fitday – Something Beats Nothing Every Time

R11D29-30 – One Third Done!

Today was not a great workout but over the last few weeks I have been reticent to do workout with the kids at gym because frankly I am not sure I could keep up. Then again, there is no motivation better than leading any kind of fitness routine. So Monday we grabbed the dumbbells and did a 25 minute full body workout including some isometrics, some eccentrics and even a little abs. It was OK, and it reminded me that I really should be pushing them by pushing myself. It was far from the bootcamps of old but I think for the sake of everyone we should be getting back to the grind of full 30 minute workouts to get them used to what level of work is expected from them.

Tuesday was another “in the wild” workout as I spent another 25 minutes shovelling and breaking ice from the driveway in preparation for the snow that is supposed to be coming tomorrow.

This is a milestone because in the world of at home workouts usually 90 days is the length and again usually they are divided into 3 sections. T25 and P90X3 are no exception, T25 having Alpha Beta and Gamma and P90X3 being divided predictably into 3 months that contain different workouts. This time P90X3 only contains one workout for the third month that has not already been performed but since I have never divided up the workouts like that before, maybe the other DVD sets are the same. Anyway, here I am at the end of 30 days and although I am not actually following a program I am still committed to doing 90 days of the workouts. This 1/3 mark is usually where things start to get harder, the assumption is that after 30 days of their workouts you should already be getting into shape. So how am I doing? 30 days ago when I started I was in pretty rough shape, I had just come off a bout of pneumonia and a trip to England, I had been sick for quite some time and to be honest I was a mess. My weight at work was over 250 but that only means that I was right around the 250lb mark at home. I know my weight went up by 8lbs as I started to work out again which I expected but now, a few days into February I am right around 254 which means I am down about 4lbs or so. I know it’s not much but I really had not been keeping my diet as strict as I would like, and now I have Fitday on my side I estimate a loss of at least 3lbs a week. It is pretty frightening that I am 20lbs away from my ideal weight of around 230lbs but then again, having back surgery will do that to you, the important thing is that I am back on track and heading back to the top. The funny thing is that the only rule I was breaking for my diet was the 100g of carbs, and once I have that under control I am sure good things will follow. It’s easy to get away from that without really noticing or eating anything “bad” but starch after a workout and too much fruit will tip your balance easily. If you don’t think that veg and fruit are able to put weight on you, take a peek at the latest instalment of the “5000 calories a day” guy. He is on a vegan diet and gaining weight all the way.

I had earmarked Feb 1st as a goal for having my Olympic lifts back up to 135lbs which I have achieved, I also wanted to be able to run 1500m in a reasonable time without stopping but I have been staying away from the treadmill in favour of T25 workouts. I wonder how I would fare at a 1500m run right now.

Below is my Fitday from Monday and Tuesday for your enjoyment.

Monday

Tuesday

Paleo, It’s Pretty Good. In Other News, Cats Go “Meow”.

Today FitDay decided to publish an article on the Paleo diet. Now I am a big FitDay fan and obviously enjoying the benefits of the Paleo diet so I found this particularly interesting. The article, however can be summed up as follows:

The Paleo Diet, it’s pretty good.

I was hoping for a little more, but they seemed to get the spirit of the thing correct while not pissing anybody off or risking having someone mail them an envelope of veal or even worse, a mean face carved into the side of a summer squash.

More into the spirit of sensational news stories about our health, the Brits are again leading the way by claiming that we can now get human milk from cows. Apparently they have been putting human DNA into cows (any volunteers for that job?!) and getting breast milk. I can only envision a herd of 3000lb breasts wandering around a field but that’s because I am really a 12 year old boy.

Next in my inbox was something I swear I have seen before, lots of pictures of what compromises a “fit” body. I am sure this came up some time ago, only because I remember the graphics involved. It did spawn an interesting conversation about what we as fairly sedentary office workers would consider to be “Fit”. We came up with the decision that it is how you are able to move your body around your space. Not how much over your bodyweight you can bench or shoulder press but rather how able you are to get around and do what you need or want to do. I am very happy that the notion of fitness seems to be graduating towards being “less vulnerable and more durable” as Tony likes to say out in the real world. I know there are people out there who want to hang on to the past glory of muscle heads and steroid freaks but as the population ages we are only going to see more of the movement towards less “dangerous” and more functional fitness.

As for personal news, this past weekend at one point I weighed in at 239lbs. I know I was very light, I hadn’t eaten and so it was not a clear reflection of where I am but HOLY CRAP! It was back in September of 1999 the last time I was in the 230’s without sickness being the cause.

It has been the kind of week that drains you of all your faculties, no emotional, physical or mental energy left. I still havenâ€™t got rid of the 3lbs I gained last weekend during my â€œHey I am under 240â€³ celebration. That buffet at Golden Griddle sure did a number on me. I was 241 this morning and am looking forward far too much to going to MarchÃ© tonight to expect to be any less tomorrow. I also am under the impression that the spate of weight loss was indeed a freaky cycle and that it has been exorcised by the mountainous breakfast of last weekend. Still, I can expect to at least remain where I am for a while, and then when the planets align again, down it will go. I just hope that I can keep my eye on the target of being 225 by New Year.

Needless to say, that 225 never transpired, but then again what did I expect not really knowing what my body was doing with the food I was giving it? Even I am not arrogant enough to proclaim that I will reach that milestone, since 225 would take me back to before my weight records began in earnest sometime around 1997. From what I can recall, I left University around the 195lb mark. I know the following year I ballooned as my life took awkward turns and twists leaving me in a place I would rather forget. I was up around 300 within a couple of years and even after I got that under control I still never made it back under 245. So we are in fairly uncharted territory, and yes, I am aware that I am painfully obsessed with my weight, not only that, I have discovered an alarming personality flaw… I can’t stand really fat people.

Round 4 Day 34 – Pure Cardio, Pure Hell

Yesterday I started using Fitday as I noted and was amazed at how little calories I ate. Most likely due to the fact I am eating Paleo which basically just means real food. I am staggered at how much fruit and vegetables it takes to reach even 2500Â calories, never mind 4000! So I knew I was undernourished (a little) and I think it messed with my head during my workout. Now I do have a bery sick wife and a sick baby at home so it is entirely possible that I am coming down with something however, I think I faked myself into thinking I was tired due to the fact I only managed 1500 calories before my workout. You would think, given my copious amounts of stored “energy” that I would be fine on the fuel front… apparently not so. And for those people who are claiming that I am on a high protein, low carb diet, check out my stats on Fit Day and tell me that 48% of calories from carbs is low carb…

Anyway, I am trying to eat more today before my workout to try and up my energy level but also to prevent having to scarf down 2500 calories late in the day. I am at almost 1100 and it is 1:30pm.

So I didn’t feel good at all yesterday during the workout. I didn’t skip it however, and I didn’t even duck out early, I gave it what I could and saw it through to the end. Thankfully I am doing such a varied mix of workouts right now because I don’t know if I could face another Insanity workout today. Instead, before I go to coaching I have to do a gym workout of chest and triceps regardless of the fact I am listed as having a day off. This is due to the fact that I inadvertently had to take off Saturday since we didn’t get back from dinner with friends at 6 like Nicole said but rather at around 11! I had taken Thursday off alsoÂ whichÂ left me short on workouts and long on laziness. So I think I will try to make it to Friday this week and take that as my rest day.

Which brings me to planning for my WOD tomorrow. Since I have back and biceps the following day I don’t want to go crazy with pullups so I think I will be looking for something more squat and jump or shoulders and abs…

I am also on the brink of bringing in the chin up bar from the deck and installing it in the garage. However, I know once I do this I will be restricted to doing my chin ups upstairs rather than out on the deck. I did consider not moving the bar at all and sticking with the outdoors all winter but I can’t see myself doing chin ups in sweats, a wooly hat and gloves! It’s just the timing I am worried about. That and maybe taking the plunge and doing the whole workout in the garage while the bar is in there. But I don’t have an insulated garage and it is often -10 or colder in there during the winter months. Hopefully we will get a mild winter and I will be able to withstand the cold. Ugh, I hate the thought of having my well established routine messed with…

Round 4 Day 33 – Shoulders and Traps (Gym)

I can’t really find a good sequence of shoulder stuff in P90X so I am going to stick with regular gym and Crossfit stuff. I made up a short workout for yesterday and may have given myself tennisÂ elbowÂ in the process.

4 Rounds for Time:

Alternating Shoulder Press (35lb DB)
Upright Rows (95lb barbell)
Clean and Press (35lb DB)
Shrugs (95lb barbell)

It didn’t last long and I should probably have added some flys on the end of the workout to round out the shoulders but by the time I was done I was pretty tired. I was pushed for time since my wife and baby were waiting for me to finish so although it was short I had to make sure it was tough. The hardest part was the clean and press with the dumbbells. Controlling dumbbells through a clean motion is difficult at the best of times but add tired aching forearms to the mix and you have a potential disaster. Today I feel like I have tennis elbow in my left arm from not warming up properly. We went straight out for a walk after to Starbucks with the baby so at least I got the warm down right!
Anyway, that was yesterday, today is Pure Cardio.

I have also started to use FitDay.com to track my stuff. All my workouts and eating etc will be available here:

http://fitday.com/fitness/PublicJournals.html?Owner=Perfik

It’s OK, nobody is here… hehe.