I am planning to post some before and after photos of my 2 week transformation challenge tomorrow.  Stay tuned for more…

Results: in the past two weeks I’ve dropped 7 pounds and 4 inches from my waist (38″ to 34″)….Nothing more to report for now.

My New System…

I’ve embraced the simplicity of neon cards for recording all my workouts (not to mention the books I read for comps).  I am going to try to do a better job of keeping up with blog posts, but will still probably post twice a week or less.  Still better than I’ve been doing thus far.

So far those who are curious about my cards over the last several days…

Card 1 (09-14-2009)

• Strength Training (15 Minutes)
  
• Superset A
• Squat Jump: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Explode Ups (Push up but you explode your hands and feet off the ground): 3 sets of 8 reps
• Romanian Squat: 3 sets of 5 reps per leg
• Chin-Ups: 3 sets of 5 reps
• Superset B
• One-legged Dead-lift: 2 sets of 8 reps per leg (w/ sand bag weight, approx. 25lbs)
• Side Lunge: 2 sets of 10 reps each leg
• Tricep Press: 2 sets of 12 reps
• Bicep Hammer Curl: 2 Sets of 12 reps each

Card 2 (09-15-2009)

• SPRINT TRAINING
• 15 sprints at 100% intensity in 20 minutes (approximately 12-16 seconds per sprint w/ 30-50 second rest between).  Half were uphill, half on a flat surface.

Card 3 (09-16-2009)

• H.I.T. Training (15 Minutes)
  
• Spiderman Lunge: 5 sets of 12 reps
• Pelvic Lift: 5 sets of 20 reps
• Hindu Push-ups: 5 sets of 6 reps

Card 4 (09-17-2009)

• Outdoor H.I.T. (20 Minutes)
• Sledge Hammer Training: (I) 2 minutes; (II) 2 minutes; (III) X
• Tire Drag (uphill): (I) 90 seconds; (II) 2 minutes; (III) 2 Minutes
• Tire Flip (uphill): (I) 1 minute; (II) 1 minute; (III) X
• Tire Jump: (I) 1 minute; (II) X; (III) X

Thus far I’ve dropped 8 lbs and 3 inches over the last two weeks.  I’m feeling good and ready to keep hitting the pavement and the weights.

I’ve spend the summer neglecting every good bit of nutritional advice I’ve ever received, and as a result I feel bloated, tired, and “ick.”  So as of yesterday I got back on the nutritional wagon.  As per my trainers instructions:

“[Eat] fresh vegetables (no root vegetables or squash), berries, small amounts of nuts & seeds, unprocessed animal protein, unprocessed fats, salt, spices, coffee with cream, tea, water and 1 tbsp of fish oil per day.”

So I planned all my meals out for today.  But as we know the best laid plans often go straight down the toilet. My plans went down the drain thanks to a severe thunderstorm that left our family stranded in the local Wal-mart until lunch time today.  The only food place there was subway, and as we all know, if you want something that doesn’t come on bread (and isn’t a salad), Subway ain’t the best place to eat.  So after reviewing the menu several times, my frustration finally eased when I saw a steak and cheese omelet sub.  I ordered the sub with double steak, part-skim mozzarella, tomatoes, green peppers, onions, and spinach.  I ditched the bread in the trash and laid out the omelet et al. on the table in front of me.  It was quite delicious, and despite the VERY user unfriendly nutritional info at the Subway website (they won’t let you deduct or add specific ingredients)   I was able, with a little math, to guesstimate my nutritional intake at around:

• 400 calories
• 9g carbs
• 37 protein
• 18g fat

Sounds good to me.  Not ideal, but the best alternative.

Well I’m back in the backyard again.  Today’s workout was supposed to be a three cycle H.I.T. training program, but ended up a bit different thanks to fatigue and the desire to toss my cookies that crept up on me during my second cycle.  But before I get carried away I might as well post the workout:

Cycle 1: 2 minutes activity/35 seconds rest

1. Sledge Hammer Drills (2 minutes each side)
2. Tire Press (basically the second part of the tire flip performed from a squatting position)
3. Tire Drag
4. Tire Flip
5. There was supposed to be an exercise here involving balancing my slosh bar, but let’s just say my body wouldn’t cooperate and leave it at that…

Cycle 2: 45 seconds activity/45 seconds rest

1. Sledge Hammer Drills (2 minutes each side)
2. Tire Press (basically the second part of the tire flip performed from a squatting position)(BTW, here’s where I started wanting to toss my lunch)
3. Tire Drag
4. Tire Flip

Cycle 3:  This was supposed to be 30 seconds of activity with 45 seconds rest, but I didn’t think I would be able to make it through without painting the pavement a few different shades of green.  So instead I took about 6 minutes to rest and then did 10 sets of push-ups (15 second activity and 25 seconds rest).  The results

1. 13
2. 13
3. 9
4. 6 (diamonds)
5. 8 (wide)
6. 1 Negative
7. 6
8. 5
9. 4
10. 1 Negative (TOTAL = 66 push ups)

I still felt like puking by the end, but hey, it was worth it.

I decided to bring back my old training logs.  Why?  Well, I enjoy posting about my workouts on here and I like that fact that they keep me honest.

Sunday are always a fun workout for me.  Sundays = sprint training in my house.  Not just ordinary old sprint training but balls to the wall up a steep sloped driveway digging my heels into the pavement kind of training.  The driveway is about 40 yards and the cul-de-sac is another 30 or so yards.  Starting from the other side of the cul-de-sac I sprint across the flat pavement then up my driveway–over and over and over again.  All in all about 17 or so times.  There is no set number, just however many sprints I can fit within 20 minutes.  

Usually the sprints take anywhere from 20-30 seconds (I’m not that fast even at top speed).  I don’t set rest limits by seconds, instead I go by heart rate.  When my H.R. falls to 110-125 bpm I start all over again.  To get my heart back down to 125 or so all it takes is a moderate paced walk down the driveway and an extra 10 seconds of rest- usually.  Toward the end of the workout it can take longer.  Today’s workout went 20 minutes with a 3 minute cool down walk.  My max heart rate was 176 bpm, and my average heart rate ranged from 125 to 168.  Not bad.

Well let’s just say the meeting didn’t go all that well.  With only three thirty second holds (two of which I was barely able to accomplish), I have to say this was much harder than expected.  I had no problem pressing the bar, and could hold it up for a few seconds with minimal difficulty, but THEN the water started really moving around in that 10 foot long pipe and it was all trying to keep it from tipping from there on out. 

After my workout I can honestly say, I trained muscles I didn’t even know existed in my core.  Especially some muscles back by my kidneys that are really sore.  OUCH!  I am looking forward to seeing how much I can improve by this Sunday (the next time I plan on picking up the slosh pipe).

Allow me to introduce you to my little big friend.  This is my new workout toy (and the first of several I plan on making in different shapes and sizes).  I will call it a hydro-bar.  The design is simple: PVC pipe + water = hydro bar.  Allow me to guide you through the process…

The process is simpe enough…

(1) cap off one end of the PVC pipe with plenty of glue and some caulk…

(2) fill PVC pipe with water…

(3) cap off other end of PVC pipe with plenty of glue and some caulk.

This particular pipe in 10 feet long and 4 inches in diameter.  It is about 85% filled with water.  I would estimate it weights between 125 and 150 lbs (or at least it feels that way thanks to the water sloshing around inside).  I took it for a test drive and should have some pics up i a couple days of some exercises that involve the hydro bar.

BTW, if you are thinking of making your own, here are the details on cost.  4″ PVC pipe runs about 9 bucks for 10 feet (it was the only size they sold at my local Home Depot), the caps run about 7 bucks a piece, and the piece in the middle (which I had to buy because I couldn’t fit a 10 foot pipe in my car) cost about 2 bucks.  Total cost, about $24.  I was able to use a Home Depot gift certificate to pay for most of it.

You haven’t really worked out until you’ve put together an exercise routine that has made you curse the day you were born, beg for mercy, and fear that a heart attack was imminent.  That pretty much describes what I did yesterday.  At some point two days ago I thought, “basic H.I.T. isn’t enough, I need a little something more.”  So, I thought, what if I eliminated the rest breaks and performed 3 rounds of 5-6 minutes of activity with NO rest during each round.    The idea struck me as a good one as I sat in my computer chair- I would later regret this whole line of thought.

So what was the workout?  Well, it looks simple enough on paper until you try to run through, balls to the wall style, with no rest in between.

• Sledge Hammer Drills (one minute each side)
• Tire Flips (one minute)
• Squat Jump onto huge tire (30 seconds)
• Push-ups (30 seconds)
• Squat Jumps (sans tire) (3o seconds)
• Step-ups with hands on huge tire (1 minute)
• Sandbag Press (about 85-90lbs) (1 minute)

After I completed the first round I knew that I would either puke or have a heart attack soon enough.  So I kept the intensity up the next round but added in 30 second rests between exercises and cut out the squat jumps onto the tire (as my tired legs were making them dangerous).  I did a final round with 30 seconds all out periods of activity with 60 seconds rest in between.  I am hoping to build up to doing all three rounds with only 3 minutes rest between rounds.  That might take a while though.

Oh, did I mention I did interval runs that morning?  Six thirty-second all-out sprints with 120 second rest in between each sprint.  The whole thing took about 25 minutes.

What will the next training session look like?  Who knows.  I have some speed and agility stuff I want to throw in.  So it could look very different.

The last week has witnessed an intriguing phenomenon.  As all of you who know me already know, I am quite O.C.D. about recording details and information.  So as I looked over the numbers this morning, something hit me.  Six of the last seven days I’ve either remained the same weight OR gained weight (between .2 and .6 lbs).  However, when I started my waist measured a gargantuan 38 inches.  As of this morning it measures about 36 and 3/4 inches.

Once again demonstrating the basic rule that you can’t let the scale rule your life or dictate how you should feel about your fitness and nutrition plan.

So why the rapid loss of over an inch in about a week?  I attribute it to the interval runs, 2 H.I.T. training sessions, and 2 old school resistance training workouts.  Yesterday’s H.I.T. workout follows below.  Now be warned, I don’t follow an entirely conventional H.I.T. routine since I allow myself a bit more rest between exercises.  Also I like to vary my activity and rest times on each exercise; as you can see from the chart below.

Well I am off to finish my last bit of work on the backyard (planting a blackberry bush).  See you tomorrow.