The Chairman's Fitness Challenge Blog

Saturday got off to a pretty good start.  I got to the gym early enough to do an upper body training session, before getting into a 45-minute spin class to chalk up a cardio session as well.

I was a little discouraged by the weight I was pushing today, but a quick glance back through my log shows noticeable progress even from a few weeks ago so I guess there's nothing to get bummed about.  In case anyone is interested, my upper body routine lately goes something like this, completed in 40 minutes or so if I'm really humping:

1A  Bench press.  Three sets of ten (or to failure) at 115/135/135
1B  Cable row.  Three sets of ten (or to failure) at 135/150/150
(Superset 1A and 1B with no rest; ~ 1min rest between supersets)

2A  Dumbbell Flye.  Three sets of ten at 2 x 35/2 x 35/2 x 35.  Usually don't go to failure, instead focus on holding form
2B  Cable pulldown. Three sets of ten (or to failure) at 105/120/120
(Superset 2A and 2B with no rest; ~ 1min rest between supersets)

3A  Dumbell shoulder press.  Two sets today, ten reps (or to failure) at 2x35/2x35
3B  Bent-over lat raise. Two sets today, ten reps (or to failure) at 2x20/2x20.  Focus on form
(Superset 3A and 3B with no rest; ~ 1min rest between supersets)

Threw in some swiss ball crunches at the end as well - 35 reps)

I've come to the conclusion that my triceps are weak and limiting my other compound moves, so I usually try to add some tricep-specific stuff like pullovers.  Not today though due to time constraints.  I bounce between cable and free weights depending on my mood and the availability of equipment, and throw in dips and pull-ups once in a while as well, but this is the general form of my upper-body work.  Gotta work on my bench press - I just started doing BP's again over the past few weeks and I'd like to add some significant weight to it.

I've mentioned Alex Hutchinson's blog before - Sweat Science has some great information explaining, describing, and debunking various aspects of athletics and fitness.  This post - Why weight loss isn’t just “calories in minus calories out”, fleshes out (no pun intended) a lot of the less obvious factors that come into play besides just counting calories.  A few takeaways:  adrenaline dumps fatty acids into the blood stream, promoting the burning of fat; an extra cookie or five minutes extra on the treadmill will have negligible effect in the long term; and simple carbs raise insulin levels and prevent the body from consuming fat cells.

Interesting.  I finally have a scientific explanation for why one lousy 150-calorie beer seems to make me gain weight.  

Two days into the 52DC and I'm off to a good start, I think.  My daughter is visiting the grandparents for a few days so this is a good opportunity to get a jump on things.  I've booked two RT's and a CT already - a semi-spontaneous spin class on day one, along with an upper body workout, and then a lower body/core workout tonight for day two.  Might shift my hours ahead at work tomorrow to get in the evening spin class for another CT.

Tonight's clean eating was my first real hurdle - we went out to a great pub with a huge collection of micro-brews (including their house beer, which is AWESOME.  If anyone is in the area, I highly recommend the Golden Kiwi in Cambridge for good, fresh food, a unique menu, and a nice atmosphere.)  I behaved, skipped the fries with dinner and limited myself to a glass and a half of wine instead of two pints of beer.  Overall, my afternoon passed muster for a CE  so I'm 4 for 4.  Cool.

I've been missing form the 52DC community for a while but I haven't given up the fitness routine.  I have been hitting the gym fairly regularly 3-4 times a week, sometimes more, with my usual mix of spin classes and weight training.  As part of this challenge, I'm focusing on heavier free weights rather than some of the lower-weight, higher-rep stuff I was doing as part of a circuit training routine.

The three keys to succeeding in this challenge, for me, will be:

1)  hitting the weights.  As mentioned above, strength training is a priority - I want to get back to 3-4 times a week, split upper/lower body, and a focus on the "big" exercises like squats and bench press.

2)  higher protein, lower carbs.  No white bread, limited beer (1-2/week), and raw veggies instead of simple sugars/starches will all be part of my clean eating agenda.  I've found a local source for small all-natural corn tortillas, only 55 calories each along with protein and fibre - they have replaced bread in a lot of my meals already.

3)  high-intensity cardio, primarily on the bike, though I might start hitting the dreadmill and local outdoor running paths again.  My new running shoes have been festering in my trunk all winter, and it's time to break them out.

The prize at the end of this will be finally throwing out the ten-year-old Nikes I've been wearing for cycling and weight training, replaced with a good pair of lifting shoes and a pair of cycling shoes.  My hatred for those old shoes has become quite personal, they symbolize a whole lot of sloth that will finally be vanquished when I finally reach my 52DC weight goal of 199 lbs.

I had great cardio sessions on Saturday and Sunday, both spin classes with instructors who seemed to have something to prove.  I managed to keep up, and feel that my leg speed is definitely increasing (one of my objectives) even with a pretty healthy level of resistance.  I had one of those awkward moments yesterday, I'm out of the saddle and "climbing" with heavy resistance, and cranking it up every time the instructor exhorted us to give him more.  Then he had us sit down and hold resistance - without the leverage of standing, my legs ground to a complete halt and I could not for the life of me get the pedals moving again!  Needless to say, I lightened the load as discretely as possible.  It was amazing how hard I was pushing with the adrenalin pumping up to that point though...  I'd put each cardio session at about a 9 out of 10 in terms of hitting my objectives.

My RT's were a little weaker - I did an upper body on Saturday and a lower body on Sunday.  Both days, I was a bit rushed trying to get them in.  I did heavier loading but fewer sets of each exercise, managing to hit all the major body groups but with less than the three sets I usually do.  Felt like reasonably good workouts, but probably only 6 or 7 out of ten on the overall scale of achieving everything possible out of them.  Might try to hit upper body again on Monday.

I stopped stretching before my workouts a long time ago - my warm-up typically consists of a few minutes of light cardio.  Stretching is done kind of mid-work-out - I might stretch my back between sets of a seated row, or stretch out my shoulders after a set of presses.

I'm going through a serious motivational trough.  I pulled a couple of late nights this week working on a report, and between being squeezed for time, feeling tired, and trying to stay ahead of some family obligations, the gym has been a foreign place to me this week.  Waking up in the dark, driving home in the dark, and having to walk through freezing rain hasn't helped.  I can't seem to get fired up about the fitness thing right now.  I haven't even posted this week sine I've got nothing to really report.