The Fitness Diary

Today was a rest day. Which was necessary given the last four days were really kick starting a routine. After I finish this post, I’m going to bed to get some sleep. I slept 9 hours last night, like a rock. Which is really the result of the last few days hard exercise. Tomorrow is legs day, and I will swim as well, because I’m seriously growing to lurv swimming.

Andy.

I swam today for 30 minutes, but this time with no breaks at each end after a lap. It’s still an alternating one lap freestyle, return lap breaststroke. Unlike last swim day though, I didn’t have to take a 15 to 20 second break at each end to get my breathe back. I went the full 30 minutes lap after lap. Admittedly it was taking it very slow, but I was pretty happy with such an obvious improvement in one day.

My left ear is a bit sore though. I hope it’s not the start of an ear infection. I’ve used some cotton buds to make sure my inner ear is dry before going to sleep tonight.

Andy.

I am continually amazed still at how the global fitness marketing machine makes up complete bullshit to put stars in the eyes of overweight people, and coerce them to hand over huge wads of cash, for the promise of physical beauty. Here’s one ad I came across today.

6 Second Abs

NEW!! Go from beer-belly flab to just FAB in seconds - with 6 Second Abs! Forget about those painful, neck-wrenching crunches on the floor. Six Second Abs keeps you off the floor in a comfortable seated position and guides you through the perfect crunch motion.

With the 6-Second Abs patented progressive resistance system, you can easily set the resistance to match your fitness level. And 6-Second Abs is like your personal coach. It paces you. It tells you when you’ve done a complete crunch. Just three seconds down and three seconds up. It’s so easy. Just listen to the clicks and every crunch is complete. Every crunch is perfect so you don’t have to do as many.

You can go from beer belly flab.. to fab. Now you can eliminate the paunch for a flat-toned stomach. 6-Second Abs targets your entire abdominals with just a few simple exercises on the upper abs, the lower abs and the side obliques. Just three seconds down and three seconds up. It’s so easy. 6-Second Abs utilises more muscle fibres because you’re getting a fuller contraction. And you can trim those love handles for the sexy waistline you’ve always wanted.

What the fuck?! I thought the 6 minute ab routine was complete crap, and that noone would buy into it. But 6 second abs?! You can’t even sit your arse on the floor and get in the exercise position that fast! And that’s the whole workout!

I genuinely feel sorry for people that are out there, who sincerely want to know how about exercise, and come across this shit. To some extent you would have to be a right retard to believe 6 second anything would work. Any reasonable person would have to know this is just a shameless marketing ploy to separate a fool from their money. But it is shameless on the part of the people telling these lies in the first place, to pray on those who in a lot ways are looking for hope and salvation.

There is no substitute for hard work over a long period of time. To think there is another way, is to live in denial. In the end, there are no shortcuts and no quick fixes. The sooner you come to accept that. The sooner you will be on a path to becoming the shape you want, and enjoying a healthier lifestyle.

Andy.

Back and Shoulders day. (Done alternating, one back, one shoulder exercise, as a pull/push system).

I was feeling a bit muscle tired in the upper body today from the swimming yesterday, so I figured this would be a good workout to loosen that up. As I’m not trying to add maximum muscle bulk, but am attempting to burn fat with the weight lifting, I reduce the time between sets to about 60 - 90 seconds. Which helps get the heart rate up and get a good sweat going. Since it’s still early in the exercise stage, I’m not going very heavy or going ballistic. I’ll up the intensity as my body gets accustomed to the workload.

BACK

Lat pulldowns

warmup 2 x 25 reps x 10kgs.

2 x 15 reps x 20kgs/25kgs.

2 x 12 reps x 30kgs/35kgs.

High Row

1 x 15 reps x 15kgs.

1 x 15 reps x 20kgs.

1 x 15 reps x 25kgs.

1 x 8 reps x 30kgs.

SHOULDERS

Front Dumbell Shoulder Press. (kgs each arm)

warmup 2 x 15 reps x 6kgs.

1 x 15 reps x 9kgs

2 x 12 x 10kgs

1 x 6 x 14kgs.

BACK

Seated row (+ shoulder shrugs)

warmup 2 x 20 reps x 15kgs.

1 x 15 reps x 25kgs (+ 12 reps x 10kgs each arm)

1 x 15 reps x 30kgs (+ 12 reps x 10kgs each arm)

1 x 12 reps x 35kgs (+ 12 reps x 10kgs each arm)

1 x 12 reps x 40kgs (+ 12 reps x 10kgs each arm)

SHOULDERS

Side lateral raise dumbell raise

1 x 15 reps x 6kgs

1 x 12 reps x 7kgs.

1 x 12 reps x 8kgs.

1 x 10 reps x 9kgs.

1 x 8 reps x 10kgs.

BACK

Deadlifts

2 x 15 reps x 5kgs (per side of bar)

2 x 12 reps x 7.5kgs (ps)

Should have done a back shoulder exercise to hit the rear deltoids, but I was feeling fatigued, and so thought I would leave it there. Swimming tomorrow so they will get another workout with that. But the idea is not to push it to the limit just yet.

Came home and had for dinner of good sized peice of salmon fillet with spinach and brocolli and pine nuts. Very tastey dish this. At some point in next 6 weeks I’ll start with basic supplements of protein powder and a multivitamin, as these are recommended for people who exercise daily.

Andy.

Today was swim day.

Swam laps x 30 mins.

And by the end of it I was totally fucked… but in a good way! My arms felt like lead, and I could barely manage a slow crawl on the bike back home.

I have to say, I do love swimming though. It is amazingly relaxative, and mentally thereputic. Much like meditation really, only your moving as oppossed to sitting still. I feel good! But I’m so bloody hungry I could eat a horse. And now the trick will be, not to eat like one. I must resist the temptation to cook enough pasta based vegetable/protein dinner to feed two people. So I’ll have some dried fruit to take the edge off my hunger before starting cooking.

I smell like chlorine.

Andy.

I’ve decided to split my workouts into 3.

Day 1 - Chest, biceps, triceps.

Day 2 - Back, shoulders.

Day 3 - Legs.

I’m going to alternate days of lifting weights with swimming. So my routine will be like this.

Day 1 - Swim - Day 2 - Swim - Day 3 - Swim - Day 1…

These workouts are quite fast this way, and by exercising every day this should help stimulate my metabolism into helping burn fat more effectively.

[Weight today 92.2kgs on electric scales]

Today was day 1. The routine was:

CHEST

Warmup - machine incline press

2 sets x 20 reps, 10 kgs.

Exercise 1 - machine incline press

4 sets x 12 reps, 15kgs/20kgs/25kgs/30kgs.

Exercise 2 - incline dumbbell curl

3 sets x 12 reps, (per arm) 7kgs/9kgs/11kgs.

1 set x 6 reps, 12kgs.

BICEPS

Warmup - standing cable curls

2 sets x 20 reps, 5kgs

Exercise 1 - standing cable curls

4 sets x 12 reps, 10kgs/15kgs/20kgs/25kgs.

Exercise 2 - standing individual arm cable curls.

3 sets x 12 reps, 4kgs, 4kgs, 6kgs.

1 set x 8 reps, 6kgs.

TRICEPS

Warmup - cable rope extension + overhead cable rope extension (supersetted, as I find I get a really good pump with not much weight which doesnt make my joints ache)

2 sets x 20 reps, 5 kgs.

Exercise 1 - as warmup

4 sets x 12 reps (+ 6 - 8 reps), 10kgs (+5kgs)/15kgs (+5kgs)/20kgs (+5kgs)/25kgs (+5kgs).

Exercise 2 - dips on machine. set weight on a cable to offset body weight. higher weight is easier.

4 sets x 12 reps, 50kgs/45kgs/40kgs.

1 set x 8 reps, 35kgs.

Wasn’t really pusing it today, as it’s been 12 days since my last workout, so I want to ease into again. I notice if I push it too hard too soon, I do get injured, which never used to happen before in my early 30’s.

A.

I’ve decided that this whole exercise journal thing is going to work better if I start treating this blog like a training diary. I actually used a training diary when I was going to gym about 3 years ago and I found it really interesting to be able to look back on workouts and see how strong and fit I would get over a period of time before the inevitable layoffs I would take. So this is going to be the online version. If I get motivated enough I might even try to transcribe the old diary into some kind of online format. That would be pretty interesting to use as a benchmark.

Right now though this blog in it’s present form isn’t really shaping up to be a motivational tool like I was hoping it would. Pretty much because of the lack of entries, which stems from a lack of workouts. So I’m hoping to change all that, by making this a diary of workouts, which becomes a tale of my progress.

It’s time to really get serious about this, and stop talking about doing it, and just do it! Just like the Nike ad!

Andy.

So I think this gym thing has had a bit of a false start. My last workout was 10 days ago - it almost sounds like the start of a confession when I say it like that - which is just too long to call it an extended rest period. Not last week, but the week before I did three days in a row, and was just at the point where I considered myself exercising again, and then I stopped. Not for any particular reason, but it was just falling back into old habits of not exercising because there was always something else to do, including eating junk food.

It seems after a year of not exercising and not watching what I eat, those are the habits that are ingrained in my head, and it’s all too easy to make excuses not to gym after a hard day at work when I am tired by the time I get home. But I’m always going to be tired when I get home from work, so if I keep using that excuse I may as well cancel my membership right now.

A good mate of mine told me that it takes 90 days to make something a habit in your life, meaning you don’t have to think about an activity or action consciously, you just do it as part of a routine. I had thought being a fat bastard and wanting to lose weight, that time would have been reduced by about 87 days. Apparently not. I’m really going to have to take it from the beginning, and find the time to make the routine again, and make exercise a regular part of my day.

Otherwise it’s just going to be another year of excuses!

Andy.

So the basics of eating are going to be a bit of a problem in the first place I think. Three years ago I was going to gym and exercising hard about four days a week, and consequently I could pretty much eat whatever I wanted and not have to worry about calories. Cut to now, and I’m still eating like I’m exercising hard four days a week, and I’m doing fuck-all. No surprise where the extra padding come from around my guts. At work it’s a bit of a culture of snacking whenever you feel hungry because the company provides all manner of chips, chocolate, and soft drinks to gorge yourself on. The idea being happy tech people are productive tech people. To some extent that’s true, and so the folks I work with have been ignoring the fruit and healthy snacks, in favour of crisps and Coca Cola. I’ve become so used to this afternoon ritual that I don’t even consider it a bad thing that I eat a half a big bag of Lays Natural flavour, and wash it down with a half a bottle of Coca Cola.

The first order of business is going to be to cut the crap out of my diet, and stop evil snack habits that I have become part of my typical eating day. Right now I don’t actually know how to deal with the snack time blues that hit at 4pm, so I’m going to have to do some reading and experimentation and see what works by trial and error.

So today I said goodbye to the chips and cola in a formal way by walking straight past the cupboard without a second glance. And although I did have a peice of cake for a collegues birthday celebration (okay, two peices), it’s the end of the days of junk food snacking. Might be time to start using a calorie counter site to help out with this.

Andy.

After a long european winter, I went out with some friends on a boat during the first sunny weekend of the new summer, and was pretty shocked to find out that my stomach has taken on the proportions associated with early stage pregnancy.

This is a bit of a serious problem for me for a couple of reasons; firstly, I’m not one of these guys whose comfortable with having a big round belly on them. I really admire those guys that are, because it means they’re secure enough in themselves for their body shape not to matter at all. Now, I’m not someone obsessed with his looks and having a Fabio body to show off, but at the same time, this getting out of shape isn’t helping my general state of wellbeing or social confidence. Secondly, my father and grandfather both developed type 2 diabetes, heart problems, and had knee replacements all as a consequence of being chronically overweight. So a weight problem for me, if not brought to heel, is going to go much the same way as it did the men in my family before me.

Which brings me to the point of this blog; I’m about to embark on an experiment with myself to turn my weight around and acheive a state of health and good fitness. I’ve not seen my abs now in nearly 10 years, and they haven’t seen me either. Chances are they’ve forgotten what I look like, and who they belong to. I’d like to think that it’s not too late for us to get reaquanted. The challenge is going to be seeing this through; I’m 39 years old, with a busy-as-fuck tech job in a web technology startup that I have to travel to out of town from where I live. My diet is pretty shit, and will need a complete overhaul, and I’ve forgotten most of the nutrition information that I once knew like the back of my hand. Most of all, it’s been at least a year and half since I was doing any form of regular exercise, so I have to completely rebuild the routines of my life to include exercise again. So this site, as much as anything, is to help me get motivated and keep my motivation up. God knows this fashion shot above sure gives me plenty of that!

Let the games begin!

Andy.