Behind in summits

I didn't do so well in the cardio area last week, but I hope to change that this week. Running hurts, but I know it's good for me. So gotta do it. Here's the breakdown:

Sunday: Chest/back/abs
Monday: Run
Tuesday: Shoulders/triceps/biceps
Wednesday: None
Thursday: None
Friday: Pushups/pullups, heavy weights
Saturday: None

You know, I was doing some thinking this past week. I made a goal for the summer to summit two of the forty-eight 4,000 footers in NH. But if I continue that very modest goal every summer, it'll take me 24 years to finish the summits. That's not something I want to do. To finish within 2 - 4 years, I need to do 8 - 12 summits a year. To achieve this with some semblance of a social life besides hiking, I would need to open up hiking into spring and fall as well. Otherwise, I'd be hiking every weekend in summer, which can be difficult if weather and/or social life is not accommodating. We had a horrible start to the summer season so far with nearly 4 weeks of rain, but it should be better now. I should be able to do at least two this summer and hopefully a couple more in the fall. But I need to get going and get this started.

I'm getting a bit closer to my current goal of 170.0 lb. I know my last weigh-in hit that mark, but unless I see that consistently, I'm not convinced. After 170.0 lb, I might aim for 165.0 lb with increased strength. This should give me a lean strong body with enough endurance to do the more taxing activities like hiking, biking, and running. As I've read somewhere, it doesn't mean crap if you can bench press 2 - 3x your weight if you can't do 40 pushups in a row. Being able to do that many pushups shows you have the strength and endurance to do something like, carry a kid on your shoulders out of a burning building. I want practical strength, not bragging rights.

I mean, have you ever looked at pictures of active-duty soldiers? Most pictures I see of Marines and armed forces are of men with lean tight bodies. They need to be strong, but efficient enough to lug their gear on long marches or last through a long battle. Another example? Rock climbers. Again, lean strong bodies. These are athletes that can out-pullup anybody...on their fingers.

Anyway, that's all for this update.


Last weigh-in:
170.0 lb

Getting there...

Blah...I'm not as consistent as I used to be with this. Aw well. Here's the breakdown for the past two weeks:

Sunday: Chest/back/abs

Monday: Bike (Minuteman Trail - Arlington to Bedford and back)

Tuesday: Shoulders/triceps/biceps

Wednesday: Run

Thursday: None

Friday: Pushups, pullups

Saturday: None

Last weigh-in:
171.0 lb


Sunday: Chest/back/abs

Monday: Run

Tuesday: Shoulders/triceps/biceps

Wednesday: None
Thursday: Pushups/pullups
Friday: Run
Saturday: Run

I must be nearing my "ideal" weight. I'm at 170.5 lb, but that goes up and down depending on my week. Weight loss isn't happening as fast even though workouts have been mostly the same. Diet, of course, could be better, but I'm doing what I can. I give in too easily when it comes to food. I can say for certain that strength is increasing. I haven't checked in with body fat lately, but some of my shorts barely hang onto my hips. There's a quick trick to determine if you're losing body fat/retaining muscle mass. If you're losing weight, but can do more pushups than before, then you're doing fine.

My shoulder seems to be pretty good. I was able to play around with some kids (kids I know, I'm not a creep) at a playground. I was able to do the monkey bars and such. Shoulder held up. I'm also up to three sets of 8 pullups, so that's pretty good. I would say I can go start rock climbing if I wanted to.

Well, I'm just gonna keep going at it.


Last weigh-in:
170.5 lb

Biking!

Yup, late with my update. So I'll just throw it down real quick.

Sunday: Chest/back/abs
Monday: Run
Tuesday: Shoulders/triceps/biceps
Wednesday: Run
Thursday: Heavy weights - chest/back/quads/calf
Friday: None
Saturday: Bike (Minuteman Trail - Bedford to Arlington and back)

My cousins just got some hybrid bikes, so the biking bug is back. Did a loop at the Minuteman Trail. It's nice to be back in the saddle, though the saddle hurts when you've been gone for a while. It's less impact than running, but it's nice to have alternatives when it comes to cardio. Treadmill running can get boring, and street running is inconsistent.

Diet was a bit better, though still very hard for me. I've been upping my weight workouts a bit every week, and my shoulder is still in one piece weeks after removing glucosamine from my daily routine. Things seem to be looking good. Now if the weather gets better, I can't wait to tackle my goal of summiting two 4,000 footers this season.


Last weigh-in:
172.5 lb

Done with glucosamine

Well, I did it. I weaned myself off of the glucosamine sulfate. I was paranoid about going off of it, but someone had a knee problem from running and I gave my mostly full second (and only) bottle to him. I've been off for about a week and the shoulder feels mostly the same. Is it a 100%? No. But the fact that it made it through a heavy workout says quite a bit. Here's the breakdown:

Sunday: Chest/back/abs

Monday: Run

Tuesday: Shoulders/biceps/triceps

Wednesday: Run

Thursday: Heavy weights - Chest/back, calf raises, lunges

Friday: None
Saturday: None

For my "heavy" workout, I actually made it to the gym. I had access to whatever I wanted. I started off with body weight chest dips/pull ups supersets. Three sets of five. It felt awesome to be able to do a decent amount of pull ups again. Then I headed over to a bench and did supersets of dumbbell chest presses and one-arm rows using 45-lb dumbbells (I did one set with 60-lb and decided that was too heavy for now). I followed that up with some incline presses and finished off at the lat pulldown with 130-lb. Then I did some box jumps and a quick cooldown at the treadmill. Boy, it was nice to have all that stuff available. Very nice. I know my "heavy" isn't quite heavy right now, but considering that I have never benched my full weight and the fact that I'm getting over a shoulder injury, I'm doing just fine.

I knew the workout was pretty good, because I started feeling some tightness by the end of the day. When I woke up the next day, My chest and lats were sore. It was a feeling I've missed for awhile. Then I started feeling sick. Well, at least I thought I was sick. My gut felt pretty bad. It took me a while to realize it was my core that was sore and even longer for me to piece together that it was from the box jumps. I haven't done box jumps for a while and didn't think it did more than work out my legs. But anyway, I've recovered from that workout and even finished my regular chest/back work out. It feels pretty good.

My first 4,000 footer summit is this coming weekend. I feel pretty confident in my physical state, so I hope to summit and descend just fine. Mt. Osceola is a bit more than Mt. Monadnock, so if I finish in a better state than Monadnock, then I've come a long way.

As for my diet. Yeesh. From Thursday on, it was trash. I even gained weight, though 0.5 - 1.0 lb may be water retention from some salty foods I ate. I was so bloated yesterday that my eyes hurt. Need to concentrate more this coming week.


Last weigh-in:
174.5 lb

Beware the Brazilian BBQ Buffet!

So, I ate too much again. Man. Buffets are a killer. I went to a Brazilian BBQ Buffet the other day. This is a meat lover's dream. They bring large skewers of meat over and slice it right at the table for you. So...much...meat. But it was really good. But sooooo much.... I gotta really watch myself. Anyway, here's the breakdown:

Sunday: Chest/back/abs
Monday: None
Tuesday: Run
Wednesday: Shoulders/biceps/triceps, run
Thursday: None
Friday: Pullups, elevated pushups
Saturday: Run

I added pullups and elevated pushups to try to sneak "heavy" weights back in. I'm only doing three sets of five to start out just to be safe. My shoulder feels pretty good now and it only feels weird once in a while. I'm still taking glucosamine, mainly out of paranoia. I'll stop after I finish the bottle. Eventually, I'd like to get back to bench presses and some lat pulldowns/weighted pullups. For my regular weight workouts, I'm up to three sets of 14, so I upped the dumbbells to 25 pounds. We'll see how that goes next update.

The main thing now is getting ready for my hike. I'm still doing stairs at work, two at a time. Really gets my heart pumping and simulates short bursts going up a mountain. I need to make sure I do my squats and lunges though. Been kinda lax on that since running. Gotta work on my diet some more too. I'm pretty good at work, but I still get too relaxed outside of that. But the guilt's there, so that means I'm paying attention at least. Blegh, fitness is a life long struggle.




Last weigh-in:
173.5 lb

New goals

After weighing in at my usual time, I realized I have finally cracked 175.0 lb. I had been wavering around there and was starting to worry that was my body's comfortable weight. Anyway, I was working out and I started to evaluate my journey here.

I left high school at 155 lb. Okay weight. I had the benefit of my younger faster metabolism. I graduated college at 165 lb when I added some bulk from periodic exercise. Then something happened. I started to work. I was still able to squeeze in workouts, but as my responsibilities grew, my stress grew. I had a job where I was pretty much 24/7 and I didn't feel like working out at the gym at work after work. It took my 45 minutes to get home. By the time I unwound it was 7-7:30PM. Dinnertime. My workouts were further and further apart. I hit my goal of "bulking" up to 175 lb. But I hadn't been working out. It was fat.

Then a couple years ago, I went on a hike to summit Mt. Monadnock. It was supposed to be an easy summit as I had done that before. My legs were screaming when I was halfway down. I told myself to start working out. The mini-workout was born. But I did nothing with my diet. Finally the wake up call. I weighed myself and I was at 189 lb; just shy of 190 lb. I knew I had to do something. And though it wasn't a quick-fix, I gradually made my way to where I am today.

Anyway. Since I've never felt better. I'd like to make some new fitness goals. I'd like to be sub-170 lb. I think that's a good weight for me. There are some pretty fit guys out there who are taller than me at my current weight. I must be carrying excess. I'd like to be at 8-11% body fat. I'd like to run a faster mile. I'd like to have a good right shoulder again. All these goals have an ulterior motive. I want to be fit enough to tackle some of the more physical goals in my life list. I mentioned before that I want to summit all 48 4,000 footers in NH. Kinda hard if I'm not in shape. There are some more items on my life list, but no need to list them all here. Anyway, here's last week's breakdown:

Sunday: Chest/back/abs

Monday: Run

Tuesday: Shoulders/biceps/triceps

Wednesday: Run
Thursday: None
Friday: Lunges
Saturday: Calf raises


Last weigh-in:
173.0 lb

Got sick

No running at all last week. I caught something over the weekend when I went to NYC. Had a sore throat for a couple days then just felt blegh for a few more days. I managed to squeeze in the weights, but it was tough. Here:

Sunday: None
Monday: Chest/back/abs
Tuesday: None
Wednesday: Shoulders/biceps/triceps, weighted calf raises
Thursday: None
Friday: None
Saturday: None

I hung out with my cousin midweek and was able to use her body fat machine. I lost 2.2%. So 1.8% to go! I doubt I'll make it by June 1st, but I like the changes I've made to my life, so I'm gonna keep it up. I just added the 48 4,000 footers of NH onto my life list, so I'm going to need to be in good shape.

Last weigh-in:
175.0 lb @ 13.5% body fat

Two week update

I was a bit busy last week with my office move, so I didn't post a fitness update. So, I'm just going to put the last two weeks together:

Sunday: Chest/back/abs
Monday: Run
Tuesday: Single leg calf raises, shoulders/biceps/triceps
Wednesday: Run
Thursday: Lunges
Friday: Run

Saturday: none

Weigh-in:

175.5 lb

Sunday: Chest/back/abs

Monday: none

Tuesday: Run

Wednesday: Shoulders/biceps/triceps, calf raises
Thursday: Run
Friday: Squats
Saturday: none

Overall, I've been mostly good. I've been sticking with my weights workout and keeping with a 2-3 times run every week. I'm making very good progress in terms of my running. When I started I would break up my half hour run so I can preserve myself. Typical "run" was a 5 minute warmup, 10-13 minute run, 4-5 minute fast walk with incline, then a quick 1 minute of a fast run followed by a gradual 0.5 mph drop every 30 seconds until I hit 3.5 mph for a cool down. I would then walk at 3.5 mph at an incline until my heart rate drops to a more or less stable rate. However, my last run was warmup followed by 21 minutes of running. I went straight to my fast run with an incline then a cooldown. I felt very accomplished. I just wished I tightened my shoes beforehand. Had a small blister on my right foot afterwards, but that went away by Saturday.

As for weights, I'm at 20lb dumbbells with sets of 10 reps. I'm pretty satisfied with the healing of my shoulder, but I do notice that while strength is returning, power is not. I haven't tried throwing anything, but whenever I make sudden movements with my right arm, there's a twinge of discomfort. Not pain, but something. And with my paranoia, I am pretty slow with my reps, which probably is a good thing because I am working out with good form. I'm just worried about how I can't seem to do fast things with my right arm. One thing that was good about the last couple of weeks was my office move. With the move, I was the go-to person for most things heavy. I was very careful whenever I had to move or lift anything. And I feel the moving was a real-world test of my shoulder, and the stress of real-world lifting helped with the rehab a bit.

I went away for the weekend, and as you know, going away means eating. I didn't have my normal weigh-in, but a quick weigh-in after a dinner post-trip was at 178.0lb. The last weigh-in at my normal time and conditions was before my trip and is listed below. I did hit my goal of 175.0lb, but now that I've been working on cutting fat, I'm not placing as much emphasis on my weight. I haven't measured my body fat lately, but I'm paying more attention to how my clothes fit and how much I see my veins, which is a simple test to see if you've lost fat. Veins are more visible and "pop" when you have less fat (for a guy anyway). Based on what I've observed, I've lost some body fat, but I doubt it was 4% loss. I started at 15.7, so my goal is 11.7%. And I don't look like I'm at 11.7%.


Last weigh-in:
175.0 lb

Run. Run. Run.

Well, so far I'm keeping up with my workout schedule. I'm doing my weight regimen with plenty of rest. I'm running three times a week. I'm pretty excited about sticking to this. Here's the breakdown:

Sunday: Chest/back/abs
Monday: Run
Tuesday: Squats (50), shoulders/biceps/triceps, ab work
Wednesday: Run
Thursday: Squats, lunges
Friday: Run, ab work
Satuday: Small hike in NH

One change I made is that I'm running in the morning before work. So yeah, I'm actually waking up earlier than usual for something that isn't quite fun. Plus, I shower at the gym...*shudders*. But the feeling of knowing you got a difficult workout out of the way is out of this world. It beats getting off work and knowing you have to spend an hour to hour and half working out and showering. Leaves time for the other wonderful mundate tasks of my work week routine.

Again, diet is still a toughie for me. Friday night, instead of going for Subway for a $5 footlong, I opted for Boston Market. Bad decision. The grease made me feel sick. Let's not even talk about the weekend. I know I might be a bit harsh on myself, but I aim for 100% adherence to my diet mainly because I know I would only achieve 70 - 80%. If I aim for 80%, I might only hit 50 - 60%. Hence, the bland healthy food during work. I know I won't eat as healthy at night and on the weekends, so I build insurance in. I work against my weakness. But anyway, with the consistent workouts and a critical eye on food, I've managed to lose quite a bit this week. Check it out for yourself.


Last weigh-in:
175.5 lb (on a Sunday!!)

Finally made it to the gym

So I finally made it to the gym for my cardio sessions. Only did one last week, but for this week, I've already made it in once. I'm on track for my 2-3/week. Here's the breakdown:

Sunday: Chest/Back/Abs
Monday: None
Tuesday: Squats (50), lunges (25 each), shoulders/biceps/triceps
Wednesday: Run
Thursday: Lunges (25 each), squats (50), weighted squats (20, 20), weighted calf raises (60 total)
Friday: None
Saturday: None

I'm not sure if it's because of my ab routine, but I was able to run longer than usual without cramping up (that's how poor my cardio health is). But I thought I made a great effort on the first run. I went back last night and made even better progress. I'm pretty excited about running 2-3 times a week. Weights-wise, I'm still sticking to my 2-3 times a week. I stuck to that pretty well, except for the legs routine. Hope to change that as I go to the gym a bit more.

I made a change to the weight routine. I went from 10-lb dumbbells to 15-lb dumbbells (will drop reps from 15 to 10). My muscles can support it. It's just the shoulder I have to worry about. I'm also going to cut out the rotator-cuff exercises like I did with the diagonal raises. I've already determined that my injury is not muscle related, so I want to limit the stress my joint goes through. When the shoulder gets better, I'll add the exercises back in as a preventative measure. I'm going to feel out how the heavier weight feels. I might start a cycle where I lay off the weights for a week or two at a time to give it more rest. In the past, whenever I took a week or two off, I actually got stronger and didn't have to lower my weights when I went back to it.

Diet-wise, I'm still pretty bad at nights and weekends. I'm still eating breakfast and good snacks to keep my metabolism up, but some of the dinners I eat are not what I'd ideally eat. I'm good in terms of keeping my portions in check. I'm pretty good with keeping bad snacks out of my system, such as skipping snack size Butterfingers (85 calories!) or a stick of Twizzlers (35 calories) and going for a handful of low or no sodium nuts instead. I try to keep sugar to a minimum, which isn't so hard for me as I don't have a tremendous sweet tooth and I love my coffee black and sugar-free.

My weight is mostly constant, but what I'm curious about is my body fat. Haven't tested since the initial test, so I don't really have a good idea where I'm at. I do notice I'm a bit leaner and my clothes fit looser, but no hard numbers. Anyway, looking forward to a good week this week. Already at day three!

Last weigh-in:
177.5 lb

Taking glucosamine now

So, my shoulder is starting to feel better. I'm on the new weights schedule, and it's definitely enough rest for my body. Just not sure how severe my shoulder is, so I'm paying very close attention to it to see if I should stop the weights. Here's the breakdown:

Monday: Squats (50), lunges (25 each), Chest/Back/Abs
Tuesday: Calf raises (90)
Wednesday: Squats (50), Shoulders/Biceps/Triceps
Thursday: Calf raises (90)
Friday: Squats (50)
Saturday: None

I did manage to sign up for Planet Fitness. I just haven't gone yet. Haha. I do plan on going tonight for a quick cardio workout. Most likely a short treadmill workout. My diet is okay. Nights and weekends still are weak spots. But I'm pretty good at work in term so breakfast, lunch, and snacks. I'm missing my mark with the water, but I try to make up for it outside of work. I feel I am leaning out a bit, even without the cardio, but I'm sure the cardio will ramp it up a notch. Besides, I want the cardio to condition myself for the hiking I will be doing this summer.

I also started taking glucosamine three times a day. There are arguments for which one to take - glucosamine sulfate versus glucosamine hydrochloride. I solved that with a glucosamine complex with 300 mg of glucosamine sulfate and 200 mg of glucosamine HCL in each tablet. Three times daily makes it 1500 mg. Seems to be helping, but then again the progress in my shoulder could be from the rest I give it with my new weights schedule.

I really really want my shoulder to get better in a hurry so I can start some rock climbing. It's something I've always wanted to do. But I don't want to put any unnecessary stress on my shoulder until it's done. One of my friends who had a shoulder injury said it took him five months of no upper body training for his shoulder to recover from tendinitis. Yeesh... Like I said, I'm willing to stop the weights, but five months is a long time. We'll see how it goes.




Last weigh-in:
178.0 lb (on a Sunday too!)

Okay week...

I definitely overworked my shoulders. But I did switch to a schedule that's not as intense and has more rest time. I didn't make it to Planet Fitness to sign up; I had a few dinners during the week and didn't feel like walking in before bedtime to sign up. Here's the breakdown:

Monday: Squats (50), lunges (25 each), BBS
Tuesday: Calf raises (90), counter pushups (30)
Wednesday: Squats (50), lunges (25 each), CTA
Thursday: Chest isometric (60), calf raises (90)
Friday: Squats (50)
Saturday: None
Sunday: None

I'm still doing mini-workouts for the legs. I did take out any upper body exercises except for BBS and CTA at home. This week I plan on splitting my workouts differently with some cardio at Planet Fitness (I know, I say this every week). If after this week, my shoulder still feels weird, then I will stop all upper body workouts till it heals.

I'm still doing fine with my eating habits. Trying hard to resist certain foods. I don't deprive myself, but I'm pretty good during work hours. After hours and on weekends, I try to be picky with what I eat, but allow myself not-so-good food in moderation. For example, I had some sushi with spicy mayo (gasp!), one Popeye's Cajun french fry (soooo good), and sugar-free non-fat frozen yogurt with peanut butter cups mixed in (sugar!!) on Friday night. So I try to cut when and where I can while allowing myself some guilty pleasure. Besides, I know once Monday hits, it's back to bland-food-city.

Last weigh-in:
179.0 lb

Need to change my workout schedule

I'm breaking from my norm of posting my fitness updates on Mondays to write about my shoulder. After a tiring back, biceps, and shoulders (BBS) workout last night, I realized I may be overworking the shoulder during my so-called "rehab".

Reviewing my last few updates, the first thing you notice is that I am aiming for 3 BBS workouts and 3 CTA (chest, triceps, and abs) workouts per week. Guess which joint is used during all six workouts? Shoulder. In fact, during my rotator-cuff exercises, I still hear clicking on diagonal raises. During lying external rotations, I actually heard my right shoulder move; as in, I heard the ball of my humerus move in it's socket with each rep. Very scary.

So, after doing some quick research and thinking, I will be changing my workout schedule. To what exactly, I haven't yet determined, but I will be looking at 3-4 weight workouts a week instead of the 6 I'm doing now. I'm looking at an alternating one weight day, one off day program. With my plans of signing up for Planet Fitness again, this could be easily achieved with cardio on the off days. I just need to decide what schedule would work best for me. Here's the main two types I'm looking at:

Workout schedule A
Day 1: Chest/Back/Abs
Day 2: Cardio
Day 3: Shoulders/Arms/Abs
Day 4: Cardio
Day 5: Legs/Back/Abs
Day 6: Cardio
Day 7: Free day

Workout schedule B
Day 1: Chest/Triceps/Abs
Day 2: Cardio
Day 3: Back/Biceps/Shoulders/Abs
Day 4: Cardio
Day 5: Legs/Abs
Day 6: Cardio
Day 7: Free day

With both workouts, I hope to squeeze in a quick 15-20 minute cardio session at the end of weight days (with rowing for Legs days). But both schedules allow for quite some time of rest/recovery, and both only have one dedicated shoulders workout once a week. I think this is important, as my right shoulder is still recovering. In fact, I've read that the shoulders are a small muscle group and it's important that I don't overwork it. Especially since the shoulders are part of nearly every upper body workout. I've also read that I won't need super high weights to challenge the shoulder. High reps and good form should do the trick. So even 45-lb dumbbells for the shoulder press should be good (when I work up to that anyway).

Since I did BBS last night, I'll try for some type of cardio, then do CTA on Wednesday. I'll follow up with a cardio day and cap the work week with a Legs workout. Next week, I'll probably go for Workout schedule A. The scheduling is more in tune with P90x, so it should prep my body for that in May (my target for starting P90x). I might start taking some glucosamine sulfate for the shoulder too. We'll see.


Last weigh-in:
178.0 lb (See what I mean about doing better on the work week?)

Still on track!

Did pretty well again last week. But I realized my weekdays are the least of my worries. It's the weekends that kill me. Workout-wise I've managed to be pretty consistent with my mini-workouts and my weight regimen. Here's the breakdown:

Monday: Door jamb rows (25, 25, 25), squats (50), lunges (25), standing rows (15, 15, 15), BBS
Tuesday: Counter pushups (30, 30, 30), calf raises (90), chest isometric (60), triceps dips (15, 15, 15), CTA
Wednesday: Squats (50), door jamb rows (25, 25), lunges (25 each), BBS, lower ab work
Thursday: Counter pushups (30, 30, 30), calf raises (90), triceps dips (20, 20), CTA, chest isometric (60)
Friday: Squats (50), lunges (17 each, 15, each), BBS
Saturday: Standing rows (15, 15, 15), CTA
Sunday: None

I'm on week one of using 10-pounders, and as much as I am tempted to go up to 15lbs this week, I will stick to two week phases. I'm being very careful with my shoulder. I'm still using 5-pounders for my rotator-cuff exercises, as I was told to aim for high reps on those exercises rather than high weight. I'd like to hit 3 sets of 30 or 40 before increasing weights and dropping down to 20 reps. Right now I'm at 3 sets of 20 - 25 reps @ 5lbs. So not too bad.

As for cardio, I made it to the YMCA on Monday only to find out my friend's membership, which I was piggybacking on, expired. I suppose it works out, as I was thinking of heading back to Planet Fitness. PF is open 24-hours during the weekdays, making missing workouts harder. So, the plan this week is to stick with my mini-workouts and weight workouts while signing up at PF again.

The weekends are proving quite a challenge. I had pretty bad meals on Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday. That plus my inability to stick to my 80-100 oz daily water intake caused me to jump from 176.5lb during the week to 179.5lb by Sunday night. Craziness. I'm hoping to be better during the weekend. That plus the cardio I plan on doing should help with my diet. I'm looking forward to my dumbbell weight increase too. My shoulders and arms are getting a pretty good endurance workout, but my chest and back are hardly challenged. With my two-week phases, it appears I will be back up to 30-lb dumbbells by end of May. Hopefully by then I am doing pullups/chinups and full pushups too. It's a long road to recovery.

I'm also looking forward to the warmer weather. I'd like to fit in more biking and hiking. Bagging a couple of 4,000-footers is my summer goal. And I'd like to start rock-climbing/bouldering too.


Last weigh-in:
179.5 lb

Good progress with a slight setback

Well, up till Thursday night, I did okay last week. I was able to stick to pretty good eating habits and was able to squeeze in all my mini-workouts plus most of my weight workouts during the work week. Here's the breakdown:

Monday: Door jamb rows (20, 20), squats (50), lunges (25 each), BBS
Tuesday: Calf raises (90), counter pushups (25, 25, 25), chest isometric (60)
Wednesday: Squats (50), door jamb rows (20, 20, 20), lunges (25 each), BBS
Thursday: Counter pushups (25, 25, 25), calf raises (90), counter dips (10, 10, 10), chest isometric (60)
Friday: Squats (50), door jamb rows (20, 20, 20), lunges (25 each)
Saturday: manual labor
Sunday: CTA, counter pushups (25, 25)

Eating wise, I grabbed a mouthful of cereal and a vitamin to start each day. Then I had two cups of Cheerios with skim milk. I usually had some sort of snack before lunch (I keep either natural or unsalted roasted almonds, peanut butter, a serving of protein powder, and protein bars at my desk now). For lunch, I had the same thing the whole week. Sauteed chicken breast, lightly seasoned with blanched broccoli and baby carrots (I know...pretty bland, but as Jack LaLanne said, "if man made it, don't eat it", and "if it tastes good, spit it out."). I usually have another snack before I leave work. During work, I aim to drink at least 64 ounces of water. The only thing I would change about the meals now is to add a serving of carbs to my lunch. I noticed my energy levels were a bit low without the carbs. I would like to throw in a fruit in there too, although I wouldn't want too much. Don't want excess sugar.

With the new eating habits and my workouts, I was able drop down to 177.5 by Wednesday night. Half probably being water weight since my body now realizes it gets water all the time now. No need to retain water. But then my cousins arrived Thursday, and it was all about sleeping late and drinking. Tried to be really good with any meals that we grabbed, but it was tough.

Shoulder seems to be getting better. No complaints with the weight exercises with 5 pounders and 3 sets of 12. So bumping up to 10lb dumbbells with 3 sets of 8 and see how that goes. If it goes well, then I'll do sets of 10 or 12 for a week or two to let the shoulder get used to that. My chest is barely getting challenged with the low weight, but I don't want to rush it. Hopefully, I can bump up to 15 pounders in two weeks.

I didn't make it into the gym for some cardio, so I'm going to try this week. Weights are good, but with this "rehab" I'm doing and this body-fat loss challenge, I need the cardio.


Last weigh-in:
180.5 lb

Trying very hard to fit more in

With the new body fat loss challenge, I've been trying very hard to fit more workouts in. I have yet to go to the gym, but I'm trying to fit my upper body workouts in. It really isn't too hard since I'm using five pounders to give my injured shoulder some rest. I had on a heat pad a couple days to help improve blood flow. It feels a bit better, but still some instability. I really don't think it's a pulled muscle anymore as it doesn't hurt during exercises. It feels more like it's unstable. Diagonal raises causes clicking too. I'm thinking it's a minor tear in a ligament or a strained tendon. Wonderful...

Here's the breakdown:

Monday: none
Tuesday: Calf raises (90), CTA
Wednesday: Squats (40), lunges (20 each), BBS
Thursday: Calf raises (90), counter pushups (20, 20)
Friday: Chest isometric (60), squats (50), lunges (25 each), neutral grip pullups (1, 3), BBS
Saturday: Wall pushups (20), CTA, pushups on knees (20, 20), Dynaflex PowerBall (2x1min each)
Sunday: Ski, short 20 min run/walk

Eating was a challenge. I was able to keep to a 5-6 meal day on the weekdays. Weekends are tougher, with me barely able to keep eating when I'm hungry. I aim to plan for my calories instead of the multi-meals. I've been good on the hydration during the weekdays too, which intakes of 100+ ounces of water. Weekends again, are a bit of a challenge, but I take in more water than I normally did.

I fit in a ski day on Sunday. Again, my quads were not ready, and they were on fire by the end of the day. Squats help, but not enough. I really didn't follow through with the horse stance training. I did go for a short run when I got home. It was quite a challenge to run after a ski day, and I barely made it back up to my apartment afterwards. But it was great to feel all the different parts of the body ache during the run. Makes you realize there's a lot of work to do.

I'm hoping to hit the gym this week and add in more runs. Hopefully, in a couple of weeks, my shoulder is good enough for me to start increasing my weights. Talked to a guy on the ski trip who's going in for PT degree. He said rotator cuff exercises might help stabilize the joint. I gotta aim for high reps, low weights though, he said. So the 3 sets of 10's with 5 pounders are gonna cut it. Should drop to 3 pounders with sets of 20-30. We'll see how that goes.

Last weigh-in:
180.0 lb

Some progress with shoulder

I definitely gave my shoulder some rest, but it's not feeling that much better. A bit better, but not that great. I'm going to start the rehab again, but this time I won't do high reps. I'll still start with five pound dumbbells but with sets of 8-10. That should give it enough stimulus without going overboard with the exertion. Anyway, here's last week's breakdown:

Monday: none
Tuesday: calf raises w/10lb (90), chest isometric exercises (240 total)
Wednesday: none
Thursday: none
Friday: none
Saturday: none
Sunday: none

I was away for the weekend and spent some time with my cousins. My LI cousin suggested we do a friendly body fat reduction challenge. He's currently at 12.x% while I'm at 15.7%. To be fair, we would aim to lose 3% and 4%, respectively. We have till June 1st to do so. I've never focused on losing body fat before, so this is new to me. I'm researching eating habits and am seriously considering moving to a 6-7 meals/day diet.

The first thing I did so far is focusing on getting at least 64 ounces of water a day. Muscles are 70% water and your body tends to retain water when it's not getting enough. So getting at least 8 glasses a day will keep myself hydrated while preventing water retention. To help with that I replaced my 32 ounce Nalgene bottle with a 16 ounce sippy thermos (Keeps my water cold!). I use the thermos to bring skim milk with me to work for my whole-grain cereal, then aim to drink four thermos-ful of water. Another thing I did was to start reading all labels of food I buy. So laborious.

Last weigh-in:
180.5 lb at 15.7% body fat

Gonna take a break

It's been a rough week. The light weights didn't help much, and after seeing the doctor's for an unrelated issue, I decided to pretty much take this week off. Here's last week's breakdown:

Monday: Lunges (20 each), squats (40), BBS w/5lbs (20, 20), shoulder/back stretches

Tuesday: CTA (20, 20), calf raises (90), ab work, leg stretches/splits

Wednesday: Lunges (20 each), squats (45), BBS (20, 20)

Thursday: none

Friday: Lunges (20 each), squats (45), counter pushups (10), CTA (20, 20), ab work, leg stretches/splits
Saturday: Chest isometric exercises (60 total)
Sunday: rest

Last weigh-in:
179.5 lb

Starting rehab

I'm quite frustrated at the rate of recovery for my shoulder. What frustrates me more is that I can't seem to find a stretch that hits the spot. Thinking back to a neck injury I sustained back in college, my doctor had told me to strengthen the surrounding muscles so they would take off some strain in the injured muscle. So that's what I decided to do. Isometric exercises are cool and all, and I will continue to fit them in during my mini-workouts, but they're just not the same.
I decided to start rehabbing the shoulder. I still feel some pain during certain movements, but instead of starting at 15lb dumbbells, I got my hands on a pair of five-pounders. Used in high rep sets, I can give my muscles a good burn without stressing the injured muscle. Besides, I'm way overdue for switching to a workout that targets the endurance/slow-twitch muscles (should try to mix my workouts more often). I'm hoping these exercises with the high-rep sets and light weights will strengthen the surrounding muscles in my shoulder and take some load off the injured one. Here's the breakdown:

Monday: Squats (40)
Tuesday: Counter pushups - less weight (40), various isometric exercises w/focus on chest and triceps (220 total)
Wednesday: Lunges (20 each), squats (40), various isometric exercises w/focus on back, biceps, and shoulders (240 total)
Thursday: Calf raises (90), one-legged calf raises (20 each)
Friday: Squats (45), various isometric exercises w/focus on chest and triceps (240 total)
Saturday: Hammer curls (10, 10), Biceps curls (10, 10), lateral raises w/5lbs (20, 20), rear lat raises w/5lbs (20, 20), eyebrow kicks (10 each, 10 each), front raises w/ 5lbs (20, 20), bent-over rows w/5lbs (20, 20), shoulder presses w/5lbs (20, 20), shrugs w/5lbs (20, 20), hammer curls w/5lbs (20, 20), biceps curls w/5lbs (20, 20), standing external rotator w/5lbs (10, 10), diagonal raises w/5lbs (10, 10)
Sunday: Dumbbell press w/10lbs (20, 20), triceps extension w/10lbs (4 sets - 20 each), chest flies w/5lbs (20, 20), ab work

After the high-rep sets, my shoulders do feel tighter (like they normally do after a good workout). I seem to have a bit more range of motion, but it's really too soon to tell. We'll see how it goes.

Last weigh-in:
179.5lb

It's official, my shoulder's busted again.

So I think it's safe to say that my right shoulder is busted. I tried doing some lateral raises to test my shoulder integrity, and it's not there. I've tried lying to myself by saying it was "tweaked", but I must've pulled a muscle deep in my shoulder. I'm suspecting rotator cuff, but whatever it is, it's not major muscle I can feel, but it plays a major part in supporting my other muscles during other workouts. I can feel it ache a bit during pushups. I feel it when I apply lotion to my back. I feel it when I lift my arm a certain way.

The only thing I can do is let it rest. I've tried lightly stretching the affected area, but I can seem to quite locate a stretch that hits that area. I've tried shoulder stretches, upper body stretches, biceps and triceps stretches. Can't seem to get it. So I'm going to let it rest. Then slowly strengthen it again by dropping my weights to 10-15lb each. Meanwhile, I'm going to find exercises that doesn't require any shoulder rotation. I'm going to start isometric exercises again. I did those a lot during my days in Aikido during college. They work, but you really need to concentrate, and you get what you put in. When the shoulder gets better, I really need to focus on getting into a routine workout regimen. I'm thinking I've been too lax and I tweaked it doing something as mundane as shadow boxing. Phooey. Here's last week's breakdown:

Monday: Squats (40)

Tuesday: Calf raises (90)

Wednesday: Lunges (20 each), neutral grip pullups (10)
Thursday: Hammer curls (10), biceps curls (10), calf raises (90), pushups (40)
Friday: Iaido cuts (150), lateral raises (10), hammer curls (10, 10), biceps curls (10, 10)
Saturday: Pushups (40 on knees)
Sunday: Various isometric exercises (160 total), roundhouse kicks (10 each, low and medium height), side kicks (10 each, low and medium height)

Last weigh-in:
180.0 lb