I started a journal on another site. This site seems really cool so I thought I would run one here to get some more opinions. I'll post a brief history and then the last couple of workouts to get started.
Male, 36, 5’5”. 169 lbs
I chose 1.3 sedentary because I sit at a desk and computer 8-10 hours a day, 6 days a week.
BMR 2,254 RMR 2,141 (calories)
Some History:
Very active since a kid. Soccer, downhill skiing, hiking, horse training and showing, etc. Moved to Texas and not much activity going on. Started gaining weight. Quit smoking Oct 2005, gained 20 lbs, in process, bought weights and treadmill, lost some of it and gained some muscle, stopped working out over summer 2006, gained back the weight I lost, started working out again beginning of December. I’m progressing slow in cardio and weights. Weider Pro 800 Bench, free weights, Proform Treadmill. Current workout schedule is 6 times a week, 3 days weights, 3 days cardio on treadmill.
stretched then did 1x10 jack-knife situps, 1x10 windshield wipers
30 minute cardio
5 minute warm up walking
3 minute run 5.4 mph
2 minute walking 3 mph
3.5 minute run 5.4 mph
1.5 minute walking 3 mph
4 minute run 5.2 mph
1 minute walking 3 mph
5 minute run 5.2 mph
5 minute walking cool down
Today was a trying day for me. Went to the stock show and realized that there is nothing there to eat for a person being choosy about what he eats. Everything was either deep fried or covered in sugar, or both! I held tough though. Passed on the funnel cake my girlfriend ate. Went to central market after and snacked on fruit while I scanned the isles for healthy alternatives. I found the oatmeal I was looking for to replace my instant oatmeal with. Only have a few more instant packets left and I'll make the switch. Mcanns quick oatmeal is what I bought. I also bought a bunch of ww pasta which I thought was good. Long grain brown rice too. I think my girlfriend is not enjoying my new food choices though. I'm dropping the lowfat yogurt for the time being. I am watching for every opportunity to extract processed foods from my diet.
Welcome to JPs and to the Training Log Forum.
You may want to look into HIIT for your cardio work. It's a much more effective program, IMO. It's similar to what you are doing, but the intevals are shorter and more intense, such as a 30 second run, followed by a 90 second jog, etc.
__________________ In Fitness & Friendship, MAHLER
______________________________ __________________________ There is no light at the end of the tunnel. You carry the light with you.
Greg glad to see you made it over here! Welcome to JP's this is the best forum around. Might I suggest that you write your goals etc down here so that any advice you get will be geared to your goals. Just a thought
__________________
"My darling," she said at last, "are you sure you don't mind being a mouse for the rest of your life?"
"I don't mind at all," I said. "It doesn't matter who you are or what you look like so long as somebody loves you."
Short term goal: To improve my diet and improve my workouts. I have done alot of work in this area but I am continuing to find ways to improve in both areas every day.
Longer term goal: Lose the flab around my belly. Continue to strengthen body overall. I have seen some progress in the body fat % as well but still have much work to do. I have given myself until the end of March to be in a cutting phase at which point I am going to review my progress. I would like to go into a bulk phase at this point.
Long term goal: Maintain diet and continue to learn about food choices.
Continue to improve workout and learn about different muscles in the body and how to work them for physical definition.
I'll do that. I was thinking about this very thing last night during my run. I wanted to read some more about it before changing my current cardio. My run sucked last thursday so I wanted to start this week off on the right foot. I will read more about HITT over the next day or so. Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mahler
Welcome to JPs and to the Training Log Forum.
You may want to look into HIIT for your cardio work. It's a much more effective program, IMO. It's similar to what you are doing, but the intevals are shorter and more intense, such as a 30 second run, followed by a 90 second jog, etc.
Welcome to JPF, Greg. Best of luck on achieving those goals.
__________________
"Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you are right." - Henry Ford
"UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." - Dr. Seuss
"Life is no brief candle to me. It is sort of a splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations." - George Bernard Shaw
It was a strange workout tonight. I was tired from working 10.5 hour shift and got interrupted half way through the workout and it took a few exercises to get back into the mindset again but I felt this workout pushed me. I wish I had a squat rack. I am being conservative with the squat weight.
Took the advice of Mahler and added some sprints to the cardio. I kind of followed the beginner HIIT I read somewhere. It's a start anyway...
Workout: 01/30/07
stretched then did 2x10 jack-knife situps
25 minute cardio
5 minute warm up walking 3 mph
1 minute run 5.2 mph
1 minute sprint 7 mph
1 minute walk 3 mph
1 minute run 5.2 mph
1 minute sprint 7.2 mph
1 minute walk 3 mph
1 minute run 5.2 mph
1 minute sprint 7.2 mph
1 minute walk 3 mph
1 minute run 5.2 mph
1 minute sprint 7.6 mph
1 minute walk 3 mph
1 minute run 5.2 mph
1 minute sprint 7.6 mph
1 minute walk 3 mph
5 minute walking cool down
Sidenote: It could be me but it seemed that this cardio session hurt my knees less. Instead of plodding along, falling onto the treadmill as my legs reached fatigue, I found myself striking the running surface, more on my toes, and in an upright posture even as I reached my limit at the end of the workout.
Sidenote: It could be me but it seemed that this cardio session hurt my knees less. Instead of plodding along, falling onto the treadmill as my legs reached fatigue, I found myself striking the running surface, more on my toes, and in an upright posture even as I reached my limit at the end of the workout.
Bingo! When you're landing on your toes your calves are taking most of the shock, not your knees.
The fun thing about HIIT, Greg, (if you can call it "fun" ) is that there is plenty of room for variation. For example, you could do short but extremely fast (all-out-effort) sprints, say for 15 seconds, followed by a 30 or 45 second recovery period. On another day you can do longer intervals. I like switching up the interval lengths to keep it interesting and it challenges your body in different ways.
__________________
"Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you are right." - Henry Ford
"UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." - Dr. Seuss
"Life is no brief candle to me. It is sort of a splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations." - George Bernard Shaw
Bingo! When you're landing on your toes your calves are taking most of the shock, not your knees.
Diet and workout look good to me. Welcome!
Thanks! I am just trying to follow JB's 7 habits at this point. I still have a couple processed foods to knock out of my diet but I am almost there and learning everyday. It took alot of convincing in my mind to get the calorie intake up to 2000 cals too. Many years of mis-information or poor research on my part.
The fun thing about HIIT, Greg, (if you can call it "fun" ) is that there is plenty of room for variation. For example, you could do short but extremely fast (all-out-effort) sprints, say for 15 seconds, followed by a 30 or 45 second recovery period. On another day you can do longer intervals. I like switching up the interval lengths to keep it interesting and it challenges your body in different ways.
It actually was fun to mix it up a bit and I would rather walk, jog, sprint in short intervals. I'll remember to switch the intervals lengths and speeds up to keep things fresh. Thanks!
I've got a bitch too tonight! I cooked some dirty rice for dinner this evening. I really wanted to stay away from the ground beef this week but my girlfriend has been so patient with my new eating habits I thought I would cook something I knew she would enjoy. That's not my complaint
My complaint is that as I wrote down the calories and micronutrients of the entire meal I stumbled across a typo/incorrect nutrition label. This was the first I really noticed such a mistake. It was a 2.25 lb of ground beef and on the front the conversion to oz was correctly labeled 36oz. The nutrition label said that 4oz = 340 calories, servings in package = 4.
Ok, calculus students.....who can tell me what does not fit in this function? Glad I had my +C flash card sitting out this evening!
Greg nice to have you on board and Good Luck meeting your goals. I see you are using a pyramid rep scheme but as you are going lower in reps you are not increasing the weight. Is this a program you picked up somewhere or is this something you came up with on youir own. The reason I ask is that if you are able to do 15 reps with a weight by the time you get to your 4th set at 8 reps you are not taxing the muscle very much. What was sugested to me when I first started here is to look at using a warm up set and then increasing the weight to a load that you can lift for 4 sets of 8 or 6 depending on what your goals are.
__________________ -50# by 4/1/10 2 down 48 to go.
The last few weeks have been a major shift from the old ways of doing things to the correct ways. I had no leg work, rarely used the barbell (shame), and was doing exercises I have been doing on and off for years.
I started with a routine that was better but I was gratefully advised by Jenn and Tom and I ended up with this scheme and I have been swapping exercises in and out depending on what part of the body I wanted to focus on that night. So, my main focus thus far was to fix my routine and do the exercises correctly (form). I noticed a few workouts ago that I was "coasting" through the end of my workouts. This week I focussed on adding some new exercises that I have yet to do. Last night was the first workout that I started adding weights as my reps decreased. You are totally right. I will be doing this on a regular basis from now on.
I guess it has just taken me a bit to digest all of the information I am reading. I learn something new everyday from all of you awesome people! Thanks for the advice and please stop by next week.
Greg
I walked for 5 min at 3mph, then started off running as I had Tuesday. After 2 intervals of run at 5.2mph, up to 7.6mph, then walk at 3mph all for 1 minute, I got bored so I switched it up and ran for 30 secs at 5.2mph, up to 8 mph 30 sec, walk 30 sec. Did that a few times, then raised the sprint portion to 9mph. It ended up being an interesting cardio evening.
Workout:
Stretch
I walked for 5 min at 3mph, then started the session. Started slow and worked up to 10mph sprints.
run at 6mph, up to 8mph, walk at 3mph a few times
run at 6mph, up to 9mph, walk at 3mph a few times
run at 6mph, up to 10mph, walk at 3mph until exhausted
Cool down walk at 3mph for 5 min
25 min workout
At the end of the last interval I was feeling it.
Weighed in at 166.5lb monday morning. Down from 175 in December
Side lunges – 28 lb db, 33 lb db, 38 lb db, 43 lb db
Arnold press – 10 lb db, 15 lb db, 23 lb db, 28 lb db
Goodmorning - 34 lb db, 39 lb db, 44 lb db, 49 lb db
rest 2 minutes - repeat
I was whipped after this workout and sweat like a pig throught the whole session. I was looking to shake up my workout a bit; work the quads, hams, glutes, and shoulders, with different exercises than I normally use; get a really intense workout. I think I accomplished that tonight.
Notes:
Drank last of diet cokes for awhile last night and Friday I make the switch from instant Quaker apple & cin oatmeal to plain McCanns Irish Oatmeal with my chioce of natural spices. The last of my daily processed foods will be to switch from Coffee Mate to skim milk in my coffee this weekend.
Dinner and a movie: ribs (bad too fatty) & salad (good), Chocolat (good!)
Yes, it was a bad dinner.
Workout:
Stretch - various ab exercises ending with 2x15 bicycle crunches
Music selection: Pantera
warmup: walked for 5 min at 3mph
(somewhere there was an extra 1 min of walking)
2 x run at 6mph 30sec, up to 8mph 30sec, walk at 3mph 60sec
2 x run at 6mph 30sec, up to 9mph 30sec, walk at 3mph 60sec
3 x run at 6mph 30sec, up to 10mph 30sec, walk at 3mph 60sec
Cool down walk at 3mph for 5 min
25 min workout
Had a really good day of eating and a great workout. Sweat my ass off! My goal for next week is to review all of me previous workouts and schedule exercises that allow me to do exercises back to back without having to change weights in between. Mainly take my planning to the next level.
Dinner & a movie - Chicken stir fry and salad (good), Descent (ok)
Workout:
Music - DMB, Crash
Stretch
warmup: walked for 5 min at 3mph
2 x run at 6mph 30sec, up to 8mph 30sec, walk at 3mph 60sec
2 x run at 6mph 30sec, up to 9mph 30sec, walk at 3mph 60sec
4 x run at 6mph 30sec, up to 10mph 30sec, walk at 3mph 60sec
Cool down walk at 3mph for 5 min
25 min workout
I spent about an hour last night going over all of my weight exercises and routines in preparation for next week. I think I came up with a good plan but we'll find out starting Sunday.
Notes:
Used last of the coffee mate creamer and made the switch to skim milk in coffee. Found a great organic store close to home.
Dinner and a movie: tilapia, veggies, salad ( ) , Domino ( ), Relative Strangers ( )
Workout:
Stretch - 15min intermediate ab concentrated pilates
Music selection: DMB
warmup: walked for 5 min at 3mph
8 x run at 6mph 30sec, up to 10mph 30sec, walk at 3mph 60sec
Cool down walk at 3mph for 5 min
25 min workout
Garrocha 2007
) is that there is plenty of room for variation. For example, you could do short but extremely fast (all-out-effort) sprints, say for 15 seconds, followed by a 30 or 45 second recovery period. On another day you can do longer intervals. I like switching up the interval lengths to keep it interesting and it challenges your body in different ways.
Glad I had my +C flash card sitting out this evening!
), Relative Strangers (
Linear Mode
