A new era

This isn't really "new." It's more of a recommitment.

I'm pretty sore today (Friday) because I hit the resistance fairly hard on Wednesday. Mostly though, it's my legs, from the squats I did. That always happens. I have such weak legs.

Anyway, this was the routine:
pushups--40, 12, 8 (I think)
stomachs 20 all round
dumbell flys-10 reps with 20 lbs, 25 lbs, and 30 lbs (I think it could have been 5 lbs heavier but I'm not sure)
Dips- 1 set of 6 (feet resting on the floor)
Pullups-1 set of 6 (feet on chair)

Then yesterday I did 10 hill sprints. I stopped using weights on hills. I figure with the 5 lb weight on the 3 mile Sunshine run and the resistance, that's plenty intense. Anyway, I ran them ultra hard and I ran all of them on the big hill with less rest in between than I'm used to. So I had trouble running all the way back home again. I think I stopped to rest twice.

So the primary goal right now is to get to 100 pushups. So I'll always do them first. At least until I alter the workout if I hit a platau. I saw a workout that varied the type of pushups (triangles and whatnot) so I might use that to push me over a wall sometime. Or if I don't think I'm making progress fast enough.

Today I plan on making another run to snap for resistance training. Despite still having sore legs from squats.

I have been supplimenting with Shaklee Pysique and vitamins quite a bit.

Then I told Lisa I would run a 5 mile with her. Don't know how or when or where exactly we are going to do this. But we'll give it a shot.

So basically the routines are this:
resistance-stretch
hill sprints--stretch
sunshine run (with 5 lb weights)-stretch

The goal: stronger, faster, longer, more flexible, 100 pushups, lean bulk (190?), 6 pack

What I've noticed

Added endourance and strength--I have been able to run Sunshine faster and do more hill sprints and even add weight to them both.

Weight change--this isn't nearly as meaningful because of body composition but I started at 190 dropped to 170, crept back up to 180 (no workouts), down to 170, and now 180 working out.

Pysique--All my pants got baggy. I dropped from size 36" pants to 34" pants.

Flexibility--I feel very tight. Stretching has not been a regular part of my routines and I feel my flexibility has suffered greatly. This will be something I will be working on this summer.

Unknowns--Resting heart rate. I did take a measurement last year that I can add here later.

Mile time--Last year I ran a mile and timed it at 7 minutes and something. I don't know what it is now.

I have some body part measurments too that I will have to measure again and include here.

I wish I had a body fat percentage

A Long Story Short

I’ve been thinking about a blog like this for awhile now—to document my health and fitness goals (some of which can be somewhat measured with a tape measure). Maybe a bit of motivation. But mostly to document the experiment.

And the longer I wait, the fewer results we can witness.

Long Story Short:

I wanted a 6 pack.

I’ve been at this awhile. February of 2005 I started running. I was way out of shape. 190 ish. Couldn’t run my road (Sunshine). But I had a plan. Short, high intensity workouts (running mostly) that would graduate into hill sprints and then resistance training I worked like that with gradual progressions until around May 2005. I did get stronger and built endurance, but didn’t’ see much change in weight.

Then, because of stressors in other places I stopped. But because the high intensity work had changed my metabolism I began to loose weight over the summer, without working out much. I dropped about 20 lbs.

Over the fall and winter months I began to gain it back until I was around 180 in January 2006, and I began running Sunshine again, then eventually hills, then Sunshine with 2.5 lb weights, then hills with 2.5 lb weights, and also some resistance thrown haphazardly in there for good measure (pushups, squats, stomachs, dips, and pull-ups).

I ran a 5K race with my wife (time 23:59), my first.

It didn’t take long and I dropped to 170 again. Pretty lean, but no 6 pack yet. Then I started more resistance and weight running and gained 10 lbs back (hopefully muscle). Then about 6 weeks or so ago I offered up a challenge to my brother in law to race to 100 pushups. That sounds like a lot. At the time I think I could do maybe 25 pushups in a row. Two days ago I did 40. I think that’s a personal best. At least in this era.