The Chairman's Fitness Challenge Blog

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.

Today feels pretty good when it comes to my fitness challenge.  It started off with a small, CE-friendly breakfast (Kashi Go Lean), then off of the gym with a plan to hit the 8:30am spin class.  Turns out the class was full, so I hit the weights instead.  My triceps and delts are still sore from my last upper body split, so I focused on lower body.  Front squats, split squats, lunges to start (only two sets each though) then hit the machines for leg extensions and leg curls.  I topped it off with some core stuff - back extensions and hanging leg raises (with twists).  Feeling pretty good, I grabbed a bike in the 9:30 spin class and got my cardio in too.

It has been quite a while since I did a full-blown double RT/CT session like that, and I can't remember the last time I did front squats.  They seem to help me keep proper form - I have a tendency to lean forward during squats and I seem to keep back better with the weight in the front.  This was probably my first time in six months on that evil haning leg raise contraption too - but it felt pretty good!  All in all, a good day so far!

Tuesday tends to be a day off from working out for me.  I've convinced my wife to take a pilates class on Tuesdays, so I'm on munchkin duty until 8pm and then usually on bedtime story duty after that, which can stretch as late as 9:30pm before things settle down.  It's not a problem at all - although there are nights like tonight where I could really use an opportunity to blow off some steam and energy at the gym.  But even without working out, there's still time to obsess about food.

I am on a gradual campaign to eliminate all the artificial and excessively-processed foods from our household.  OK, maybe not all of them, but the vast majority.  As a result, my collection of crazy kitchen equipment is growing - I now have a waffle iron (better to make fresh than buy frozen - oatmeal protein waffles anyone?), a rice cooker (for hassle-free brown rice) and a huge collection of free-range chicken carcasses, lovingly collected over the past few months, waiting to be made into stock.  I made a batch of whole-wheat pitas last weekend.  You can bet that I will be sneaking a pasta machine in soon as well.  And with all that, on Tuna Tuesday, I ended up buying a tuna sandwich on whole wheat at the company cafeteria.  Too lazy to even make my own sandwich.  Sheesh.

It's been kind of a good news/bad news weekend when it comes to the challenge.  I've booked three CT sessions, all spin classes, because the timing just worked out well for them and it's been a bit of a challenge synching up the schedules to get those classes in.  And honestly, I think it is a better workout in terms of cardio and weight loss than my fat-ass self huffing on a treadmill for 20 minutes or so.

That said, I do have two reasons I should be getting the running in - my 100km objective, and finishing the C25K program that I'm well into.  In order to hit the 100km, I need to do about 21 runs in the remaining 47 days.  That math is getting kind of tight, unless I can start running outside in the cold evenings, or making some other change.

Today, I did a couple of km after my spin class, and I don't see that as a viable solution at all unless I want to be scraped off the treadmill and dumped in a heap outside the gym by their cleaning staff.  And that is not my goal.

Right now, the running thing is a secondary goal, and the focus will remain on the major goals of CT's, RT's, and clean eating.  The 5% weight loss is also a priority.

Since today is a day off from exercise (Tuesday and Thursday are typically off) I figured a mention of my eating habits might be warranted.  A few principles I'm following include ALWAYS eating breakfast (usually Kashi Go Lean Crunch w/milk, or a protein shake), eating small snacks mid-morning and mid-afternoon, and keeping portion size down.  I've really noticed a difference in how much I eat when I'm not going even hours between lunch and dinner!

Today I lucked into a chick pea salad as a side dish at lunch.  I had no idea how healthy chick peas (aka garbanzo beans) really are!  Lots of protein, some fiber, and a very reasonable amount of calories for an adult-sized serving.  Some onion, bell pepper, and vinaigrette, and I was good to go!!!  I'm going to try out this recipe next time - the humble garbanzo bean may become a staple during this challenge!