Monday, November 30, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Mileage - sort of
My legs were extremely sore, but I knew I had to jog some mileage to get the lactic acid out of my legs and to test my progress. How did I do? Not bad. I slowly warmed up at 4mph and got up to 6mph for 20 minutes (I did the last 3 minutes at 6mph). I figured out that my core needs to get stronger for me to run better. Nothing hurt except for my abs while I was running (I used to get side stitches when I was working out and I know why now). In any event, if I can keep this workout pace up for the next month, I should be running 7 minute miles no prob.
After running, I decided to do chest and triceps and I dont know if the cardio before hand tired me out or what, but the weight I could lift was so lackluster, it should not be admitted. Just to say that there is this machine and I was at 140lbs and struggling. Disappointing to say the least, but I worked 3 sets to failure. I also did dumbell presses, and the highest weight at this apt gym was 25lbs, so I did 10+ reps 3 sets to failure.
Surprisingly, my triceps were a bit more stronger, but I didnt work this as hard as I could. I did cable pulldowns 40,50,60lbs and overhead cable pulls and "prison curls" 25lbs. I finished with kickbacks.
Finally, to get the abs going, I did a plank (didnt time it, just went to failure) and two sets of bicycle crunches. I was spent.
Afterwards, my legs were not sore anymore (so the mileage worked) but my upper body was spent, so I bought some Muscle Milk to replenish.
I still have a lot of work to do, but I am seeing progress. I did jump on the scale and noticed that I gained two lbs, but I believe it to be water retention as I havent been drinking enough water.
Before I go to bed tonite, I am going drink 16-20oz of H2O.
I am getting there.
After running, I decided to do chest and triceps and I dont know if the cardio before hand tired me out or what, but the weight I could lift was so lackluster, it should not be admitted. Just to say that there is this machine and I was at 140lbs and struggling. Disappointing to say the least, but I worked 3 sets to failure. I also did dumbell presses, and the highest weight at this apt gym was 25lbs, so I did 10+ reps 3 sets to failure.
Surprisingly, my triceps were a bit more stronger, but I didnt work this as hard as I could. I did cable pulldowns 40,50,60lbs and overhead cable pulls and "prison curls" 25lbs. I finished with kickbacks.
Finally, to get the abs going, I did a plank (didnt time it, just went to failure) and two sets of bicycle crunches. I was spent.
Afterwards, my legs were not sore anymore (so the mileage worked) but my upper body was spent, so I bought some Muscle Milk to replenish.
I still have a lot of work to do, but I am seeing progress. I did jump on the scale and noticed that I gained two lbs, but I believe it to be water retention as I havent been drinking enough water.
Before I go to bed tonite, I am going drink 16-20oz of H2O.
I am getting there.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Abs are getting stronger
I was too sore on Sunday to do anything. I could barely walk. So I decided to work on abs and do planks. Most fitness instructors will tell you that you need to hold a plank for two minutes. I am not there yet. I was able to hold it for 1 minute and do another rep for 45 seconds and 35 seconds. I then did v ups, side planks (2) and scissor kicks. I am getting better each week and today's test will be to see how much I can run – I may just do treadmill work for 20 minutes. Each day I see progress and it is motivating.
Today I did a little cardio and ab workout. Now that everyone on my staff knows I am trying to get myself in shape, I must say, I am making some progress. I got that 16 minute horrendous mile time down to 10 minutes in a week and a half. Now the hard part is coming…I got get that bad boy down to 7:30, 7:00 minutes for 3 miles. (I don't run any longer than 3 miles). In order to do this, I am going to have to do the dreaded mileage and I will reserve it for weekends. I will mix in my faux sprints during the week. I love doing sprints and I do want to get some speed back so I can smoke some fools during the upcoming softball season. What I am thinking is to do it on weekends whereby I can workout in the morning doing weights, rest and do mileage in the afternoon evening.
On a different note, the creatine supplementation has been working wonders as I am recovering rather quickly and I notice another trick to help me recover is old school. Sleep. I have been going to bed like normal people at or around 10 to 11pm and getting up pretty early. Its coming along and I need to be patient. I figure around six months into this thing, I should be back into fighting shape. A year? Well, all I gotta say is if I can keep this up for a year then I will be a changed man.
Wish me luck. Now that I know that nosey people are reading this, I can't quit now, can I?
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Old School Workouts and Rest
I havent posted in a while, but the regimen is going strong. I had to go up to Boston for a day and the plan was to arrive about 8pm, hit the gym, go to bed and workout in the morning. Well, things didn't fully go according to plan. I got in at 10:00pm to find the gym closed, so I did an old school workout that consisted of the following
a) Mountain Climbers
b) Full body push ups 3x10
c) Leg/Scissor kicks 2x10
d) One legged raises
e) 3 x 30, 20,20 pushups
f) lunges
g) Plyometrics
h) Tricep dips
I had to exercise in the hotel room, but I got it done. I could not sleep that night due to me travelling from the West Coast to the East Coast, but I happened to get my butt up at 5:30 to hit the gym. Here was the workout
10 minute jog warm up 4mph pace (was not winded and I was feeling good)
3x10 power clean and jerks with 110 lbs. I found out that my shoulders are incredibly weak
3x 8 25, 35, 40 dumbbell shoulder press
3x10 90lbs shoulder shrugs
3x8 50, 30, 10 military press. The front of my shoulders are weak and I remember feeling strain when I tried to bench over 225 last year, and now I have the culprit.
3x10 pullups (weight assisted as I was focusing on biceps)
3x10 curls with 50 and 40lb bar supersetted with dumbell curls (20lbs)
I am missing something, but oh well. I then decided to hit the treadmill to see if I would see any gains from my sprint/jog workouts. Not today. I believe the lack of rest hurt me as I was dying after 1.5 minutes at an 7.0 mph pace.
Memo to Terrence - run more.
I am now back in New York and I plan to jog tomorrow to get the lactic acid out and hit the weights hard (legs) on Friday.
I am feeling a lot better and I am very sore, which means I growing, not retreating. I did not overtrain, thank goodness.
a) Mountain Climbers
b) Full body push ups 3x10
c) Leg/Scissor kicks 2x10
d) One legged raises
e) 3 x 30, 20,20 pushups
f) lunges
g) Plyometrics
h) Tricep dips
I had to exercise in the hotel room, but I got it done. I could not sleep that night due to me travelling from the West Coast to the East Coast, but I happened to get my butt up at 5:30 to hit the gym. Here was the workout
10 minute jog warm up 4mph pace (was not winded and I was feeling good)
3x10 power clean and jerks with 110 lbs. I found out that my shoulders are incredibly weak
3x 8 25, 35, 40 dumbbell shoulder press
3x10 90lbs shoulder shrugs
3x8 50, 30, 10 military press. The front of my shoulders are weak and I remember feeling strain when I tried to bench over 225 last year, and now I have the culprit.
3x10 pullups (weight assisted as I was focusing on biceps)
3x10 curls with 50 and 40lb bar supersetted with dumbell curls (20lbs)
I am missing something, but oh well. I then decided to hit the treadmill to see if I would see any gains from my sprint/jog workouts. Not today. I believe the lack of rest hurt me as I was dying after 1.5 minutes at an 7.0 mph pace.
Memo to Terrence - run more.
I am now back in New York and I plan to jog tomorrow to get the lactic acid out and hit the weights hard (legs) on Friday.
I am feeling a lot better and I am very sore, which means I growing, not retreating. I did not overtrain, thank goodness.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Sunday Workout - Monday Rest - Travel
On Sunday, I decided to work on running/cardio. As you know, my goal is to run a 7:30 mile and to do that, I have decided to train up, rather than run a bunch of mileage and drop down. In that vein, I go all out until fatigue sets in. Last week, I did it for 2 minutes before keeling over, this week I got up to 2:30 so I am thinkin that on Tues or Weds I will hit the 3:00, 3:30 or 3:45 mark. (If I hit the 3:45 mark, that is a half a mile, so the rest *should* come easy.
I am traveling now and I hope to be able to workout when I travel. Stupid me,I forgot to bring workout clothes, so I am going to be scouring Hoboken, NJ looking for gear. (I am not from here, by the way).
On a lark, I decided to take tribulus, which is supposed help your body produce more testosterone. I will see if it works.
Upcoming workouts-
Abs (daily)
Chest/Tris/Plyos (Tuesday)
Bis/Shoulders/Back/Running (Weds)
Legs (Thurs)
Friday (rest)
I am traveling now and I hope to be able to workout when I travel. Stupid me,I forgot to bring workout clothes, so I am going to be scouring Hoboken, NJ looking for gear. (I am not from here, by the way).
On a lark, I decided to take tribulus, which is supposed help your body produce more testosterone. I will see if it works.
Upcoming workouts-
Abs (daily)
Chest/Tris/Plyos (Tuesday)
Bis/Shoulders/Back/Running (Weds)
Legs (Thurs)
Friday (rest)
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Saturday Morning Workoug
Last nite I spent a bunch of time on YouTube looking up new workout methods- plyometrics and ball training, so I decided to give it a whirl. I only had an hour, so this is what I did
* 5 minute warmup on the ellipitcal trainer
* 3x10 dumbell curls 22.5, 30 and 40 lbs. I was surprised that I could do 40lbs, given my soreness and weakness.
Plyometric Cycling
* In between the curl sets, I did plyometrics on the bench where I jumped on the bench and jumped off 10 times each way, then I did 4-6 jumps over the bench in succession. This was pretty cool. I got tired, but I was surprised at the spring I had given the relative sorness.
*In between plyos, I did the nordic hamstring curls on the leg curl bench. My knees were sweaty but I was able to do the exercise. I really felt the pull in my glutes and upper hams.
^I finished the curl routine with barbell curls of 40-50 and 60 lbs.
* Shoulder press 20, 50 and 70 lbs. This hurt given the soreness of my triceps, but I got through it.
* I ended the routine on the ball where I stretched for 5 minutes and did the plank for 30 seconds. 3 times and hamstring pulls on the ball 3 sets of 12, 14 and 10.
I wanted to throw up after the planks. I want to get up to 45 seconds next week and take this to 1 minute at the end of the month and 2 minutes in 3 months.
After the workout, I drank a muscle milk and 20 oz of water.
All in all, I felt that I got a lot in and I really like cycling in plyos with weight training.
* 5 minute warmup on the ellipitcal trainer
* 3x10 dumbell curls 22.5, 30 and 40 lbs. I was surprised that I could do 40lbs, given my soreness and weakness.
Plyometric Cycling
* In between the curl sets, I did plyometrics on the bench where I jumped on the bench and jumped off 10 times each way, then I did 4-6 jumps over the bench in succession. This was pretty cool. I got tired, but I was surprised at the spring I had given the relative sorness.
*In between plyos, I did the nordic hamstring curls on the leg curl bench. My knees were sweaty but I was able to do the exercise. I really felt the pull in my glutes and upper hams.
^I finished the curl routine with barbell curls of 40-50 and 60 lbs.
* Shoulder press 20, 50 and 70 lbs. This hurt given the soreness of my triceps, but I got through it.
* I ended the routine on the ball where I stretched for 5 minutes and did the plank for 30 seconds. 3 times and hamstring pulls on the ball 3 sets of 12, 14 and 10.
I wanted to throw up after the planks. I want to get up to 45 seconds next week and take this to 1 minute at the end of the month and 2 minutes in 3 months.
After the workout, I drank a muscle milk and 20 oz of water.
All in all, I felt that I got a lot in and I really like cycling in plyos with weight training.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Discovery of an area I need to train
17 years ago, I tore my hamstring breakdancing and was misdiagnosed by the Navy doctor. I suffer from knee pain and did not know why but after doing research, I think it is because I have weak hamstrings. I believe this is why I can sprint easier than I can run distance because I can lift my knees high, but this places abnormal pressure on my hip flexors and core and I am dragging the rest of my leg through the stride. It is equivalent of doing "high knees". I found some great exercises that I can do to blow out my hams and glutes and today, I am going to stretch (I might do arms and shoulders) and on Saturday, focus on blowing out my hams and getting them strong enough to where I can start running again with a purpose. This exercise looks like it does the trick and I have never done it before.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
The myth about muscle memory
Today I decided to lift and do light cardio, given the leg workout I had yesterday. I wanted to chest and triceps. In 2007/2008, I was working out with 225 and would go up to 255 on bench press rather frequently. I quit working out religously in October 2008, so it has been a one year layoff. When I got back to the bench rack, I did 3 reps of 10 at 135 and I was struggling. I decided not to add weight because I realized my shoulders were weak. Here was my workout
Chest
Bench 3x10 145
Dumbells 3x10 25, 30, 35 (note I used to grab 60s)
Cable Rows - 3x10 40, 50 (2)
Triceps -
Pull Downs 3x8 35
Dumbell kick backs 3x10 20
Bar Press - 3x8 30, 40 (2)
Situps
Incline situps 25
I also tried to do clean and jerk at 95 lbs ending with a standing military press. Did not happen as my shoulders are very weak. I had to do the bar, and add 10lbs twice.
I ended with light cardio where I skipped for 5 minutes at 3mph and ran for 10 at 4mph
Here is what I noticed
My legs were not as sore as I thought they would be. I drank a lot of water througout the day and took an amino supplement before I went to bed. I am going to continue to drink massive amounts of water.
I feel like once I get over the shock of exercising, I can begin to push the limits. Tomorrow will consist of stretching, pushups and situps. This is a lot tougher than I thought.
On a positive note, I did eat a lot better as I started off my day with chicken and rice for breakfast, a salsd for lunch and a chicken wrap/burrito (large) for dinner. I did eat several tortilla chips, however.
Tomorrow is a new day.
Chest
Bench 3x10 145
Dumbells 3x10 25, 30, 35 (note I used to grab 60s)
Cable Rows - 3x10 40, 50 (2)
Triceps -
Pull Downs 3x8 35
Dumbell kick backs 3x10 20
Bar Press - 3x8 30, 40 (2)
Situps
Incline situps 25
I also tried to do clean and jerk at 95 lbs ending with a standing military press. Did not happen as my shoulders are very weak. I had to do the bar, and add 10lbs twice.
I ended with light cardio where I skipped for 5 minutes at 3mph and ran for 10 at 4mph
Here is what I noticed
My legs were not as sore as I thought they would be. I drank a lot of water througout the day and took an amino supplement before I went to bed. I am going to continue to drink massive amounts of water.
I feel like once I get over the shock of exercising, I can begin to push the limits. Tomorrow will consist of stretching, pushups and situps. This is a lot tougher than I thought.
On a positive note, I did eat a lot better as I started off my day with chicken and rice for breakfast, a salsd for lunch and a chicken wrap/burrito (large) for dinner. I did eat several tortilla chips, however.
Tomorrow is a new day.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Hitting the gym
Today I went to Klahanie Fitness, a place I have not been to in five months. I decided to do something different this time as far as my workouts go. I was always a sprinter and even though I am out of shape, I still have more speed than most folks my age, I just die after 200 meters. Given this, I want to play to my strenghts, which is the ability to sprint. The thing is, my legs are weak. So, in order to correct my deficiencies and get into shape I decided to shock my body into hyper growth.
I took a creatine tablet and a thermogenic metabolic boost to get going. When I got to the gym I did the following
a) Warm up 5 mins at 5.0mph pace on the treadmill (was not winded, btw)
b) Smith Machine Squats - 3x15 @ 145lbs. The purpose was not strength but reps
c) Leg curls 3x20 @ 40, 50 60 lbs. This hurt when I got to the 15th rep, but I immediately felt like my legs doubled in weight
d) Calf raises - 3x25 @ 50 lbs. I wanted to get more reps in than weight
e) Incline sit ups a set of 20, then 10, and 10
f) High paced jog - I did a 3 minute 5mph warm up, then cranked it up to 8mph (7:30 mile pace) for 2 minutes, walked for 3 minutes, cranked to 8mph for 1 minute, walked another 4 minutes and cranked to 8mph for another minute.
Limped home.
The good news about this is that I am building the strength to run at a fast pace and conditioning my body to run at a nice clip. Each week, I want to progressively add a minute until I can do a mile at 7:30 pace.
Tomorrow I am going to be sore, but I am thinking about doing chest, triceps and lats and swimming for cardio at the Y.
I took some aminos before I went to bed to help rebuild the torn down muscles.
Despite the pain I will be facing, I want to get back in that gym.
Soh- man. (Sore man)
I took a creatine tablet and a thermogenic metabolic boost to get going. When I got to the gym I did the following
a) Warm up 5 mins at 5.0mph pace on the treadmill (was not winded, btw)
b) Smith Machine Squats - 3x15 @ 145lbs. The purpose was not strength but reps
c) Leg curls 3x20 @ 40, 50 60 lbs. This hurt when I got to the 15th rep, but I immediately felt like my legs doubled in weight
d) Calf raises - 3x25 @ 50 lbs. I wanted to get more reps in than weight
e) Incline sit ups a set of 20, then 10, and 10
f) High paced jog - I did a 3 minute 5mph warm up, then cranked it up to 8mph (7:30 mile pace) for 2 minutes, walked for 3 minutes, cranked to 8mph for 1 minute, walked another 4 minutes and cranked to 8mph for another minute.
Limped home.
The good news about this is that I am building the strength to run at a fast pace and conditioning my body to run at a nice clip. Each week, I want to progressively add a minute until I can do a mile at 7:30 pace.
Tomorrow I am going to be sore, but I am thinking about doing chest, triceps and lats and swimming for cardio at the Y.
I took some aminos before I went to bed to help rebuild the torn down muscles.
Despite the pain I will be facing, I want to get back in that gym.
Soh- man. (Sore man)
Good plans, poor execution
Today I failed to workout in the morning or in the evening. All I did was stretch in the morning, do 20 pushups and 30 situps. Not good. I am going to try to get my butt up tomorrow morning and head to the gym and kill myself. I have to do it. More results to follow.
Monday, November 9, 2009
why i need to exercise
I knew the day of reckoning was coming. I am 39, travel alot, eat fast food and rarely workout. I have been getting by because over the last 7 years, I used to exercise rather frequently. The past two years- nada. I weigh 195 lbs and have a 5'10" frame. I can barely run a mile in 16 minutes, can barely do 34 push ups and 40 situps. It used to not be this way.
When I was 22 years old (17 years ago) coming out of Officer Candidate School, I was in the best shape of my life. Back then, I ran a mile and a half in 9 minutes, could do 100 push ups and 120 sit ups in two minutes. I think back to what changed then and now and back then, I worked out twice a day, six days a week for 16 weeks. We got up at 5:00 am to do morning PT, which consisted of calistenics and running two miles and came back at lunch and ran another four. On Saturday, it was "Sports Day" which was a mandatory two - three hours of basketball, sprint relays, tug o war. Oh I forgot, we mixed in swimming at lunches where we did not run four miles. After about 8 weeks, I got used to the routine and did not mind it, but the first few weeks were hell.
What the hell happened? Age, kids, laziness. I dont know, but it is going to stop and today is the day it stops. I have made a commitment to workout everyday, rain or shine for the next 30 days. On "rest days" I am going to swim. In 30 days, here is my goal:
a) Get that mile time down to 9 minutes
b) Be able to do 60 pushups in 2 minutes
c) Be able to do 80 situps in 2 minutes
d) 16 pullups
How do I make this work? I am getting up, every morning at 5am for treadmill runs, situps and light plyometrics. In the evening, I am going to run 2 miles.
The schedule does not change when I travel as I am going to have to fit this in. To make sure I do this, I set up this blog where I will document my progress and weight. To make things more interesting, I am taking photos.
For supplements, I am using creatine and amino acids. This is my last shot at glory. Wish me luck.
Today I did the following
10 lame pushups
30 situps
ran a mile
Tomorrow I will be up bright and early at 5am and I am going to hit the treadmill for interval work, followed by plyometrics, pull ups, light bench, leg press and dips.
Wish my fat arse luck!
When I was 22 years old (17 years ago) coming out of Officer Candidate School, I was in the best shape of my life. Back then, I ran a mile and a half in 9 minutes, could do 100 push ups and 120 sit ups in two minutes. I think back to what changed then and now and back then, I worked out twice a day, six days a week for 16 weeks. We got up at 5:00 am to do morning PT, which consisted of calistenics and running two miles and came back at lunch and ran another four. On Saturday, it was "Sports Day" which was a mandatory two - three hours of basketball, sprint relays, tug o war. Oh I forgot, we mixed in swimming at lunches where we did not run four miles. After about 8 weeks, I got used to the routine and did not mind it, but the first few weeks were hell.
What the hell happened? Age, kids, laziness. I dont know, but it is going to stop and today is the day it stops. I have made a commitment to workout everyday, rain or shine for the next 30 days. On "rest days" I am going to swim. In 30 days, here is my goal:
a) Get that mile time down to 9 minutes
b) Be able to do 60 pushups in 2 minutes
c) Be able to do 80 situps in 2 minutes
d) 16 pullups
How do I make this work? I am getting up, every morning at 5am for treadmill runs, situps and light plyometrics. In the evening, I am going to run 2 miles.
The schedule does not change when I travel as I am going to have to fit this in. To make sure I do this, I set up this blog where I will document my progress and weight. To make things more interesting, I am taking photos.
For supplements, I am using creatine and amino acids. This is my last shot at glory. Wish me luck.
Today I did the following
10 lame pushups
30 situps
ran a mile
Tomorrow I will be up bright and early at 5am and I am going to hit the treadmill for interval work, followed by plyometrics, pull ups, light bench, leg press and dips.
Wish my fat arse luck!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)