Plyo will always be my most complained about workout even though it's my favorite workout. This workout makes the following day a living hell due to the likelihood of you deciding to stand up, sit down, or crouch for any reason, not to mention any travel involving stairs.
I'm still fairly sore from Sunday's workout (Chest, Shoulders, Triceps), of which my triceps are the sorest, followed by my chest. My upcoming work schedule is a pain, so I'm taking today as a rest day and hoping to get some cardio in tomorrow along with my back and biceps (will start with this to be sure I at least stay on regular schedule).
Slightly related, after a chat with a coworker I decided to start looking at what kind of programs I'm interested in for schooling, since I've really been hoping to go back. The university I previously went to offers a "Human Nutrition" focus in their Food Science and Nutrition degree program. This is number 1 on my list, and following that would be Kinesiology, focusing on athletic training. I could definitely fit a little bit of each program into my semesters (fill in empty slots, since I've done most of my general ed requirements already), but I would ultimately try to focus on nutrition and maybe after graduating look into athletic training. This also means I've gotta go through the whole application and financial bells and whistles of love that is college, again.
In the past couple of years I've become a much more focused and goal oriented person, and I feel motivated enough to follow through with educational goals. My distractions are fairly minimal now and I could use a change of pace.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
What happened!?
I'm sure people are wondering if I've abandoned the blog, or forgotten about it, or given up on my workouts.
Here is what has happened in the past week and a half:Thursday the 16th to December 25th were days in which I succumbed to the holiday season. Thursday night and the following Monday night I did some partying, and took part in mostly unhealthy nutrition practices. The rest of the week I kept my nutrition decent but lost motivation to keep with my workouts. I also allowed myself to enjoy my Christmas with free eating habits (Prime rib, sweets, soda, wine, etc.)
Guess what? I have found my motivation again. Today I picked up a couple extra hours at work, got home and got a little food into me, drank 64oz of water and relaxed for about 2 hours to let everything settle. I decided to do a complete restart of Phase II to make up for my week and a half of lax nutrition and exercise.
I would like to make this post a quick overview of my previous progress, and a photo of me today. I know that in my first post I explained my success through the first 90 days of the program (which was more like 116 or so days, because I extended phases due to missing workouts and illness). I figure it would be good to show some proof of the progress and where I'm at today. Below are Day 1 versus Day 90 photos from my first round of the program.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Goals
First off, it's about time I had a few seconds to hop on and write a bit. My work schedule has been fairly busy/crazy, for example a Saturday 5AM-1PM, Sunday night 3PM-11:30PM and following up this morning with 5AM-2PM. Needless to say, getting my correct amount of sleep has been daunting, thankfully this was during my recovery week and not after some tissue-tearing workouts.
Today is the official beginning of my Doubles Phase 2, meaning I throw Cardio X in on my resistance days. Though as mentioned before, since I plan on doing 2 resistance workouts on my Mondays and Wednesdays, I'll be pushing the Cardio X forward to the off-resistance days if I feel too tight on time.
I did Chest, Triceps, and shoulders today and got a TON of pump from my triceps, though my chest and shoulders just felt like they got an average workout, but they just weren't up for the heavy push today, they couldn't keep up.
I had a small fibrous carb meal following that workout consisting of ~7 egg whites + salsa scramble, and 1 cup of broccoli and some greek yogurt. My mornings nutrition hardly existed, I had an unsweetened iced tea and a protein bar and a skim milk, oddly I didn't feel hungry throughout the day until after my resistance workout.
Following my meal a little time period of rest, and then Cardio X to finish up the night.
Now lets get down to my main focus of this post:
Goals
I've made a final decision of what my fitness goals are up until the end of the year (end of 2011 that is) if I don't surpass them by then.
I want to have my body fat % reach around 10-15%. That being said, I have a requirement I need to go through before I even bother focusing on numbers, I need to pick up a skinfold caliper and record my % on a regular basis into a spreadsheet. I'm thinking maybe a bi-weekly check, and I have no idea where I stand right now, my general guess is around 27% but it's just a guess.
In order to reach this goal, I am making a MAJOR nutrition change after doing a large amount of time researching bodybuilding nutrition from beginners up to professional levels (note that my goal is not to be a bodybuilder, but they have very strict and nutritious diets that pack on results fast).
The basic nutrition I'll be acquiring will be my own tweaked version of a "Carb Cycling" diet. The basic idea behind carb cycling is to maximize your bodies metabolism through low carb and high carb days based on your workout schedule, but doing it in a way to avoid ketosis(When your body goes into starvation mode and drops your metabolism rate a LOT).
...I was going to put a link up for those who were really interested which carb cycling plan I was tweaking, but it seems the page is currently down (Some carb cycling diets are too extreme for my liking).
In general, my nutrition quality is going to jump pretty high, and I'm expecting some pretty nice results maybe even by the end of Phase II.
Today is the official beginning of my Doubles Phase 2, meaning I throw Cardio X in on my resistance days. Though as mentioned before, since I plan on doing 2 resistance workouts on my Mondays and Wednesdays, I'll be pushing the Cardio X forward to the off-resistance days if I feel too tight on time.
I did Chest, Triceps, and shoulders today and got a TON of pump from my triceps, though my chest and shoulders just felt like they got an average workout, but they just weren't up for the heavy push today, they couldn't keep up.
I had a small fibrous carb meal following that workout consisting of ~7 egg whites + salsa scramble, and 1 cup of broccoli and some greek yogurt. My mornings nutrition hardly existed, I had an unsweetened iced tea and a protein bar and a skim milk, oddly I didn't feel hungry throughout the day until after my resistance workout.
Following my meal a little time period of rest, and then Cardio X to finish up the night.
Now lets get down to my main focus of this post:
Goals
I've made a final decision of what my fitness goals are up until the end of the year (end of 2011 that is) if I don't surpass them by then.
I want to have my body fat % reach around 10-15%. That being said, I have a requirement I need to go through before I even bother focusing on numbers, I need to pick up a skinfold caliper and record my % on a regular basis into a spreadsheet. I'm thinking maybe a bi-weekly check, and I have no idea where I stand right now, my general guess is around 27% but it's just a guess.
In order to reach this goal, I am making a MAJOR nutrition change after doing a large amount of time researching bodybuilding nutrition from beginners up to professional levels (note that my goal is not to be a bodybuilder, but they have very strict and nutritious diets that pack on results fast).
The basic nutrition I'll be acquiring will be my own tweaked version of a "Carb Cycling" diet. The basic idea behind carb cycling is to maximize your bodies metabolism through low carb and high carb days based on your workout schedule, but doing it in a way to avoid ketosis(When your body goes into starvation mode and drops your metabolism rate a LOT).
...I was going to put a link up for those who were really interested which carb cycling plan I was tweaking, but it seems the page is currently down (Some carb cycling diets are too extreme for my liking).
In general, my nutrition quality is going to jump pretty high, and I'm expecting some pretty nice results maybe even by the end of Phase II.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Core Synergistics and Abdominal Muscle Functions
Core Synergistics was my 2nd workout of the day yesterday, and I'm really sore as compared to my Core Synergistics workout earlier in the week. A person's "Core" is made up of all the muscles that support your trunk, so your whole body that isn't a limb, or as copied from wikipedia:
"The major muscles of the core reside in the area of the belly and the mid and lower back (not the shoulders), and peripherally include the hips, the shoulders and the neck."
The 1 hour Core synergistics routine focuses on having a person slightly flex all of their trunk muscles while doing movements. The plank position is used a lot (Position of being extended flat out before doing a pushup) because you tighten your glutes, lower back and abdominal muscles to hold a straight and strong position.
So what is the importance of core strength?
The importance of keeping your core muscles strong is to prevent injury. All of these muscles help support your spine, which is very delicate due to all the functions it provides. If you learn to tighten the muscles when doing simple every day lifts, you reduce the chance of back injuries because all of your muscles are supporting each other and keep the spine from hyper-extending.
Other positives for core strength:
With sports and other athletic events, your body needs to be strong to be competitive, for example a pitcher, or a batter at the plate wanting to hit the ball really hard. When you learn to swing a bat correctly, you learn to twist your body as you swing it, because it generates more force, and the same thing when throwing a baseball.
The amount of strength in the core of your body allows you to load a ton of power behind regular movements that you normally think of being simply based on limb strength.
Runners strengthen their core so that when they run, they let the torso twist in combination with their steps to generate a stronger push off with each foot, and it also helps increase their stride length. Any sport that you swing in, be it tennis, baseball, hockey, mixed martial arts, all will receive extra bonuses of strength and power because of a strong core. (MMA fighters gain power in their punches and kicks because of their core strength allowing more force through twisting their body.)
Why I felt this important to bring up:
A lot of people have no idea what the function of the abdominal muscles are for, as well as the understanding of the importance of strengthening all the muscles in your trunk.
Many people think of abdominal muscles as a cosmetic attribute, not an anatomically important function.
Last night I had to stop the core workout with about 10 minutes left because my previously injured lower-left abdominal muscle was acting up again. Fortunately I think I stopped before I re-injured it for a long period of time and I should be good to go as soon as Monday comes around.
"The major muscles of the core reside in the area of the belly and the mid and lower back (not the shoulders), and peripherally include the hips, the shoulders and the neck."
The 1 hour Core synergistics routine focuses on having a person slightly flex all of their trunk muscles while doing movements. The plank position is used a lot (Position of being extended flat out before doing a pushup) because you tighten your glutes, lower back and abdominal muscles to hold a straight and strong position.
So what is the importance of core strength?
The importance of keeping your core muscles strong is to prevent injury. All of these muscles help support your spine, which is very delicate due to all the functions it provides. If you learn to tighten the muscles when doing simple every day lifts, you reduce the chance of back injuries because all of your muscles are supporting each other and keep the spine from hyper-extending.
Other positives for core strength:
With sports and other athletic events, your body needs to be strong to be competitive, for example a pitcher, or a batter at the plate wanting to hit the ball really hard. When you learn to swing a bat correctly, you learn to twist your body as you swing it, because it generates more force, and the same thing when throwing a baseball.
The amount of strength in the core of your body allows you to load a ton of power behind regular movements that you normally think of being simply based on limb strength.
Runners strengthen their core so that when they run, they let the torso twist in combination with their steps to generate a stronger push off with each foot, and it also helps increase their stride length. Any sport that you swing in, be it tennis, baseball, hockey, mixed martial arts, all will receive extra bonuses of strength and power because of a strong core. (MMA fighters gain power in their punches and kicks because of their core strength allowing more force through twisting their body.)
Why I felt this important to bring up:
A lot of people have no idea what the function of the abdominal muscles are for, as well as the understanding of the importance of strengthening all the muscles in your trunk.
Many people think of abdominal muscles as a cosmetic attribute, not an anatomically important function.
Last night I had to stop the core workout with about 10 minutes left because my previously injured lower-left abdominal muscle was acting up again. Fortunately I think I stopped before I re-injured it for a long period of time and I should be good to go as soon as Monday comes around.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Stress and Exercise
Before I get deep into my thoughts and understandings over the subject of stress and exercise, I'd like to announce that I picked up my first set of adjustable dumbbells today.
I picked up a set of Powerblocks (http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3903097&cid=CSE:GoogleProductSearch), the 5lbs-50lbs classic set. These things are super convenient for $299 and I also bought the stand (~$67) for easier quick-weight selection, as well as a bit of relief on my back from lowering to the floor to pick them up. I simply slide a bar into the weight selection I want on each dumbbell, and lift the weight off the stand/ground.
They aren't as pretty as the Bowflex SelectTechs, but the ones (SelectTechs) in the store were broken, unlike the Powerblocks. I'm pretty excited for next week to start up so I can get back to some heavy resistance and test these out, I especially am excited to be able to do strip-sets without having to pause my DVD while I fumble around with the weights.
Now currently the weight only goes to 50lbs (Increments of 5lbs) per dumbbell, but there are a couple of upgrade kits I can buy when I am ready that will increase the weight up to 100, and I think 130 or 120 was the final upgrade kit for them. They also have a 10 year warranty that I don't feel I'll need to use with them.
Now on to the topic of stress, how you feel, and how to feel better...
Most people tend to tense up muscles in their body when they are stressed out, particularly around their shoulders and back. You never really notice that you do it, it's similar to when you are in pain you might tighten your fists, or grind your teeth, or tighten up your shoulders, your body does this reactively.
Its not healthy when your muscles do not get a chance to loosen up and relax, it causes pain and in general is just not good for your muscles to be so tight.
The easiest way to alleviate this pain is to get your blood pumping and move your body. Do some light cardio on a treadmill or go for a jog, or just do some jumping jacks. When you exercise and your heart starts to move that blood faster, endorphin chemicals (Happy chemicals!) are released and they bring up your mood and help your muscles relax.
For a lot of people it sounds silly, because they might tend to be the people who are often stressed and don't get much exercise in their weekly agenda. If you 4-6 days of just cardio a week, you'll find that your mood will become more positive on a regular basis, and probably will feel much less tense around the shoulders and back. This might be a good time to build a new habit and make 45 minutes of time for exercise into your regular daily routine.
The other people, the ones who do have a regular fitness schedule tied in with their daily lives, sometimes you just cant stay motivated. Stress is like a blanket of suffocation sometimes, you don't feel like doing anything, you don't want to workout you just want to sit and relax (honestly, how often does that sitting and relaxing NOT turn into a pool of stressful thoughts and worry?).
My first suggestion to overcome this is just try to find some kind of motivation to ATTEMPT to start a workout. Often times once you start it, you feel like you might as well keep going and eventually your finished and feeling better.
My second suggestion, find a friend. Get a workout buddy, give them a call and let them know you just cant get the motivation to move. Having a workout partner makes it harder to fall off track, because you share the same accountability and they see you 'giving up' and want you to keep trying.
Basically, feeling stressed breaks your motivation to get moving, but getting some exercise will break down that stress. Think of it like a headache and Tylenol - You know that if you take it, you still need a good 30 minutes of suffering before it kicks in, but eventually it'll relieve that headache from you - same thing with exercise, you gotta suffer for a few minutes until your body gets into it, and you'll feel good by the end.
I picked up a set of Powerblocks (http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3903097&cid=CSE:GoogleProductSearch), the 5lbs-50lbs classic set. These things are super convenient for $299 and I also bought the stand (~$67) for easier quick-weight selection, as well as a bit of relief on my back from lowering to the floor to pick them up. I simply slide a bar into the weight selection I want on each dumbbell, and lift the weight off the stand/ground.
They aren't as pretty as the Bowflex SelectTechs, but the ones (SelectTechs) in the store were broken, unlike the Powerblocks. I'm pretty excited for next week to start up so I can get back to some heavy resistance and test these out, I especially am excited to be able to do strip-sets without having to pause my DVD while I fumble around with the weights.
Now currently the weight only goes to 50lbs (Increments of 5lbs) per dumbbell, but there are a couple of upgrade kits I can buy when I am ready that will increase the weight up to 100, and I think 130 or 120 was the final upgrade kit for them. They also have a 10 year warranty that I don't feel I'll need to use with them.
Now on to the topic of stress, how you feel, and how to feel better...
Most people tend to tense up muscles in their body when they are stressed out, particularly around their shoulders and back. You never really notice that you do it, it's similar to when you are in pain you might tighten your fists, or grind your teeth, or tighten up your shoulders, your body does this reactively.
Its not healthy when your muscles do not get a chance to loosen up and relax, it causes pain and in general is just not good for your muscles to be so tight.
The easiest way to alleviate this pain is to get your blood pumping and move your body. Do some light cardio on a treadmill or go for a jog, or just do some jumping jacks. When you exercise and your heart starts to move that blood faster, endorphin chemicals (Happy chemicals!) are released and they bring up your mood and help your muscles relax.
For a lot of people it sounds silly, because they might tend to be the people who are often stressed and don't get much exercise in their weekly agenda. If you 4-6 days of just cardio a week, you'll find that your mood will become more positive on a regular basis, and probably will feel much less tense around the shoulders and back. This might be a good time to build a new habit and make 45 minutes of time for exercise into your regular daily routine.
The other people, the ones who do have a regular fitness schedule tied in with their daily lives, sometimes you just cant stay motivated. Stress is like a blanket of suffocation sometimes, you don't feel like doing anything, you don't want to workout you just want to sit and relax (honestly, how often does that sitting and relaxing NOT turn into a pool of stressful thoughts and worry?).
My first suggestion to overcome this is just try to find some kind of motivation to ATTEMPT to start a workout. Often times once you start it, you feel like you might as well keep going and eventually your finished and feeling better.
My second suggestion, find a friend. Get a workout buddy, give them a call and let them know you just cant get the motivation to move. Having a workout partner makes it harder to fall off track, because you share the same accountability and they see you 'giving up' and want you to keep trying.
Basically, feeling stressed breaks your motivation to get moving, but getting some exercise will break down that stress. Think of it like a headache and Tylenol - You know that if you take it, you still need a good 30 minutes of suffering before it kicks in, but eventually it'll relieve that headache from you - same thing with exercise, you gotta suffer for a few minutes until your body gets into it, and you'll feel good by the end.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Yoga X and being a Coach
Last night I decided to make up the Yoga X I missed on Monday, and will move onto Kenpo or core tonight. I'm beginning to appreciate Yoga a little more each time I do it. I get very relaxed, even through all the pain you get with the first 50 minutes of the workout.
I'm improving a lot on flexibility, and my form in a lot of the poses is getting much better and less shaky.
I've got one more round of Yoga X for the week, and I'm actually looking forward to it now, just hoping time doesn't become an issue for the day I need to do it.
Hopefully by Monday I'll be picking up my new set of Dumbbells, which are an adjustable set of Powerblocks. I'm picking up a 5-50lb set, and eventually if I need to I will buy the upgrade pack to bring it up to 100lbs.
On another note, I've managed to get a friend to start doing P90X. If he keeps with it, which I think he will, he seems to be going pretty strong already 3 days in, he'll kind of be my poster-boy of a guy who doesn't need to lose a lot of weight, but is looking to get a healthier and toned body. Best part about it, is once his girlfriend finishes up this semester of school, she's gonna start up, though she hasn't decided if she'll do the whole thing (I think a little motivation from a few weeks of results will keep her going). She seemed pretty excited, and like him, she really is only looking to firm up and just generally have a healthier better functioning body - which exercise and proper nutrition will do for you.
I'm a coach and sell products but I'm not trying to sell a product, but first and foremost I'm trying to focus people on their health, letting them sample what the product can do for their health, then they can make a decision if they like the results.
I work in a deli which serves hot food, as well as over-processed meats, I see a ton of people daily that I would like to help, and I reach out to as many as I can, so even if my business doesn't grow overnight, maybe some day I'll get a phone call or a message from someone I reached out to, when the timing is right for them to realize it's time for them to live healthier, and or help others.
I'm improving a lot on flexibility, and my form in a lot of the poses is getting much better and less shaky.
I've got one more round of Yoga X for the week, and I'm actually looking forward to it now, just hoping time doesn't become an issue for the day I need to do it.
Hopefully by Monday I'll be picking up my new set of Dumbbells, which are an adjustable set of Powerblocks. I'm picking up a 5-50lb set, and eventually if I need to I will buy the upgrade pack to bring it up to 100lbs.
On another note, I've managed to get a friend to start doing P90X. If he keeps with it, which I think he will, he seems to be going pretty strong already 3 days in, he'll kind of be my poster-boy of a guy who doesn't need to lose a lot of weight, but is looking to get a healthier and toned body. Best part about it, is once his girlfriend finishes up this semester of school, she's gonna start up, though she hasn't decided if she'll do the whole thing (I think a little motivation from a few weeks of results will keep her going). She seemed pretty excited, and like him, she really is only looking to firm up and just generally have a healthier better functioning body - which exercise and proper nutrition will do for you.
I'm a coach and sell products but I'm not trying to sell a product, but first and foremost I'm trying to focus people on their health, letting them sample what the product can do for their health, then they can make a decision if they like the results.
I work in a deli which serves hot food, as well as over-processed meats, I see a ton of people daily that I would like to help, and I reach out to as many as I can, so even if my business doesn't grow overnight, maybe some day I'll get a phone call or a message from someone I reached out to, when the timing is right for them to realize it's time for them to live healthier, and or help others.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Self Improvement
I'm making this a short post, because nobody can explain how to go about improving everything in your life. Remember my last post of lists? Jack LaLanne has a nice list for you
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Recovery Week
Yesterday was the beginning of my recovery week, and my scheduled workout was to be Yoga... Didn't do it.
Today's scheduled workout was Core Synergistics, did it, and felt good about it, and because of that I'm back on the bandwagon, will likely do my best to pick up Yoga again on the day which would normally be "rest" day.
The recovery week always catches me off guard in terms of how I feel/how my body reacts. I'll do a short overview on what the recovery week is and does.
Recovery week is the 4th week of Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the program. During that week the workouts are these: Yoga, Core Synergistics, Kenpo, X Stretch, Core Synergistics, Yoga, Stretch/rest. None of these workouts will make you sore the following day. Yoga is a lot of balance and stretching and cardiovascular work, Core Synergistics is cardiovascular and "core" (Muscles supporting spine) work, Kenpo is just cardio.
The idea of recovery week is to let your body completely heal, but still burn some calories and lightly work all of the muscles to help them force more repairing cells to the tissue (They get lazy when the muscle isn't used much). During my regular workout weeks, my bodyweight fluctuates almost 10lbs regularily, but when recovery week comes around, my weight flat out drops and stays there. It's weird, and amazing what the body does when it's at it's optimal rate of restoration/rest, it almost feels like the changes are happening overnight steadily throughout the whole recovery week.
A lot of people wont notice changes or have any changes after those first 3 weeks of hard dedicated workouts, be discouraged and quit before that recovery week hits, and when it does it is amazing.
For me, this recovery week has dropped me down to 185 when hydrated in the morning hours (always check myself in the morning and at night, fluctuation is usually only a couple of pounds). Even without having a goal of losing a lot of weight, I'm still dropping (and I need to, I've got this skinfat that hangs off my belly and back that needs to go away).
The TRUE double-doubles starts up on Monday, because I'll be incorporating 3 days of cardio X into the schedule, on top of my double resistance days - but i haven't decided if I should throw the cardio X day son my yoga/kenpo/plyo days or not. That'll be my next experiment.
Keep motivated everyone =)
Today's scheduled workout was Core Synergistics, did it, and felt good about it, and because of that I'm back on the bandwagon, will likely do my best to pick up Yoga again on the day which would normally be "rest" day.
The recovery week always catches me off guard in terms of how I feel/how my body reacts. I'll do a short overview on what the recovery week is and does.
Recovery week is the 4th week of Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the program. During that week the workouts are these: Yoga, Core Synergistics, Kenpo, X Stretch, Core Synergistics, Yoga, Stretch/rest. None of these workouts will make you sore the following day. Yoga is a lot of balance and stretching and cardiovascular work, Core Synergistics is cardiovascular and "core" (Muscles supporting spine) work, Kenpo is just cardio.
The idea of recovery week is to let your body completely heal, but still burn some calories and lightly work all of the muscles to help them force more repairing cells to the tissue (They get lazy when the muscle isn't used much). During my regular workout weeks, my bodyweight fluctuates almost 10lbs regularily, but when recovery week comes around, my weight flat out drops and stays there. It's weird, and amazing what the body does when it's at it's optimal rate of restoration/rest, it almost feels like the changes are happening overnight steadily throughout the whole recovery week.
A lot of people wont notice changes or have any changes after those first 3 weeks of hard dedicated workouts, be discouraged and quit before that recovery week hits, and when it does it is amazing.
For me, this recovery week has dropped me down to 185 when hydrated in the morning hours (always check myself in the morning and at night, fluctuation is usually only a couple of pounds). Even without having a goal of losing a lot of weight, I'm still dropping (and I need to, I've got this skinfat that hangs off my belly and back that needs to go away).
The TRUE double-doubles starts up on Monday, because I'll be incorporating 3 days of cardio X into the schedule, on top of my double resistance days - but i haven't decided if I should throw the cardio X day son my yoga/kenpo/plyo days or not. That'll be my next experiment.
Keep motivated everyone =)
Monday, December 6, 2010
Motivation and Time
One of the biggest excuses a lot of people make to rationalize their lack of exercise is time. You can talk to someone and talk about working out and if they're not on the bandwagon, they often reply along the lines of "I would love to get back in shape, but I just don't have the time."
In theory that seems true for a lot of people, but in reality a lot of the people that say they don't have time to do one thing or another are not putting aside time to do those activities. This is where motivation plays a part, and it is really hard to motivate some people to get fit, or eat healthy, especially when we have the quick fixes and fast food surrounding us.
Today in this world everyone has a mindset that if something cannot be finished quickly, then it isn't worth a bother, too much growing up with all the convenience of fast food, instant cross-world communication, instant *put product here*.
If you really want to see how much time of the day you actually have to be productive, make a list. Lists are important, and I'm starting to learn the power of them every day, because a list builds a plan (It's weird for me to suggest a list, I'm a natural born procrastinator who does things on the fly most of the time but real life is taking its toll).
Let me give you a simple example of a list to start with, something that calculates out my average day, lets start with the most important time to your health in a 24-hour period.
In theory that seems true for a lot of people, but in reality a lot of the people that say they don't have time to do one thing or another are not putting aside time to do those activities. This is where motivation plays a part, and it is really hard to motivate some people to get fit, or eat healthy, especially when we have the quick fixes and fast food surrounding us.
Today in this world everyone has a mindset that if something cannot be finished quickly, then it isn't worth a bother, too much growing up with all the convenience of fast food, instant cross-world communication, instant *put product here*.
If you really want to see how much time of the day you actually have to be productive, make a list. Lists are important, and I'm starting to learn the power of them every day, because a list builds a plan (It's weird for me to suggest a list, I'm a natural born procrastinator who does things on the fly most of the time but real life is taking its toll).
Let me give you a simple example of a list to start with, something that calculates out my average day, lets start with the most important time to your health in a 24-hour period.
- 8 hours of sleep
- 8 hour job (You get a lunch break, pack a couple of turkey sandwiches on whole wheat bread.)
- 2 hours total commute (includes to and from, currently totally at 18 hours accounted for)
- Laundry? Dishes? Sit around and watch TV? We've got 6 hours left over, lets add some stuff that fits in the above time-frames.
- 1 hour to eat+cook home cooked breakfast (Trying to stay away from quick fixes in this list, lets consume up some time)
- 1 hour to eat + cook dinner, if it's a baked good, there is time for other productivity in there during downtime.
- How about spending 1 hour doing some cardio or simple strength training at home, or out for an hour walk, or kick it up to a jog?
- Use your last 3 hours to relax, make a list for the next days adventures.
People aren't motivated, I myself used the excuse of time as a reason to not exercise, but when seeing my sisters life and schedule, and that she had time to get her workouts in, I decided that there is something wrong with my perception of time.
I needed to figure out why I didn't have an hour a day(6 days a week) to spend making myself healthier, but my sister who has 4 children to take care of and a full time CPA job with only minimal time for her husband to take over the kids (Full time night manager at his own job) could find time to get an hour in. If she can find the time to do an hour, damned if I couldn't.
Find motivation and make room for a healthy lifestyle, you have the time.
Now to move on to my accountability for the past couple of days:
Friday was supposed to be legs and back for me, I wasn't motivated and was exhausted (I can make a million excuses, none of them make me feel better for skipping a workout). I told myself I'd do it Saturday and do Kenpo X with it - I skipped out on both and I'm unimpressed with myself, but I'm ready and fired up for this week. This is my rest and recovery week, which means I get a couple days of Yoga, some Core Synergistics and I believe some more Kenpo. Hopefully by this coming Monday I can afford a set of Powerblocks (adjustable dumbbells), because I lended out all of my weights to a friend who I've convinced to try P90X out himself.
Time to push play with Yoga. =)
Thursday, December 2, 2010
First day of double resistance successful
Last night (Wednesday) after I finished up at work, I came home threw in chest and back and felt excellent before, during, and after. It appears I wont overtrain with the new setup so far, only time will tell of course.
Today was yoga, definitely improving a lot in my flexibility, and my balance postures are getting better. I'm starving though, I went to bed without a snack after my workout, got up and had some eggs/turkeybacon/turkey pepperoni, but it just wasn't enough calories. I'll be working on balancing out my energy throughout the rest of the day with some protein bars, skim milk, and a salad or something. Soreness is at a minimum today, and I like that considering how hard I feel like I pushed myself.
Off to another day of work.
Today was yoga, definitely improving a lot in my flexibility, and my balance postures are getting better. I'm starving though, I went to bed without a snack after my workout, got up and had some eggs/turkeybacon/turkey pepperoni, but it just wasn't enough calories. I'll be working on balancing out my energy throughout the rest of the day with some protein bars, skim milk, and a salad or something. Soreness is at a minimum today, and I like that considering how hard I feel like I pushed myself.
Off to another day of work.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Experimentation Truly Begins and Accountability
Yesterday I did my Plyometrics, felt like I did fantastic. I'm now having more issues with my breathing/cardio than I am with my muscles giving out on me in the workouts (though they still end up like jello by the end, not gonna lie). It appears that Plyo will be increasing my cardio performance a lot, which is good considering I have asthma that, according doctors is "exercise induced", but I haven't used my inhaler for anything except for allergy issues closing up my throat.
Something I've learned over the course of doing Plyometrics: you feel fine after you get some food and energy in you, you feel fine when you wake up in the morning, but at about the 16 hour mark after you finished your workout your leg muscles tighten up and you whine like a baby every time you approach stairs. However, I did Ab Ripper X last night after plyo with some excellent improvements, and I don't feel sore today. This means I'll be ready to bring it come yoga day tomorrow.
Today is my first attempt at my double-resistance day, and I've already learned that there is no way in hell I can do both workouts within the same 6 hours. Therefore I'm going to be working on my time management to allow for time to do a workout in the morning, and then the other after I get out of work, or later in the evening.
Shoulders and Arms was todays first workout and it is by far my favorite, I always feel a good burn and find improvements almost every time I do it, something about curling 30lbs when you're biceps are dead from earlier just feels good. Tonight when I get out of work, I'm hoping I have the motivation and energy to do Chest and Back as well.
I'm absolutely loving the fact I can now see my arms toning up nicely, and I can feel the firmness I've attained from doing the program when running my hand across my arm.
As for food intake and my current change in workout routine, on resistance days I need a lot of carbs and a lot of protein to keep hunger at bay and energy high, so I've opted into some basic beans and hotdogs. I understand that the sodium content is very high, but water retention is temporary and will basically only be a problem for a day or so following the resistance workouts, and will be cured with plenty of hydration.
Something I've learned over the course of doing Plyometrics: you feel fine after you get some food and energy in you, you feel fine when you wake up in the morning, but at about the 16 hour mark after you finished your workout your leg muscles tighten up and you whine like a baby every time you approach stairs. However, I did Ab Ripper X last night after plyo with some excellent improvements, and I don't feel sore today. This means I'll be ready to bring it come yoga day tomorrow.
Today is my first attempt at my double-resistance day, and I've already learned that there is no way in hell I can do both workouts within the same 6 hours. Therefore I'm going to be working on my time management to allow for time to do a workout in the morning, and then the other after I get out of work, or later in the evening.
Shoulders and Arms was todays first workout and it is by far my favorite, I always feel a good burn and find improvements almost every time I do it, something about curling 30lbs when you're biceps are dead from earlier just feels good. Tonight when I get out of work, I'm hoping I have the motivation and energy to do Chest and Back as well.
I'm absolutely loving the fact I can now see my arms toning up nicely, and I can feel the firmness I've attained from doing the program when running my hand across my arm.
As for food intake and my current change in workout routine, on resistance days I need a lot of carbs and a lot of protein to keep hunger at bay and energy high, so I've opted into some basic beans and hotdogs. I understand that the sodium content is very high, but water retention is temporary and will basically only be a problem for a day or so following the resistance workouts, and will be cured with plenty of hydration.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)