Photo diary of a work in progress

Last week's diet

2009-09-02T20:30:00.000-07:00

To make a change in diet an exercise, it's important to know where you are when you start. As such, here's everything I've eaten or drunk in the past week that contained any calories, which corresponds to my first week of the current round of trying the P90X system. I'm posting this at the moment without having eaten dinner yet on the 7th day, just due to the when it's convenient to post--I'll update this in a day or so and add what's missing. I've omitted water (I don't measure how much water I drink; I could give you an estimate based on the number of glasses I've had but it would be an estimate only) and a few other 0-calorie beverages (I've had one can of diet coke and 2 pitchers of a diet iced tea in the past week).

The goal for this first phase is a very high-protein bit. I'd also been completely careless about my diet and exercise habits for over a month ahead of time, so I had more fat on my body than is normal for me. Over the course of the week, my scale registered a change from 154.8 pounds with 10.8% body fat to 153.0 pounds with 10.4% body fat, so a loss of 0.8 pounds of fat and 1.0 pound combined between water and muscle.

2.5 pounds chicken breast (skinless, grilled)
4 pounds chicken thigh (skinless, grilled)
1 pound grapes
1.5 pound strawberries
12 ounces raspberries
1 kiwano
1 pound green beans (steamed)
2/3 pound snow peas (steamed)
5 cans tuna (chunk, water packed)
19 eggs (boiled--omlettes made by boiling ingredients in a freezer bag)
8 cups cottage cheese (1%)
7 slices deli turkey (boiled)
21 slices deli Salami (microwaved)
15 slices american cheese (deli)
1.5 cups shredded Provolone and Romano (skim)
6 cups pudding (Jello, sugar-free, fat-free, made with skim milk)
1/2 bottle mustard
6 tablespoons Miracle Whip (light)
48 ounces soy milk (vanilla flavored)
16 ounces skim milk
32 ounces V8 juice
9 servings protein powder
salt, garlic, and pepper to taste.

Over the course of 7 days, that's 14,647 calories
567.6 grams fat
209.4 saturated
83.3 polyunsaturated
210.3 monounsaturated
675.7 grams carbohydrates
82.9 dietary fiber
1551.5 grams protein

Averaged per day, that's 2092 calories per day (will go up once I add in day 7's dinner)
36% fat
18% carbohydrates
46% protein

My diet for the past week has thus turned out to be higher in fat than desired, lower in carbohydrates than recommended, and slightly lower in proteins than recommended (the plan called for a 20/50/30 split of fat/protein/carbohydrate). Although the salami has been tasty, and I am probably consuming less fat than indicated in my calculations because I drain the grease left from its cooking before I eat it, it is simply too high in fat compared to its protein content to work acceptably as a meat in this diet, and if given a choice between it and my other significant fat sources (cheese, chicken, eggs) I will choose to sacrifice the salami. I had been planning to maintain a diet along these lines for another week before slowly raising my carbohydrate intake, but it looks like I should probably begin raising it sooner than that. I also appear to be getting fewer calories than I should with as high of a native metabolism as I have; removing all bread, pasta, and rice products from my normal diet in an effort to substitute in additional protein has gotten the percent protein up, but dropped the daily total of consumption down. It would seem to be a good idea to substitute out the whole eggs and replace them with egg whites, but that would also reduce the total calorie total, which I am reluctant to do. Although I am averaging over 2000 calories a day at the moment (~2300 per day for the first 6 days; day 7 currently lacking a dinner), my long-term trend over the past several years has been that my equilibrium consumption is somewhere around 3200 calories per day. As such, dropping below roughly 2700 per day is a bad idea for my long-term metabolism.

This diet would also be problematic to maintain for a long period due to an overabundance of tuna, which would put me at risk for mercury poisoning. This very low concentration of carbohydrates additionally has my fiber intake well below what it should be. I have a handful of vitamins and minerals that are lower than would be hoped for -- notably magnesium where I'm only at 55% of the goal for the week, Thiamine (66%), vitamin D (67%), vitamin E (74%), and manganese (75%) -- and all but the magnesium would be alleviated by taking 1 or 2 multivitamin tablets in a week. As such, it may be worth looking into a magnesium-specific supplement, as the multivitamin I have contains only 25% of a single day's magnesium dose. If I wish to gain muscle, I will need to increase total caloric consumption, but my lack of hunger over the past week under moderate temperatures and low-stress conditions means that I will most likely have to substitute out some foods which are highly filling for the small number of calories they contain and replace them with other foods which have a denser concentration of calories; preferrably, ones that are are predominantly protein with essentially no fat. I may, for instance, need to switch from the soymilk to skim milk, and get more of my fruit in smoothie format than in whole raw fruit.

Starting anew, and soliciting feedback

2009-09-02T20:14:00.000-07:00

No excuses; I didn't make it through the program a couple of times which I started over the past year. I'm trying again now. So, to start with, a couple of before pictures:

These before pictures, from a week ago, give an accurate impression of what I look like at the moment. For those who want numbers, they're in my profile, but the basic stats are:

28 years old
6 foot tall
153 pounds
29 inch waist
35.5 inch widest part of rear
36 inch chest
12 inch biceps

Resting pulse 57 bpm
5k run time (approximate) 28 minutes
400m swim time (approximate) 10 minutes

Most relevant weaknesses:
Exercise induced asthma
Difficulty gaining weight
Very poor hamstring flexibility

As a long-term ideal, I would like to reach somewhere around 165-170 pounds with somewhere around 9% body fat, and avoiding any vascularization. I would settle for around 160 pounds with the same proportions. That is the most I have ever been able to weigh (albeit with a higher body fat than the goal) despite being roughly 6 foot tall; I have the metabolism of a humming bird. I'm aiming for the build of a diver, or possibly a dancer. These goals may be vain, I know, but I figure if I'm going to be thin, I might as well see if for at least a little while visible abs are doable for me.

This goal would involve losing about 1 pound of fat and gaining about 13 pounds of muscle, so it would be optimistic to achieve in 1 year, more realistic in 18-24 months. An actual plan for that would probably look more like lose 2-3 pounds of fat first, then try to gain a few pounds of muscle without going above 11-12% body fat, and cycling a few times.

I am quite happy with my lower body strength and appearance, though I imagine as I learn how to ride a bicycle (which, at the age of 28, I do not know how to do) there will be some changes in the musculature of my legs because biking will stress my legs differently than running, though I do want to improve my hamstring flexibility and (if possible) add an inch or so to my vertical leap, which would help my volleyball game. As far as my upper body, from an appearance standpoint I'd like a little more muscle in my chest and upper arms; from a functional standpoint I'd like a corresponding increase in my back (to maintain my posture), a significant increase in strength in the shoulders (currently the weakest muscle group relative to everything else in my body), and possibly some increase in my grip strength.

The current plan is to follow a very high protein diet for another week or so, and then gradually increase my carbohydrate consumption primarily with whole grain breads, cereals, pastas, brown rice, and some additional steamed or raw vegetables until in a few weeks protein and carbohydrates are both somewhere around 40% of my caloric consumption. I'll try to maintain that for at least a month before allowing the carbohydrates to reach higher, up into the 50-60% range, all following the general guidelines of the P90X plan, which shall also constitute my exercise regimen for the next several months. I plan to supplement this with the occasional run, perhaps once a week, perhaps only once every two weeks, of somewhere around 3 miles, simply to prevent losing what endurance I built over the spring and summer. Similarly, I plan at least the occasional swim or bike ride (even if it starts out as the exercise bike), as I have vague plans to do a very short triathlon next June. After the P90X portion is complete, I've not yet decided what comes next, though I imagine it will probably involve some instances of low-rep, high-weight multijoint exercises as I try to increase my strength, with high intensity interval training to maintain my cardio form.

Dusting off the site

2009-01-06T12:22:00.000-08:00

It's been months since I've entered anything on this site. I could give you my excuses, but at the end of the day, they're excuses. I didn't do it. Now I'm going to give it a shot.

Because I have a few month in which I have no plans to travel, I've begun a new regimen. Namely, January 1st was my 1st day with the P90X system, about which I had heard and read a number of good things. I'll fully admit that before I purchased the product, I downloaded it to take a look at a few of the routines and see if they made sense. I also read through the instructions, the meal plans, etc, for the same reason. Everything seemed sensible enough that I figured it was worth a shot, particularly because my gym is so busy in the early part of the year, and thus I actually bought a copy. I like the freedom of being able to work out at home, regardless of the time of day. I also appreciate not having to try to pack a post-workout snack or shake and bring it with me, which is less pleasant when I'm going to the gym after I've had to do a number of work related things than when I'm going first thing in the morning. After this first week I'll probably resume going to the gym and using at least the cardio equipment there--there are still hazy thoughts about participating in a very short triathlon this summer, and I'll need time spent on the treadmill, in the pool, and on the exercise bike to have a realistic chance of finishing that--but for this week, I've been sticking with just the DVDs.

In any event, here's some of the basic information of where I was before beginning this program:

Photos:

Not terrible, but not good either, considering that back in August standing at a more flattering 3/4th shot I was:

We'll see if I can get to looking like that without posing, just being.

Height: 6'ish
Weight: 163.4lbs
Body Fat % : 13.1 according to my scale, so probably near 15% reality
Resting pulse: 67 bpm.

It's been months since I've run a timed mile as fast as I can, so I imagine my first shot around now would be in the 8 minute range, but I've worked it to as low as 5:59 in the past.

Long term goal is in the 165-170 lb range and maybe 9% body fat.

Over the 90 days of one complete cycle of this program, I'm hoping to get to 160-165 and 10-11%. I'd like a resting pulse in the 50 or so range, and a 5k run time in the 22 minute range, or maybe 25 as part of a triathlon.

I'll be sticking intermittently updates on my progress in here, hopefully at least once a week. But, for the moment, I'm off to go return some library books. And now that I've spent this time talking about the exercise program, I think I'm going to try walking there, like I did in the summer. We'll ignore the fact that it's in the 20s and snowing.

080615 Update

2008-06-15T15:18:00.000-07:00

So, I've actually been working out regularly for a few weeks now, after having passed my quals. I've just been too lazy to get some pictures up. Hopefully, I'll deal with that soon.

I've currently finished 3 weeks of a 12 week plan. Specifically, RealJock.com's Strength Foundation plan. I don't know whether I'll be able to get it done as 12 consecutive weeks, given that I might be out of town for a few points in the middle without access to gyms, but whatever. I've realized overly regimented plans don't work well for me. I'm stubborn enough to not really need the motivation boost from such a commitment, and prefer the flexibility of adjusting my schedule as needed.

I've also begun swimming, in large part due to thoughts about doing a sprint distance triathlon next summer. I'll be honest, I current suck at long distance front crawl. I'm fine over short distances, but I lose energy rapidly. I've read that I should expect it to take 4-6 weeks of regular swimming until I suddenly develop some endurance. We'll see how that goes. In the mean time, it's a great way to keep my ego in check now that I can comfortably run a 5k and am steadily increasing the speed at which I run it.

Facing reality

2008-02-22T16:21:00.000-08:00

I've realized that now is not the time for this 12-week muscle building plan. The workouts take so long that I would have to go to the gym twice a day. I have my PhD qualification exams in less than two months. I just can't afford that much time in the gym at the moment. I think I now need to go back to a more normal workout, and try this plan in the future. Sorry to anyone watching my results.

I'm not dead yet

2008-02-18T09:25:00.000-08:00

Digital scale: 154.8 pounds (yikes, weight loss), body fat 10.8%, water weight 60.2%

But I am finally over a bad virus. I decided not to subject the others at my gym to my infectiousness the past two weeks, so today I begin week 5 of the program. Over the past two weeks, I've mainly been out walking around outside, or on the stairs at work, or sometimes forcing myself to do pushups and situps at home. It's not the same, but I figure at least it's something. New photo to be posted later, when I get home and can take the obligatory shirtless photo of the week.

Week 5, Day 2

2008-02-05T15:25:00.000-08:00

So, today's day 2, but I took this photo yesterday:

4 weeks on the program, the results according to my digital scale are thus:

I've lost 3 pounds of fat.
My muscle mass is unchanged.

Essentially, I think that means that my paying attention to my diet is causing me to lose weight, but the heavy workouts are forcing my muscles to stay in place, so my body goes after fat instead. I should point out that paying attention to my diet is more about eating healthy than anything else, but I would say no to developing some abs should that happen

When I

Week 4, bits and pieces reported later

2008-02-01T18:42:00.000-08:00

I've done through day 4 for the week 4 plan, thus far. As is totally unsurprising, the nights I'm home I'm exhausted, and the nights I have enough energy I could in theory post to this thing, I instead have gone and played board games with friends. Such as life.

In any event, the concept of reading papers at the gym has been working well for me. I get less annoyed at the crowds, and I get more papers read this way. I think this just might become a new standard for me.

Anyway, even though it's not yet 10, I'm crashing. I just might go to bed early tonight.

Week 4, Day 2

2008-01-29T20:12:00.000-08:00

Scale: 160.2 pounds, 12.3% body fat, 60.1% water

Today was a day for the back. I used a 55 pound offset for the various pullups on the graviton machine, 110 pounds for the lat pull downs, 40 pounds for the reverse flys, 120 pounds for the machine rows. I also walked nearly 5 miles this evening when I went out walking instead of dealing with a crowded gym in the evening. I am greatly looking forward to midterms, the failure of New Year Resolutions, and the passing of Spring Break to thin out the herds at my gym.

Week 4, Day 1

2008-01-28T19:09:00.000-08:00

Scale: 161.6, fat 12.7%, water 58.7%

As is fully expected, I've become bad about updating this thing. At the end of April, I'm taking my PhD qualifier exams; basically, once I pass those, I have nothing left to do for my degree but carry out my research, write it up, and publish it. It'll still be 3 or so years of slogging away once I do so, but the exams are a major hurdle to clear, and so there's a lot of paper reading and e-mailing people looking for access to bacterial strains and plasmids. I've continued doing these workouts, but I often have little energy when I get home in the evening to post about the fact that I did them.

Still, today is the start of a new week, and thus deserves the photographic proof of the past week's work:

Today's workout was chest-centered, same exactly as the last two Mondays but for the weight I managed. Today was up to 45 pound dumbbells for the chest presses (from last week's 40), and 105 pounds on the barbell (from last week's 100). I also did 60 pounds for the 1-arm pec machine flys, and 20 pound dumbbells for the free weight versions, and am too lazy at the moment to look up how much weight I used for these last week.

At the end of the weights, there was half an hour on an elliptical machine, resistance 7 of 20, intervals for the last 15 minutes. According to the machine, I managed 340 calories burned by that. I don't know that I trust that number, but it can be useful in comparing from one session to another as it should be an indicator of relative energy expenditure.

Day 17

2008-01-23T16:57:00.001-08:00

Again with a day of doing the workout but not feeling like writing out what it is at the moment. We'll see if I get around to doing that later this week.

Day 16

2008-01-22T20:56:00.001-08:00

Workout done, hopefully post will be updated tomorrow.

Day 15

2008-01-21T15:46:00.000-08:00

Digital scale: 160.8 pounds, 12.3% fat, 60.3% water.

Thus begins week 3, which turns out to be a replicate of week 2. As the start of a new week, we have another photo

As for today's workout, I cut out the fourth set on one, as I had increased weights in, well, everything involving weights, and I was tiring too quickly.

Warmup:
Cable side rotators (30 pounds, but a double pulley machine): 15ea, 15ea
Cable press, 20 pounds: 20, 20, 20
Pushups: 20, 20, 20

Superset 1:
Dumbbell fly, 20 pounds each: 16, 12, 12, 10
Bench pushup: 16, 16, 16, 16

Dumbbell bench press, 40 pounds each: 16, 12, 10, 10

Superset 2:
Bench press, 100 pounds: 12, 10, 8
Inclined bench pushup: 10, 10, 10

Superset 3:
1 arm machine fly, 50 pounds: 15, 15, 12, 10
Graviton dip, 40 pound offset: 11, 9, 9, 7

Day 13

2008-01-19T20:20:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I was feeling sick and didn't want to go infect people with the bad cold I had. So, I took yesterday off and did the workout today. For the moment, I'm off to go huddle under a blanket with a mug of chicken stock and hope I feel better tomorrow. Update to come later.

Day 11

2008-01-17T15:37:00.000-08:00

Digital scale: 160.2 pounds, 13% fat, 59.3% water

In a change from previous days in this routine, I'm actually proud of myself today. I really did not feel like going to the gym today. I had an early meeting, and didn't feel like getting up early enough to go before that. When I finally had time, it was mid afternoon, which typically means that the gym I go to is crowded, and I was still tired from not having slept a lot last night, and I just wanted to go home. Nevertheless, I force myself into the gym, and did my routine as needed. I wasn't quite able to do some of the requested supersets as supersets, largely because of that crowding, but that's relatively unimportant as far as I'm concerned. I even spent some time doing cardio at the end that wasn't on the schedule. Not as intense of cardio as I've been doing, but with a few more hours of volleyball this evening, that seems reasonable.

Warmup:
Cable rotators, 10 pounds: 15ea, 15ea.
Dumbbell rotators, 5 pounds: 15, 15

Superset 1:
Standing Arnold presses, 15 pound dumbbells: 16, 12, 12, 10
Lateral raises, 10 pound dumbbells: 16, 16, 16, 16

Superset 2:
Seated shoulder presses, 20 pound dumbbells: 16, 14, 12, 10
Pushups: 12, 12, 12, 12

Reverse flies, 40 pound machine: 15, 15, 15, 15

Seated reverse flies, 10 pound dumbbells: 15, 15, 15, 15

Decline bench roll ups: 20, 20, 20, 20

Seated ball crunches: 30, 30, 30

30 minutes on an elliptical machine. Resistance at level 8 of 20; fat burner program for a bit of variety (alternates crossramp of 4 and 10 out of 20)

Day 10

2008-01-16T20:57:00.000-08:00

Digital scale: 160.8 pounds, 12.4% fat, 60% water.

Another day accomplished. Yay. I wasn't able to do all the lifts--something shifted in my right knee, so I didn't do all of the Russian deadlifts--but I did a bunch of cardio not required.

Superset 1:
Drop down lunges, 20 pound dumbbells: 20ea, 20ea, 20ea
Dumbbells squats, 20 pounds: 20, 20, 20

Superset 2:
Seated leg presses, 320 pounds: 16, 12, 12.
Pylometric jump squats: 20, 20, 20

1-leg knee extensions, 50 pounds: 15, 15, 15

Barbell squats, 65 pounds: 16, 12, 12, 10. As usual with these, my arms were much more limiting than my legs.

Barbell Russian deadlifts, 95 pounds: 9. My right knee popped at the end of the 9th one, so I decided to call it quits for the weights for the day.

Half an hour on a stair machine, level 6 of 20 for the first half, then level 7.

Much later in the evening, half an hour on an elliptical machine, resistance level 10 of 20, same with cross ramp, fast enough to burn a bit more than 400 calories.

Day 9

2008-01-15T20:04:00.000-08:00

Digital scale: 160 pounds, 12.7% fat, 59.6% water

I'm mentally drained today. More than 12 hours of seminars, lab work, etc. I did the workout today, and more--I did additional cardio beyond what was listed--but I do not have the mental energy to write it all out at the moment. Hopefully I'll come back and do so soon.

Day 8

2008-01-14T15:41:00.000-08:00

Digital scale: 161.8 pounds, 13% body fat, 59.4% water

Today begins week 2. As such, time for a new photo, which is why one is posted above. I've also realized that this whole thing is relatively pointless if I don't start paying attention to my food intake, so I've added a link to a fitday.com profile for me. I don't trust their calculations on calories burned, but it seems useful on the food angle.

My legs were feeling somewhat wonky this morning, so I didn't feel like trying to run this morning--I used an elliptical instead. I may go back later tonight to run, but that's not yet certain. Anyway, today's workout:

Warmup:
Cable Side rotators, 10 pounds, 15each, 15each.

Warmup superset:
Pushups: 20, 20, 20
Decline Bench Press, 10 pound dumbbells: 20, 20, 20. I didn't feel like dragging a resistance tube around.

Superset 1:
Dumbbell fly, 15 pounds each: 16, 12, 12, 10
Flat Bench Push ups: 16, 16, 16, 16

Dumbbells Presses, 35 pounds each: 16, 12, 12, 10

Superset 2:
Flat bench barbell presses, 95 pounds: 12, 10, 10, 10
Incline pushup: 10, 10, 10, 10

Superset 3:
1-armed pec deck, 50 pounds: 15ea, 15ea, 12ea, 12ea
Graviton dips, 40 pound offset (lowest setting): 10, 7, 6, 3

20 minutes on an elliptical, starting at level 1 and eventually hitting 12. Just under 180 calories burned.

I could barely finish the numbers suggested at these weights, but at least I could finish them. I figure it's better to complete things at the weights given, rather than run short.

Day 6

2008-01-12T20:41:00.000-08:00

Digital scale: 162.8 (highest weight ever!), 13.5% fat, 58.5% water

Today's schedule called for 45 minutes of moderate intensity cardio. They suggested an outdoor hike, but let's be reasonable: it's January in Michigan. I therefore work out indoors. That got lumped together with my 30 minutes leftover from yesterday.

35 minutes on a stationary bike, resistance 5 of 20. This was enough for 10 miles.
Immediately on to 400m jog on the treadmill, 6.0mph. Realized I didn't have my good running shoes on, so I decided to move to the elliptical machines. I took a break of roughly 10 minutes of stretching and sitting to drop my heart rate down to resting, so I could do a fitness test.
20 minutes of a fitness test on one elliptical machine. Realized that it wasn't working properly, as the resistance wasn't increasing anywhere near as much as it displayed. Scrapped the test, and rested 6 or so minutes to drop my heart rate back down.
Moved to a new machine for another fitness test on an elliptical. This one worked--resistance got quite high--but it told me my VO max was only 37. I think this is likely faulty, as when I did one of these tests last week as the first thing I did when I hit the gym, my VO max was 52. Regardless, it's still a decent bit of cardio.

Tomorrow's a day off, according to the program. I might play racquetball with a friend if I'm not too sore. Alternately, I might use Sundays to run a weekly trial of the Men's Health Fitness test. Full credit is given for a 6:00 or faster mile, a 24 inch vertical leap, 50 pushups, 9 chin ups, and 5 single leg bench squats. When I was working on these back in December, I got the chin ups (or is it pull ups? I can never remeber which grip is considered which), squats, and run accomplished, and I got to 23 inches for the vertical leap, but only 44 pushups. I'm doubting that I'll try the pushups tomorrow, and might not do the chinups/pullups either, but it's probably a good idea to try to force myself to keep doing the run or else I know I'm going to lose the ability to do it.

Anyway, week 1 accomplished. 11 more to go.

Day 5, reported a bit late

2008-01-12T20:32:00.000-08:00

Day 5:

Digital scale: 161.8 pounds, 13.5% fat, 59% water.

I broke up this scheduled workout into two segments: one with weights in the morning, and one with the cardio later on. The cardio got done on Saturday, in fact, because friends called and asked if I wanted to play a game right as I was going to go back to the gym Friday evening.

Warmup:
5 minutes on the bike, heavy resistance--for me, level 8 of 10 is pretty heavy.
Dumbbell up rotators, 5 pounds: 20, 20
Dumbbell lateral raises, 5 pounds: 20, 20.

Superset 1:
Dumbbell shoulder presses, 20 pounds: 16, 12, 12, 10
Dumbbell lateral raises, 10 pounds: 10, 10, 10, 10
Stability ball pushups: 15, 15, 13, 13. I hate pushups.

Seated Arnold presses, 15 pounds: 15, 12, 12.

1-armed cable reverse pulls, 20 pounds: 15, 15, 12 each arm.

Superset 2:
Step-ups, 10 pound dumbbells: 20, 20, 20
Squats: 15, 15, 15
Seated Reverse Dumbbell Flys, 10 pounds: 15, 15, 15

Walking lunges, 10 pound dumbbells: 20, 20, 20.

1-leg knee extensions, 55 pounds: 15, 15, 15.

Superset 3:
1-leg presses, 120 pounds: 15, 15, 12, 12.
Calf Presses with hold, 320 pounds: 12, 8 second hold, 12, 8 second hold, 8. Repeated 4 times, with the last number of the set going from 8 to 7 to 8 to 4.

Day 4

2008-01-10T19:51:00.000-08:00

Digital scale: 162.4 pounds, 13.4% fat, 58.5% water

Woo! I did everything I had to do for today's workout, and didn't feel like I was going to die. Well, OK, so a few things I was a couple repetitions short, but that's part of the point, isn't it? If I could do all of these things already, how much benefit would I really get from the workout?

Warmup superset:
Tube rows: 30 seconds, 30 seconds
Tube pull-downs: 30 second, 30 seconds.

Superset 1:
Smith machine inverted pullups: 16, 12, 11
Tube rows: 20, 20, 20.

Superset 2:
Neutral grip pull-ups (40 pound offset): 16, 15, 12
Floor crunches: 30, 30, 30

Wide grip pull downs, 85 pounds: 15, 12, 12, 10

Floor leg raises: 15, 15, 15, 14.

Superset 3:
Narrow grip pull downs, 85 pounds: 15, 12, 12, 10
Standing rows, 15 pound dumbbells: 15, 12, 12, 12
Tube rows: 30sec, 30sec, 30sec, 30sec

Superset 4:
Standing barbell curls, 45 pounds: 15, 12, 12, 10
Floor crunches: 40, 40, 30, 30.

Superset 5:
Seated incline curls, 15 pound dumbbells: 12, 12, 12
Standing curls, 15 pounds: 30sec, 30sec, 30sec.

(I'm not sure that superset makes sense. You're just constantly doing bicep curls)

Superset 6:
Standing cable curls, 50 pounds: 15, 12, 11, 9
Knee Tuck floor crunch, 15 each, 15 each, 15 each, 15 each.

I also spent 15 minutes on an elliptical to make up for not finishing yesterday's cardio.

In addition, there were a few hours of volleyball this evening. I'm pooped and sore, and this regime is kicking my butt, but I'm sticking with it for at least a while more.

Day 3

2008-01-09T15:46:00.000-08:00

Digital scale: 161.6 pounds, 13.4% body fat, 59% water.

General findings of the day: It is insane to try to do these workouts as just a single visit to the gym. I had eaten only an hour ahead of showing up (Three eggs scrambled with a slice of turkey and a splash of milk, some soy bacon chips, the juice of three oranges, and a banana), and I still ran out of blood sugar before I was done with the cardio at the end of the workout. I had to stop early, as I was afraid I'd pass out if I kept going-I reached the point where the edges of my vision started to go dark.

Also of note, I was unable to some of the exercises as the requested supersets. That's really not an option when the gym is busy, and this being early January we have an influx of people because a) New Year resolutions; b) students who have yet to hit midterm season and think that working out is a good way to spend their time; 3) students prepping for Spring Break, and who therefore want bodies worthy of displaying. (This also has me idly considering joining a gym which is open 24 hours a day).

But, I still got some things done:

Superset warm up
Cable Side rotators, 10 pounds: 15, 15
Cable machine used for the tube pull ups and pull downs, 20 pounds: 15, 15
Alternating T pushups: 15, 12, 13, 12.

Superset 1
Dumbbell fly to press, 15 pounds per hand: 15, 12, 12
Pushups: 15, 15, 15

Superset 2:
Dumbbell press, 35 pounds per hand: 15, 12, 10, 10
POP pushups: 12, 10, 9,
(I decided to consolidate things requiring the bench, which moved things)

Smith machine press, 95 pounds: 15, 12, 10, 10.
I can deal with much less weight on the Smith machine press than a normal bench.

Incline press, 65 pounds: 12, 10, 10
I forgot these were supposed to be flys, not presses.

One arm hold pushups: 15, 11, 9, 8

Graviton dips: 11, 9, 8, 7

Cable tricep push-downs, 80 pounds: 20, 16, 12, 12

Bench dips: 21, 20, 19, 16

Cable tricep pull downs, 60 pounds: 20, 18, 15, 16.

Pushups: 15, 15, 15, 13.

Tricep kickbacks, 10 pounds: 15, 12, 12, 12
I was waiting for an elliptical, so I ended up doing an additional set.

Elliptical machine: 20 minutes at level 9 of 20. Average heart rate: 156.
Yeah, it was supposed to be half an hour, but I just couldn't stay vertical anymore. I might try to do some other cardio for 10 minutes later tonight, but that's uncertain.

Day 2

2008-01-08T15:53:00.001-08:00

Digital scale: 161.8 pounds, 14.6% body fat (see? I thought this would be inaccurate. I highly doubt I gained nearly 1% body fat in a day I worked out and didn't eat very much), 58.1% water.

Today left my legs trembling (and sadly the gym had no operating hot water in the showers, so my post workout shower was very cold and brief, and I had to go home to get them into hot water instead), but feeling significantly less pathetic than yesterday. At least I was able to do the exercises, even if I had to use not terribly heavy weights.

Stationary bike: 10 minutes at level 10 (out of 20). It was supposed to be high resistance, but that got my heart rate up to 160, which was plenty high enough. I averaged 16.6mph.

Squats with 20 pound dumbbells: 25, 20, 20, 20. Legs weren't the problem on this--blood pressure from the bouncing up and down was.
Walking lunges with dumbbells: 20 each leg with 5 pound dumbbells, then 20 each with 10 pound ones, repeat with the 10 pound ones, and then 20 each with 8 pound ones.
Pylometric jump squats: 12, 12, 10, 10. Again with the blood pressure.
One leg step ups: 20, 20, 20, 20, each leg. Remarkably simpler than anything else I've had to do for this workout plan. I did this without resting.
Stability ball leg curls: 20, 20, 20, 20 (I forgot how many I was supposed to do). Almost as easy, but by this point I was feeling relatively tired.

30 minutes on a stepmill--a stair climber with actual stairs rotating around on a treadmill-like conveyer. Level 7 of the 20 available. Half an hour got me to 136 floors, and kept my heart rate near 160.

Yay for not feeling like I'm going to die.

And thus we begin

2008-01-07T17:04:00.000-08:00

Welcome

(I doubt basically anyone will read this, but it makes more sense to write as if someone might.)

Our show here concerns the journey of a youngish man as he combats his genetic legacy and academic nature in an attempt to stop being scrawny guy who somehow has managed to avoid even getting the consolation prize of at least having a six pack.

That would be me.

I've been working out for a couple years now, and in all honesty, I'm pretty much pleased with the results. Prior to that, I was the same height I am now, but 135 pounds. This is the size I was at college graduation, and high school's graduation as well. At roughly 6 foot tall, that's not a good weight. You could see several of my ribs without me even puffing out my chest and sucking in my gut. I'm now up to the level of being 'slender', which is a definite step up from my previous status of 'emaciated famine victim'.

Lately, though, I've been in something of a rut. Even before taking a break over the holidays--in which I only worked out sporadically and rather lightly at that--I had hit all of my major fitness goals, and no longer really felt like I was moving forward that well.

That's where this writing comes in.

I've been a member of RealJock.com for over a year now, and I generally like the site. They've created two different 12-week workout plans. I did the first one of them, the Strong and Lean workout plan, shortly after it came out. The new one, the Muscle Building one, I've just started today. They're trying to get people to take pictures of their progress on it, so I'm doing that, but I figured I'd do better to track this on my own as well.

So, this is me today. Technically, I suppose it's not really a "before" photo, as I did day 1 today hours before I took this photo.

Note the lack of photography skill here. That will be common in these posts.

The idea is a picture once a week, but feedback on a more regular basis from the workouts.

Today kicked my butt.

It was a collection of things which I'm relatively bad at--primarily upper body exercises, followed by running on a treadmill for a long distance. My lower body's always been disproportionately stronger than my upper body, and things like volleyball and the college fencing team probably made that even more severe. For example, if I want to do something along the lines of a squat in order to work my lower body, I have to use a leg press machine, and my arms and shoulders cannot support my holding a heavy enough of weight to strain my lower body during squats.

But enough excuses. Things are easier to track by way of numbers. So:

Digital scale: 161.4 lbs, 13.7% body fat, 58.6% water (likely inaccurate, but I might get a trend out of it with enough measurements)

Warmup superset:
Cable side rotators: 10 pounds: 15, 15,
Dumbbell up rotators: 5 pounds: 15, 15,
Tube pullups and downs: 15, 15
Tube press: 15, 15.

I hate using the tube, as I have to lug it around the rest of the workout. I'm planning on finding some alternative.

Pushups until failure: 37, 23, 20, 16.
Wide grip pullups until failure: 7, 6, 5, 4.
Inverted pullups: 15, 13, 7, 8
Tricep bench dips: 20, 20, 20, 20 (yay! One that didn't hurt badly!)
Graviton chest dips (40 pound offset--as low as mine can go): 15, 12, 9, 10

Abdominal superset:
Floor crunch: 25, 25, 25, 25
Stability ball crunch: 20, 20, 20, 20
Floor leg raise: 15, 13, 9, 11
Floor bridge: 32 seconds, 28, 22, 25.

Half hour run, 6.0 mph. Ugh. I hate long runs.