It’s funny how a little thing like a new heart rate monitor can affect your whole attitude and approach to your workouts. At some time we are all guilty of getting in a rut and forgetting that topping up your motivation is as important as topping your salad with avocado. Also, rewards play a really big part in the improvement process and I am not including taking days off or having a “cheat” meal as a reward. I am talking about something outside your usual activity, something tangible, something you can look at and which will remind you of how far you have come. For me, my new Suunto T6D is a constant reminder of what I have achieved. I have been thinking about a reward for myself ever since I hit the 60lbs mark and until a couple of weeks ago was at a loss, and not only that, I fell into the trap of thinking that I didn’t need a reward, I was fine without it, after all, I know what I have done. That’s just wrong. The whole reason for having a reward system is so that you can learn to accept the rewards of your hard work, psychologically if you don’t reward yourself you are actually subconsciously telling yourself that there is no reward for hard work.
Back to the point. The small device has caused me to stick steadfastly to my schedule this week. Not only because I am fascinated with my movescount.com results or my firstbeat analysis but also because I feel good about doing what I need to and even better about getting rewarded for it. So to end off the week I took Friday off, my legs and back were sore and I was feeling a bit tired, and knowing I would be working out all weekend and taking Monday off it seemed like it would be OK. Saturday for some bizarre reason I decided instead of doing Pure Cardio like I was supposed to I thought I would go for a run despite it being over 40 with the humidex. In reality I wanted to check out the GPS and the foot pod on my new watch so off I went. It wasn’t far, I think my total distance was only 3.6km and total time was 37 minutes with warm up and down and so on. But I was in my vibrams and the ground was so hot my feet were on fire, not to mention that I did the hills that I had done before Warrior Dash as a change which was easier since they have actually mowed that area since I did it last. I was happy with the run, and couldn’t wait to see my route all mapped out on Google Earth. It wasn’t until I had spent several minutes on the Suunto site and various forums that I discovered that although the watch uses GPS to log distance and speed, it doesn’t actually map your route. Apparently the points data is in the watch or the pod somewhere they just don’t choose to use it. I find that puzzling and a little annoying to be honest. I am happy that the reason I got the watch was for fitness not for distance or GPS enabled tracking. I don’t recall reading anywhere in the literature that you can’t map with the Suunto GPS unit. It almost seems ridiculous in fact that you can’t. I wonder if in the future they will be coming out with an updated GPS unit you can download from or add that functionality to the watch. Anyway, I was disappointed on 2 fronts, the foot pod didn’t seem to work either but that could be a dead battery. I am glad I got this used for cheap, if I had paid for the runners pack I would be packing it up and returning it! But, to be honest, I am really not interested in the GPS function or the foot pod. I got the watch for the thing it is best at, running the HR monitor.
Sunday I paid for the run. My back was sore, my legs ached and it took a good couple of hours until I felt anywhere like exercising. However, I sucked it up and decided to do the Back and Biceps workout I had skipped on Friday. I modified it a bit and took my 35lb dbs outside and did a circuit of 3 pullup types and 3 curl types.
10-7-5-3-5
Wide front pullups
double bicep curl
Reverse grip pullup (or deadlift grip)
French curl (or Hammer)
Narrow grip pullups
Single arm bicep concentration curls
The total came out to 95 reps for back, 95 for biceps.
My Shocking statistics…
In putting together my statistics today I added my latest body composition numbers and I was shocked to look back at where I started. At my heaviest back in 2008 (on my 1st wedding anniversary!) I was for all intents and purposes 295lbs at a whopping 30% fat. That meant I was approximately 200lbs of person and 100lbs of fat.
If I wasn’t disgusted enough at myself before I sure am now!
My latest numbers are a little more encouraging but still a little off base. I am down to approximately 18% fat at around 235lbs which means I am 195lbs of man and 44lbs of stored energy 😉 Given those stats and knowing I should be about 12-15% fat, I should be aiming at a goal weight of around about 218lbs-224lbs. Just knowing that I am only about 15 lbs away from my goal weight is mindblowing! But realizing that I have lost around 56lbs of fat and only around 5lbs of lean mass is an incredible statistic. It shows that I am doing things right and not just becoming a smaller fatter person like so many people do.
For those who believe the numbers for the “average” male are lower, I grant, being 10% would be great but being 215lbs is just not realistic of a goal for me to set at this point. I have my mind set on being 225lbs by the end of the year and I think that may be a challenge to reach especially given that I am currently struggling with a plateau of 235lbs. But it is only the end of July, there is a lot of life left in this year and a lot of workouts to be done!