Online Fitness Journal - week of 18 January 2010

The scale was very kind to me this weekend, which was a surprise since I wasn't really careful about what I ate. But I have been running around a lot.

The most dramatic weight loss I ever had occurred during a time I wasn't really dieting and wasn't going to the gym regularly. In fact, I was just mildly careful about what I ate, and I was going to the gym maybe once a week. It was when I started my own business, and I had few landscaping jobs to knock out. I was digging trenches with a pickaxe, digging post holes, doing grading work by hand, carrying and setting heavy rocks, planting, lifting, unloading things out of my truck. It didn't seem as intense as going to the gym, but it spread out the activity over a long period of time (like, all day). I lost about twenty pounds doing this. I didn't know I had twenty pounds to lose.

For me, fitness has never been about a number. Especially the number on the scale. That's a useful number to know, and it's good to monitor it once in a while. But it's not the end result. I recommend not obsessing over this number. Right now, I set a goal to see my abs before summer, and to do that I'll have to drop some pounds off. If it wasn't for that goal, I wouldn't have even weighed myself this weekend.

Have a good week, amigos!

happen to me.

I was working at Duke medical center and doing A LOT of walking all over the hospital (Football fields long hallways). and the campus. Plus I was bending and lifting piles of medical records (read lifting weights) . Spread out over the day, yeah I lost about 20 lbs just doing that.

Hey, as far as activity goes, it's all good. ;-)

It was tough to get any piece of equipment in the gym. Wasn't going to do bench but that's one thing I can claim, sit on, and get at least 20 minutes of workout done on it while I fend off the college kids....

Bench Press
Warmup set 135, 16 reps
225, 10 reps
245, 8 reps
265, 8 reps
265, 5 reps
245, 8 reps
225, 10 reps

Wide Grip Bench
185, 3 sets of 10 reps

21's
70, 1 set of 21

Wanted to do pullovers but no dice. All the flat benches were taken by people surrounded by plenty of witnesses. The dips machine was being used by someone in a dark corner so I hit him with a blackjack, put his unconscious body in a dumpster, and got my set of dips in.

Dips
Body weight - 4 sets of 16 reps.

Decline Bench, Hoist Machine
230, 10, 10, 9, 9 and 7 reps.
Worked to failure.

Sit ups, oblique twist
16, 12, 10, 10
I hate these.

Mixed workout day today. Did a real variety of things.

Elliptical Relocation
- Turned elliptical machine 90 degrees counter-clockwise so it wasn't facing a bare light bulb anymore.
- Discovered I didn't like the new orientation as it put my head too close to the garage beams and my body too far away from the heater so I turned it 180 degrees and moved it closer to the heater.
- Ever moved an elliptical machine before? It counts as exercise, I assure you. Heavy, awkward, and no good place to lift it from.

Elliptical cardio workout
30 minutes, started at 5/5 elevation/resistance and ended at 12/10. Forgot to look at the calorimeterthing.

Punching Bag
15 minutes. Tried a few kicks but my groin is still not up to high ones.

Pull Ups
Did about 4 sets of 10 reps each, in between rest periods from working on the bag.

Sit Ups
2 sets of 20.

What a Rotten Fucking Week. At least it's Cure Friday...

Tracks from the Paris live album accompanied me through my biceps/triceps workout.

Skullcrushers
95, 18 reps
115, 12 reps
125, 10 reps
135, 6 reps
115, 10 reps
I don't know what these are really called, but Skullcrushers will do. Last few sets I was cheating quite a bit. That 135 pound bar was pretty damn heavy.

Friday I'm In Love serenaded me through...
Preacher Curl!
75, 12 reps
95, 10 reps
115, 8 reps
115, 8 reps
95, 10 reps

Dips
Body weight, 4 sets of 16 reps
Charlotte Sometimes kept me company through my set of dips.

Seated Dumbbell Curl
45, 5 sets of 10 reps
Curled to the music of Pictures of You, the live version off the Show album.
I see a lot of people do these one arm at a time. That's probably OK as long as you don't go real heavy. Once you grab the 55s or 65s, which I sometimes do, you really want to do these both arms simultaneously. If you do one arm at a time, you tend to lean one side or another, and put undue stress on your spinal cord. I like doing them both arms at once, and they end up like hammer curls at the top.

Cable Pulldowns
100, 14 reps
120, 3 sets of 10 reps
Fascination Street accompanied me through cable pulldowns. If you do this exercise right, you feel a real good burn in your triceps at the peak. Stand straight, square to the cable, and squeeze tight at max extension. The real work comes when you pull your hands apart a bit. I hope that description makes sense. I've found that exercising a muscle has a lot more to do with the brain than it does with the muscle. Focus on the triceps, squeeze it like you're trying to pull every drop of blood out of it. If everyone in the gym stares at you like you're some kind of freak, you're probably doing the right thing.

AMT Machine
20 minutes, 6 resistance, about 200+ calories burned.
Wanted to do some cardio to wrap up the week. Every step was hell. Whatever I do it's never enough, just like the song says.

I love Cure Friday.

Treadmill - ran 20 minutes, speed 5.5, +5 minute cooldown.

Calf Raise
90, 20 reps
135, 12 reps
180, 10 reps
205, 8 reps
205, 6 reps
180, 10 reps
180, 8 reps
Took it easy on these today. Calves felt a little tight.

Sit ups, oblique twist
20, 16, 12.
These don't seem to be getting any easier.

Straight legged deadlift + power shrugs superset
145, 4 sets of 10 reps each

Dumbbell Side Lifts
75, 12 reps
85, 10 reps
95, 10 reps
If I don't go heavy on these, I don't feel anything. The real trick is to focus on lifting with the obliques, and squeezing them at the top of the lift. This is an exercise that's kind of easy to not do right.

AMT Machine
20 minutes, about 220 calories burned.

This may be my last post for a while, I got a couple jobs coming up that will keep me away from a computer quite a bit. Keep up the good fight, everyone, and don't give up on your fitness goals whatever they may be. If you get knocked down, get back up. If you take a few lazy days off of fitness, enjoy them, and get back into it when you can. It's easy to get caught up in fitness goals, but life really is about the journey and not the destination. So enjoy what you do while you're doing it. I'll be back when I can. Adios, amigos!