Two steps forward and turn around and run like hell backwards. Turn around and do it again. Damn it damn it and damn it to hell.
Well, I seem to have a knack at giving myself ways to improve. So, improve I will although when the bar is low it's easy to lift it higher.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
It's Monday Again
I enjoy reflection. It's a must for me think about what I do right and wrong and how to improve. Always room for improvement and last week was no different. I used tobacco and drank to often probably my biggest road blocks in my highway of health. I missed two cardio workouts but I had 4 of the better weight workouts I've had in years. Great week for muscle not such a great week for fat loss.
However, I weighed 212 this morning with 27% body fat. Although I didn't lose as mush as I wanted to I did drop two pounds which is healthy. I'm happy with that but I would like to go down 4 or 5 pounds this week with a lower carb diet, no alcohol and no tobacco.
This weeks goals:
- No alcohol
- No tobacco
- Low carb high vegetable diet with enough calories to feel normal.
- Complete my affirmation statements and read it morning and night.
- Visualization, visualization, visualization!!!
Another chance to do it right and feel great. School is starting again soon and I will be there so I need to get it right before then. Because for the next 7-10 years I will be in a school environment. Wow, that's kinda crazy to think about.
However, I weighed 212 this morning with 27% body fat. Although I didn't lose as mush as I wanted to I did drop two pounds which is healthy. I'm happy with that but I would like to go down 4 or 5 pounds this week with a lower carb diet, no alcohol and no tobacco.
This weeks goals:
- No alcohol
- No tobacco
- Low carb high vegetable diet with enough calories to feel normal.
- Complete my affirmation statements and read it morning and night.
- Visualization, visualization, visualization!!!
Another chance to do it right and feel great. School is starting again soon and I will be there so I need to get it right before then. Because for the next 7-10 years I will be in a school environment. Wow, that's kinda crazy to think about.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Yesterday Talk
Yesterday was a great day all in all. The day before however was tough. Busy busy bullshit kept me up the entire shift but that's to be expected. The warmer the weather the higher the idiot counter goes therefore causing me to be busy as hell protecting people from themselves.
Anyway, that's for another blog. Back to me nutrition and exercise. I sleep most of yesterday and got up around three in the afternoon. I stumbled to the coffee pot and downed a few glasses and few more glasses of water. Water is something that I have been drinking a whole hell of a lot of lately which is good. I drink between one and a half to two gallons a day sometimes even more. When I first became really serious about my diet a few months ago I realized that I was dehydrated like a mofo and needed to really work on chugging down the water. At first I pissed about ever hour but now if I don't drink at least a gallon a day I feel like shit and I don't piss at all. Guess that confirms my past dehydration.
I can't remember exactly what I ate yesterday during the day, wait, I had a pumpernickel bagel with low fat cream cheese before sleep and woke up to a bowl of mini-wheats with berries that was really good. Not exactly a low carb type of day but it satisfied me and it's still clean eating. After waking up and getting my mind in the game I went out for another really good 2 mile run in just over 20 minutes. I jammed out to some RHCP and pounded the pavement. I ran the entire 2 miles and was able to maintain a ten minute per mile pace which is great for me at my current condition. It will get better but not overnight. After that I hit the gym for an intense hour or so workout. Did some dumbbell presses and incline dumbbells with four different core oriented exercises. I really like my current phase of weight training. I developed it by putting together several different ideas from the books I've been reading on fitness. Right now my main focus is on my back and core with some power moves at the beginning of my workouts just keep my form in good shape. Stuff like squats, deadlifts, bench and a variety of pull-type rowing exercises.
After that it went south a bit but not as far as it could have. My wife and I had tapas and drinks with some friends at work that ended up lasting until too about 2 this morning. Although I had probably five of six drinks I spaced them out and didn't get stupid and shit faced. It was fun though but I did get aggravated with my wife because she cut me off. It's was good though because it was time to get the hell home and sleep a while which we did. I woke this morning early and didn't feel near as bad as I should have. Ate another Pumper bagel got the wife to work and came back to the couch where I took a little nap refreshing myself very nicely and that is where I am now. I'm gearing up t hit the gym. Been drinking down some water and gatorade to get ride of the blahs that drinking usually causes and I feel back up to par and ready to hit the gym.
This week has been good overall but I've let a few goals slip by and I need to refocus. I've been using tobacco more than I wanted and the one night of alcohol was a slip that I was prepared for. We had been planning last night for a few weeks.
A recap of the week:
Diet:
on par with clean food but I've let the calories slip a little low over the past few days so I feel a bit sluggish. Next week I need to think about counting my calories and keeping up with it so I can better determine what works and what doesn't.
Exercise:
Three intense gym workouts with lots of core work. An hour or so on the road bike and 4 miles on the feet. I'm getting back into the swing of cardio which feels great. My wife and I both are building our base fitness back so we can start doing some endurance races next year. This is probably the most important to me and the one thing I have to most patient with along with dropping my body fat. The lower the fat goes the better my cardio conditioning gets and the better my conditioning gets the lower my fat goes. It works nicely that way and I am committed to improving these areas of my life drastically. I can't begin to explain how nice it is see results and feel more confident about myself. Consistency is the crux for me and so far I've been working out steadily for a couple of months now and I am really beginning to feel and see the changes. Here's to the lifestyle to compete and succeed!!!
Anyway, that's for another blog. Back to me nutrition and exercise. I sleep most of yesterday and got up around three in the afternoon. I stumbled to the coffee pot and downed a few glasses and few more glasses of water. Water is something that I have been drinking a whole hell of a lot of lately which is good. I drink between one and a half to two gallons a day sometimes even more. When I first became really serious about my diet a few months ago I realized that I was dehydrated like a mofo and needed to really work on chugging down the water. At first I pissed about ever hour but now if I don't drink at least a gallon a day I feel like shit and I don't piss at all. Guess that confirms my past dehydration.
I can't remember exactly what I ate yesterday during the day, wait, I had a pumpernickel bagel with low fat cream cheese before sleep and woke up to a bowl of mini-wheats with berries that was really good. Not exactly a low carb type of day but it satisfied me and it's still clean eating. After waking up and getting my mind in the game I went out for another really good 2 mile run in just over 20 minutes. I jammed out to some RHCP and pounded the pavement. I ran the entire 2 miles and was able to maintain a ten minute per mile pace which is great for me at my current condition. It will get better but not overnight. After that I hit the gym for an intense hour or so workout. Did some dumbbell presses and incline dumbbells with four different core oriented exercises. I really like my current phase of weight training. I developed it by putting together several different ideas from the books I've been reading on fitness. Right now my main focus is on my back and core with some power moves at the beginning of my workouts just keep my form in good shape. Stuff like squats, deadlifts, bench and a variety of pull-type rowing exercises.
After that it went south a bit but not as far as it could have. My wife and I had tapas and drinks with some friends at work that ended up lasting until too about 2 this morning. Although I had probably five of six drinks I spaced them out and didn't get stupid and shit faced. It was fun though but I did get aggravated with my wife because she cut me off. It's was good though because it was time to get the hell home and sleep a while which we did. I woke this morning early and didn't feel near as bad as I should have. Ate another Pumper bagel got the wife to work and came back to the couch where I took a little nap refreshing myself very nicely and that is where I am now. I'm gearing up t hit the gym. Been drinking down some water and gatorade to get ride of the blahs that drinking usually causes and I feel back up to par and ready to hit the gym.
This week has been good overall but I've let a few goals slip by and I need to refocus. I've been using tobacco more than I wanted and the one night of alcohol was a slip that I was prepared for. We had been planning last night for a few weeks.
A recap of the week:
Diet:
on par with clean food but I've let the calories slip a little low over the past few days so I feel a bit sluggish. Next week I need to think about counting my calories and keeping up with it so I can better determine what works and what doesn't.
Exercise:
Three intense gym workouts with lots of core work. An hour or so on the road bike and 4 miles on the feet. I'm getting back into the swing of cardio which feels great. My wife and I both are building our base fitness back so we can start doing some endurance races next year. This is probably the most important to me and the one thing I have to most patient with along with dropping my body fat. The lower the fat goes the better my cardio conditioning gets and the better my conditioning gets the lower my fat goes. It works nicely that way and I am committed to improving these areas of my life drastically. I can't begin to explain how nice it is see results and feel more confident about myself. Consistency is the crux for me and so far I've been working out steadily for a couple of months now and I am really beginning to feel and see the changes. Here's to the lifestyle to compete and succeed!!!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Workout Notes
Today was an excellent day in terms of workouts. My diet left a little to be desired; however, I didn't have as mush chest pain GERD like symptoms today as I did yesterday. I hit the gym around 10:30 or 11:00 this morning for an intense chest and core workout. Bench, Incline Bench, Chin-ups, Pulldowns, Knee Raises and Wood-chops. It was really intense and by the end I was spent. 3-4 sets of 12-15 reps per exercise with supersets for the last four.
This evening My wife and I went out for our Tuesday run which consisted of a little over two miles in 22:48 with no stops. I was really proud of myself for not stopping and keeping up. Although, my wife was feeling a little under the weather usually she woops my ass on running and here lately she has been roasting my shit on the road by too. But not today I stayed close but it was tough.
We ran several distance races together in 2003 and 2004. Several 5K's a few half-marathons and my wife ran a full marathon. I'm disappointed at how far I allowed myself to fall but believe it or not today's 2 miles meant more to me today than any of the past 100's or evening 1000's of miles we ran in the past. Now I can't turn back. Once you can run two miles it's only a matter of time and effort to increase mileage and get in better and better shape. I can no longer walk a little then run a little.
I building stamina losing weight and gaining confidence.
This evening My wife and I went out for our Tuesday run which consisted of a little over two miles in 22:48 with no stops. I was really proud of myself for not stopping and keeping up. Although, my wife was feeling a little under the weather usually she woops my ass on running and here lately she has been roasting my shit on the road by too. But not today I stayed close but it was tough.
We ran several distance races together in 2003 and 2004. Several 5K's a few half-marathons and my wife ran a full marathon. I'm disappointed at how far I allowed myself to fall but believe it or not today's 2 miles meant more to me today than any of the past 100's or evening 1000's of miles we ran in the past. Now I can't turn back. Once you can run two miles it's only a matter of time and effort to increase mileage and get in better and better shape. I can no longer walk a little then run a little.
I building stamina losing weight and gaining confidence.
Sitting and Thinking
I'm thinking, I should probably write more often about my goals and how I am going to achieve them. I need ways to keep my focus in the positive and my goals in the forefront of my brain so that every decision I make I think about how it will affect me overall and in respect to what I want to achieve.
In terms of eating and drinking I understand that everything that goes into my body will ultimately determine how I feel and how I perform in the gym and doing cardio. Junk in equals junk out. It seems that an unhealthy meal or a few too many libations cause me more trouble now than ever. It takes me days and sometimes over a week to get over a bad day. I can't afford to remain in recovery mode like I have for so long. Unfortunately, it seems that I am in a perpetual state of recovery especially since I routinely sabotage myself and return to habits that are less than desirable.
At times I think that I may be over-thinking things and that I should just relax. I understand how important it is to loosen up and enjoy life, food whatever. It is, I just have to find ways to reward myself that doesn't involve eating and drinking bad things. I'm just tired of beating myself down, feeling guilty then recovering it happens the same way every time.
The next time I decide to be stupid I have to stop myself and think about my goals and how I want to look and feel so that I can make the correct decision and not the easy- momentary satisfaction- decision.
I should write more whether it's here or in a paper journal and record the things that I feel and what is closest to me. It helps to reflect on my life and the decisions I have made especially when I have so mush to achieve.
In terms of eating and drinking I understand that everything that goes into my body will ultimately determine how I feel and how I perform in the gym and doing cardio. Junk in equals junk out. It seems that an unhealthy meal or a few too many libations cause me more trouble now than ever. It takes me days and sometimes over a week to get over a bad day. I can't afford to remain in recovery mode like I have for so long. Unfortunately, it seems that I am in a perpetual state of recovery especially since I routinely sabotage myself and return to habits that are less than desirable.
At times I think that I may be over-thinking things and that I should just relax. I understand how important it is to loosen up and enjoy life, food whatever. It is, I just have to find ways to reward myself that doesn't involve eating and drinking bad things. I'm just tired of beating myself down, feeling guilty then recovering it happens the same way every time.
The next time I decide to be stupid I have to stop myself and think about my goals and how I want to look and feel so that I can make the correct decision and not the easy- momentary satisfaction- decision.
I should write more whether it's here or in a paper journal and record the things that I feel and what is closest to me. It helps to reflect on my life and the decisions I have made especially when I have so mush to achieve.
Monday, August 3, 2009
My Monday Check In
It's Monday Again. I had a tough week last week and in turn I took a step backwards. 214 pounds on the weight and I felt pretty nasty all week. This week will be much better, more diligence in the food and alcohol department. I've had some chest pain I think from GERD which is obviously worrisome but I think I'll be ok. Going for a really tough bike ride this evening so I guess I will find out if it's the ticker or not.
Anyway, enough with the hypochondriacism if that's a word. I have some lofty goals for this week. I want to go down at least 5 pounds with the majority being fat, do 5 cardio workouts- 3 run and 2 road bike, and do 4 workouts in the gym. I missed 2 gym workouts and 2 no 3 cardio workouts last week and I suffered for it today. I hit the gym in the afternoon and didn't improve from last week. It was tough but I am very very glad to get in their and bust my ass for an hour on the iron. This evening we are going to ride our road bikes for at least an hour that will be fun and I should be able to bust out around 6-8 miles running.
Tobacco.... I will not use tobacco anymore this week period!
So that's what I am shooting for and next Monday we'll all know how I did.
Until Then.
Anyway, enough with the hypochondriacism if that's a word. I have some lofty goals for this week. I want to go down at least 5 pounds with the majority being fat, do 5 cardio workouts- 3 run and 2 road bike, and do 4 workouts in the gym. I missed 2 gym workouts and 2 no 3 cardio workouts last week and I suffered for it today. I hit the gym in the afternoon and didn't improve from last week. It was tough but I am very very glad to get in their and bust my ass for an hour on the iron. This evening we are going to ride our road bikes for at least an hour that will be fun and I should be able to bust out around 6-8 miles running.
Tobacco.... I will not use tobacco anymore this week period!
So that's what I am shooting for and next Monday we'll all know how I did.
Until Then.
Monday, July 27, 2009
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