is the workout I did last night upon returning home from working late:

Body Weight Squats: 4 sets of 10 reps each

Oblique Crunches: 3 sets of 40 reps, set 4 was pushed a little further to failure at 44 reps.

Body Weight Lunge: 1 set of 20 reps, 1 set of 16 reps, and 1 set of 14 reps

Push-Ups: 1 set of 14 reps, 1 set of 20 reps, 1 sets of 22 reps, and 1 set of 24 reps

Jumping Jacks: 3 sets of 40 jumping jacks

Plank: 1 set of 1 rep (lasting for 45 seconds)

Total Time: 45 minutes to 1 hour

Going into this routine, my initial thoughts were that there was no way I would feel like I nailed a decent workout.  But essentially what I did was starting with the Body Weight Squats, I would do a set and then move into the Oblique Crunches and do a set.  Then I would bounce back to my Squats.  Basically when I felt I needed to rest from a particular exercise in the routine, I would move on the another one.  If I did something like a set of Push-Ups, I would follow with a set of Oblique Crunches or Jumping Jacks to keep my heart rate a little elevated.  Gradually I worked my way through the routine towards the dreaded Plank.

On average I am able to hold a decent Plank anywhere from about 00:01:05 to 00:01:15, but after the workout I was lucky to hold it for 45 seconds.  The only things needed for this routine was a little bit of floor space, and a stop watch for measuring Plank time.  And I use my cell phone's Stopwatch feature for that.

And by the end of the workout I could feel muscles that I have never felt before.  My quads, hamstrings, and thighs were sore, my Abs and Obliques were hurting, and I was sweating as if I had just went 10 minutes in Moderate Intensity on an Elliptical.  The best part about it, it was a "sore chore" getting out of the bed in the morning.  But it was well worth it.

So let this be a lesson to those who sit back and deny that they can try to get fit because of a lack of gym equipment or even lacking a gym membership.  Body Weight exercises are not to be shrugged off.  I currently weigh 230 pounds and trust me, that is a heck of a workout.

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Personal Progress Update: October 2012

With October 2012 in the history books now, I figured it was as good a time as any to get the birds eye view of how my progress went during October.  And I must say that I am rather happy with the success that I was able to achieve. Rewind back to late March of this year, I weighed in at 246 pounds.  This was probably not my all time highest weight.  As I had just recovered from the flu and had lost quite a bit of weight while I was sick.  But packed it back on as soon as I was better.  This left me around the 246 pound mark on the scale.

Also, I was very sedentary; meaning very inactive.  After work, I would essentially plant myself on the couch or in front of my computer and stay there.  My diet was pretty much crap.  Eating fast food pretty much all the time due to convenience while being on the road for work a lot.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, my fitness goals got somewhat side tracked during the summer months.  During which I gained a few pounds back, but nothing major.  I started being more conscious about my health again at the very end of September.  And I used the start of October as a mark of change once again.

On my first weigh in for October (start of the month); I found myself sitting right at 239 pounds.  I started walking a few times a week again.  Just a couple miles at a time, which I didn't really keep track off.  As for the first time, I found myself somewhat lost with which direction I should go concerning my workouts.  Knowing what I have done in the past that didn't work.  I decided to try something different.  I started Active.com's Couch to 5K program (using the Android App).  Which started me on a journey that includes 3 workout sessions a week, that start off fairly easy and build upon intensity over the course of 9 weeks.  And at the end of it, the idea is that you'll be able to participate in a 5K run.

This became my gateway, as I found myself doing the following workout at home using a small dumb bell set we have here at the house:
-Crunches (varied reps/sets depending on day)
-Standing Dumb Bell Shoulder Press (started light and worked heavier, usually 4 sets of 8 to 10 reps).
-Concentration Curls (W1 I used 15 pounds, by end of the month lifting 30 per arm, 4 sets of 8 reps).
-Dumb Bell Floor Press (4 sets of 10 to 12 reps)
-Push Ups (as many as I could knocked out)

I replaced my junk food snacks with things like low fat yogurt, granola, and a protein shake/smoothie each day.  All the time counting my calories using the aforementioned MyFitnessPal.  Counting my calories at first didn't end so well each night.  Then after a few days of adjusting what I ate.  I became able to adjust the bad food out of my diet and gradually work good stuff in, that would help keep me within my calorie plan.

And I'm proud to report that last week, my wife and I joined a great gym local to us.  It is literally a 5 minute drive from our house to our gym now.  Leaving no excuse to not exercise given rain or shine.  For us, that is a big step.  We are using our membership as a motivation to each other to help push each other a little further each day toward our goals.

So, enough chatter.  Let's see how I faired at the end of December!
October 1st Weight: 239 pounds
November 3rd Weight: 231 pounds
Pounds Lost: 8 pounds

Difference in Measurements:
Neck: Lost 0.50 inches lost
Left Bicep: 0.75 inches gained
Right Bicep: 0.25 inches gained
Waist: 1 inch lost
Chest: 0.50 inches lost

My biceps gained size due to the dumb bell work that I have been staying on top of.  For the first 30 days of my journey, I feel like I am off to a great start!

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Highlighted Service/App: MyFitnessPal

Are you looking for a way to keep track of things like:
-What you eat?
-The nutritional information for what you eat?
-Log your exercise sessions.
-Track your caloric intake for the day.
-And so much more?

If so, then there are a several of these apps/services available.  If you have read my review on LoseIt by Fitnow than you'll know that I like to use these apps as well.  The one that I will be covering today is: MyFitnessPal. The point of MyFitnessPal is to act as a calorie counter.  MyFitnessPal has an app available for both Android and iPhone.  The app is identical on both platforms, you can setup an account right on your mobile device.  Then as you go through the day, you simply log what you have eaten into the calorie counter.  The app has a pretty good database that includes most foods and chain-restaurant foods.  If you like, you can also use the barcode scanner built into the app to capture a shot of a particular food item's barcode and it will find that food's nutritional information and import it into your diary for that particular meal.  The app will generate a daily calorie allotment that is will count towards as you log consumed food during the day, obviously to loose weight the thought is you want to stay under that calorie allotment each day.  This allotment is based off of several criteria that you entered when setting up your account, like:
-Age
-Height
-Current Weight
-Weight Goal
-How many pounds you'd like to loose per week.
-What is your estimated activity level during the day (work)?

But it doesn't stop with just food, you also track your physical exercise as well.  After all, exercising helps you burn calories, and since the app is counting calories for you, it needs to know what is being burnt off during workouts.  As you weigh in, you also need to update your weight in the app or on their website.  This will also affect your daily calorie allotments that the app helps you meet or stay underneath that limit.

One thing I really like about MyFitnessPal, is once you closeout a day's "diary" or log of food & exercise, the app will pop up a screen that says "If everyday were like today, it would take you X weeks to be at XX goal."  That helps me keep things in perspective.  I mean after all, for most of us, being healthy isn't a whole lot of "fun".  So some of us need a little further inspiration to get things going.

You can also visit their website at: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/
Their website has even more features available too.  You can follow their forums, track the same info you track using the mobile app, you also get a little widget that you can post on your website or social network that display's your current weightloss.

The service and app are free of charge.  So what do you have to loose?  Swing by their website for more information on both the website service and their mobile app: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/

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Fitocracy: A Social Network for Health & Fitness

Fitocracy.com

I stumbled across this site the other night, and have actually just joined it.  It's a free, social networking site for those looking to get fit.  Unlike some sites, Fitocracy is aimed for pretty much everybody.  If you are just getting into a fitness routine or trying to gain a healthier lifestyle you can feel right at home.  But on the other hand, if you are someone who has been in the fitness game for a long time and are doing great when it comes to things like diet and nutrition, and you love visiting the gym; then don't shy away because there is plenty going on here for you too.

So here is the deal.  It is a social network much in the same vein of Facebook.  It features you're run of the mill social networking goodies like a Feed (a place where all of the stuff you want to see from people you follow show up i.e.: Facebook's Wall), Friend's List, Group's List, etc.  You can share pictures and media and such.  But where it is different is that it uses "gamification" help people attain their fitness, diet, or exercising goals.  And as an avid gamer, this is an idea that I like a lot.  As some days, I just lack the desire to get out and do something healthy.

It breaks goals down into "quests" much like an RPG game.  Completion of these quests gives you points.  These points add up much like experience points (or XP) in a role playing game.  Once you fill up your point bar for your current level; you level up.  As you level up and complete certain "quests" you get achievement badges to share on your Feed for bragging rights.

Sounds pretty cool, doesn't it?  I signed up this afternoon.  And one of the most daunting things to do once you join a social network is to get friends to follow.  If you don't know someone who is currently using the site, then it can be pretty lonely.  The Fitocracy solution: not only recommend a few friends for you, but actually connect you with new friends to get your feet wet.  The site will also set you up as a member of several groups based on what interests you picked during sign up (Cardio, Strength Building, etc.)  So when you first get to your feed, you actually have some stuff to look at.  From that point forward it's up to you to continue to build your friends list, add exercises (remember to be honest), and have fun reaching your goals!

There are two tier's of membership on the site.  You can join and use the site for free (I'm a free member), or you can sign up as a Fitocracy Hero which gives you some extra features on the site and let's you challenge other user's to duels.  A Hero account will set you back $4.99/month or $44.99/per year.  There is also an app for the service but it currently only supports iOS (Apple's iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad).  Supposedly an Android app is in the works.  For Android user's, you can visit the site via your device's web browser and use the mobile version of the site (which coincidentally is just a mobile version of the sign on screen, but loads the full browser version of the site after login).

So get out and meet some people with similar goals as you, and let's work together to encourage each other!  Follow this link and sign up and hit me up: Fitocracy Sign Up

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