Okay, so I said earlier that I was needing a health related goal to help continue loosing weight. Last year, it was running a 5k and getting up on a wake board. I had never had the arm strength to drag my fat butt out of the water, but last year I did all of these things. Then I promptly stopped loosing weight. This year I've decided that I'm going to participate in the Bountiful Triathlon .
This tri is a "Sprint", which means that it is possible for normal people to do. I say that, as I have a few friends and coworkers who compete. One of my management team is currently training for his first Iron Man, and he is nervous.
I've spoken with a few people who have done this, and they said it is a nice start, although they have mixed feelings about Bountiful's. The deal is that this triathlon runs in reverse. You do the running first, then biking, and then the swim. Usually this is the other way around. I will be competing as a Clydesdale, which means a really big guy (+200 pounds). The one guy that I spoke to who has only run two sprint triathlons told me that he really preferred the Bountiful format.
So, last week I started my preparation, and I have until August to be completely ready. I'm starting by getting to the point I can run for a half hour straight. When I say run, I mean shamble along while moving my arms in a running motion. I haven't done much running over the winter because it was cold, and I was in the gym (which is kind of cross-fitish.) Now, we are running more as a gym, and I've started running three days a week using the Couch to 5k program from coolrunnings.com. This week, I alternate between running for 90 seconds and walking for 90 seconds. By the end of the program, which is eight weeks, you are just running for 30 minutes straight.
On the other days of the week, I'm going to the gym, and I just got my bike out and in working condition. I plan on just using my mountain bike for this race, and seeing as I used it for transportation for more than a year of my life, I think this will be fine. I might end up buying some narrower tires for it, but I don't have really beefy off-road tires anyway.
In the summer I'll work on swimming at my parents' house, and the local pool. I've already told my brother, who swam in high school (and did really well), and his son who has swam in high school that I'll need pointers. I've also spoken with my step-dad about it as well. He taught swimming for a long time, that's why they have the pool.
I really think I could complete this tri right now, but it would take me a long time. So you start with a 5k run, then move onto a 10 mile bike ride, and finish with a 350 meter swim, in the indoor pool.
Now I've got to get serious about my diet. I know that I changed my diet when we went on vacation last year, and haven't really gotten serious about it since. I haven't been horrible, but I haven't stayed focused on eating right either.
I'll be giving updates on the training as I go along, so wish me luck.
Showing posts with label weight loss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weight loss. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Friday, December 9, 2011
Flush
I just wanted to drop a note, which means have a big, long write up, about the new cleanse, or flush, I'm doing.
Over the past few months, I've become a little more lax on my eating habits. I've kept my caloric intake fairly low, but I haven't kept my meals balanced, and have gone back to carb-heavy eating. This has resulted in my weight loss plateauing (by the way, I spelled plateauing correctly on my first attempt, and kind of surprised myself.) I've still been working out very hard, and can feel a difference in how much muscle mass I have, I'm just not loosing the fat.
This month my trainer, Jason at Firehouse Fitness, has released a new 28 day weight loss plan. He uses some tips and tricks he learned while getting ready for body building shows. He has also warned us that once we are done, if we don't return to good eating habits, the body will pack the pounds back on. I plan on returning to my early workout eating habits after the next three weeks. This really isn't hard, it was just making sure I had a good protein/carb balance, and not pigging out on anything.
His plan, which he is selling so I won't give away much, is broken down over four weeks. During this four weeks, you need to be performing a resistance exercise routine three to five days each week. He also lays out a diet that consists of a good balance of protein and carbs, and involves eating five meals a day*.
During week one and three, you have a diet with more carbs and add in some cardio workouts on top of the resistance training. His plan lays out when to eat and exercise to optimize weight loss. If you are interested in purchasing his plan email him at muirfitness@yahoo.com, please mention my name.
Week two and four remove the additional cardio exercise, and cut the carbs in your diet. He still tells you when and what to eat, you just don't have to worry about the extra cardio.
So far, I've been doing it for five days, and have lost 4.5 pounds during that time. I can say that I've felt hungry at times, which is weird. I've eaten more for breakfast and lunch than I normally would. The extra cardio has made me tired, but I overall feel great. (The big problem with the extra cardio is that I'm going out jogging/walking and it has been extremely cold this week.) The jogging is making my leg muscles more tired than usual, but that's all good. Nothing like muscle soreness, eh?
As I go into week two, I'll keep you updated on the progress.
Over the past few months, I've become a little more lax on my eating habits. I've kept my caloric intake fairly low, but I haven't kept my meals balanced, and have gone back to carb-heavy eating. This has resulted in my weight loss plateauing (by the way, I spelled plateauing correctly on my first attempt, and kind of surprised myself.) I've still been working out very hard, and can feel a difference in how much muscle mass I have, I'm just not loosing the fat.
This month my trainer, Jason at Firehouse Fitness, has released a new 28 day weight loss plan. He uses some tips and tricks he learned while getting ready for body building shows. He has also warned us that once we are done, if we don't return to good eating habits, the body will pack the pounds back on. I plan on returning to my early workout eating habits after the next three weeks. This really isn't hard, it was just making sure I had a good protein/carb balance, and not pigging out on anything.
His plan, which he is selling so I won't give away much, is broken down over four weeks. During this four weeks, you need to be performing a resistance exercise routine three to five days each week. He also lays out a diet that consists of a good balance of protein and carbs, and involves eating five meals a day*.
During week one and three, you have a diet with more carbs and add in some cardio workouts on top of the resistance training. His plan lays out when to eat and exercise to optimize weight loss. If you are interested in purchasing his plan email him at muirfitness@yahoo.com, please mention my name.
Week two and four remove the additional cardio exercise, and cut the carbs in your diet. He still tells you when and what to eat, you just don't have to worry about the extra cardio.
So far, I've been doing it for five days, and have lost 4.5 pounds during that time. I can say that I've felt hungry at times, which is weird. I've eaten more for breakfast and lunch than I normally would. The extra cardio has made me tired, but I overall feel great. (The big problem with the extra cardio is that I'm going out jogging/walking and it has been extremely cold this week.) The jogging is making my leg muscles more tired than usual, but that's all good. Nothing like muscle soreness, eh?
As I go into week two, I'll keep you updated on the progress.
Monday, April 4, 2011
I'm losing it
Weight that is. I started going to the gym about three months ago, and I'm down 26 pounds. Hooray me! I got down to this weight about a year ago, but a vacation and job change got memoir of the exercise habit and I shot back up (and then some.)
As you can see above, my actual weight was witheld because I feel bad about the undo stress I have caused the bathroom scale.
I have been tracking my health regimen using Livestrong's website. They have a huge nutrition and exercise database. Looking at my trendline, I'm losing a little over 12 pounds a month. Now that the weather is improving, some days, I'm going to start adding more cardio and see if I can accelerate that a little.
Wish me luck!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
I'm "back" in action
Okay, forgive the stupid pun, but I couldn't resist.
As you know last week I was experiencing back problems, and after sitting in my desk chair for 9 hours on Thursday, and feeling the pain, I did something I thought I would never do. I called a chiropractor. Now I have nothing against chiropractors, but I've always been skeptical. I happen to know someone who runs an office for a chiropractor, so I called and set up an appointment. Below is how my adventure went.
My wife had to drop me off, and go pick up our son. So I went in and talked with the chiropractor, and had some x-rays taken. Then they had me lay on a table, and hooked up the electro-stimulus machine (I'm not sure what it is really called.) I laid on the table for 20 minutes while my back muscles were stimulated, with an ice sheet on my back. I'm not sure that ice sheet sufficiently describes the experience. My back felt as if the chiropractor was Darth Vader, and I was Han Solo, and they were trying to freeze me in carbonite. The main difference was the Empire was in a recession, so they didn't have a full-body freezer and had to do it a bit at a time.
My wife showed up again, as they asked me to stand up and move to the next room. I felt really good, so I pushed up off the table, and quickly laid back down. They had somehow frozen my back into the most painful position it could be in. It took me about 5 minutes to walk 20 feet, and I was miserable. I got on an upright device, and they pivoted me down until I was horizontal. The chiropractor had my wife look at the heels of my feet as I lay there. There were not level, they were about 1.5 inches out of level, and the chiropractor told her that was one of the reasons my back hurt. He did some work on me, and brought them back into level. (I hope my use of carpentry terms makes sense, it's the only way I can describe it.)
He raised me up, and I thought I was done, but my back still hurt. He had me sit in a chair, and popped, I mean aligned my neck. That felt great, but again not much for my back. He had me stand up, and move to another room where the real magic would take place. I laid down, on my side this time, and my back was aligned. By this I mean that a 200 pound man climbed up on me, and focused all of his weight and strength on one of my arms, and one of my legs. It was great! He used the shampoo technique, it was align, reverse, repeat. My back felt so much better. I was a little bit tender still, but it was livable. I went back in the next day, and had the same experience, but this time the ice sheet didn't freeze me in pain.
Well, long-story short, I am down up and around, and have just a little tenderness in my back. I went to the gym last night for the first time since the chiropractor. My back was a little sore after, but I iced it, and it feels fine this morning.
As for how the gym is going, my wife wanted me to post this picture to show my progress. The picture on the left is me in 2006, the first day of work in a new office (I found it on our corporate intranet yesterday,) the picture on the right is a self portrait from yesterday. In between these two pictures I put on about 15 pounds, so in the second picture I'm only about five pounds lighter than the first picture. I think that I've slimmed down noticeably, but then again I'm biased!
As you know last week I was experiencing back problems, and after sitting in my desk chair for 9 hours on Thursday, and feeling the pain, I did something I thought I would never do. I called a chiropractor. Now I have nothing against chiropractors, but I've always been skeptical. I happen to know someone who runs an office for a chiropractor, so I called and set up an appointment. Below is how my adventure went.
My wife had to drop me off, and go pick up our son. So I went in and talked with the chiropractor, and had some x-rays taken. Then they had me lay on a table, and hooked up the electro-stimulus machine (I'm not sure what it is really called.) I laid on the table for 20 minutes while my back muscles were stimulated, with an ice sheet on my back. I'm not sure that ice sheet sufficiently describes the experience. My back felt as if the chiropractor was Darth Vader, and I was Han Solo, and they were trying to freeze me in carbonite. The main difference was the Empire was in a recession, so they didn't have a full-body freezer and had to do it a bit at a time.
My wife showed up again, as they asked me to stand up and move to the next room. I felt really good, so I pushed up off the table, and quickly laid back down. They had somehow frozen my back into the most painful position it could be in. It took me about 5 minutes to walk 20 feet, and I was miserable. I got on an upright device, and they pivoted me down until I was horizontal. The chiropractor had my wife look at the heels of my feet as I lay there. There were not level, they were about 1.5 inches out of level, and the chiropractor told her that was one of the reasons my back hurt. He did some work on me, and brought them back into level. (I hope my use of carpentry terms makes sense, it's the only way I can describe it.)
He raised me up, and I thought I was done, but my back still hurt. He had me sit in a chair, and popped, I mean aligned my neck. That felt great, but again not much for my back. He had me stand up, and move to another room where the real magic would take place. I laid down, on my side this time, and my back was aligned. By this I mean that a 200 pound man climbed up on me, and focused all of his weight and strength on one of my arms, and one of my legs. It was great! He used the shampoo technique, it was align, reverse, repeat. My back felt so much better. I was a little bit tender still, but it was livable. I went back in the next day, and had the same experience, but this time the ice sheet didn't freeze me in pain.
Well, long-story short, I am down up and around, and have just a little tenderness in my back. I went to the gym last night for the first time since the chiropractor. My back was a little sore after, but I iced it, and it feels fine this morning.
As for how the gym is going, my wife wanted me to post this picture to show my progress. The picture on the left is me in 2006, the first day of work in a new office (I found it on our corporate intranet yesterday,) the picture on the right is a self portrait from yesterday. In between these two pictures I put on about 15 pounds, so in the second picture I'm only about five pounds lighter than the first picture. I think that I've slimmed down noticeably, but then again I'm biased!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Oh my aching back!
Okay, so it has been a long time since I posted anything. Right now I'm laid up with a bad back. Luckily it is not too serious, only over-training on my legs.
About 6 weeks ago, my wife and I joined a gym, Firehouse Fitness. It has been great. We've made lots of new friends, and the trainer "prods some serious buttocks". So far I've lost about 20 pounds. I've taken about 2 inches off the circumference of my chest, and slightly less off of my waist. The real difference has been, for lack of a better word, the density of my muscles. According to this body fat analyzer, my body fat has decreased by about 10%. Not too bad.
This brings us to my current predicament. One of the main focuses of our training is squats, lunges, burpees, hop touches, etc. When I went to the gym on Monday we had a cardio day, which included a lot of functional exercises focusing on squats, and kicks. To end the workout we did a squat burnout. During our second 90 second squat my legs cramped. I stretched out, and left not thinking much about it. By the time I got home my back was killing me. I've found that I can relieve the pressure on my back by massaging my hip joints. The doctor this morning basically told me to pull back a little on the lower body (he doesn't want me to stop going to the gym), and he has me going to the physical therapist to get some exercises to help tighten my core up, and make my body work better together. He thinks in the next few weeks I should see this pain go away.
Anyone who wants a great workout, come to Firehouse Fitness on any Saturday morning. Our trainer offers free workouts on Saturdays. (I know that sounds like an ad, but I just really like the gym. I have not been given any reimbursement for this plug, but am open to that idea!)
I'll keep you posted on my progress.
About 6 weeks ago, my wife and I joined a gym, Firehouse Fitness. It has been great. We've made lots of new friends, and the trainer "prods some serious buttocks". So far I've lost about 20 pounds. I've taken about 2 inches off the circumference of my chest, and slightly less off of my waist. The real difference has been, for lack of a better word, the density of my muscles. According to this body fat analyzer, my body fat has decreased by about 10%. Not too bad.
This brings us to my current predicament. One of the main focuses of our training is squats, lunges, burpees, hop touches, etc. When I went to the gym on Monday we had a cardio day, which included a lot of functional exercises focusing on squats, and kicks. To end the workout we did a squat burnout. During our second 90 second squat my legs cramped. I stretched out, and left not thinking much about it. By the time I got home my back was killing me. I've found that I can relieve the pressure on my back by massaging my hip joints. The doctor this morning basically told me to pull back a little on the lower body (he doesn't want me to stop going to the gym), and he has me going to the physical therapist to get some exercises to help tighten my core up, and make my body work better together. He thinks in the next few weeks I should see this pain go away.
Anyone who wants a great workout, come to Firehouse Fitness on any Saturday morning. Our trainer offers free workouts on Saturdays. (I know that sounds like an ad, but I just really like the gym. I have not been given any reimbursement for this plug, but am open to that idea!)
I'll keep you posted on my progress.
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