The Chairman's Fitness Challenge Blog

I am starting to think about the goals for the summer challenge, which starts next week.  I am probably going to add a bit to each of my core goals, maybe 24 CT's, 22 RT's and 90 CE's.  These are stretch goals, but if I focus I think they are achievable.

The main personal goal is one I am undecided on though.  The 5% weigh tloss challenge is a good goal, although I have only achieved it once (thanks to a wicked bout of the flu that kept me from eating for a few days.  Great for weight loss!)  The other one I am considering is a running foal - maybe 52 miles (1 mile per day average) over the course of the challenge.  It does not sound like much, but I intend to keep doing the cycling on weekends, so realistically I'll only be running once or twice a week.  With a good run for me topping out at about 3 miles, the 52 mile objective suddenly looks pretty challenging!  I have a little time, but one of these two goals will no doubt be my major personal goal this time around. 

I am taking advantage of the two-week downtime between challenges to spruce things up around here.  Alot of the post categories have been changed to make them more meaningful, and there have also been some minor layout adjustments.  It is now a lot easier if you want to see some of the great articles I've linked to, or if you want to only see post about my resistance training routine  -just click the label links on the left!  And if you are interested, "rambling" covers anything not strictly related to workouts and nutrition...

We are into the last few hours of the 52-day challenge, and I can report that I have achieved 5 out of my six goals.  I failed to reach my weight loss objective, but other than that I met or exceeded everything else!  This isn't the end - it is just a mile marker on this journey, and I will be joining the next 52 day challenge starting in about eighteen days!

I will update the final numbers on Saturday after doing a final weigh-in.  In the meantime, this is an opportunity to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses exposed in this challenge, and come up with a new set of objectives to make myself stronger in the next one.

My current routine calls for dumbbell swings every third week, during the back/chest/abs session.  I can honestly say that I've never seen this exercise done before, and based on a single static picture it is awfully hard to figure out what the exercise entails, or why anyone would need to do it.

It turns out this is a great exercise for abs and back, basically all through the core.  It also hits legs and arms, so there are full-body benefits.  I have not yet quite figured out the right weight for myself but this seems like a good exercise to throw into core strengthening routines.  (Like many other complex movements, it is a great idea to start with light weights until mastering the movements.)  I will probably try this one out with kettlebells as well, and there are single-arm, high and low variations to mix things up a bit.

Chalk up another good discovery as a result of changing up my routine!  If you are interested in seeing a video of this one, check out Exercise RX or google it - there is no shortage of instructional videos on the differnet variants.

The title of this post is something a certain trainer/instructor has told me often - how you finish one session sets the tone for how you start the next. If you coast at the end of one class, you will have a hard time getting off to a good start at the next one.  That thought is a good one as this 52 day challenge winds down.

Here in the home stretch of this 52 Day Challenge, I've had a chance to learn a bit about the goals I had set and how relevant they are to my fitness goals.  Obviously, the core workout and eating goals are important.  I think the objective of 21 cardio sessions this time around may have been a little light, as I am hitting between three and four workouts a week on average.  Next challenge, I may bump that up to 25 to ensure a good stretch goal.  The RT number is pretty close, as I am targeting three sessions a week (in line with the Hard Body plan I am following).

I am right on the edge with my goal of 88 clean eats.  I was really hoping for 94 this time, giving me a shot at platinum, but I find that eating clean is the toughest part of the challenge for me.   Not coincidentally, it is also the goal that seems to have the greatest effect on my weight loss.  I am ready to bump this number up a bit next time, maybe to ninety.  Slow and steady.

On the discretionary goals, I think the 5% challenge is a good stretch target.  I am going to miss this one, but it is definitely achievable and I will keep that one on the list.  The 1500 crunches has been a tough one- I bumped this up from 1000 my last challenge, and it takes a certain amount of discipline to throw in one or two sets of crunches after every workout to keep the numbers moving in the right direction.  However, I'm not sure that doing crunches forever is really the best use of my time, and is not having the effect of significantly strengthening my core.  I will probably replace this one with something more holistic - maybe pushups, planks, or some other full-body exercise.  

The posting goal was really a one-time thing - although I intend to keep up the blog, I won't be setting a minimum number of posts next time. 

New goals?  The 3600 challenge is something I find intimidating, so I might take that one on as a personal challenge.  The 40-4-40 objective is a great one - I think I would have been close on that one this time around if I was tracking it.  That's another possibility.  And there are any number of other goals - running miles, strength gains on basic exercises like bench press, etc.  I have a lot of thinking to do before picking the five or six goals that will be my focus next time around.  These final days of the challenge are a good opportunity to try stuff out and maybe identify the right goals for me next time around.

After a couple of spin classes on the weekend, and doing resistance training on the legs and gluteus maximus yesterday, I thought I'd take it easy with a run tonight.  A quick couple of miles, along the creek and back.  No problem.

Well, that was wrong!

Right from the first few steps, I could feel my ankles were tight and, well, not too happy with me for venturing out today.  I coupld barely go a couple of minutes without having to stop for breath, and the gentle hills of the path suddenly seemed like the Swiss freakin' Alps when I was running up them!

I did complete the 2 miles, it took 21 1/2 minutes, and was more than a little humbling.  I'm going to blame the heel raises yesterday (PB on those weights), the fact I hadn't eaten anything for a few hours, and too little sleep last night.  But bottom line is, I need to get out a few times a week and start really focusing on getting better at this.  With the nice weather here, outdoor running is going to become part of my routine.  (My tally of 3.25 miles this year is a little embarrassing at this point.)

In the Globe and Mail on Monday, one of my favourite bloggers (Alex Hutchinson) reported on a study conducted at Ball State University on personal trainers.  Surprise, surprise - the study found that working with a personal trainer yield better results.  I am not surprised by this, given the number of people piddle away in the gym with bad form and a random training regimen (and I should probably put myself in that category - until recently.)  But the very interesting finding of the study - it's because someone working with a personal trainer tends to use higher weights, working harder and getting better strength gains in the process.

This is something I can relate to - since refocusing on the Hard-Body Plan, I have been militant about upping the weight whenever approaching the ten-rep limit.  Going back through my journal, I see way too many "tens" without corresponding increases in weight - and every one of those is a lost opportunity for strength gains.  And by pushing the weights up, I have been seeing plateaus shattered.  (For example, tonight on the machine I did leg extensions with 105 lbs/leg - versus seventy lbs or so just a few weeks ago).  Take a look around the gym, and you'll undoubtedly see people working well below the 50% one-rep max that is required to stimulate muscle growth - every one of them is sub-optimizing their workout by doing so.  (If you are interested in figuring out your one-rep max on a given exercise, select a challenging weight, do as many reps as possible, and try this calculator.  It works at 20 reps but is more accurate at lower numbers.)

There is also evidence that the personal trainer achieves results by providing motivation and encouragement - again, very logical, but nothing a great workout partner couldn't provide for free.

The bottom line is that the right personal trainer, one with knowledge enough to tailor a workout to his or her clients' needs, can achieve results, and be a worthwhile investment to someone just starting out or looking to bust through a plateau.  However, if you are being honest in pushing yourself, with challenging weight loads and a good degree of motivation, you are probably getting most or all of what you would get out of a trainer-led session already.  

I am a procrastinator.  It is one of my biggest flaws - I will never do today that which can be completed tomorrow.  That really came back to bite me in my last 52DC, when I had to do three workouts the final day to hit my numbers, and ended up getting locked out of the gym that final night and came up one short on the RT's.

you'd think I would learn - but yesterday, I put off my RT due to some muscle soreness.  It shouldn't be critical, but it puts me two RT's away from hitting twenty-one by the end of the challenge.  A little tighter than I'd like to be.

And did I mention the two blown CE's on Friday, leaving me with just one more cheat if I'm to reach my eating goal?  Again, making this way harder than it needs to be.

I'm still determined to hit all three major goals, though - it will take a strong focus this week but it will happen.

I want to get my 26 blog posts in too, so the blogosphere better be ready for a bunch of posts (five more after this one!) this week!

As of mid-day Sunday, here's how my progress is shaping up...