Sorry for not updating yesterday, people.
So, workout yesterday was good. I did interval training for 20 minutes and it felt great. Is it safe to do interval training every time I do cardio? Is that going to overtax me? Because it saves me time and is a lot more fun for me than just running non-stop for a half hour or more, so if I don't have to do "regular" cardio, all the better for me.
Chest and abs were also feeling good. I can actually do whole sets of the Bicycle Exercise without having to stop midway through, and I'm ready to up my weight for presses and whatnot - right now I'm doing 30lbs for presses, 30 for incline presses, and 17.5 for flies. I think I'm going to try moving up to 35 for both types of presses (though I may have to keep it at 30 for incline; we'll see).
I weighed myself yesterday. Unfortunately, all I have is a bad electric scale, so it was wildly inconsistent. Before the workout, I went on fully clothed; the first time, I got 185; then, when I tried again, I got 184; then 180; then 182. Then when I went on after the workout, I went on without clothes and consistently got 178.5. This would be awesome, but I don't believe it. At my last doctor's checkup, I weighed 186 (this was probably in October or November), and I would be extremely surprised if I somehow managed to lose weight in university. Either way, I've only been working out for 3 weeks, and there's no way that I've managed to lose like 7 pounds in such a short amount of time. Much as I'd like to say I have, it's just too unlikely. Still, looking at the readings from before the workout, I never got higher than 185, so I've lost AT LEAST one pound. Huzzah!
I'm doing an bridged workout today - should be a post up later tonight, so check back then!
-Daniel
Friday, April 30, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Day 23: Perfect 5th
Yo.
I started interval training today. I like it a lot! It's a lot more interesting than regular old cardio for me, and makes me just as sweaty. I only did it for 16 minutes today, alternating between 30 second sprints and 90 second jogs. I definitely need to up it to 20 minutes next time, but otherwise it was really really good. I really wish I had a treadmill though - as previously documented in past blog posts, if you go too fast on my elliptical and veer off-center even a little bit, one of the foot things WILL fall off it's rail, which is really unfortunate. Also, I just imagine interval training just works BETTER on a treadmill, because you can move more naturally. Either way, gotta stick with the elliptical for now, and it's still feeling good.
Weight work was great today. Having that little bit of time off must have energized me a bit; my form was better than ever and I attempted to move my weight up (though I've decided that it's not quite time to do that yet). Tricep kickbacks were feeling a little weird; the actual set would be good, but then when I was done, my arm would get this weird soreness for like 2 seconds. So I only did two sets instead of three. Regardless, overall good workout today. I'm starting to see some pretty solid results in my arms; I'm gonna need to lose some fat before I start seeing results anywhere else.
Also, I should really start weighing myself. I haven't weighed myself at all - not even when this first started. Hurm.
-Daniel
I started interval training today. I like it a lot! It's a lot more interesting than regular old cardio for me, and makes me just as sweaty. I only did it for 16 minutes today, alternating between 30 second sprints and 90 second jogs. I definitely need to up it to 20 minutes next time, but otherwise it was really really good. I really wish I had a treadmill though - as previously documented in past blog posts, if you go too fast on my elliptical and veer off-center even a little bit, one of the foot things WILL fall off it's rail, which is really unfortunate. Also, I just imagine interval training just works BETTER on a treadmill, because you can move more naturally. Either way, gotta stick with the elliptical for now, and it's still feeling good.
Weight work was great today. Having that little bit of time off must have energized me a bit; my form was better than ever and I attempted to move my weight up (though I've decided that it's not quite time to do that yet). Tricep kickbacks were feeling a little weird; the actual set would be good, but then when I was done, my arm would get this weird soreness for like 2 seconds. So I only did two sets instead of three. Regardless, overall good workout today. I'm starting to see some pretty solid results in my arms; I'm gonna need to lose some fat before I start seeing results anywhere else.
Also, I should really start weighing myself. I haven't weighed myself at all - not even when this first started. Hurm.
-Daniel
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Day 22: My Bad
Er....Well, this is awkward.
I didn't have time to update in Ottawa. Sorry yo. I didn't get much of a chance to work out, as though I was there for 3 days, 2 days were basically just driving all day so......
I did attempt to workout yesterday (which was my only full day in the city). I was just going to do my normal ab workout and some pushups, but my sister had this Pilates DVD (she does a lot of workout DVDs) and asked if I wanted to do it. I figured it would be a nice, full-body sort of workout so I agreed. Unfortunately (and this could be because my form was off), I found that the DVD didn't really do anything for me except for a couple spots. After it was over, I did a few sets of pushups and that was that. Overall, not a very good on-the-road workout, but it's nice to see that I can do a bunch of sets of pushups and be good - before I started this, I would struggle to even do 2 sets of 10 comfortably.
That's all for now. Real post tomorrow.
-Daniel
I didn't have time to update in Ottawa. Sorry yo. I didn't get much of a chance to work out, as though I was there for 3 days, 2 days were basically just driving all day so......
I did attempt to workout yesterday (which was my only full day in the city). I was just going to do my normal ab workout and some pushups, but my sister had this Pilates DVD (she does a lot of workout DVDs) and asked if I wanted to do it. I figured it would be a nice, full-body sort of workout so I agreed. Unfortunately (and this could be because my form was off), I found that the DVD didn't really do anything for me except for a couple spots. After it was over, I did a few sets of pushups and that was that. Overall, not a very good on-the-road workout, but it's nice to see that I can do a bunch of sets of pushups and be good - before I started this, I would struggle to even do 2 sets of 10 comfortably.
That's all for now. Real post tomorrow.
-Daniel
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Day 19: Weak
Shitty workout today. Cardio was the same situation as yesterday - almost at 2.5 but not quite. It was pretty bad actually; partly due to people calling me, and partly due to my own disillusionment with cardio and lack of motivation I took a bunch of short breaks. Don't get me wrong: they WERE short, but still. I feel like my cardio just hasn't really improved too much over the past little bit - I'm still struggling to push through the half hour somewhat. I feel like part of this is due to me running a bit more intensely over the past few days and challenging myself, but I just haven't felt any actual improvement. Worse, I'm just plain getting BORED. It's not like it's not challenging enough, because it is, but I just get bored running for a half hour straight, and after doing that for 6 days a week, it can get pretty taxing.
Which is why I think it's time to start some High Intensity Interval Training. For those who don't know, Interval Training is basically when you do a certain amount of time running at your hardest/fastest ("Work"), followed by an (usually longer) amount of time at a normal pace ("Rest") - you alternate this Work/Rest "set" a number of times (usually from 6-12, depending on your level of fitness). It's a shorter, more interesting cardio workout, and it's supposed to do wonders for your cardio skills and fat burning. You're not supposed to do it every day though, so I think I'm going to alternate doing it and regular cardio each workout day.
Through my research, it seems like a good ratio for a beginner is 3:1. This means that I'm going to do 30 seconds of Work, followed by 90 seconds of Rest. Some videos have shown the Rest phase being like everyday walking, while the Work phase is a light jog. This seems a little bit TOO easy, so to start I'm going to do a minimum of 6 sets alternating between 90 seconds of light jogging and 30 of sprinting. I'm also going to be warming up and cooling down before and after the cardio session. Obviously these numbers are subject to change once I actually start doing it.
Weightwork was....pretty bad too. I had a slight ache in my back on the right side (probably from lifting so much at work yesterday - need to remember good form!) which made my shoulder workouts pretty uncomfortable. It wasn't a big thing, just a weird annoyance. I tried upping my weight for TVOs (from 7.5 to 10) and lowering my reps (from 10 to 8), but it just didn't work; I either have to go back to 7.5 or lower my reps to 6 (which I think is what I need to do). Everything else was okay though - in particular, my back exercises were actually feeling good for once! I feel like I've got the form down a lot better. A friend of mine suggested a rather brilliant idea to me the other day: he said to go to the park and use the monkey bars as a pull-up bar. DOI! Why didn't I think of that? I didn't get a chance to do it today, but hopefully I will for my next back workout.
Okay, so, Ottawa tomorrow. I may do some short updates just stating what I did to keep myself from completely slacking off. Realistically, it'll probably just be crunches and push-ups. Well, actually, my ab workout can remain the same, which is nice. So, yeah, check back tomorrow (probably - if not, Monday) for an On The Road post.
-Daniel
Which is why I think it's time to start some High Intensity Interval Training. For those who don't know, Interval Training is basically when you do a certain amount of time running at your hardest/fastest ("Work"), followed by an (usually longer) amount of time at a normal pace ("Rest") - you alternate this Work/Rest "set" a number of times (usually from 6-12, depending on your level of fitness). It's a shorter, more interesting cardio workout, and it's supposed to do wonders for your cardio skills and fat burning. You're not supposed to do it every day though, so I think I'm going to alternate doing it and regular cardio each workout day.
Through my research, it seems like a good ratio for a beginner is 3:1. This means that I'm going to do 30 seconds of Work, followed by 90 seconds of Rest. Some videos have shown the Rest phase being like everyday walking, while the Work phase is a light jog. This seems a little bit TOO easy, so to start I'm going to do a minimum of 6 sets alternating between 90 seconds of light jogging and 30 of sprinting. I'm also going to be warming up and cooling down before and after the cardio session. Obviously these numbers are subject to change once I actually start doing it.
Weightwork was....pretty bad too. I had a slight ache in my back on the right side (probably from lifting so much at work yesterday - need to remember good form!) which made my shoulder workouts pretty uncomfortable. It wasn't a big thing, just a weird annoyance. I tried upping my weight for TVOs (from 7.5 to 10) and lowering my reps (from 10 to 8), but it just didn't work; I either have to go back to 7.5 or lower my reps to 6 (which I think is what I need to do). Everything else was okay though - in particular, my back exercises were actually feeling good for once! I feel like I've got the form down a lot better. A friend of mine suggested a rather brilliant idea to me the other day: he said to go to the park and use the monkey bars as a pull-up bar. DOI! Why didn't I think of that? I didn't get a chance to do it today, but hopefully I will for my next back workout.
Okay, so, Ottawa tomorrow. I may do some short updates just stating what I did to keep myself from completely slacking off. Realistically, it'll probably just be crunches and push-ups. Well, actually, my ab workout can remain the same, which is nice. So, yeah, check back tomorrow (probably - if not, Monday) for an On The Road post.
-Daniel
Friday, April 23, 2010
Day 18: Over 9000
I didn't have time to update yesterday because I didn't start working out until like 9 at night, and I had to go to bed early because I had work today.
So, yesterday was good - elliptical broke down again, but whatever, fixed it and went back on. I was definitely running faster than usual because I would hit my 0.8 miles per 10 minutes and still have about 30 seconds to spare each time. With two minutes left, I decided I would start pushing even more, to see if I could get up to 2.5 miles for the whole run. With fifty-five seconds left and having only just reached my usual 2.4, I fucking PUSHED IT. Like, Super Saiyan pushed it. I was grunting and swearing, and I was running between 90-95 RPM as opposed to my usual 80-85. Unfortunately, I didn't quite make it, but I could feel that if I had 10 - no, 5 - more seconds, I would have hit 2.5. Looks like I've got a new goal.
Weight work was meh. During my dumbbell flies, I started to get this weird ache in my left shoulder, and it just would not go away. My technique was fine as far as I could tell, and I always stretch really well, so I don't know what the problem was. THEN, during my leg lifts, my thighs/groin started to hurt everytime my legs went up - it was quite painful, and I couldn't do them. The pain isn't necessarily new to me; when I used to workout before, I would get the same sort of pain, but this time I haven't had a problem until now. Weird. Advice?
I've decided not to work out today, for a couple reasons. First is that today was my first full day of work, and aside from that it was a tough day, full of more heavy lifting than I was expecting. The other reason is because if I don't work out tomorrow, I'll be going four days without working out (due to my Ottawa travels) and I figure it's better to keep the workout break as short as possible.
On another note, my bike ride to and from work is starting to feel a little bit easier. It's still pretty killer, but I'm not completely dead by the end of it (though my legs have a nice muscle ache goin' on).
That's all for now.
-Daniel
So, yesterday was good - elliptical broke down again, but whatever, fixed it and went back on. I was definitely running faster than usual because I would hit my 0.8 miles per 10 minutes and still have about 30 seconds to spare each time. With two minutes left, I decided I would start pushing even more, to see if I could get up to 2.5 miles for the whole run. With fifty-five seconds left and having only just reached my usual 2.4, I fucking PUSHED IT. Like, Super Saiyan pushed it. I was grunting and swearing, and I was running between 90-95 RPM as opposed to my usual 80-85. Unfortunately, I didn't quite make it, but I could feel that if I had 10 - no, 5 - more seconds, I would have hit 2.5. Looks like I've got a new goal.
Weight work was meh. During my dumbbell flies, I started to get this weird ache in my left shoulder, and it just would not go away. My technique was fine as far as I could tell, and I always stretch really well, so I don't know what the problem was. THEN, during my leg lifts, my thighs/groin started to hurt everytime my legs went up - it was quite painful, and I couldn't do them. The pain isn't necessarily new to me; when I used to workout before, I would get the same sort of pain, but this time I haven't had a problem until now. Weird. Advice?
I've decided not to work out today, for a couple reasons. First is that today was my first full day of work, and aside from that it was a tough day, full of more heavy lifting than I was expecting. The other reason is because if I don't work out tomorrow, I'll be going four days without working out (due to my Ottawa travels) and I figure it's better to keep the workout break as short as possible.
On another note, my bike ride to and from work is starting to feel a little bit easier. It's still pretty killer, but I'm not completely dead by the end of it (though my legs have a nice muscle ache goin' on).
That's all for now.
-Daniel
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Day 17: Is It Safe?
I had a rather strange incident today whilst doing cardio. I popped in my Flaming Lips documentary, as I wanted to do a review of it but hadn't yet watched the special features, and started my cardio. Everything was good, I was running at my usual pace, and the Flaming Lips were entertaining me with their odd brand of sometimes spacey, sometimes kick-ass, sometimes psychedelic alternative rock. But then, when I had about 10 minutes left, my elliptical machine had a SHIT CONNIPTION. See, the way my elliptical works is that the two platforms to put your feet on are each on their own separate rail, and I guess I pushed it too hard or something, because the left platform actually FELL OFF the rail with an obscenely loud bang. I paused the machine, and kind of just stood there in shock and awe for a couple minutes, and then decided that I'd be damned if a piece of faulty equipment was going to stop my workout, so I put it back on the rail and resumed.
Besides that odd occurrence, everything else about the workout was fine. I upped the weight for my Bicep Superset thingy just a little bit, from 12.5 to 15, and it gave me a really nice workout. Everything's feelin' awesome, though I still need to work on the kickback form a little bit. Otherwise, s'all good.
Unfortunately, I'll be going to Ottawa from Sunday to Tuesday visit my Grandfather while my sister is in from school. This means that I'll be missing an entire three-day cycle! D'OH!!!!! I'll be doing whatever body weight stuff I can do, which isn't too much. Obviously I'll get back to the workout on Tuesday, instead of taking what would have been a break day. It blows though!
On another note, there was a hilarious episode of the Daily Show on today. Go here to check out the fantastic segment.
-Daniel
Besides that odd occurrence, everything else about the workout was fine. I upped the weight for my Bicep Superset thingy just a little bit, from 12.5 to 15, and it gave me a really nice workout. Everything's feelin' awesome, though I still need to work on the kickback form a little bit. Otherwise, s'all good.
Unfortunately, I'll be going to Ottawa from Sunday to Tuesday visit my Grandfather while my sister is in from school. This means that I'll be missing an entire three-day cycle! D'OH!!!!! I'll be doing whatever body weight stuff I can do, which isn't too much. Obviously I'll get back to the workout on Tuesday, instead of taking what would have been a break day. It blows though!
On another note, there was a hilarious episode of the Daily Show on today. Go here to check out the fantastic segment.
-Daniel
Monday, April 19, 2010
Day 15: Up the Cuts
Alright, second post for today.
Cardio was good today - I wasn't feeling overly fatigued like I was yesterday. I think I may have just started out too hard yesterday and it messed me up for the duration of the run. I'm still rockin' 2.4 miles, but I feel like I'm getting more consistent and faster, as I had 30 seconds to go when I hit the 2.4 mark. 2.5 should happen sometime soon. Tenacious D concert was a good motivator.
Question about cardio: I'm not thinking about moving up quite yet, but when I do, should I be increasing the resistance on my elliptical, or running for longer? Keep in mind that I'm not really trying to make my legs stronger, just my cardio.
Workout today was good. Upped my Shrugs to 10 reps of 45lbs, and next workout I'm going to increase my TVOs to 8 reps of 10lbs. I also upped my back exercise weight a bit, and may need to increase it more next time as well.
Also, I noticed today that I've developed some pretty nice cuts on my arms (muscle definition, I mean, not, ya know, the bloody kind). Granted, I was under some pretty forgiving lighting, but still! Nice to be seeing some results! I'm hoping to see more soon! EXCLAMATIONS!!!!!
-Daniel
Cardio was good today - I wasn't feeling overly fatigued like I was yesterday. I think I may have just started out too hard yesterday and it messed me up for the duration of the run. I'm still rockin' 2.4 miles, but I feel like I'm getting more consistent and faster, as I had 30 seconds to go when I hit the 2.4 mark. 2.5 should happen sometime soon. Tenacious D concert was a good motivator.
Question about cardio: I'm not thinking about moving up quite yet, but when I do, should I be increasing the resistance on my elliptical, or running for longer? Keep in mind that I'm not really trying to make my legs stronger, just my cardio.
Workout today was good. Upped my Shrugs to 10 reps of 45lbs, and next workout I'm going to increase my TVOs to 8 reps of 10lbs. I also upped my back exercise weight a bit, and may need to increase it more next time as well.
Also, I noticed today that I've developed some pretty nice cuts on my arms (muscle definition, I mean, not, ya know, the bloody kind). Granted, I was under some pretty forgiving lighting, but still! Nice to be seeing some results! I'm hoping to see more soon! EXCLAMATIONS!!!!!
-Daniel
Day 14: D'oh
Forgot to update yesterday, which means double post today! Check back later for the second.
Yesterday was fine; I was finding cardio strangely difficult, which worried me. I suppose we've all got our off-days, but still.
Weightlifting part was good. I'm really liking the increased weight - I feel like I'm accomplishing more. However, today, neither my chest or abs are hurting. Guess it's time to move up (huzzah!). What do I do to increase the intensity of my ab workouts? Should I just be doing more reps or.....
Uhhhh don't remember what else I was gonna say from yesterday. Deadliest Warrior marathon was on. After watching a couple episodes, I like the show, but feel like their tests are sometimes unfair - when they test two Long-Range weapons, for example, they'll do a different test for each one, which means that as a comparison between the two weapons, it doesn't really work. I would also like to know what this "special computer program" actually does.
Anyways, check again later for today's workout.
Yesterday was fine; I was finding cardio strangely difficult, which worried me. I suppose we've all got our off-days, but still.
Weightlifting part was good. I'm really liking the increased weight - I feel like I'm accomplishing more. However, today, neither my chest or abs are hurting. Guess it's time to move up (huzzah!). What do I do to increase the intensity of my ab workouts? Should I just be doing more reps or.....
Uhhhh don't remember what else I was gonna say from yesterday. Deadliest Warrior marathon was on. After watching a couple episodes, I like the show, but feel like their tests are sometimes unfair - when they test two Long-Range weapons, for example, they'll do a different test for each one, which means that as a comparison between the two weapons, it doesn't really work. I would also like to know what this "special computer program" actually does.
Anyways, check again later for today's workout.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Day 13: Workin'
Props for getting the music reference in the title.
Today was good. It's my first day doing cardio on the elliptical for about 3 days (as I've been using my bike riding as an excuse not to do it), but it's still good. I got my 2.4 miles, and it seems like everyday I'm reaching that 2.4 just a little bit quicker. 2.5 by the end of next week? We'll see.
40 Year Old Virgin was on TV. Despite the fact that about half the dialogue was bleeped out for TV censoring, I really didn't give that movie enough credit when I originally saw it a few 4 or 5 years ago. It's a hilarious, heart-warming film with a fantastic cast.
Anways, weights were good. It was my first day for Biceps and Triceps lowering the reps and upping weight. So now my workout for arms looks like this:
Bicep Curls: 3 X 8 - 30 lbs
Hammer Curls - 3 X 8 - 25 lbs
Bicep Superset thingy (see Day 5) - 3 X 12.5 (but this is gonna move up to 15 next workout)
Dips - 3 X 12 - no weight
Tricep Overhead Extension - 3 X 10 - 45 lbs
Tricep Kickback - 3 X 8 - 17.5 lbs (but need to work on form)
The kickback is a new addition, so I need to watch my form a little bit more. To Youtube!
I noticed the other day that I'm pretty sure my arms have gotten a little bit smaller. However, they're also getting more toned. It's an interesting change but it's looking good! It's nice to see some sort of improvement after only one and a half weeks. I'm getting there, slowly but surely.
That's all for now,
Daniel
Today was good. It's my first day doing cardio on the elliptical for about 3 days (as I've been using my bike riding as an excuse not to do it), but it's still good. I got my 2.4 miles, and it seems like everyday I'm reaching that 2.4 just a little bit quicker. 2.5 by the end of next week? We'll see.
40 Year Old Virgin was on TV. Despite the fact that about half the dialogue was bleeped out for TV censoring, I really didn't give that movie enough credit when I originally saw it a few 4 or 5 years ago. It's a hilarious, heart-warming film with a fantastic cast.
Anways, weights were good. It was my first day for Biceps and Triceps lowering the reps and upping weight. So now my workout for arms looks like this:
Bicep Curls: 3 X 8 - 30 lbs
Hammer Curls - 3 X 8 - 25 lbs
Bicep Superset thingy (see Day 5) - 3 X 12.5 (but this is gonna move up to 15 next workout)
Dips - 3 X 12 - no weight
Tricep Overhead Extension - 3 X 10 - 45 lbs
Tricep Kickback - 3 X 8 - 17.5 lbs (but need to work on form)
The kickback is a new addition, so I need to watch my form a little bit more. To Youtube!
I noticed the other day that I'm pretty sure my arms have gotten a little bit smaller. However, they're also getting more toned. It's an interesting change but it's looking good! It's nice to see some sort of improvement after only one and a half weeks. I'm getting there, slowly but surely.
That's all for now,
Daniel
Friday, April 16, 2010
Day 11: Jelly
Forgot to update yesterday again, so I'm doing it today.
I rode my bike to and from work yesterday without getting off once. While this made me feel extremely accomplished, it had the unfortunate effect of making my legs feel like jelly. I couldn't even go up a flight of stairs without my thighs nagging me to stop. Because of this, I didn't do my cardio workout. What's nice is that while I would eventually like to work up to being able to do the bike ride AS WELL as cardio at home, until then I can skip the home cardio as long as I still do my bike ride - it's just nice to have that extra cardio. Eventually, eventually.
Weights were fine - I lowered my reps and upped my weights for everything and it's definitely had a positive effect. It's very challenging and I'm feeling it today, so yeah, definitely the better approach. Everything was fine otherwise. Right now I'm doing 10 reps of everything - should I up my weight more and only do 8? Also, considering I'm not using weights for any of my ab stuff, what do i do once I plateau?
Short post today, not much to report.
Later,
Daniel
I rode my bike to and from work yesterday without getting off once. While this made me feel extremely accomplished, it had the unfortunate effect of making my legs feel like jelly. I couldn't even go up a flight of stairs without my thighs nagging me to stop. Because of this, I didn't do my cardio workout. What's nice is that while I would eventually like to work up to being able to do the bike ride AS WELL as cardio at home, until then I can skip the home cardio as long as I still do my bike ride - it's just nice to have that extra cardio. Eventually, eventually.
Weights were fine - I lowered my reps and upped my weights for everything and it's definitely had a positive effect. It's very challenging and I'm feeling it today, so yeah, definitely the better approach. Everything was fine otherwise. Right now I'm doing 10 reps of everything - should I up my weight more and only do 8? Also, considering I'm not using weights for any of my ab stuff, what do i do once I plateau?
Short post today, not much to report.
Later,
Daniel
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Day 10: Idiot
***Ya know when you create a blog post with the title Idiot, and then very stupidly post it on the wrong blog, supporting said title even though it originally didn't have anything to do with your idiotic screwup? I love when that happens.***
Man, am I dumb. I totally forgot to stretch before working out. About 10 minutes into my run, I noticed and had a very slight freakout attack, so I stopped and stretched. I made sure to do a really good stretch after the workout. I really hope I'm not totally fucked tomorrow.
So, today was the first day of work; right now, I'm just going in on a "they need me" basis, but starting May I'll be working full time. I've decided that I'm going to be biking to work everyday (weather permitting), so I figured I may as well start now; I wasn't expecting the complete assrape that that bike ride is. It's not too long (around 25 minutes), but man is it tough. It's not too bad - until you hit this fucking gigantic, steep hill. I almost made it up the whole thing, but got off my bike right as I was about to get to the tip of it because I was dying. The worst part is that going home is even worse, as the hill goes down and THEN up, so I have to go uphill both ways. In fact, getting onto my street is uphill as well no matter which way you try to get to it, so it's actually MORE uphill on the way home. This after a day of shlepping boxes in a hot back room (luckily, the job itself ain't bad at all and the people I'm working with and my bosses are rad). So, as you could imagine, I was pretty pooped today. Still, after going to teach a drum lesson, I did my work out.
I still did my cardio, but my legs were already pretty exhausted so I had to stop about 20 minutes in to take a one minute break. Regardless, I got my half hour, and my 2.4 miles - in fact, I'm pretty sure the reason I had to stop is that I was just pushing it too hard, as I still had 20 seconds left when I hit 2.4. Anyways, with biking to work (which is, as stated above, a pretty rough bike ride), I did roughly an hour and a half of cardio today, and once I start working full time in May, I'll be doing this basically everyday - if this doesn't make me start losing weight, I don't know what will. Speaking of which, I should probably weigh myself one of these days eh? I also need to take a shirtless picture of myself for "before" picture purposes. Hurm....
I goofed up a bit today - I accidentally did Shoulders and Back instead of Chest and Abs. No matter though; both sets of muscle groups were healed well, so it didn't really matter which I did. I attempted making my weight higher and doing less reps today - it was good for Shrugs (actually may need to amp it up more than I already did - I put it to 45 from 40, but I think I'm gonna need 50). Unfortunately, considering I'm not doing Presses anymore (check Day 7 for why), today was my day to add another set of TVOs and Ref Calls. I'm only doing 10 reps of each anyways, so 7.5 has been working out really well thus far. Back exercises still suck, but what can ya do? I think I need someone to come over sometime and look at my form (I'm looking your way, Steve).
That's all for today's double post extravaganza. Tune in tomorrow (probably around the same time) for another post! And I urge you to go check out Stuff That I Like at www.s-t-i-l.blogspot.com for geekier writings that you probably won't care about. But they're still awesome because they're written by me! Don't you love ME?
-Daniel
Man, am I dumb. I totally forgot to stretch before working out. About 10 minutes into my run, I noticed and had a very slight freakout attack, so I stopped and stretched. I made sure to do a really good stretch after the workout. I really hope I'm not totally fucked tomorrow.
So, today was the first day of work; right now, I'm just going in on a "they need me" basis, but starting May I'll be working full time. I've decided that I'm going to be biking to work everyday (weather permitting), so I figured I may as well start now; I wasn't expecting the complete assrape that that bike ride is. It's not too long (around 25 minutes), but man is it tough. It's not too bad - until you hit this fucking gigantic, steep hill. I almost made it up the whole thing, but got off my bike right as I was about to get to the tip of it because I was dying. The worst part is that going home is even worse, as the hill goes down and THEN up, so I have to go uphill both ways. In fact, getting onto my street is uphill as well no matter which way you try to get to it, so it's actually MORE uphill on the way home. This after a day of shlepping boxes in a hot back room (luckily, the job itself ain't bad at all and the people I'm working with and my bosses are rad). So, as you could imagine, I was pretty pooped today. Still, after going to teach a drum lesson, I did my work out.
I still did my cardio, but my legs were already pretty exhausted so I had to stop about 20 minutes in to take a one minute break. Regardless, I got my half hour, and my 2.4 miles - in fact, I'm pretty sure the reason I had to stop is that I was just pushing it too hard, as I still had 20 seconds left when I hit 2.4. Anyways, with biking to work (which is, as stated above, a pretty rough bike ride), I did roughly an hour and a half of cardio today, and once I start working full time in May, I'll be doing this basically everyday - if this doesn't make me start losing weight, I don't know what will. Speaking of which, I should probably weigh myself one of these days eh? I also need to take a shirtless picture of myself for "before" picture purposes. Hurm....
I goofed up a bit today - I accidentally did Shoulders and Back instead of Chest and Abs. No matter though; both sets of muscle groups were healed well, so it didn't really matter which I did. I attempted making my weight higher and doing less reps today - it was good for Shrugs (actually may need to amp it up more than I already did - I put it to 45 from 40, but I think I'm gonna need 50). Unfortunately, considering I'm not doing Presses anymore (check Day 7 for why), today was my day to add another set of TVOs and Ref Calls. I'm only doing 10 reps of each anyways, so 7.5 has been working out really well thus far. Back exercises still suck, but what can ya do? I think I need someone to come over sometime and look at my form (I'm looking your way, Steve).
That's all for today's double post extravaganza. Tune in tomorrow (probably around the same time) for another post! And I urge you to go check out Stuff That I Like at www.s-t-i-l.blogspot.com for geekier writings that you probably won't care about. But they're still awesome because they're written by me! Don't you love ME?
-Daniel
Day 9: Feelin' the Burn
Yo. I forgot to update yesterday; whoops! I had my first day of work today though, so I haven't worked out yet. Thus, I'm going to update now about yesterday, and then later tonight, after I workout, I'll update again (post should go up around 10:00 or so).
I kept up my cardio goal of 2.4 miles yesterday! What I've discovered is that I'm running 0.1 miles every minute and a half. If you do the math, however, you'll notice that at 9 minutes and 20 seconds, I'm only reaching 0.7 miles. That means that SOMEWHERE in there, about twice within every 10 minutes, I'm running 0.1 miles in one minute. So, cardio question here; when people say they can run a 10-minute mile, does that mean over extended periods of time, or just for that 10 minutes? I mean, does that mean that if they run for a half hour, they run 3 miles, or that if they only have to run for 10 minutes, they can do one mile? Because if I only had to do 10 minutes of cardio, I'm pretty sure I could do a 10-minute mile. Thoughts?
Anyways, workout yesterday was good. A friend of mine suggested yesterday that I lower my amount of reps and put my weight up; after some research, I've found this to be true, so my workout is going to change somewhat drastically over the next couple of days (starting today, most likely). I'll put up an updated version of each workout on my next break day (Friday).
Bicep and Triceps felt pretty good yesterday - I'm going to be moving up in weight anyways, due to the lower reps, but if that wasn't happening, I'm pretty sure I would have moved up in weight a bit for curls in the next cycle. Triceps are feeling good, but I'm glad I've got another exercise for them now (thanks Steve!). Everything else is cool.
That's all for now, I think. Check back tonight around 10:00 for another post! Also, I recently put up some new stuff at Stuff That I Like, so go check that out too!
-Daniel
P.S. I was watching Survivorman while doing cardio yesterday. Les Stroud is the man.
I kept up my cardio goal of 2.4 miles yesterday! What I've discovered is that I'm running 0.1 miles every minute and a half. If you do the math, however, you'll notice that at 9 minutes and 20 seconds, I'm only reaching 0.7 miles. That means that SOMEWHERE in there, about twice within every 10 minutes, I'm running 0.1 miles in one minute. So, cardio question here; when people say they can run a 10-minute mile, does that mean over extended periods of time, or just for that 10 minutes? I mean, does that mean that if they run for a half hour, they run 3 miles, or that if they only have to run for 10 minutes, they can do one mile? Because if I only had to do 10 minutes of cardio, I'm pretty sure I could do a 10-minute mile. Thoughts?
Anyways, workout yesterday was good. A friend of mine suggested yesterday that I lower my amount of reps and put my weight up; after some research, I've found this to be true, so my workout is going to change somewhat drastically over the next couple of days (starting today, most likely). I'll put up an updated version of each workout on my next break day (Friday).
Bicep and Triceps felt pretty good yesterday - I'm going to be moving up in weight anyways, due to the lower reps, but if that wasn't happening, I'm pretty sure I would have moved up in weight a bit for curls in the next cycle. Triceps are feeling good, but I'm glad I've got another exercise for them now (thanks Steve!). Everything else is cool.
That's all for now, I think. Check back tonight around 10:00 for another post! Also, I recently put up some new stuff at Stuff That I Like, so go check that out too!
-Daniel
P.S. I was watching Survivorman while doing cardio yesterday. Les Stroud is the man.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Day 7: A Goal Accomplished
Yo! I forgot to update yesterday, and today is a break day, so I'll write about it now.
I DID IT! I got up to 2.4 miles for cardio! It didn't even feel like too much of a push. So, either I was slacking off too much when I was running before, or my cardio has already gotten better. I'm gonna say it's probably the first one, but whatever. Muppet Treasure Island was on TV; I love that fucking movie.
Weights were meh, unfortunately. Because my bench can't go 90 degrees, I've decided not to do shoulder presses, because I feel like it's really messing up my back when I do it standing/sitting with no back support. I did three sets of Ref Calls instead of two to make up for it. From now on, I'll do 3 of ref calls, and 3 of TVOs. Luckily, however, I think I can already move up my weight for shrugs. Huzzah!
I'm still having problems with the back workout. The two exercises I've got are fine (I found a third, but I can't do it on my shitty bench; luckily, I'll be looking for new benches on craigslist in the coming days), but I feel like they're just working my shoulders. Again, any help here would be appreciated (remember, I don't have a pull-up bar, so stick to bar/dumbbells). You can check out what I've got already here.
Oh, and about the break day; I realized that I might as well just take a break day after every three day cycle; this means that each week my break day(s) will be different.
That's all for now,
Daniel
I DID IT! I got up to 2.4 miles for cardio! It didn't even feel like too much of a push. So, either I was slacking off too much when I was running before, or my cardio has already gotten better. I'm gonna say it's probably the first one, but whatever. Muppet Treasure Island was on TV; I love that fucking movie.
Weights were meh, unfortunately. Because my bench can't go 90 degrees, I've decided not to do shoulder presses, because I feel like it's really messing up my back when I do it standing/sitting with no back support. I did three sets of Ref Calls instead of two to make up for it. From now on, I'll do 3 of ref calls, and 3 of TVOs. Luckily, however, I think I can already move up my weight for shrugs. Huzzah!
I'm still having problems with the back workout. The two exercises I've got are fine (I found a third, but I can't do it on my shitty bench; luckily, I'll be looking for new benches on craigslist in the coming days), but I feel like they're just working my shoulders. Again, any help here would be appreciated (remember, I don't have a pull-up bar, so stick to bar/dumbbells). You can check out what I've got already here.
Oh, and about the break day; I realized that I might as well just take a break day after every three day cycle; this means that each week my break day(s) will be different.
That's all for now,
Daniel
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Day 6: Short and Simple
Workout today was sweet overall. I find myself already beginning to fall into a "routine". I don't have to force myself to work out anymore; I just sort of do it. I have the luxury of being able to work out in the the mornings, before I get involved in hanging out with friends or playing videogames. Once I start working in a week or two, the challenge will be to keep up my schedule, even after a full day of work. But I'm determined to do it.
I'm still on the very end of this cold, so I'm still coughing up mucous (yum!). I had to stop cardio three times again so I could do so; luckily, cardio felt easier today, and I got back up to my average 2.3 miles. It's a real shame, because I feel like if I had just 30 seconds to a minute longer, I'd be able to get up to 2.4 easily. Oh well, it'll happen one day soon. I watched Animaniacs for my cardio and it worked very well as workout viewing.
Weights were good overall. I finally figured out how to incline my bench so I could do incline presses. I fucking hate the bench though - it can't go 90 degrees, and when it's flat, the barbell holding mechanism gets in the way. I don't understand why my dad even bought the thing when we had a perfectly usable bench before; in fact, the only reason I would even GET a new bench would be so it could go to 90 degrees. And my dad doesn't even know how to work out really, so the new bench is a mystery.
Anyways - the weight work. Bicycle exercise was KILLER, but my form is getting better overall and everything is feeling good. If you haven't seen the Day 2 workout yet, you can check it out here.
On another note, my arms don't hurt today! This could mean one of several things: A) I worked out too hard and my arms haven't even started recovering yet, B) I stretched properly, C) I didn't work out hard enough, D) my body is already beginning to adapt to my workout schedule, E) a combination of some or all of the above. Anyone got any insight on this?
I think that's going to be all for today.
-Daniel
I'm still on the very end of this cold, so I'm still coughing up mucous (yum!). I had to stop cardio three times again so I could do so; luckily, cardio felt easier today, and I got back up to my average 2.3 miles. It's a real shame, because I feel like if I had just 30 seconds to a minute longer, I'd be able to get up to 2.4 easily. Oh well, it'll happen one day soon. I watched Animaniacs for my cardio and it worked very well as workout viewing.
Weights were good overall. I finally figured out how to incline my bench so I could do incline presses. I fucking hate the bench though - it can't go 90 degrees, and when it's flat, the barbell holding mechanism gets in the way. I don't understand why my dad even bought the thing when we had a perfectly usable bench before; in fact, the only reason I would even GET a new bench would be so it could go to 90 degrees. And my dad doesn't even know how to work out really, so the new bench is a mystery.
Anyways - the weight work. Bicycle exercise was KILLER, but my form is getting better overall and everything is feeling good. If you haven't seen the Day 2 workout yet, you can check it out here.
On another note, my arms don't hurt today! This could mean one of several things: A) I worked out too hard and my arms haven't even started recovering yet, B) I stretched properly, C) I didn't work out hard enough, D) my body is already beginning to adapt to my workout schedule, E) a combination of some or all of the above. Anyone got any insight on this?
I think that's going to be all for today.
-Daniel
Day 5: Phlegm
Yo! Technically, it's past midnight so we're actually in Day 6, but whatever, I'm gonna write about this morning anyways because I'm bored.
So, I'm still a teensy bit sick, but I'm on the 'out' phase. Unfortunately this means that everything is starting to loosen up and I'm starting to get my post-cold cough. This made Cardio rather difficult today; I actually had to stop briefly about three times so I could go hork out some green shit. Anyways, still got it done, albeit with only 2.2 miles instead of my past 2.3. It felt difficult today.
The weight work was fine. Biceps and triceps today; I was a little bit worried that I still wasn't fully recovered from Day 1, but once I started everything was cool. Instead of reverse curls, I've decided to do a superset type exercise that I learnt in Weight Room class. Using a low weight, you do 10 "half-curls" (from rest position to halfway through curl, so your arm is at a 90 degree angle) with each arm, and then 10 "other-half curls" (from 90 degree angle to all the way up). Then, you do 10 full curls on each arm. It's a pretty intense exercise and it's a really nice way to finish off a Bicep workout strong. Everything else was fine; if you didn't see it before, you can check out the Day 1 workout here.
Not much else to say. Good day today; sweet episode of Mythbusters, beat God of War 3 (check Stuff That I Like soon for a review of sorts), watched Flaming Lips DVD (should also be something on Stuff That I Like soon - double post tomorrow?).
Word,
Daniel
So, I'm still a teensy bit sick, but I'm on the 'out' phase. Unfortunately this means that everything is starting to loosen up and I'm starting to get my post-cold cough. This made Cardio rather difficult today; I actually had to stop briefly about three times so I could go hork out some green shit. Anyways, still got it done, albeit with only 2.2 miles instead of my past 2.3. It felt difficult today.
The weight work was fine. Biceps and triceps today; I was a little bit worried that I still wasn't fully recovered from Day 1, but once I started everything was cool. Instead of reverse curls, I've decided to do a superset type exercise that I learnt in Weight Room class. Using a low weight, you do 10 "half-curls" (from rest position to halfway through curl, so your arm is at a 90 degree angle) with each arm, and then 10 "other-half curls" (from 90 degree angle to all the way up). Then, you do 10 full curls on each arm. It's a pretty intense exercise and it's a really nice way to finish off a Bicep workout strong. Everything else was fine; if you didn't see it before, you can check out the Day 1 workout here.
Not much else to say. Good day today; sweet episode of Mythbusters, beat God of War 3 (check Stuff That I Like soon for a review of sorts), watched Flaming Lips DVD (should also be something on Stuff That I Like soon - double post tomorrow?).
Word,
Daniel
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Day 3: Sick and Sad Again
Props if you get the lyrical reference in the title.
So, woke up this morning, still sick. Little bit worse than yesterday actually. It certainly didn't help that I only got like 6 hours of sleep - see, for school this entire year I had to wake up at 6:45/7 AM from Monday to Thursday because all of my classes were at 8:30 and I had to eat breakfast, catch the bus, etc. Because of this, I basically slept 7 or 8 hours every night; the side effect to this is that my body is now programmed to not sleep any longer than 8 hours, and on weekdays I usually wake up at least once around 7 - it's a little creepy really.
Anyways, despite my increasing sickness, I still worked out today. Cardio was fine; popped in the second disc of Evening with Kevin Smith 3 and I was on my way. I find that when I'm watching something entertaining it makes doing cardio a lot easier and less mind-numbing. Unfortunately, while I have tons of TV shows and stuff that I haven't gotten to watching yet, I'm running out of things that will make good "exercise viewing"; something tells me that Samurai Jack's atmospheric, often mostly silent episodes won't make very good workout watching. We'll see.
So, as I said yesterday, I decided to switch around the muscle group combinations, so Day 3 is now Shoulders and Back. Here's the revised workout:
Day 3: Shoulders and Back ***revised***
- Shoulder Shrugs - 3 X 15 - 35 pounds
- Dumbbell Overhead Press - 3 X 12 - 17.5 pounds
- TVOs - 2 X 10 - 7.5 pounds
- Ref Calls - 2 X 10 of each section (this is a superset, so you use a low weight and basically do 40 reps in a row of various exercises. Ask for details if you want them. Sick exercise!) - 7.5 pounds
- One-Armed Rows - 3 X 15 (each arm) - 15 pounds
- Dumbbell Lying Rows - 3 X 15 - 15 pounds (I wasn't too sure about this one - I feel like my form is off.)
I lowered the weights for some of the shoulder exercises, but I think at least for the Shrugs I should be able to go up in weight by next week. Also, still looking for one or two more good back exercises. I didn't look up barbell stuff so I'm going to do that in the next few days.
I've decided that it makes way more sense for Thursday to be my break day, so that in-between each set of 3 days I'm able to just rest and let my body recover. I came to this conclusion because my entire body is aching today; my biceps and triceps still need some time to recover and my abs and chest are throbbing. Furthermore, tomorrow is the day of my jury. For those not in music (i.e. all of you), you do a jury when you take private lessons as a course - basically, you go into a room and there's a "jury" (hence the name, hardeeharhar) of 3 people on faculty, and you play the material you've been working on throughout the year for 5 minutes or so. It's worth 50% of your private lesson mark; I'm not worried as I've been prepared for about 2 weeks, but it'll be nice to just chill tomorrow. Anyways, the pain is fine; it's just the usual muscle recovery pain, as I've been taking all the necessary precautions and doing proper stretching. It'll recover faster once my body gets used to the routine.
That's all for today. I shall return on Thursday for Day 5 (or should it be Day 4? Does a rest day count as a day? Hurm....)!
-Daniel
So, woke up this morning, still sick. Little bit worse than yesterday actually. It certainly didn't help that I only got like 6 hours of sleep - see, for school this entire year I had to wake up at 6:45/7 AM from Monday to Thursday because all of my classes were at 8:30 and I had to eat breakfast, catch the bus, etc. Because of this, I basically slept 7 or 8 hours every night; the side effect to this is that my body is now programmed to not sleep any longer than 8 hours, and on weekdays I usually wake up at least once around 7 - it's a little creepy really.
Anyways, despite my increasing sickness, I still worked out today. Cardio was fine; popped in the second disc of Evening with Kevin Smith 3 and I was on my way. I find that when I'm watching something entertaining it makes doing cardio a lot easier and less mind-numbing. Unfortunately, while I have tons of TV shows and stuff that I haven't gotten to watching yet, I'm running out of things that will make good "exercise viewing"; something tells me that Samurai Jack's atmospheric, often mostly silent episodes won't make very good workout watching. We'll see.
So, as I said yesterday, I decided to switch around the muscle group combinations, so Day 3 is now Shoulders and Back. Here's the revised workout:
Day 3: Shoulders and Back ***revised***
- Shoulder Shrugs - 3 X 15 - 35 pounds
- Dumbbell Overhead Press - 3 X 12 - 17.5 pounds
- TVOs - 2 X 10 - 7.5 pounds
- Ref Calls - 2 X 10 of each section (this is a superset, so you use a low weight and basically do 40 reps in a row of various exercises. Ask for details if you want them. Sick exercise!) - 7.5 pounds
- One-Armed Rows - 3 X 15 (each arm) - 15 pounds
- Dumbbell Lying Rows - 3 X 15 - 15 pounds (I wasn't too sure about this one - I feel like my form is off.)
I lowered the weights for some of the shoulder exercises, but I think at least for the Shrugs I should be able to go up in weight by next week. Also, still looking for one or two more good back exercises. I didn't look up barbell stuff so I'm going to do that in the next few days.
I've decided that it makes way more sense for Thursday to be my break day, so that in-between each set of 3 days I'm able to just rest and let my body recover. I came to this conclusion because my entire body is aching today; my biceps and triceps still need some time to recover and my abs and chest are throbbing. Furthermore, tomorrow is the day of my jury. For those not in music (i.e. all of you), you do a jury when you take private lessons as a course - basically, you go into a room and there's a "jury" (hence the name, hardeeharhar) of 3 people on faculty, and you play the material you've been working on throughout the year for 5 minutes or so. It's worth 50% of your private lesson mark; I'm not worried as I've been prepared for about 2 weeks, but it'll be nice to just chill tomorrow. Anyways, the pain is fine; it's just the usual muscle recovery pain, as I've been taking all the necessary precautions and doing proper stretching. It'll recover faster once my body gets used to the routine.
That's all for today. I shall return on Thursday for Day 5 (or should it be Day 4? Does a rest day count as a day? Hurm....)!
-Daniel
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Day 2: Sick
Around 4 o' clock yesterday, as I started to practice drums, I began to feel a little bit sick. By the end of the night, I was starting to get a little bit stuffy, and my throat was hurting me: the beginning of an unfortunate cold. I get colds pretty often, and for me, they always start the same way. My throat starts hurting, and gradually gets worse, until I start getting mild cold symptoms; then, as the other symptoms get worse, my throat gets better. After about a week, everything is alright, but I have a cough for another week or two.
I absolutely DESPISE this cycle, so this time I did everything I could to prevent it. Throughout the night, I ate two clementines (including one right before I went to bed), and drank water constantly. This seems to have payed off; today, my throat is still slightly aching, but definitely better, and my nose isn't stuffy anymore. Still not in perfect shape (it seems my body panicked and sent all of my self-defense resources to repairing my muscles, allowing the Third Reich of Virusland to penetrate my defenses), but luckily I was still in good enough health to work out.
I've decided to switch around my muscle groups a bit, so Day 2 is going to be Chest and Abs instead of Chest and Back. I figured that it makes more sense to work my entire front one day, and my entire back the other. So here's the revised workout for Day 2:
Day 2: Chest and Abs ***revised***
- Dumbbell Press - 3 X 12 - 22.5 pounds
- Incline Dumbbell Press - 3 X 12 - 22.5 pounds - I couldn't do this today; my dad just got a new bench and I hate it. I can't figure out how to incline it yet, so I did push-ups instead.
- Dumbbell Fly - 3 X 15 - 12.5 pounds
- Crunches - 3 X 25 - no weights
- Bicycle Exercise - 2 X 12 (each side) - no weights
- Leg Lifts - 3 X 12 - no weights
On another note, my cardio felt a lot better than yesterday; I'm still sweating profusely, but I didn't have to force myself to keep running as much as last time, and I actually ended up doing better: 2.3 miles this time! Huzzah! I guess Evening with Kevin Smith 3 entertained me more than Top Chef.
Everything generally felt good today. No real problems, though it's tough to get the form down for the bicycle exercise; must find a video.
I picked up a useful hint for Dumbbell Flies, for anyone who's interested. When you do them, do them on the floor so you don't hyper-extend your shoulders. I was never too big on dumbbell flies because I always found them to be a little awkward, but this tip really helped.
Oh, one more thing. For breakfast I ate some yogurt with granola that my mom made. Is this a good breakfast? I realize it's not really a "power meal" or anything, but does it suffice as something small and relatively healthy? Leave a comment and let me know!
Time to go eat more oranges.
-Daniel
I absolutely DESPISE this cycle, so this time I did everything I could to prevent it. Throughout the night, I ate two clementines (including one right before I went to bed), and drank water constantly. This seems to have payed off; today, my throat is still slightly aching, but definitely better, and my nose isn't stuffy anymore. Still not in perfect shape (it seems my body panicked and sent all of my self-defense resources to repairing my muscles, allowing the Third Reich of Virusland to penetrate my defenses), but luckily I was still in good enough health to work out.
I've decided to switch around my muscle groups a bit, so Day 2 is going to be Chest and Abs instead of Chest and Back. I figured that it makes more sense to work my entire front one day, and my entire back the other. So here's the revised workout for Day 2:
Day 2: Chest and Abs ***revised***
- Dumbbell Press - 3 X 12 - 22.5 pounds
- Incline Dumbbell Press - 3 X 12 - 22.5 pounds - I couldn't do this today; my dad just got a new bench and I hate it. I can't figure out how to incline it yet, so I did push-ups instead.
- Dumbbell Fly - 3 X 15 - 12.5 pounds
- Crunches - 3 X 25 - no weights
- Bicycle Exercise - 2 X 12 (each side) - no weights
- Leg Lifts - 3 X 12 - no weights
On another note, my cardio felt a lot better than yesterday; I'm still sweating profusely, but I didn't have to force myself to keep running as much as last time, and I actually ended up doing better: 2.3 miles this time! Huzzah! I guess Evening with Kevin Smith 3 entertained me more than Top Chef.
Everything generally felt good today. No real problems, though it's tough to get the form down for the bicycle exercise; must find a video.
I picked up a useful hint for Dumbbell Flies, for anyone who's interested. When you do them, do them on the floor so you don't hyper-extend your shoulders. I was never too big on dumbbell flies because I always found them to be a little awkward, but this tip really helped.
Oh, one more thing. For breakfast I ate some yogurt with granola that my mom made. Is this a good breakfast? I realize it's not really a "power meal" or anything, but does it suffice as something small and relatively healthy? Leave a comment and let me know!
Time to go eat more oranges.
-Daniel
Monday, April 5, 2010
Day 1: It Begins
Well, I just finished my first workout, and man, I am SPENT. The cardio is what really gets me; I sweat like an old Jewish man in a sauna. I turned on some Top Chef (I've got a TV in my workout room. Huzzah!) and did a half hour on the elliptical, at Level 1 Resistance (there are 8 levels). I ran 2.2 miles and burned about 285 calories. Not too shabby considering I haven't done anything resembling cardio besides walking to the bus stop for roughly a year. In my prime, I would do 2.4 miles on Level 2 Resistance, and could pull off 2.6 on Level 1. Still, not too bad. Goddammit though, I was working HARD! I was sweating so much that I actually had to take off my shirt for the last 10 minutes, and let me tell you, that was a good idea; I put my shirt back on after I was fully done my workout and it felt like I had dipped it in a lake. I find that the first 10 or 15 minutes are pretty brutal, but during the last half I get into a groove and it becomes easier. Anyways, I think my goal for cardio should be a 10-minute mile. Is this realistic?
My weight work felt comfortable; I had to revise the workout just a little bit. Here's the revised Day 1 workout:
Day 1 - Triceps and Biceps **revised**
- Bicep Curls - 3 sets of 12 reps (technically 24 because it's 12 for each arm, alternating) - 22.5 pounds
- Hammer Curls - 3 X 10 - 22.5 pounds
- Reverse Curls - 2 X 10 - I'm not sure how much the bar itself weighs, but I'm pretty sure with bar and weights it was around 20 pounds. This exercise is iffy for me - I need to look up some videos on form because I find that it hurts my wrist sometimes, which I'm aware should not be happening. Might make more sense to do a different exercise that I know. I'll keep you posted.
- Tricep Extensions - 3 X 12 - 35 pounds
- Tricep Dips - 3 X 15 - no weights
***I'm still looking for one more tricep exercise people! Any assistance would be much appreciated!
So that's it really; I'm pretty used to doing weights, so that's not a problem for me. Curls especially felt pretty good; I'm hoping to move up the reps by next week. It's the cardio that's going to be a challenge to keep up. Just gotta buck up and work my way through it. The whole workout took me about an hour and a half, which is fine by me. I feel great, actually! It's really nice to be working out again; I can't even support myself on my arms right now, which means I've done my job.
Tomorrow, my first Chest and Back day! I could still use some more Back exercises that I can do with just dumbbells.
Actually, I've got a question; what are the best things to eat after a good workout? Protein seems to be the general response from what I understand. Anyone?
-Daniel
My weight work felt comfortable; I had to revise the workout just a little bit. Here's the revised Day 1 workout:
Day 1 - Triceps and Biceps **revised**
- Bicep Curls - 3 sets of 12 reps (technically 24 because it's 12 for each arm, alternating) - 22.5 pounds
- Hammer Curls - 3 X 10 - 22.5 pounds
- Reverse Curls - 2 X 10 - I'm not sure how much the bar itself weighs, but I'm pretty sure with bar and weights it was around 20 pounds. This exercise is iffy for me - I need to look up some videos on form because I find that it hurts my wrist sometimes, which I'm aware should not be happening. Might make more sense to do a different exercise that I know. I'll keep you posted.
- Tricep Extensions - 3 X 12 - 35 pounds
- Tricep Dips - 3 X 15 - no weights
***I'm still looking for one more tricep exercise people! Any assistance would be much appreciated!
So that's it really; I'm pretty used to doing weights, so that's not a problem for me. Curls especially felt pretty good; I'm hoping to move up the reps by next week. It's the cardio that's going to be a challenge to keep up. Just gotta buck up and work my way through it. The whole workout took me about an hour and a half, which is fine by me. I feel great, actually! It's really nice to be working out again; I can't even support myself on my arms right now, which means I've done my job.
Tomorrow, my first Chest and Back day! I could still use some more Back exercises that I can do with just dumbbells.
Actually, I've got a question; what are the best things to eat after a good workout? Protein seems to be the general response from what I understand. Anyone?
-Daniel
Friday, April 2, 2010
The Workout
Alright, so here's what I was planning for the workout. Obviously this is going to change once I actually start working out, and I'll have to tweak things like weight and reps as I go, but this is my skeleton for it, I guess. Basically I'm going to be cycling a 3-day workout twice a week. Obviously I'm going to stretching before and after each workout so I'm not going to write that I stretch every day. Also, I'll be doing 30 minutes of cardio each day before I
Might be a good idea to outline where I'm working out and what I'm using. I have a small workout room in my house, so I'll just be using that. I've got these Bowflex SelectTech dumbbells. They're sort of hard to explain so here's a picture:
There's a whirly thing on the end that allows you to set the weight, and it picks up certain plates depending on the weight you've picked. They can be a little bit awkward for certain exercises because the handle itself is pretty big, but they actually work really well and they're pretty damn convenient. Besides the weights, I have a really old barbell (which I may or may not actually end up using), and an elliptical machine. And that's it really! So I'm working with a basic/limited setup but I'm gonna do what I can. Here's the workout:
Day 1 - Triceps and Biceps
- Bicep Curls - 3 sets of 12 reps (technically 24 because it's 12 for each arm, alternating) - 22.5 pounds
- Hammer Curls - 3 X 12 (same as above) - 22.5 pounds
- Reverse Curls (this is what I would use the barbell for; we'll see) - 3 X 10 - ?
- Tricep Extensions - 3 X 15 - 35 pounds
- Tricep Dips - 3 X 15 - this exercise doesn't use weights
- One more triceps exercise would be nice. Anything else I can do with just dumbbells? I suppose I could do push-ups.
Day 2 - Chest and Back
*** I need help with this day! I'm scared of doing back exercises without machines because form is super-important for back stuff and I never really learnt any free weight exercises for it.
- Dumbbell Press - 3 X 12 - 22.5 pounds
- Incline Dumbbell Press - 3 X 12 - 22.5 pounds
- Dumbbell Fly - 3 X 12 - 10 pounds (I haven't done dumbbell flies for a long time because I used to do cable flies, so this is gonna need some refinement)
-One-Armed Row - I'll keep you posted
-MORE BACK THINGS NEEDED
Day 3 - Shoulders and Abs
- Shoulder Shrugs - 3 X 15 - 40 pounds
- Dumbbell Overhead Press - 3 X 12 - 20 pounds
- TVOs - 2 X 10 - 7.5 pounds (the Bowflex dumbbells don't have a setting for 8, d'oh!)
- Ref Calls - 2 X 10 of each section (this is a superset, so you use a low weight and basically do 40 reps in a row of various exercises. Ask for details if you want them. Sick exercise!) - 7.5 pounds
- Crunches - 3 X 25 - no weights
- Bicycle Exercise - 3 X 15 - no weights
- Leg Lifts - 3 X 12 - no weights
You may notice I don't do any legs. I have reasons for that. First off, cardio will work out my legs a little. Secondly, my legs are actually pretty well-toned. Finally, and most importantly, I play drums, and for drums, you need to use your feet/legs. Really big leg muscles = heavier legs = harder to do small movements quickly. So yeah, no leg workout for me.
So that's my workout! Any help with sections that I noted, or feedback pertaining to what I've got set up already would be much appreciated. I'll put up a refined version for each day once I actually start doing it.
Next post will be on Monday, as Operation: Get Jacked commences!
-Daniel
Might be a good idea to outline where I'm working out and what I'm using. I have a small workout room in my house, so I'll just be using that. I've got these Bowflex SelectTech dumbbells. They're sort of hard to explain so here's a picture: There's a whirly thing on the end that allows you to set the weight, and it picks up certain plates depending on the weight you've picked. They can be a little bit awkward for certain exercises because the handle itself is pretty big, but they actually work really well and they're pretty damn convenient. Besides the weights, I have a really old barbell (which I may or may not actually end up using), and an elliptical machine. And that's it really! So I'm working with a basic/limited setup but I'm gonna do what I can. Here's the workout:
Day 1 - Triceps and Biceps
- Bicep Curls - 3 sets of 12 reps (technically 24 because it's 12 for each arm, alternating) - 22.5 pounds
- Hammer Curls - 3 X 12 (same as above) - 22.5 pounds
- Reverse Curls (this is what I would use the barbell for; we'll see) - 3 X 10 - ?
- Tricep Extensions - 3 X 15 - 35 pounds
- Tricep Dips - 3 X 15 - this exercise doesn't use weights
- One more triceps exercise would be nice. Anything else I can do with just dumbbells? I suppose I could do push-ups.
Day 2 - Chest and Back
*** I need help with this day! I'm scared of doing back exercises without machines because form is super-important for back stuff and I never really learnt any free weight exercises for it.
- Dumbbell Press - 3 X 12 - 22.5 pounds
- Incline Dumbbell Press - 3 X 12 - 22.5 pounds
- Dumbbell Fly - 3 X 12 - 10 pounds (I haven't done dumbbell flies for a long time because I used to do cable flies, so this is gonna need some refinement)
-One-Armed Row - I'll keep you posted
-MORE BACK THINGS NEEDED
Day 3 - Shoulders and Abs
- Shoulder Shrugs - 3 X 15 - 40 pounds
- Dumbbell Overhead Press - 3 X 12 - 20 pounds
- TVOs - 2 X 10 - 7.5 pounds (the Bowflex dumbbells don't have a setting for 8, d'oh!)
- Ref Calls - 2 X 10 of each section (this is a superset, so you use a low weight and basically do 40 reps in a row of various exercises. Ask for details if you want them. Sick exercise!) - 7.5 pounds
- Crunches - 3 X 25 - no weights
- Bicycle Exercise - 3 X 15 - no weights
- Leg Lifts - 3 X 12 - no weights
You may notice I don't do any legs. I have reasons for that. First off, cardio will work out my legs a little. Secondly, my legs are actually pretty well-toned. Finally, and most importantly, I play drums, and for drums, you need to use your feet/legs. Really big leg muscles = heavier legs = harder to do small movements quickly. So yeah, no leg workout for me.
So that's my workout! Any help with sections that I noted, or feedback pertaining to what I've got set up already would be much appreciated. I'll put up a refined version for each day once I actually start doing it.
Next post will be on Monday, as Operation: Get Jacked commences!
-Daniel
Operation: Get Jacked - Preliminary Stuff
Hi everyone! My name is Daniel; you may know me from my other blog, Stuff That I Like (but probably not). Anyways, Operation: Get Jacked is something I decided to do once school finished, and wouldn't ya know, school ended for me today! Thus, I have a nice 5 month summer with which to get fit.
I've got a fair amount of workout experience; I took a Weight Room class in Grade 10 which gave me a really nice basis for my own personal fitness, and I was pretty into it for most of that year. I worked out fairly constantly for the rest of high school, but not nearly as much as when I was in Weight Room - went down from 4-5 days a week to about 2-3 (only once a week, sometimes not even, near the end of Grade 12). And then university kicked in, and I stopped working out altogether.
As you could probably imagine, this didn't have very many positive effects on my physique. Due to my lack of working out I attempted to eat the healthiest foods on campus that I could when I had to, but I just couldn't bring myself to start working out again; there was too much work to do, I had to wake up at 6:45 every morning to get to school and twice a week had to stay until 5:30 PM, and (being a music major) needed to keep up a regular practice schedule. Needless to say, by the time I got home I was too damn exhausted and lazy to workout. I'm pretty sure that any good muscle that was built up has now been broken down; I am essentially back at square one.
But, alas, it is summer. I wasn't planning to blog this, but I know that I sometimes get lazy, and having some support behind me as well as people to (hopefully) not disappoint will help me stay on track. Furthermore, while I'm no "fitness expert", I do know a fair amount about working out, and hopefully some of the stuff I post might give you readers some ideas and guidance about where to start with working out.
So, 6 days a week. I'll be doing a half hour of cardio on my elliptical machine each workout (Might do interval training a couple times a week once I get into it a bit more), and will cycle through all of my muscle groups twice per week (except legs; I'll elaborate when I post my workout). Sundays I'm gonna take as rest days. The hardest part for me is going to be keeping up this schedule once I start working full-time in a couple weeks, as well as keeping my diet in check (any tips on this would be greatly appreciated). I'll be posting my whole workout routine either tomorrow or Saturday, and then Operation: Get Jacked commences on Monday. Wish me luck.
-Daniel
P.S. Go check out Stuff That I Like for some geekier writings!
I've got a fair amount of workout experience; I took a Weight Room class in Grade 10 which gave me a really nice basis for my own personal fitness, and I was pretty into it for most of that year. I worked out fairly constantly for the rest of high school, but not nearly as much as when I was in Weight Room - went down from 4-5 days a week to about 2-3 (only once a week, sometimes not even, near the end of Grade 12). And then university kicked in, and I stopped working out altogether.
As you could probably imagine, this didn't have very many positive effects on my physique. Due to my lack of working out I attempted to eat the healthiest foods on campus that I could when I had to, but I just couldn't bring myself to start working out again; there was too much work to do, I had to wake up at 6:45 every morning to get to school and twice a week had to stay until 5:30 PM, and (being a music major) needed to keep up a regular practice schedule. Needless to say, by the time I got home I was too damn exhausted and lazy to workout. I'm pretty sure that any good muscle that was built up has now been broken down; I am essentially back at square one.
But, alas, it is summer. I wasn't planning to blog this, but I know that I sometimes get lazy, and having some support behind me as well as people to (hopefully) not disappoint will help me stay on track. Furthermore, while I'm no "fitness expert", I do know a fair amount about working out, and hopefully some of the stuff I post might give you readers some ideas and guidance about where to start with working out.
So, 6 days a week. I'll be doing a half hour of cardio on my elliptical machine each workout (Might do interval training a couple times a week once I get into it a bit more), and will cycle through all of my muscle groups twice per week (except legs; I'll elaborate when I post my workout). Sundays I'm gonna take as rest days. The hardest part for me is going to be keeping up this schedule once I start working full-time in a couple weeks, as well as keeping my diet in check (any tips on this would be greatly appreciated). I'll be posting my whole workout routine either tomorrow or Saturday, and then Operation: Get Jacked commences on Monday. Wish me luck.
-Daniel
P.S. Go check out Stuff That I Like for some geekier writings!
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