Workout

Holy hell, got on the bike tonight! Lots of things came together tonight to make this happen:

1. Tri training schedule called for 15 minutes on the bike
2. Missed my workout before work this morning
3. Got home tonight to find that my lovely wife had bought me a new bike helmet!

It seemed like karma. So I got the old mountain bike down, pumped up the tires, checked the brakes and took off for a nice ride around the neighbourhood. I ended up being out for about 20 minutes or so and according to mapmyrun.com, I covered about 5 kilometres, which seems pretty good.

It's been a while since I've been on the bike at all, so when I finished, I noticed that my quads felt...heavy. They didn't hurt, but felt kind of...um, pumped. I thought to myself, "I wonder if this is why they say that running after biking is an acquired skill?". So, I tried to jog a bit in front of my house...

I'm not gonna lie: I fell down.

Workout (Start of Try-a-Tri Training)

Super early workout today, but a good one. It was the first day of my mini-Triathlon training and the schedule called for "Run 15 mins". And, lo and behold, I actually did it, at my usual running pace of between 5 and 5.5 mph. With a 5 min warm up @ 3.5 mph and a 5 min cool down @ 3.0 mph, I covered 2.92km according to the treadmill. Not bad.

Workout

Damn, it feels good to type that so often. Banged out a P90X Kenpo workout in the middle of the day today. Had the heart rate monitor on, so I know it was working well...definitely in the zone for most of the workout.

That makes 5 workouts for June and we're only at the 12th. Feeling good that I'll hit the workouts goal for June. Booyah!

Inspiration

"If you want to do it, all you have to do is do it."

Workout, Bike and Protein Shake

Pretty psyched to get out to the gym this morning. Was at work nice and early (7am) and got a lot done, so was able to head over at 8:20 or so. I got a 12 week Tri-a-Tri training program from my friend Steve, and although I'm not sure that I'll start it, it did inspire me this morning to do something that I never do: stationary bike. Steve's program has a 15 minute bike workout in the first week, so I decided to try that out.

It was actually pretty fun to see what the bike was like. Wow, my legs were burning about 2 minutes into it, so that's something. I ended up doing just under 2.5km in 15 minutes. Good times. I think I'll keep mixing that into the workouts. It would be fun to do a simulated Tri-a-Tri at the gym at one point. Just gotta find a pool to swim in.

Finished off the workout with the usual upper body weight circuit x 2. Mixed in some half-assed core while waiting for machines to clear.

And finally, I'm drinking a Myoplex shake right now. Got 'em for 10 bucks a 4 pack at the GNC near my work. Seemed like a good deal. It's actually pretty tasty, and another 25g of protein. It's a tough call though: 210 calories. Tradeoff.

Workout

Another example of a making time to get that workout in - which I will have to do if I'm going to hit my goal of 8 workouts in June. I forgot to set my alarm last night, woke up almost 40 minutes late, hauled ass to get to an 8:30 meeting at work. But when that was over, I decided to go to the gym and make up for the missed workout. Gotta do it!

The plan today was to run 2.5 km to get a level set for the running portion of the Tri-a-Tri (Oh, I didn't mention that? Saving that for another post). However, my shins were killing me and I pulled up lame after only 1.5km. I assume this is because of my outdoor run on Sunday night.

So, I switched to weights and got in two circuits of the usual machines at the usual weights:

Bench press: 105 lbs
Shoulder press: 60 lbs
Bicep curl: 70 lbs
Tricep pushdown: 45 lbs
Leg press: 195 lbs
Row: 90 lbs

Felt good and wish I could have stayed longer!

Workout (or "Kids, Did You Know Running Outside Is Hard?")

Just got the bug to go out and run a bit tonight, mostly because I spend the afternoon reading beginnertriathlete.com. I set the old iPod for a 35 minute workout and off I went. Some observations:

1. It's mosquito season here in Canada. At dusk, they're out in force.
2. I almost stepped on a raccoon while adjusting said iPod.
3. Running on paved sidewalks and roads beats the hell out of your heels, ankles, shins and knees.
4. I have trouble pacing myself without the help of a treadmill.

All of that added up to a rather disappointing 2.5 km in 35 minutes, with lots and lots of walking. But, hey, I did it, instead of playing WOW. And, to be honest, according to my handy heartrate monitor, I spend almost all of that 35 minutes in my target zone, so it's all good.

Workout

Man alive, I did not feeling like hitting the gym this morning. I was late for work (and by "late" I mean I got in at 7:30), so I didn't have time to go at my usual time of 8am. But I did manage to get to there around 8:30 or so, and it was cardio day! Good times.

I started off thinking that I was going to run for 35 minutes and see how far I got. That lasted for about 10 minutes and I was so bored that I decided to start doing intervals. In the end I did about 3.7km in 35 minutes, with a mix between 6.5-7mph running for 60-90 seconds and walking for 3 minutes or so.

In other news, I have to tell you, I have been reading a blog called Dropping The lbs and marvelling at Josh's willpower. Then, he posted some before and after photos. Wow. No weird lighting, no airbrushing, no fat guy to ripped guy bullshit, just real results. This is inspiration.

June Goals (or "Back In The Saddle!")

June 1st! As you know, I was a little down at the end of last week because my weight had spiked so high that I missed my May target by 10 lbs. Interestingly, things have calmed down a bit and I got back on the program. And, of course, my weight came down accordingly. I'm actually feeling pretty good right now and ready to try and move the needle again.

So let's talk June goals:

1. Target spot weight on June 30th - 188 lbs. A little more realistic this time maybe.
2. Continue slow carb diet. I'm getting pretty good at this. I cheat a lot, but for the most part, it's becoming very sustainable.
3. 8 combo workouts. Changing this up a bit so it's not just a running goal.
4. Hockey. I am tempted to take this right off the list, but I feel like I want to keep some tension on it. One of these days I'll do it.

Also, I'm staying on the CQ for June. It actually seems to work. And by that I mean maybe my May results would have been worse if I hadn't been taking it.

May Recap (or "Too Many Cheat Days Does Not A Winner Make")

So, here's what May looked like. Warning: it's not pretty.

	2011-05-27	195.20	192.84
	2011-05-25	192.00	192.68
	2011-05-24	193.80	192.94
	2011-05-23	195.80	192.86
	2011-05-22	194.80	192.18
	2011-05-21	193.00	191.72
	2011-05-20	191.60	191.38
	2011-05-19	190.80	191.40
	2011-05-18	190.00	191.72
	2011-05-17	191.40	192.22
	2011-05-16	193.60	192.38
	2011-05-15	194.60	192.08
	2011-05-14	193.00	191.64
	2011-05-13	189.00	191.46
	2011-05-12	190.20	191.78
	2011-05-11	189.60	192.22
	2011-05-10	191.80	192.62
	2011-05-09	194.00	192.78
	2011-05-08	195.00	192.44
	2011-05-07	193.00	192.02
	2011-05-06	190.60	191.82
	2011-05-05	190.20	192.02
	2011-05-04	191.20	192.40
	2011-05-03	192.20	192.64
	2011-05-02	194.60	192.56

So, in short, I didn't move the needle much in May. I did get down to sub-190 a few times, but killed that with cheat days. I definitely finished weak; in the last few days, due to work commitments, birthday parties and just plain weakness, I cheated considerably and it shows in the results.

So, goal review. I don't even want to do this, because it's just going to hurt too much. But, here goes:

1. Target spot weight on May 27th was 185 lbs. Actual: 195.2 lbs. FAIL
2. Continue slow carb diet. Cheats on weekends only. Partial FAIL
3. Run 4 km in 30 mins. Didn't even try. FAIL
4. Hockey. Take a guess. FAIL.

I'm too bummed to set June goals now.

Workout

Managed to get motivated enough to get to the gym this morning, after a long weekend of ridiculously bad food and many, many beers. Realized my iPod was out of juice when I got there, so used that as an excuse not to run (sad). Instead, I did weights. The usual circuit routine. Felt pretty good and validated some of my starting weights. So, our baseline is:

Bench press: 105 lbs
Shoulder press: 60-70 lbs
Bicep curl: 70 lbs
Tricep pushdown: 45 lbs
Leg press: 195 lbs
Row: 90 lbs

Added the row thanks to a post I say on Body Re-composition about rows being a key exercise (among others) when working with obese people (!)

Workout and May Update

Just couldn't get excited to run this morning, even though I haven't been able to get out to the gym all week. I almost skipped it altogether, but in the end I *was* able to get excited enough about weights to at least go and lift for an hour. Haven't done that in a while - a full hour of just lifting. My arms are shaking as I type this; going to be very sore tomorrow I bet.

Tried to note weights a bit, but again, I have to find a way to record weights and reps. I guess I could just go old school and use a piece of paper. There was a guy who was actually lugging an iPad around the gym with him. No thanks.

Bench press: 105 lbs.
Shoulder press: 70 lbs.
Bicep curl: 70 lbs.
Leg press: 195 lbs.
Lat pulldown: 90 lbs.
Tricep pushdown: 45 lbs.

1st set at full weight for 8 reps. Later sets 8 reps, but weight usually 5-10% down.

Also, weight was around 191.5 this morning. Going to be difficult to hit the spot target of 185 by next week. The issue is bad nutrition days (read: cheat days). I've been a little more liberal than April and that's really having an effect. I can get down to sub-190, cheat up to 195 and then it takes 3 days to get back to 191 again. I am still moving downward on a trend basis, but even that will stop very soon. The good news is that there is at least directional indication that I've lost about 1-2% body fat since starting all this in April. I'm getting pretty consistent readings of 24% now.

June may be a very austere month for food and drink (sob).

Target Operating Model

Jason Statham. Born: September 12, 1972
Me. Born: December 12, 1972

He looks like this:

Credit: Men's Health

Me, not exactly like that. I started looking for a visual representation of what a stretch target over 18 months would look like. In other words, something to shoot for by the time I hit 40 years old. And, lo and behold, it turns out that Statham is only 3 months older than me. So, you know, that's something. Look at this guy. Holy hell.

Workout

The rare weekend workout today: P90X Kenpo. What can I say? I like punching and kicking.

Not much more to say. My heart rate was up nicely, my back kick needs a lot of work and my overall flexibility is a joke. But good way to start the carb burnoff from the weekend cheat days and get into ketosis as fast as possible

Crossfit Quote

Photo by: gadgetgirl

From the Crossfit website:

The world's most successful athletes and coaches rely on exercise science the way deer hunters rely on the accordion.

 That should be on a shirt.

Workout

Still a little sore in the legs from the run on Monday, so I decided to do weights today and some sprints for cardio. Have to figure out a better way to track weights and reps, but it was something like this:

Bench press: 105 lbs (I remember this one)
Shoulder press: 60 or 70 lbs
Bicep curl: 60 or 70 lbs
Leg Press: 195 lbs
Lat Pulldown 90 lbs?
Tricep pushdown 45 or 60 lbs?

For cardio, I ended up doing about 15 mins, of which 4 mins were 6.5/7 mph "sprints" and the rest was walking at 3.5 mph.

And the news of the day: spot weight this morning was 189.6 lbs. Ha!

May Update - Week 1

Bit of a rough week to start the May adventure. First, absolutely no workouts in the first week. Ridiculous, but I kept getting meetings booked early in the morning, so that was killing my normal gym time.

Second, I had a decent food week for 4 days, then the wheels fell off on Thursday. "Team building" night at work (many beers + late night fast food), Friday night cheat + beers, Saturday full day cheat + beers, Sunday full day cheat (!) I should weight 200 lbs right now.

But, miraculously, I don't. I did get up to 195 lbs on Sunday morning. Down to 194 lbs today. Now, it's time to kill it this week.

Started off with my best run in a looooong time. 3 km in 24:30. It appears that my "steady" cardio pace is about 5.0 mph - in other words, I can run at 5 mph for a long time with a high steady heart rate. 5.5 is also good for long stretches (I ran about 1.5 km at 5.5 to start this run). I really need to bring my heart rate monitor to the gym and test that out.

Onward and downward! I also decided today that the day my weight hits 185 trend, I will switch from cardio workouts to weight training and some HIIT.

May Goal Setting

So, after a fairly successful April, it's time to set some goals for May. Here we go:

1. Weight: After losing 7 lbs in April, I think I'll try to continue that run. Target spot weight on May 27 morning will be 185 lbs. Considering I weighed in at 192.2 lbs this morning, that's 7.2 lbs, or right on my current weight loss curve.
2. Diet: Continue the Ferriss slow-carb diet. Cheat days from Friday nights to Sunday mornings.
3. Exercise: Back on the cardio treadmill (haha). Got up to 3km in about 25 minutes at the end of April. Gotta ramp that up to 4km in 30 mins in May.
4. Supplements: Coming off PAG for a while, and trying CQ. Started with 800mg for two days to see if any weird stomach effects and nothing so far. Next stop, 1600mg. Suggested dose is 3200mg/day. 
5. Hockey: Just get out to hockey. Once. How hard is that?

Let's do this!

April Slow Carb - The End!

Well, this is the basically the last day of April Slow Carb, since I will be cheating tonight @ dinner and tomorrow night. I usually don't weigh in on Saturday, so let's call this, April 29th, the last day of slow carb. And now, the tale of the scale, date - spot weight - 10 day moving average:

	2011-04-29	190.60	191.92
	2011-04-28	190.80	192.12
	2011-04-27	191.00	192.40
	2011-04-26	192.60	192.96
	2011-04-25	194.00	192.90
	2011-04-24	193.60	192.66
	2011-04-23	191.40	192.52
	2011-04-22	191.60	192.68
	2011-04-21	192.00	193.04
	2011-04-20	191.60	193.10
	2011-04-19	192.60	193.24
	2011-04-18	193.60	193.34
	2011-04-17	196.60	193.42
	2011-04-15	192.00	193.24
	2011-04-14	191.60	193.80
	2011-04-13	192.20	194.24
	2011-04-12	193.00	194.64
	2011-04-11	195.20	195.02
	2011-04-08	192.60	195.00
	2011-04-07	193.00	195.22
	2011-04-06	193.60	195.47
	2011-04-05	194.40	195.75
	2011-04-04	194.80	195.73
	2011-04-03	197.60	195.71

So, depending on how you want to look at it, I lost 7 lbs in 27 days (.25 lbs/day) or I lost 3.79 lbs if we go by trend weight. I personally feel that 7 lbs is closer to the reality. I wish I had done the Total Inches measurements, because I still suspect that some of this is re-composition - trading fat for muscle, which means your weight just shifts, but doesn't necessarily drop all that quickly (the old "muscle weighs more than fat" defense).

Still, it was a very successful month. 7 lbs is pretty good. And now we can re-calibrate and try something new for May. Exact goals to follow soon, but I think I will be slightly less carb restrictive, but more exercise and change the supplements a bit.

April Slow Carb - T minus 4

Oh yeah, down to 191.0 this morning. I am *breaking* through that 190 marker by Friday morning. Yes!

I know I'm not supposed to get caught up in the weight thing, but it's a hell of a motivator. And I've noticed that my body fat percentages are starting to come in consistently at 24.5% or so, where they used to be around 25.5% or even higher sometimes (bio-impedance sucks).

Could it be that I'm actually losing some fat? My pants definitely fit a little better now. May is going to be *awesome*.

April Slow Carb - T minus 5

5 days to go. Down to 192.6 this morning, so definitely back on track.

Holy hell am I sore from running yesterday. Didn't realize how much running I haven't been doing over the past few months. Gotta get back on that horse.

Workout

Jumped up to 194 lbs this morning, which isn't bad considering the damage I did this weekend.

Also, took this first Policosanol last night before bed. 10mg.

Resolved to finish the month strong by going to the gym this morning and banging out 3K in 27 minutes, which is a triumph for me. Felt really strong, no leg pain, good breathing, could have kept going but had to get back to work.

Suddenly a 5K in the fall seems very possible. Let's do this!

April Slow Carb - The Final Week

Well, the cheat days finally got me: jumped up to 193.6 lbs today. And, of course, today was Easter dinner with the folks, so I had to cheat a bit there too. I tried to keep it reasonable, but I know I'm going to get another jump tomorrow morning.

So, as we head into the last week, things are going pretty well. If the trend continues, I should get down under 190 in a spot weigh-in this week, probably on Thursday or Friday morning. And while that's a little less than 10 lbs, it'll still be a pretty good start.

As I head into May, it'll be more of the same. I'll continue the slow carb diet I think, but I'm going to try some new additions:

1. Full PAG stack (no garlic until I can find a better brand)
2. CQ addition
3. 3 workouts/week

More info in another post at the beginning of May, but if I can finish April at 190-ish, then I don't think 180 is out of the question for end of May.

Also, giving some serious thought to training for a 5K in the fall.

April Slow Carb - Cheating Like A Mofo

On this easter weekend, I have been cheating like you wouldn't believer. But here's the thing: weight is still coming down. For two days. Just small amounts, but I keep waiting for the spike and it just isn't happening. And this is after potatoes, stuffing, beer and many, many glasses of wine. Wild.

I expect tomorrow morning or Monday to be the day where it all comes down.

In other news, did a little P90X this morning. Tried out the Kenpo routine...awesome stuff, I actually enjoyed it. Wanted to do the whole thing, but ran out of time...

April Slow Carb - Stall?

A little bummed out today. I know you're not supposed to focus too much on daily weigh-ins, but it was getting addictive to see that number going down a little every day. Until today, where I was 1/2 a pound heavier this morning than yesterday. Again, I know this is not a big deal, but still. I have a number in my head when I step on that scale, and 192 lbs wasn't it. Oh well.

This weekend is easter, and that's going to mean some tough choices about meal selection. There's going to be mashed potatoes, stuffing, beer, etc. etc. We'll have to see how that goes down.

Finally, added a shot of garlic to the supplement routine after dinner last night. I can't remember how much or what brand, but I can tell you three things: 1) the pills, although "odor controlled", smell terrible; 2) some stomach discomfort last night. Not a full on stomach ache, but just weird and continues a little bit this morning; and 3) TMI warning: full emergency sprint to the bathroom about 10 mins ago.

Garlic doesn't agree with me in that quantity or form.

Workout

Quick visit to the gym this morning. Didn't have a lot of time, so banged out 15 mins on the elliptical and 1 circuit of the machines (bench, leg press, pulldowns, shoulder press, curls) and out the door. Not great, but something. Just trying to get the habit started again in preparation for May, when it all goes down.

April Slow Carb - Supplement Update

Just for the record, my supplement program has stabilized at:

1 Centrum Forte multi
1000mg Omega 3
2400 IU Vitamin D
100mg ALA
400mg EGCG green tea extract

Which means it's probably time to add something new! I'll probably start with Policosanol before bed and/or garlic extract after dinner.

Saving the CQ for May.

April Slow Carb - Another Update

An interesting development: On Wednesday, I had a couple of things working against me. First, I was in a 5 hour meeting at work, and lunch was brought in. And, of course, it was sandwiches. I managed to steal a turkey wrap to keep the carbs down, and get some salad in there. I did however, have a cookie, because I was flatlining in the meeting.

Wait, it gets worse. That night, retirement party! Glass and a half of red wine, and a few jack and cokes. Now, normally, I would have had beer, so that's a small win. But now the killer: I was so hungry that I had McDonald's on the way home. Double cheeseburger, fries, Sprite, the whole 9 yards. Then I got home and ate banana bread, cheese and, I swear, M&Ms. Good lord.

So, I was prepared for a bit of a "spike" on Thursday morning.

Nope, lowest weight since I started: 191.6. What the hell? I don't want to get ahead of myself here, but it feels like I'm in pretty good shape so far. For those keeping score at home, here's the latest tally:

April 3 (start day) - 197.6
April 11 (1 week later) - 195.2
April 15 - 192.0
Total lost so far - 5.6 lbs

I'm definitely on pace to do 10 lbs this month, but I'm also thinking that I'll probably have to starting getting to the gym more regularly. And no more McDonalds.

April Slow Carb - Update

Two interesting things today:

1. Weight is basically back to where it was before the cheat day. In other words, I ended last week at 192, ate like a pig for a day, jumped up to 195, and it's back down to 193 on Tuesday morning. Nice. And exactly what's supposed to happen on this plan.
2. Back in the gym today for the first time in a loooooong time. For some reason I decided to hit the elliptical today. Now, back in the day, I was all over the elliptical - it was my "go to" cardio. But somewhere along the way I gave up on it. Well, I'm happy to report that the elliptical was a pretty good workout and the bonus? It doesn't beat the hell out of your knees like running.

So, 20 mins elliptical and another 15 or so doing some light weights. Hey, it's better than nothing.

Really, the best news was that the gym is not busy at 8am. Which is *perfect*. If I can get to work by 7:30 or so, I can get into the gym for an hour at 8 and be back before most people show up at 9am. Sweet.

April Slow Carb - Week 1 Recap

Off to a pretty good start in April. Just got through my first weekend, including the cheat "day" and only bounced up about 3 lbs, which I'm told is normal. So, if you're scoring at home, my weight looks like this over the first week:

Start - April 3: 197.6 lbs
End of week - April 8: 192.6 lbs
... cheat day...
Start week 2 - April 11: 195.2 lbs

Interesting. Have to keep it going this week. Made some chili yesterday for this week's dinner meals and last night added ALA back to the stack and will track how that goes down this week. Supplementation looks like this right now:

Multivitamin (Centrum Forte)
1000 mg Omega 3
2400 IU Vitamin D
400 mg Green Tea Extract
100 mg ALA

April Slow Carb - Whatever Day This Is

I stopped counting the days because I'm so hungry. Just kidding!

I'm actually not hungry at all. That's the nice thing about this "diet": you really don't have to deprive yourself of food. Certain types of food yes. But not food in general.

So far things have been going well. I am 4 pounds down from my start weight and feeling good. I am being much more strict this time. The only thing I am cheating with is a little bit of cheese. I basically can't live without cheese. But it's not a lot, I swear.

Green tea extract supplement is working out okay. Not noticing any real changes or weirdness. I might even re-start the ALA. We'll see. I'll probably give the GTE another week and see where we're at.

April Slow Carb - Day 2

Ugh, sore from the yesterday's workout. I didn't mention that? While my wife and kids were watching Tangled at my sister's place, I was doing pushups, crunches and yoga stuff until I felt sick.

Anyhoo, day 2. Protein shake in the car on the way to work. That actually worked pretty well. Lunch was chicken breast on salad. And dinner? Well, more salad. This time a taco salad thing that was actually very tasty. Tonight's snack was our old favorite, red wine.

And now it's 10:30 and I have to go to bed before I find something to eat.

Oh, yes, the coolest news of the day: I lost 3 lbs of (water) weight in 24 hours. Nice. I guess we should have a goal for the month. The 4HB says you can do 20 lbs in 1 month. I'm going to keep it real and go for 10 lbs. That would make me about 185 lbs. That'll be tough. We'll see.

One more thing: I popped a Green Tea Extract supplement for the first time today. 400mg (200mg of EGCG). Will be tracking that too.

April Slow Carb - Day 1

Well, enough is enough. After hitting a ridiculously high 197 lbs and not having been to the gym in 2 weeks, it's time to make a change. I've been thinking about it for a while and honestly, this is the final straw.

So, on Friday, I decided that I'd do the 4HB slow carb diet in April. Not, the "modified" version that I made up in January. News flash: it didn't work at all. Nope, the real, full on, slow carb version. I'll probably starve to death.

Naturally, I started with a cheat day, to get it all out of my system. Pizza, cookies, chips and beer. Good times. Then came Sunday, and the good times ended. My Sunday menu:

1. Breakfast: Protein shake (have to get 30g of protein with 1/2 of waking up)
2. Lunch: Butternut squash soup (homemade, and damn tasty)
3. Dinner: Steak and asparagus
4. Snack: Glass of red wine

How did I feel? Interestingly, I was peeing like a champ all day. I guess that's the water fleeing the building as the sodium level in my body drops. I also was a little weak and headache-y in the early evening. Later, I felt like I was genuinely starving.. I had to go to bed at 9:30 to try to forget about the hunger.

On to day 2! Had the protein shake in the car this morning. Green tea at work. Let's do this!

Late March Update

Wow. Just got back from vacation in Florida for 2 weeks and there's some good news and bad news:

1. Bad: I ran only once in 10 days in Florida. Ridiculous.
2. Good: After drinking nothing but beer and eating spray cheese out of a can for a week, I only gained 2 pounds.

Interestingly, I actually felt pretty good. No aches, pains, weirdness. I didn't even take any vitamins and I slept on a couch and I still felt great. Anyway...time to get back on the program folks!

So, I've been thinking about a dinner meal plan that I can live with. Must be foods I like, made of real food and can be made relatively quickly/warmed up after working all day.

So far, we've got:

1. Lentil soup
2. Turkey chili
3. Protein shake and (something)
4. Flaxseed chicken breast and salad

Getting there...if only I could find a healthy pizza :)

Workout

Cardio: 25 mins, 2.50km. Crazy shin pain. I was actually feeling good cardio-wise, but had to walk a lot because of the pain.

New machines, so still getting a level set. Didn't really track reps, but getting new weights. Will start tracking next workout, but did the usual:

Chest Press
Leg Press
Shoulder Press
Close Grip Pulldown
Tricep Pushdown
Bicep Curl

Off on vacation at the end of this week to visit the folks in Florida. Keeping the workout going there will be a challenge. At least I can run outside.

February Update

So, these were the February goals:

1. At least 8 combo workouts (cardio and weight training)
2. Go out to Saturday night pickup hockey once. Just. one. time.
3. Ease into the full PAGG stack and document effects/issues, if any
4. A trend weight at or below 190!

And, now, let's see how we did. Warning: it isn't pretty.

1. FAIL - 3 workouts in all of February. Pathetic
2. FAIL - Didn't get out to hockey.
3. SUCCESS? - I did start the ALA. And I did document that it may have been responsible for some weirdness. So that's something.
4. EPIC FAIL - Trend weight today was 194.72. Or, 1 lbs HIGHER than beginning of the month.

And, now, the March plan. Which will look familiar.

1. 8 workouts in March. I'll be in Florida for 2 weeks, so getting out to run will be fun.
2. Hockey. Just once. Maybe easier as there is a 9pm slot for beginners on Sat. night.
3. Trend weight = 190! Time to start the pain again.

I am feeling particularly fat this morning. My belly is ridiculous. Maybe it's the beer. You think?

Workout (and "hey, it's been a while" Update)

So, first off all, I started a new job last week, so life was pretty hectic and not a little stressful. I really would have benefitted from some gym time, but I just couldn't bring myself to walk out of the office in the middle of the day to go (I go to the gym at off-peak times, but that's another post).

At any rate, I am severely behind my goals for the month, with only this week remaining. Going to really have to reach this week and reset for March. I can't even rationally talk about my weight. The protein and no carbs thing didn't really do much for me...it's probably back to more calorie reduction/deficit to actually get some results going.

Also, with a new job location comes a new gym! Which is actually my old gym, but that's probably another post too. This gym is a little less busy, but a little older and grosser than the more high-end one I was going to before. All part of the same chain though, and my card seems to get me in anywhere (with towels!)

Cardio: 20 mins = 2.25km (which actually seems better than normal). I am re-starting my upload to nike.com, so we'll see if I can build a widget or something to automagically link runs to the blog.

Workout: 1 circuit of the usual at current weights (how's that for shorthand?)

Supplements: stopped the ALA and a week later, foot is normal again. It could have been stress, but I'm not going through that bullshit again. No more ALA or any supplements, except the proven (for me): Multi, Omega 3 and Vitamin D.

Workout

Let's get the "cardio" out of the way first: 2.22km in 20 mins. Ridiculous. Finding it very difficult to get motivated for running these days. But you knew that already.

Leg Press 10 x 190 lbs
Chest Press 10 x 40 lbs
Close Grip Pull Down 10 x 100 lbs
Shoulder Press 8 x 40 lbs
Bicep Curl 10 x 80 lbs
Close Grip Push Down 8 x 40 lbs
Dumbell Flys 10 x 20 lbs

Not bad. Not much to report otherwise. Stopped the ALA because of weirdness in left foot. Hmmm.

Workout

A triumph for me today...totally skipped the morning workout, but got off my ass in the afternoon and made the time for it. Good times. Pretty good workout too...my arms are shaking as I type this. That's good right?

Leg Press 2 x 195lbs x 10
Chest Press 2 x 47lbs x 10
Close Grip Pull Down 2 x 100lbs x 10
Shoulder Press 2 x 40lbs x 8
Bicep Curl 2 x 80lbs x 10
Close Grip Push Down 1 x 40lbs x 10

Some half-hearted crunches and alternating side crunches (20 of each) And, yes, everyone's favorite: cardio! A killer 2.06km in 20 minutes. I really don't like running anymore. So I walk.

Finally, 200 mg of ALA yesterday, no issues. Today is the first day of 300mg. 100 down so far, 200 to go.

February Goals

It's February 2nd and that means time for a little monthly goal setting. Here's the plan for February:

1. At least 8 combo workouts (cardio and weight training)
2. Go out to Saturday night pickup hockey once. Just. one. time.
3. Ease into the full PAGG stack and document effects/issues, if any
4. A trend weight at or below 190!

These should all be achievable without too much of a stretch. Trend below 190 means basically 4 lbs in a month which should be doable @ 1 lb/week.

Sidenote: absolutely no weirdness from the ALA so far. I don't expect anything, but you never know.

PAGG Stacking

Just wanted to get this on the record to see if there are any odd effects: started with ALA today after dinner, 100mg. Will target around 300mg/day on a schedule of lunch, dinner, bedtime. Probably try a week of just ALA, then add the common G to the mix (garlic).

Also, missed my workout completely today, but in my defense, my new job was announced so I was a little preoccupied at work.

January Review

Our first monthly review! How exciting. If only the news was better. Well, it's not all bad actually.

First, I basically met my (unwritten) goal of two workouts per week in January. I missed one workout total in the month (week 3), which is actually pretty good for me. If I could add Saturday night hockey to this, I'd be at my 3 workouts per week optimum. That'll be the goal for February - to just get out to hockey on Saturday night one time. Just. One. Time.

Weight is another story. I started the month at spot weight of 196.6, trend 194.9. I finished the month with spot weight 194.6, trend 193.8. That's not what I was hoping for to say the least. My version of the slow carb diet obviously doesn't work. I'm getting killed by:

- eating at night
- beer
- drinking beer, then eating at night

Something has to give here.

So, the weight's not coming off, but I do feel a little stronger and I don't feel all that bloated anymore, which is good. Still not sure what was up with that. Interestingly, I feel pretty gross after "cheat days" on weekends. Yesterday, I had pizza for lunch, a Big Mac for dinner, a beer and a glass of wine and had such brutal heartburn that I was waking up in the middle of the night. I guess my body is getting used to relatively good food during the week, so it rebels a bit on the weekends.

Stay tuned for goal setting for February!

Workout

Well now we know why I could do 250lbs on the leg press: the seat was too far away! I sat down on the machine today and the seat was further forward then I'm used too, but not bad...or so I thought. Tried 250. Couldn't even move it. Tried 230. No go. Tried 190. Nope. Moved the seat back. Tried 190 again. Yup, but it was tough. Then I realized that each rep was taking a lot longer and I could really extend my leg. Barely got through 8. So, now I know my true leg press weight...and I can barely walk. What a loser! Hahahaha...

Leg press – 190lbs x 8
Chest press – 50lbs x 10
Close grip pull down – 100lbs x 10
Shoulder press – 50lbs x 8
Arm curl – 80lbs x 10
Tricep push down – 40 lbs x 10

A few situps and crunches (not much time for this) and a mere 16 mins of cardio (walking mostly) for a whopping 1.6km. Running after lunch = bad times.

Workout

25 mins cardio run/walk (3.5-5.5mph) = 2.83 kms. That's a 45 min 5K folks. Ouch. My goal here is a 35 min 5K by September 2011.

Leg Press 250lbs x 10
Chest Press 40lbs x 10
Close grip pulldown 100lbs x 10
Shoulder press 50lbs x 8
Bicep curl 80lbs x 5 (just trying this to determine weight)

Not a bad workout all in all.

Weekend Update & Homemade Protein Bars

Wasn't able to get a workout in at the end of last week due to some drama at work. To make matters worse, I went out for dinner with a buddy I haven't seen in a while on Friday night, which meant steaks, fries and many, many beers. The result: almost no weight loss week over week. Gotta ramp it up next week.

In other news, after spending 5 bucks a day on protein bars for the past three weeks, I figured there must be a homemade solution out there. Hello Google! After a little research, I decided to make these:

Cereal Protein Bars

1/2-3/4c. honey
1/2 c. natty peanut butter
1/2 cup water
2 c. Rice Krispies, corn flakes, ect.
1-2c Oats (rolled)
1 tsp. vanilla
*6 scoops chocolate protein (100% ON, to be exact)
1/2 cup of splenda

Brought the water, honey, splenda to a boil. Added the PB, and lowered to a simmer. Threw the oats and cereal in a bowl. Take the liquid off of the stove when the PB is melted into the mixture, and add vanilla. Mix the liquid into the dry ingredients, put in a baking tray and put under broiler for 1 minute.

I've currently got 'em chilling in the fridge. They actually taste pretty good. We'll see how it goes tomorrow when I take them out, cut them into bars and take them to work.

Also, PAGG supplements haven't arrived yet.

Workout

In the spirt of not sticking with anything too long, I changed my Occam's workout program before I even started it! I decided to not just do 2 exercises on each day. Rather, I'm doing all 4 exercises, 1 set to failure on each workout day. Hey, why not? So today, using guesses at the starting weights I figured out last week (I forgot my cheat sheet), looked like this:

Chest press: 10 x 33 lbs
Close grip pulldown: 10 x 85 lbs
Leg press: 10 x 250 lbs
Shoulder press: 8 x 40 lbs

Actually, with the exception of the leg press, all the weights were pretty close to the intended starting weight.

I was pleasantly surprised that I can push all the starting weights 8 reps or more. This means that after 2 days off, we ratchet up to:

40, 100, 250 (leaving this one, should have been 175 to start), 45...respectively.

Also, cardio (snore). Run walk (3.5/5.5mph) for 25 mins = 2.66km

Starting Another Week + Protein Bar Review #2

So, I guess I'm a little disappointed so far. The weight is definitely coming off, but it's at a slow, measured pace (around 1 lb of fat/week). I guess I thought I'd see an avalanche, but it's just not happening. Interestingly, I am off the pace of 2010, where my trend weight was 192 at this point and this year it's still 195. This could be because it's a Monday and I'm always a bit heavier after a beer/cheat day on Saturday.

I also ordered the PAGG stack outlined in The 4HB. I'll try that and see if additional supplements make any difference. For the record I use iHerb for supplements. Good prices and reasonable shipping to Canada. Got my vitamin D from them last year and it was a smooth, cheap and fast process.

Finally, I know I never really got around to reviewing the other protein bars from that earlier post, so today I'm kicking it off again with this bad boy:

The Supreme Protein Peanut Butter Pretzel Twist is the best protein bar I've had so far. Why? One word: crunch. Every single bar I've had has been a solid lump of goo formed into a bar. This bar, on the other hand, actually has some texture and crunch. The taste was okay; not great, but peanut buttery and not too metallic or medicine-y. Probably an 8/10, but that could go up.

Workout

Started off today by doing leg press and chest press to determine my starting weights for Workout B of Occam's in 4HB. Here's how I did:

Leg Press 250 lbs x 5 reps (to failure)

Chest Press 40 lbs x 5 reps (to failure) - how sad. My chest has always been the hardest place for me to develop strength and mass.

So, my starting weights are:

Leg Press 175 lbs
Chest Press 28 lbs

Finished with 25 mins run/walk (5.5/3.5 avg), 2.62 km. And just for fun, finishing with Atkins protein bar right now.

Protein = Shorter Recovery Time?

One thing I've noticed is that since starting this high-protein diet, my recover time after working out seems to be significantly reduced. Previously, I almost always had some stiffness on the following day and flat out soreness 2 days later.

Now, honestly, I am not sore at all. I literally almost feel like I did nothing.

Or, maybe I'm getting a little stronger and I just don't know it yet. Hrm.

Workout

I settled on a workout plan. I decided I'll try the Occam's Protocol stuff from 4HB for the rest of January and see how it goes. Because this means significantly less time spent lifting, it leaves me time for a full 25 minute cardio session.

Today I did the 25 mins of run/walk and covered 2.68km (3.5-5.5 mph).

I also did the exercises to determine my starting weights for Occam's. Workout A is two exercises only:

1. Close grip pulldowns - 115 lbs x 4 reps (to failure)
2. Shoulder press - 65 lbs x 4 reps (to failure)

According to Tim's formula this means that my starting points are 85 lbs for the pulldowns and 40 lbs for the shoulder press. You do only 1 set to failure with this weight, at 7 or more repetitions. Then you bump the weight by 10%.

Workout B on Thursday!

Workout

No cardio today. All weights, plus tried some new stuff at the gym. Good times. Here's how it went down:

Dumbbell flys - 2 x 8 @ 20lbs
Dumbbell curls - 2 x 8 @ 20 lbs.
Alt. Shoulder Press - 3 x 8 @ 15 lbs.
Tricep flys - 2 x 8 @ 10bs
Lat Pulldowns - 2 x 8 @ 70 lbs

New:

Leg press - 3 x 8 @ 110 lbs
Bar curl - 1 x 8 @ 40 lbs
Chest press - 1 x 8 @ 40lbs
Tricep pushdown - 1 x 8 @ 25 lbs

Stomach/Core:
Sit up
Crunch
Twisting Situp
Plank
Steve Nash medicine ball thing

Obviously I'm still auditioning exercises. Next week, the plan is to start to settle on a routine or 2 and start tracking weight.

Some Early Observations

Two things that I've noticed early on in this little experiment:

1. I feel like a whale. For some reason my stomach feels bloated as hell. Not like I'm full after eating, just big and round. This may be because my gut is big and round. I don't know; it's weird. It's just a feeling I guess.
2. I'm breaking out. Not like Jay-Z broke out, but breaking out as in blemishes/pimples. I haven't had an appreciable occurrence of either in recent memory. This morning I counted 1 full on zit and 3 blemish kinda things, that might be pimples someday. wtf?!

The weight is not exactly sliding right off, but some headway is being made. So I'll stick with it and see what happens from here.

Cardio vs. Strength Training

If I want to lose a little weight and body fat, should I run or lift weights? My Internet research seems to boil down to this:

Sayeth the weightlifters: "Are you nuts? You should lift weights. You'll build muscle, which everyone knows burns more fat than, er, fat. If you're more muscular, you'll burn fat even when you're just sitting around. If you run, you'll lose fat and muscle. Then, you'll just be a skinny fat guy. You know, all bones and concave chest, but with a big gut. Yuck."

Sayeth the runners: "Ridiculous. The only way to lose weight is to burn calories. The only way to burn enough calories to make a difference is to run, fat boy. If you lift weights, sure you'll be strong, but you'll just be a strong fat guy. Have you ever seen those Scottish guys that pull trucks and throw logs on TV? They're pretty strong, but not exactly the lean and well defined body type, if you know what I'm sayin'."

Sayeth the P90X guys: Grrrrrrrr! <make the X sign with both forearms>

Who's right?

Workout

25 mins, internal walk/run (3.3-3.5/5.5-6.0). Max HR 168. 2.5 km distance covered. Still a fraction of what I could do when I was training for the 5K. My cardio capacity has really, really suffered over the past year.

Strength training is getting better though. I need to do some baselining here, but my basic routine is:

1. Dumbell Flys - 3 of 8 @ 20 lbs
2. Pulldowns - 3 of 8 @ 70 lbs
3. Alternating Shoulder Press - 3 of 8 @ 15 lbs
4. Curls - 3 of 8 @ 20lbs
5. Tricep Pushdowns - 3 of 8 @ ?? (haven't added this yet...probably about 15 lbs to start)

Need to add legs obviously. And I have a core/stomach workout that I'm mixing in too.

The issue now is the need to start separating cardio and strength workouts. If I do 25 minutes of cardio, it leaves me time for only an abbreviated version of the above. Usually I can get through 1 or maybe 2 sets of each, with some half-assed core mixed in (crunchs, plank, leg lift).

Protein Bars

So, somewhere in the 4HB, Tim says that I should be trying to get some protein, preferably within 1/2 hour of waking up. The only way that's happening with my schedule is with nutritional supplements. I just don't have the time in the morning to cook eggs and waking up my wife and kids at 6am isn't an option. So, protein bars to the rescue!

Last week, I stopped in at GNC real quick and grabbed these four tasty treats. All are peanut butter flavoured in some way, on the premise that if you have to choke one of these down, it better taste good. For me, that means peanut butter.

Up first, the BioX Xtreme Protein 32 Peanut Crunch. BioX is a Canadian company, which is good. Google lists their website as "possibly compromised" which is bad, but probably won't affect the taste of the bar itself. Hmmmm, looks like a peanut butter cup. Tastes like a protein bar. A little metallic. Extra points though for throwing the rice crisps in it; actual crunch is a good thing. In fact, a little more would be welcome. It's a big bar and a little tough to get through in one sitting. I can only get down half of it. Saving the other half for after workout later this morning.

Next up: Atkins Advantage Chocolate Peanut Butter!

Supplement Baseline

I've been taking the following supplements every day for about 2 years or so:

Multivitamin - Centrum Forte
Omega 3 - Jamieson Omega Select - 1000mg
Vitamin D - HealthyOrigins D3 - 2400IU

So far, so good across the board, but thinking I may add to these as the experiment continues.