The Chairman's Fitness Challenge Blog

Posting blog updates has slipped down the list of priorities this challenge, but a few thoughts now that the challenge half-way-point has passed would be appropriate.  I'm feeling pretty good about my progress, even if the numbers are a little behind.  The Hard-Body plan seems to hit all the right muscles, and I am being diligent about upping the weights whenever I hit ten reps on an exercise.  As a result, I've seen some good gains in strength on things like my bench press and hack squat.  I am considering changing to an "A-B-A" routine three times a week, using the same exercises split over two days instead of three (this is an option in the book).

On the CT front, I'm definitely seeing some cardio gains as well.  I feel like my cadence is up during cycling classes, and my blood pressure and heartrate seem a little bit improved even over the past few weeks.  Today I did a 2.5 mile run on the dreadmill non-stop, hitting that distance for maybe the first time in my life.  I took the pace down about 10% from my usual, keeping it slow-and-steady at about 5.6 or 5.7 mph (0.5 degree incline) until cranking it up faster for the last half-mile or so.  My plan is to get to where I can pound out 3.1 miles (5km) or more comfortably non-stop at that speed as a baseline, then start speeding it up and doing some intervals to improve my pace.