Lets keep this rolling
First, congrats to Terry for nailing down his Leed test. Definitely awesome to see him knock that out of the park.
I lifted after work today. I had a two main goals and I hit them both. I was able to leg press 410lbs at 2 x 15. I had decided after 360 last week that I’d just add a 25 to each side. I can definitely say that 410 is getting close to the most I can do. Next week I might try for 430. On bench press I wanted to add 10 lbs total, and press 185. I was able to hit 2 sets of 8 reps, though my last rep was a bit shaky. Next week I will try for 2 x 9. It feels pretty awesome to put on a 45 and a 25 on each side and be able to throw it up. I can’t wait until I’m putting 2 45s on each side (for 225 pounds). I bet I could max that right now, if not a bit more. There is a formula you can use to calculate your 1 rep max. I think if I can lift 185 9 times (which I could have done on the first set), my 1 rep max is around 235. That is a lot of pounds.
My other exercises went fairly routine. I did 30lb bells again on the chest flys, and worked up to 2 x 15. The last few reps of the second set were shaky. Last week I did 2 x 12, so the extra reps were awesome. I had split up my lifting last week between Monday and Tuesday, and was able to do a strong set of 2 x 15 on the cable crossovers, using 60 lbs on each side. It was a struggle to close out the second set, and my form was lacking.
I was just looking up the name of the cable crossovers, as I’d forgotten, and I saw that my max on bench press had been 5 reps at 185 when I started this program. Being able to do 2 sets of 8 at that weight is pretty awesome.
Tomorrow I am hopping on the bike for a nice ride to and from work. Hopefully the rain stays away.
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So It Has Been A Week
I have slacked on posting new updates in the last week, and I slacked a bit on my eating habits. I did not, however, slack on working out.
I slacked on my posting because it felt like every post was reading the same. It was/is boring to write, and I kind of feel like it is boring to read simple updates of how many extra reps I did at whatever weight. Am I wrong? Is it less dull than I imagine? I guess it doesn’t matter as I’m going to keep it going.
Monday I did a solid 45 minutes on the stair machine to atone for my somewhat rough weekend. I had a lot to sweat out, and man, it felt good. I put in a decent set of lifting as well, though I did not have time to put in the full round. Between Monday and Tuesday, when I did another 30 minutes on the stairs, I did complete my “Monday Day” of lifting. I hit my goal on bench press finally, with two sets of 10 reps at 175 pounds. Leg press was also solid, as I went up to 360 and hit 2 x 15. I think leg press is one exercise where I haven’t quite found my strength. I think I’m going to go for 410 tomorrow, just for the heck of it.
After doing the stairs two days in a row, I think I can safely say that my knees do not like it. I was a bit creaky on Wednesday. I will stick to doing stairs and then a different cardio workout (hellooooo elliptical!) on subsequent days. Wednesday I lifted, with just a little cardio for a warmup. I took Thursday off, and then Friday had another round of lifting to finish off the week. Both days were pretty solid days of lifting, though nothing in particular jumps out as being noteworthy.
Yesterday I got in another decent workout, this time on the golf course. Terry and I went out and walked 18 holes on a fairly hilly course. We were pretty warm out there, though we played well. I’ve definitely got some kinks to work out in my swing. I had a nice stretch where I went par-birdie-bogey, but consistency is my big issue. Consistency on drives and making sure I hit things where I am trying to hit them. I know that’s painfully obvious, but if I’m not going to have crazy distance on my shots, I might as well have them aimed straight. As it turned out I had one birdie, two pars, and two bogeys. Everything else was much worse.
Tomorrow I plan on lifting and some cardio. Tuesday I think I’ll get my cardio by commuting to work on my bike. More updates to follow, with a new weigh in.
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Wednesday and Thursday are in the books, and so are two more days of working out.
After Monday’s lifting only my upper body with cardio, I decided for a similar tack for the rest of the week, just to give my legs a bit more time to recover. Yesterday I did another 32 hard minutes on the elliptical and then went to work on the weights.
Despite my plan to lay off lower body, I decided to keep doing my reverse lunges. Last week I tried to lift 15lb dbs above my head to make sure I did not cheat. This week I took a short bar preloaded with weight, weighing 60 lbs, and put it on my shoulders as if I were doing squats. It felt like I was doing more work than holding the dumbbells by my legs, but it wasn’t as taxing on the rest of my workout as holding the weights above my shoulders. On the assisted pullups I was able to do sets of 12 and 9, again at -160lbs. I am continuing to see improvement there every week as well. Everything else went fairly standard.
Tonight I decided to just do cardio. I will go to the gym after work tomorrow for my biceps/triceps lifting. I got up on the stairclimber and set it for 45 minutes- the longest time possible. At about 25 minutes I took a short break and picked up a magazine, and plowed through the last 20 minutes thoroughly distracted. My final tally was 167 flights of stairs, 45 minutes, and 800 calories. And a ton of sweat. Definitely wore me out. Next time I’ll try to do it on level 6 instead of level 5.
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Juvenation
Today, for the first time in about three weeks, I did not want to go to the gym. 6 o’clock came along and I was tired and hungry, and just not feeling up to the effort.
My legs were pretty fatigued today, and are pretty tired as I write this. I think I underestimated the effect that the 62 miles on Saturday had on me, and with the 18 holes of golf I walked, I could feel how tired I was. I knew I needed to go, but man, I was not feeling it. I decided that since my legs were so tired, I’d crank out half an hour of cardio and then just do the upper body portion of the Monday workout- bench press, chest flys, and cable cross overs.
I think in February or March I finally broke my earbuds with sweat. I haven’t had them replaced or repaired yet, so sometimes the cardio can be a real grind. I hit 5 minutes on the elliptical and I was ready to be done. I told myself I had to go at least 15. At 15 I told myself that 25 was really necessary. At 25, I told myself that I bought in for 30, and I might as well crank out 5 more minutes. My heart rate stayed under 140 until about the 23 minute mark, even as hard as I was working. It maxed out at 150. It was regularly above 160 just two months ago. This is change I can believe in!
Bench was strong. I’ve decided to stick at 175 for awhile. I cranked out 10 reps my first time up – and 10 was definitely all I had. I was hoping for 9 reps with my second set, but I only managed 8, with help on the last one. On chest flys I’ve been using 25 lbs for a month, and today my two sets of 15 were strong enough that next week I’m going to attempt 2 x 12 with 30s. Similarly I think I’m ready to go up 5 pounds on each side with the cross overs, to 55 pounds.
Ultimately I’m really glad I worked out. I left the gym with a little spring in my step and have just felt great since. I knew deep down that I’d feel great once I worked out, and I’m glad I was right. I think I am going to take tomorrow off, but I will be back at it Wednesday with more lifting.
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Whew
Quite a weekend in the books.
Saturday was the MS Bike Ride. We showed up around 745, picked up our tshirts, prepped the bikes, and got on the road with little fanfare. The first 8-10 miles were tough and hilly and it was difficult to get into a rhythm. After the first rest stop I really started to feel good, however, and it was great fun passing people on uphills, instead of just on downhills where I am much faster due to my size. The ride went well, much better than last year. My wheels are so strong, I don’t wince whenever I hit a bump, and my new bike (new since December, anyhow) is great. I was able to power my way up some pretty steep hills, and I can definitely feel a difference on the bike since I’ve lost weight. I did a few rides this past fall and winter where I probably weighed 340+ pounds, and I just shuddered at the thought of doing that ride yesterday with a 25 pound weight in my backpack.
There was much less fanfare, at least to my eyes, this year than last year at the MS ride. We finished, we put our bikes back on my car, wandered around… and left. Oh well. It was still a good time, and I’ll probably ride again next year.
Today I had planned to just relax and take it easy, but I heard it was barely 80 degrees and windy, and thought I could play some golf. I was hoping for an excuse to get a cart, but the folks with whom I was randomly paired were walking, so I walked as well. I started slow, with no time to warm up, but found my swing within the first 3 holes. I played some pretty solid golf until hole 14. Hole 13 was great- it was actually my only par of the day, and just a really great hole for me. Hole 14 the train went off the tracks. My legs just completely gave out, and I was spraying my shots all over the place. I did get a pretty solid workout though.
That’s all for this weekend. Lifting tomorrow, and perhaps some cardio. Got to keep melting the pounds away.
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A New Picture
So I lifted tonight after work. I got through the first few exercises ok- the ax chops, t-bar, shoulder raises, and shoulder press were all pretty normal, though I started to feel pretty sluggish by the end of the shoulder presses. The curls were rough. I struggled to reach the same reps I hit last week, which was disappointing. I’m not sure if it was just the residual of lifting for the 3rd time in 4 days, but I was feeling it. I’ll just have to push through it next time.
Last night I took a picture when I got home from the gym with the thought of posting it on here to compare to my first picture. It is below, and then after the jump, there’s a direct comparison with the first picture I posted. I think I can see progress, and not just because I shaved that horrible beard.
Picture of me, June 3rd 2009, approx 317 pounds.
Click through for the direct comparison… or else you’ll have to go back several posts (daunting!) for the first one.
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More Routine
Nothing too crazy the last few days.
Monday I met Carter for lunch and while I didn’t regret what I ate, I knew I needed to work it off. I pounded out 30 minutes on the stairclimber and another 20 minutes on the elliptical. I was a little frustrated at the end of my time on the stairs, as I hit the wrong button and could not see my stats. At 27 minutes or so I had climbed 103 flights of steps, but thats all I know aside from the time.
After my cardio I stretched out and got to the lifting. I like having a different set of exercises to do every time I’m at the gym. If I were doing a lot of the same lifts I think I’d get pretty bored. I had a strong set on the bench, getting more reps that last week. I finished with 9 and 8 in my two sets. I’d only hit 8, 7 the past two weeks, so I definitely feel good about that result. I’ve decided I’ll try to go for two sets of 12 before I increase weight. I chose to increase my weight on leg press again. I was able to get two sets of 15 reps each at 320 pounds. It definitely feels difficult by the end of the sets but I feel like I’ve probably still got more weight I can press. Other than those two, everything else was as per usual.
Today I lifted, but did not do cardio. I ended up pumping out 2 sets of 12 reps at 195 on squats. My first 10 of the second set were really strong, but I dipped too low on the 11th. I recovered just fine, but yeah, I’ve got to watch that. I’m going to keep that weight and the number of reps steady for a while. I pushed my weight on leg curls up to 80 pounds. My hamstrings are strong. On the reverse lunges I thought I’d try to hold my hands above my head, so as to isolate my core. I cut down my weight to 15lb dbs instead of 30s, but for about half of the reps I had to bend my elbows and rest the weights on my shoulders. One can only hold a 15lb db in each hand over his head for so long, at this point. The only other interesting note was my wide grip pullups. I did -160 lbs and was able to hit 12 reps in my first set, but only 7 reps in my second set. I guess I wore myself out.
Thats about all for now. I took a picture of my face today, and I’ll get it uploaded sometime soon, to be compared to my picture from the zoo I posted earlier. I can definitely tell that I have built muscle. I probably have more muscle now than I’ve had any time in my life. When I flex my biceps, the muscle is much more obvious, as are my triceps. My quads are also starting to get some serious definition, and I noticed some places where it seems like I’ve got less fat on my body than in the past. My gut is still prevalent, and I know I’ve got to stay dedicated. The progress isn’t too slow, and I just want to keep it going. My three day average weight is right at 318.0, which is awesome. Just got to keep it coming down.
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MS Bike Ride
So this Saturday I am riding 60 miles or so on my bike in the annual Beyond the Beltway ride for Multiple Sclerosis research. It is out in Loudon County and goes through some really beautiful countryside. If anyone would like to donate to the MS foundation and support my ride, my link is here:
http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/simondanielj
Also, I weighed in this morning at 318.4 – a new low.
I’m thinking that I will lift today and Wednesday this week, and perhaps Thursday. I don’t want to lift Friday since the MS Ride is Saturday morning, so MWTr will let me get in my 3 days.
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Well, lets make it 4
I did not lift, but I did have a nice cardio workout this morning: 30 minutes at over 8mph on the elliptical. The crazy machine said I burned 600 calories. I’m looking forward to the weekend to give my body a little break, though.
The lifting last night went well. Since realizing that I was rotating my elbows forward on bicep curls to try to touch my hands/wrists to my shoulders, and therefore causing myself pain, I’ve corrected my form and they have gone well. I did reps of 12 and 10 on the standard curls using a flat 60 pound bar, and went back to 20lb dbs for the hammer curls. I was able to eke out reps of 15 and 14 in my two sets. I really feel like a 22.5lb db wouldn’t be too outrageous; nor would be a 17.5lb db. 5 pound increments after 15lbs really jumps up the weight a bit fast sometimes.
I decided to take out the close-gripped bench press out of my workout, as they seem awkward. With my hands 6 inches apart on the bar, I cannot really get my hands to my stomach without splaying out my elbows. I have used dbs in the past few weeks, including yesterday, but I still don’t feel like I’m using my tris instead of my chest (it feels more like a regular bench press with my hands in funny places). That being said… my triceps are definitely sore today. A good kind though.
Thats probably all until Monday. Have a good weekend everyone.
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3 days in a row…
Today I’m going to go for my 3rd day in a row of lifting. I took off Memorial Day, and then after my doubts and mind dump on Tuesday have actually begun to feel good about lifting again. While cardio might get me out of the gym earlier than lifting, my heart rate is elevated for much of my time in the weight room. And its not like I don’t sweat like a walrus anyway. I’ve felt very good the last few days with my eating. In combination with the lifting I think I’m going to see some strong results in my weight coming down this week.
One of my favorite things to do for lunch, which seems pretty healthy, is to go to a kebob place. I grabbed a bite with my buddy Graham today and ate some hummus, bread, and salad, with marinated grilled chicken and lamb. It’s pretty easy to avoid fried food at a kebob place as well, since they don’t have any. In addition, I think the protein shakes I have for breakfast are finally beginning to taste decent. It felt like I was practicing for iron kung fu: tongue for awhile there. They fill me up at least.
As far as lifting goes…
- My legs were fairly sore from my Monday jog and my Tuesday leg press, so I cut my weight a bit on squats and added some reps: 2 x 10 at 195 pounds.
- I was also able to do 2 x 9 on the assisted pullups, which felt great. I used -160 pounds. Next week I think I’m going to take 10 lbs off and try -150. I really like the assisted pullups over lat pulldowns, but sometimes it stinks to have to put on almost the entire stack for my assisted weight. It pushes me to get stronger at least.
- I think I was cheating a bit on the reverse lunges by resting the weights against my hips. It wasn’t until almost mid way through the second set that I realized that weight was probably on my legs, so I wasn’t lifting it as much as if I hold the dumbbells in my hands hanging down to my sides. I am not quite sure if it matters as much as I think though. For the record, I used a 30lb db in each hand.
- I still don’t like shrugs. I seem to have a bit of a hot spot in between my neck and my shoulder blade that will occasionally fire off mid-shrug. I used 45lb plates, which are probably too much weight, but easier to shrug with form-wise than the dumbbells which end up sliding along my legs. I’d like to develop my traps a bit, but I’d rather not do shrugs.
Tonight is workout 3 with curls and whatnot. Should be a blast.
Filed under: Lifting | 1 Comment
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