The Fitness Diary

So the last two months have been very bad as far as exercising goes. Working at a tech startup and exercise definitely do not go together. The last ten weeks or so have been ones of working to see my company’s next generation entertainment service brought to the world. Generally this meant working while I was awake, and time off when I was sleeping. I did get to go to gym, but nothing more than once maybe twice a week, which is better than nothing, but not nearly enough to lose weight, improve my cardiovascular condition or muscle tone.

Now the problem is that I’m heavier than when that picture was taken that’s in my first post, the picture that started this whole lifestyle change. So I’m five months into my life changing exercise program, and I’m actually fatter than when I started! I pretty sure you don’t need to do a google search to work out this isn’t going to work in the long run. Mind you I am my own worst enemy, because I’m back eating loads of chocolate during snack times, and drinking softdrinks. Probably the worst thing is back to not eating a proper breakfast before leaving the house. Generally this means I’m eating peanut M&Ms - which my company generally provides us free and in large quantities - by about mid morning.

If anything it’s good that I’ve got this blog going, because I can see now that without real effort, there won’t be any way that I’ll actually achieve my goal. I’ve decided to change the workout strategy, to shorten the amount of overall time it takes to complete. I’ll workout each weekday, doing 1 body part followed by 20 minutes of aerobic activity. Altogether it should take about 1 hour start to finish, which is doable.

Well that’s the plan, for starting a second time.

Andy.

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.

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.