I decided last month that I was tired of being so overweight, and since I have until October 2011 before I get married, I figured the smart thing to do (rather than crash dieting 6 weeks before and screwing up my dress fittings) would be to start a life-style change and really get into shape. The fact that my fiance has some issues with his blood sugar (borderline pre-diabetic...fasting blood sugar is 100), we are changing our eating habits.
A little more background on myself...I am 5'1", and weigh 230 pounds. I don't eat a lot of junk food, but my portion sizes are bigger than they should be. I've always been a little on the chunky side, and starting at about 12 years old, starting on and off dieting with my mom. I did play a bunch of sports in high school and college, and spent a lot of time in the weight room, but never had a specific routine I was doing, rather just bopping around from one machine to another. Either way, I am still relatively strong for my height and weight. I've had chronic problems with my knees (13 years of a soccer goalie), and 2 year ago broke my elbow which won't go totally straight anymore, and had chronic shoulder issues, and was diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff last summer. In August 2008 I had surgery to repair it, and am still working on strength building in that shoulder.
I've been slowly over the years working on eating better, cutting a lot of sugar and simple carbs out of my diet. I get migraines from a lot of artificial sweeteners, and have problems eating fresh raw fruits and veggies, something I miss horribly (I think I have Oral Allergy Syndrome, but have yet to be officially diagnosed). I'm trying to maintain a daily caloric intake of about 2000-2300, which is more or less what I was doing before, but I'm concentrating more on the division of macros, trying ot get more protein and less carbs and fat.
I like these forum boards as a way to get feedback on what I'm doing. I got a friend of mine who is a virtual gym virgin to start the NR workout with me. We spent a couple of extra workouts of Day 1, because she was nervous about her inability to do some of the workouts. I'll start logging from the beginning, which was in mid-January.
Tuesdays are shoulder rehab days and cardio. I know you're not supposed to do much cardio with NR, but I really want to drop my heartrate, which is way too high for my age. The weights are much lighter than normal (nothing above 15 lbs) but it's needed. I have a hard time with external rotation, which is common as there aren't a lot of muscles in the shoulder that control that motion.
Cardio: elliptical for 40 minutes, low intensity, HR at 160-170.
Shoulder Presses: 20/15, 20/15 (had to use 20lbs as 15 lbs were missing. too much weight, right shoulder gave out on second set at about rep 8)
Lat pulldowns: 70/15, 80/15 (can just about do 80 on pulldown. End of second set, last few reps had a hard time getting bar to chest...barely made it to chin)
Lunges: 5/15, 5/15 (still wanting to die)
Ball Crunch: 8, 8
Cardio: 5 minutes, did a few intervals.
dist: 0.39 miles
HR: max-184, min 168
Workout A, Day 3 (2/12/09)
Mentally done in on Wednesday, so workout post-poned till Thursday. No weights Friday.
Cardio Tuesday, 15 minutes in intervals.
Warm-up: 5 minutes recumb bike. level 3, HR 140
Squats: 80/12, 80/12 (legs spread a bit more, deeper in squats. felt it more in inner thighs.
Push-ups: 12, 12 (concentrated on keeping hands closer together, and keeping elbows in, rather than flaring out)
Seated Rows: 90/15, 90/15
Step-ups: 15/12, 15/12 (concentrated on using up leg to raise body rather than push off with lower leg)
Prone jack-knife: 10, 10 (used smaller ball)
Cardio: 5 minutes elliptical, level 4. 1 full minute of high intensity, max HR 184. dropped to 166 in one minute
Warm-up 5 minutes on recumb bike, level 3. HR 133 (getting better!)
Deadlift: 80/12, 80/12 (form suffered at the end of both sets. need to focus on form at the end with heavier reps. Knees didn't hurt though)
Dumbell shoulder presses: 20/12, 20/12 (right shoulder shaky about halfway through. Focus hard on form at heavier weights)
Lat Pulldown: 80/12, 80/12 (easier time pulling the bar down to my chest today. Just about at fatigue by the end of hte second set. Not sure if I'm ready to up the weight)
LUnges: 8/15, 8/15 (accidently did 15 rather than 12 on each leg. Still wanted to die, but not as badly. Quads are really tight, need to work on stretching them more on off-days)
Swiss ball crunch: 10/10
Cardio: 6 minutes, with 2 one minute intervals. Max HR 180. Ending HR 166, HR after 5 minutes 130.
Warm up on recumbent bike, 5 minutes, level 3. HR 128
Squat: 80/12, 80/12 (noticed some lower back pain after squats today. Nothing horrible, just some overall tightness. Paid closer attention on my second set, and noticed that at the bottom of the squat, I am leaning forward, and my lower back is arching in. Need to have someone check my form)
Push-ups: 45 angle. 12, 12. (concentrated on keeping elbows closer to body. definately works the back muscles more than the chest this way)
Seated Row: 80/12, 90/12 (watch form. Was leaning forward and pulling with back towards the end of the second set.)
Step-ups: 15/12. 15/12 (some twinging in knees kept weight lower. Will up to 20 next time)
Prone jack-knife: 10,10 (70 cm ball)
Cardio: 6 minutes on other elliptical (no levels, just cross ramp and resistance) ramp at 10, resistance at 8. No intervals. Max HR 180 (at finish) 5 minutes later HR 134
Warm-up: 5 minutes recumbent bike, level 3. Watts:70-80, HR 138
Deadlift: 80/10, 80/10, 80/10
Shoulder Presses: 20/10, 20/10, 20/10
Lat pulldowns: 90/10, 100/10, 100/10
Lunges: 10/10, 10/10, 10/10
Crunches: 12, 12, 12
LUnges are getting easier, though it's still a good cardio workout. Shoulder presses should stay at 20lbs, though they are becoming less painful. Lat pulldowns at 100lbs are to failure. Lower back was stiff after deadlifts...will check form.
Cardio: 6 minutes on elliptical, level 4. Max HR 172, HR 168 at finish, 5 minutes later was 120.
Warm-up: 5 min recumbent bike, level 3. Watts: 70-75, HR 120
Squats: 70/10, 70/10, 70/10 (decided to drop weight down and try to go deeper in squats due to lower back and knee pain. This seems to have done the trick)
Push-ups: (somewhere between 30 and 45 degrees, closer to 30): 10, 10, 10
Seated Row: 100/10. 100/10, 100/10
Step-up (increased step height by using aerobic steps, increased height by 4 inches): 20/10, 20/10, 20/10
Prone jack-knife: 12, 12, 12
Last edited by gnome : 03-17-2009 at 05:23 PM.
Reason: mis-typed numbers for jack-knife
Warm-up: 5 min recumbent bike, lvl 3. Watts: ~75, HR: 140
Deadlift (did this time with adjustable weights. unsure of weight of bar): 80/8, 80/8, 80/8 (a bit too heavy, knees and lower back were unhappy after this)
Shoulder press: 25/8, 25/8, 25/8 (almost too heavy, but each set is to failure. watch form on right arm)
__________________
"Time and patience are the 2 elements that most people don't include in their plans."
-Alan Aragon
"The scale simply tells you how much the earth loves you on a particular day."
-Ogedei (Keith)
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