Friday, July 5, 2013

First Day of the New Workout!

Since I took yesterday (Thursday) off from, uh well, basically the planet, I did Thursday's workout today.  I found that more weight is needed in a few areas because I couldn't get to muscle failure - not even close.  I probably should've just added weight right then, but it was getting late and so I didn't.  Next week will be much better now that I have been through it already.

Lots of soreness/stiffness tonight - probably won't be any better tomorrow.  I'll really need to walk a lot during the day so the pain doesn't set in.  Have to let you know how that works out...

Tomorrow is weigh-in day.  Ugghh!  I made the mistake of weighing in mid-week just to see where I was and I had gained - a lot (ok, not a lot, but enough to concern me).  It doesn't make sense either, so hopefully it was a fluke.  We'll see about that one too.  I keep telling myself it was the clothes I was wearing or that I'm gaining muscle and muscle is heavier than fat.  But it just seems to mean so stinkin' much to me for that stupid scale to go down!!

I just have to keep picturing that new healthy me in that new healthy lifestyle.  Eye on the prize, right?

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Holiday off today

Today I met none of my goals, but that's ok - it's a holiday.  I'm taking a holiday pass for today.  I'll probably regret it on weigh-in day, but that's the way it goes sometimes.  It was a fun, relaxing day off work in celebration of the birth of a new country!  Happy 4th of July everyone!!



Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Beginner Resistance Training Plan


First, I met my 2500 FP goal both yesterday and today.  Woot!

Eating was a bit off, but not too bad.  We had Tuesday's meal tonight as planned, but I felt really snacky, ya know?  Ended up only eating a 100 calorie pack of cookies, so whew!  Saved by the those little chocolate striped Keebler things.

Water intake was down a bit, but fluids in general were ok.

I was very tired all day today - even had a nap after work.  I still got in the 30 minutes on the treadmill @ 3.0 mph though.  That's an increase from my usual 2.5 - 2.8mph.  I even sweated a bit.

At my age, I know I probably won't have this body, but I can sure try

Now, on to the Training Plan...

I realized yesterday as I was working out that I would only work each muscle group once every 7 days.   I feel that's just too long and that there should be a shorter interval between working those muscles.  So, I did some research and I found that it's okay to work all muscle groups with a rest day in between.   Therefore, I have a new plan:

(Adapted from Body Builder website's Beginner Weight/Strength Training Workout)

Cardio warm-up for 5-10 minutes

Weight Training:
Two sets of 8-12 reps with enough weight heavy enough to barely make the entire set (muscle fatigue)
Work muscle groups in order from largest to smallest

Quads:  Seated press / Leg extensions
Hamstrings:  Front Leg Raise / Ball Leg Curl
Calves:  Calf raises
Back:  Lat pulldowns
Chest:  Bench Press / Chest Fly
Triceps:  Tricep Pushdown
Biceps:  Bicep Curls
Shoulders: Seated Press
Abs:  Ball crunch / Reverse crunch

I will be doing these exercise on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I may decide later to break these groups out into several days per week, but I cross that bridge when I can RUN over it instead of crawl =D

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

HRM found and WeightLossWars!!

Over the weekend, I went on a search through my house to find my old heart rate monitor.  I found the watch in one room and the strap in the basement lol!  I think I bought it in 2006, so it's old, but not that old.  It doesn't automatically link to my computer though - well, it would if I had a PC instead of a Mac.  I may have to set up my old PC just to get the data to transfer.

Anyway, I will be able to get accurate HR readings as I'm exercising - and that's the important part.

Next up... have you ever heard of "Weight Loss Wars"?  Well, it's a weight loss competition website.  You can compete in private or public challenges.  This is how I lost around 20 lbs last year - the accountability of a challenge.  You can chose to lose or even maintain weight.  Of course, after the competition was over, I gained all the weight back and then some, but it was certainly challenging.  They encourage a healthy weekly weight loss in these challenges and will kick you off if they think you're cheating, but most folks are in it for the right reasons.

I've been invited several times over the last few weeks and now I finally (after over a year hiatus) joined a new challenge.  But here's my dilemma... when I was there before, I actually won one of the competitions I was in.  And now, here I am, going back - having gained more weight than I lost.  I know I'm not the only one this has ever happened to, but it still really bites none the less.  That's ok though - I can do this!

I like WeightLossWars because it's an online community of people who are trying to get healthy.  As an added bonus, if you are successful - you could win some cash!!  How cool is that?  Lose weight - win money!!  That's a win-win for sure.  But in case you're wondering, it's also discreet.  For the most part, if you don't want your pics displayed for all the world to see, you can typically send them via email to the competition author and they hold on to them instead of posting.  The fees are relatively low - usually around $20 per competition.  The website also sometimes charges for participation - usually $10 if I remember correctly; often times there are prepaid seats - which means no website fee.

I also like how WLW doesn't focus on a "biggest loser" in every competition.  Like the one I joined - it's a "set your own goal" type thing where you say I plan to lose/maintain "x" amount of weight each week and you win $ for doing so.  Pretty cool, huh?

So, on to my stats for this week:

GOALS MET:  
Water intake? Yes!  Over 100 ounces at least.
2500 FP? Yes!  It's around 9:30pm and I have over 3000!
Resistance training started? YES!!!  WooHoooo!!

As a side note, I think I need to rework the plan on this one.  If I stay on the current training plan, I only work each muscle group every 7 days.  That's like starting over each week, so at the end of my upper body routine, I threw in part of the lower body plan as well.  I'll do some research and see what I a "normal" plan looks like.  In the past, I've used the "Body for Life" program, but it takes up time switching out the weights.  If you've ever tried it you know what I mean - it's effective but really time consuming.

GOALS NEEDING SOME WORK:
Food - I forgot what I was cooking tonight was a slow cooker meal, so we're having that tomorrow.  And instead of switching today's dinner for tomorrow's (my teen complained when she heard what it was - and I didn't feel like arguing - plus it was an excuse to... yeah, you guessed it... eat out.  =(
Not too bad, but bad enough - I had steak tips, some kind of rice that tasted really good (so that must mean fattening, right?) and a salad.  Oh and two dinner rolls... with cinnamon butter.  I did, however, forego dessert, so there's that...






Monday, July 1, 2013

A loss and the LR Gym

Saturday weigh-in... down 1.3 pounds.  It would have been nice to see more for the effort from last week, but a loss is a loss and the scale is headed in the right direction.  Here's my progress chart:


I know I should be happy with the loss and I am - just not overjoyed, ya know?  I want this whole thing to go faster, healthy fast, not too fast, just faster.  In my past experience, the only way to make it go faster is to increase muscle through some type of resistance training - more muscle=bigger calorie burn.  So, while I'm not under 200 yet (my original muscle training milestone), I think I should begin to incorporate it into my routines.

Resistance training is fun to me.  It makes me feel strong.  I absolutely love it!  That's not even positive self-talk there, I really do!  I guess it's because I can feel the muscles working whereas when I do cardio-based exercise, I just feel like I'm gonna die.  With cardio (at least at this weight), when I push myself, everything hurts.  There's flab bouncing around, my feet, ankles and knees feel like they are made of broken glass and within seconds of elevating my heart rate, I'm breathing so hard it really does feel like death is imminent!!  So hopefully, with the addition of muscle over the next few weeks, I can eliminate or at least reduce some of that awfulness of cardio.

On to the plan!!  Have I mentioned that I turned my living room into a gym?  Well, I did.  Here is a list of my gym equipment:

Treadmill
Bowflex Sport
additional weight bench
Bowflex adjustable dumbells (adjustable from 2.5 to 20 lbs each)
Neoprene light weight dumbbell set (2, 3 & 5 lb pairs)
exercise ball
punching bag

And here's a picture of my LR:


It's weird, I know.  But if I am constantly surrounded by motivation to workout, I will.  I've gathered all this stuff over the years - not all at once.  My only new purchase is the treadmill about six weeks ago.

I have posted a new training plan on the "Current Training" so, feel free to check it out...  

Today was hiking/geocache day.  My friend/new cache buddy Donna and I walked 3.58 miles and found 6 caches in just under 2 hours.  Oh and there was an elevation gain of 1066.3 ft - I knew I was breathing heavy for a reason!! The weather was great with the temp around 65F,  though we got a light rain shower at the end.  Still LOTS of fun!!  If you haven't tried geocaching and want to have a "purpose" to your walks, I totally recommend it.

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