Hey Friends,
I was really going to post about grammar. I even read many sources and learned a lot, but I haven't had the time to put it down. What I have been doing is this. It is my frist go at Wordpress, and thanks to my friends, Luke and Brian, I have been able to put something up I'm happy with.
Happy reading!
U.M.
Hey All!
So, I've had it on my mind to post about grammar usage. I'm doing my research now and look forward to engaging conversations.
Be on the lookout!
U.M.
I finished my lifting program two weeks ago! After the max out week I took a rest week to let my body put itself back together. Without further ado, here are the numbers:
Squat 1 rep max - 405lbs
Deadlift 1 rep max - 445lbs
Overhead Press 1 rep max - 185lbs
I didn't have any previous maxouts to track my progress, but I'm happy with my numbers. Here's a quick comparison to my peak, sophomore year of college:
Squat 1 rep max - 500lbs
Bench 1 rep max- 315lbs
Power Clean 1 rep max - 325lbs
Deadlift - Didn't max
Overhead Press - Didn't max
Today will mark my second day back in the gym and I'm super excited! There's something about just stepping into the gym that naturally encourages me to strive for my goals. I'll be starting a new program that will last me for some time. It's 3 lifts 5x5 3 times a week. Compound lifting seems to be the approach that makes the most sense. I'm going off of the StrongLifts approach. The guy who hosts the site is a terrible writer, as english is a second langauge for him, and reminds me a lot of Hanz and Franz if you read any of his stuff, but a sound message none the less. The main thing I already like about the program is that I'll be lifting heavy weights. It just feels good to lift heavy!
Monday's Workout:
Squat: 5 sets of 5x290
Deadlift: 1 set of 5x350
Overhead Press: 5 sets of 5x135
Wednesday(today's) Workout:
Squat: 5 sets of 5x295
Bench Press: 5 sets of 5x205
Barbell Row: 5 sets of 5x136
I LOVE bench press. It was so exciting. I haven't benched in years and I wanted to do more weight than I did, but I also did want to drive myself into the ground. It was the first time I had done barbell row, hence the low weight to get the form down.
Here's a video of my sqaut:
It been a good bit since I started tracking my workouts, nutrition, and my budget on May 1, 2011. I didn't realize it at the time, but now that I'm starting to look back, I see that I have some excellent data to analyze and with your help, look at some next steps for the future. I'd like to spend some time looking at each of these sections and then a summary of the overall impression. First up! Let's look at my workouts!
I can honestly say, I have truly kicked it back in gear. I maintained a lifting plan, incorporated plenty of cardio, and I can feel that I'm getting stronger. For lifting I completed 12/15 workouts, that's 80%. Two of those that I missed were because I felt my body needed the rest and I did not want to risk injury. I maxed out on sqauts today at 405, which is 5lbs above where I wanted to be. Also, I did not go to failure and I believe I could have done more, but no big deal. I'll max out on military press and deadlift throughout the rest of the week.
When it came to cardio, I did really well from May 1st until May 23rd. During that time, I was going to cycling class Mondays and Fridays and I played in league basketball on Wednesday nights. The week of May 23rd I started going to frisbee instead of cycling class. Ultimate Frisbee is a great workout and a fair substitution for cycling class, in general, but not for my body's needs. After making this substitution and changing up my routine, my knees, calves and feet began hurting much more than normal. I LOVE playing frisbee and running as hard as I can, but my body can't handle it. This is not new news to me, but a harsh reminder that even when I'm feeling healthy, I have to take it easy on my legs. Essentially, I went from one high impact workout a week, basketball, to three and sometimes four high impact workouts a week with the implementation of frisbee into my workouts. This effected my lifting regime, as my legs, and especially my feet, hurt so bad I didn't go into lift for two of my days last week. However, I've been stretching and just finished my sqauts earlier today. I feel good.
Saving the worst for the middle...My nurtition is probably the most informative about the type of person I am. Here, tell me what you see:
There's a lot of spiking in there! I had a very rough night last night. I was beating myself up for being stagnent in my weight loss and even more frustrated because I was in pain and couldn't just go sweat off ten pounds (Ah, the days of wrestling). Throughout the day I ate very well up until the point I went to my friends house to watch the Mavs and Heat game. I was peer pressured and I gave in. I did well saying no to the beer, I did drink one, but when the pizza arrived, I snarfed down half a stuffed crust pizza like it was my last meal. Look for a future post about that struggle because it was a rough one. I'm still happy I'm tracking my nutrition and I feel like I do a pretty good job of capturing what I eat.
Now, the best for last! BUDGET IN THE HOUSE!
I finally sat down with myself and put down some realistic goals and revamped my budget to not be so extreme. For example, I was trying to live off of $75 of food every two weeks. I think that's reasonable for some people, but considering I blew that number out of the water for over 6 months, I finally decided to bump it to $100. I also put in $40 of blow money because I was spending extra money and beating myself up over instead of just trying to moderate it. Anyways, my goals are this; fully funded emergency fund by 6/14/2011, student loan 4 paid off by 8/31/2011 and student loan 3 paid off by 12/31/2011. I've based these goals off of my base income and with minimal consideration to my additional sources of income. If I really get at it, I could accomplish these goals earlier than anticipated. Currently, I have not spent outside of my budget except for some potassium supplements that I ordered today. I am not to worked up about it because I just started meal planning and as that improves I wont have deficienies in my diet that I have to compensate for.
Overall, I feel I have good indicators of where to go. I look forward to July and seeing where things have gone from there.
Budget - I'm going to keep on truckin'
Workout - I have to get back to cycling and start considering subsitute workouts that are low impact, but just as effective.
Nurtition - Help! Caca Clara gave a great suggestion about making veggies accesible, but please tell me more! I need help with when I'm dissapointed in myself and want to give up, i.e. last night!
Thanks for reading!
That's right...
The only thing better about this past weekend was having worked out on Saturday and Sunday. Thanks to all those who came out Sunday for frisbee!
Status Update -
I love working, or rather, I love having a consistent structure to my day and work does a great job of providing that. I can plan my day out effectively and really make progress on my personal goals. I feel much more balanced and peaceful overall. I think I described to a friend as approaching the weekend with a "damage control" mindset. As in, I'm hoping to just contain the consuming beast I can become during three days of unstructured time. To me, that is a reactive mindset and being proactive has always given me better results.
Here's what happened this past weekend; I had a married couple stay over from Friday to Sunday. On Friday night we had a mini-reunion with some other friends. I ate and drank way to much for not having worked out. I was some 2000 calories over my healthy intake level. On Saturday we ate lunch out and grilled out that evening. This time, I still didn't work out, but I was only 1000 calories or so over my intake level. Eating 1000 calories over the limit is not so bad, but when combined with the day before it only adds to the issue. On Sunday, I lifted but I didn't eat very balanced and I can't even remember accurately what I did eat. Monday I was about 1000 calories over and did not eat very balanced again. Talk about rough!
I know during weekends there is much less structure and it is a time for rest, but I feel like I need many less rest days than I have been enjoying.
The good news is that I didn't put more than 2 lbs. back on. I can make that up over the next two days if I really watch my intake and output of calories. I also have to be careful not to punish myself or my body simply because I had a loose weekend. Just like repentence, I just need to pick myself up and start again, no since in despairing over it. I'm going for a lifetime change and I'm dealing with habits that took a lifetime to form. I can have a little mercy with myself. Today I am off to a great start! My nutrition is right on track (check the chart), I lifted for an hour over my lunch and I'm going to play frisbee after work today.
How then, can I be successful during my weekends?
I want to make a plan for this upcoming weekend so I can continue a balanced lifestyle.
The Plan -
Let's look at my upcoming weekend-
Friday night - I'm an on-call driver for my roommates school teachers as they have a year end celebration and will need a sober ride home. I think I'll be safe for that night.
Saturday - I am working in the afternoon, which is always a good auxillary workout, playing with kids for two hours. There is a lot more Saturday though. Any suggestions?
Sunday - I have no plans. I'm thinking maybe a trip out to St. Stephan's? Eh? Suggestions?
I do really well with short term goals and I think planning ahead will go a long way for me. I'm posting for your support and also for your suggestion, so please don't hesitate to offer suggestions or resources you think might help. Thanks to all!
I bet you thought I was speaking latin. Nope! just bad grammar for the two most detrimental parts of my diet, too much sodium and not enough potassium. It has taken some diligence to accurately document what I am putting into my body. Through my recent documenting, I've been able to see what I've been giving my body and what I haven't been giving my body.
Let's take a look at my two worst sodium and potassium intake over the past 16 days:
Here's an article about why this is not good.You'll see that this week my sodium intake has started to drop ever so slightly!
For brevity's sake-
DOUBLE WHAMMIE!
Not only do have a 4:1 sodium to potassium ratio, I am also working out six times a week and need even more potassium to compensate. Colorado State University recommends a 1:1 ration of sodium to potassium.
The even scarier part is knowing that this is typical for Americans. The more I learn about my nutrition the more I realize how I was walking towards a life full of hypertension, high blood pressuren and any other number of heart related illnesses.
How do I address this?
Well, talking with my dad he made the good recomendation that if I can't go cold turkey just find a small managable part that I can change and build from there. That's been my approach and its been working really well so far. The small change right now is planning ahead of time. I might not be able to stay at 1500mg of sodium a day, but I surely can plan a lunch everyday that is sodium consious! I can also add some more potassium narrowing my ratio (just bought some bananas today!)
Over the past month, I have been at the grocery store almost daily reading nutrition labels. I don't plan to continue this, but I think it is neccesary to reprogram some old habits. My mind is blown at the resistance there is for us, Americans, to lead healthy lives. I mean that wholistically. Why should it take such an effort to eat in a way that's not going to cause me health problems? We're lazy, we're Americans, We want it now and for everything to taste sweet and/or salty and so that's what stores present to us.
Here's to fighting the good fight!
Goals Update-
Weight - down 5.4 lbs from 230 to 224.6. Woot! I've actuallyed weighed at 222 not to long ago, but it wasnt weigh in day so it doesn't count!
Body Fat- I need someone to help with my skin fold tests!
Workout- 95% completion. The 5% incomplete was a missed lift day where I still did cardio. I'm approaching MAX out week. I can't wait to post those numbers.
Nutrition- Vastly improved, look for more posts in the future.
Budget- I've adjusted my food category to accurately reflect what I actually spend with a minor cut back. I usually try to put way less in that fund then I should and when I blow that fund it has a terrible ripple effect on the rest of my monies. I'm looking for a budget buddy, any takers?
________________________________________________________
Resources:
http://caloriecount.about.com/potassium-facts-nf306#highfoods
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/food-and-nutrition/AN00350
The post, Tracking Tracking Tracking, was posted well after I initially typed it up. I began writing that post in April, but I became busy working on the goals I had in that post and forgot to post it. I'm excited to provide this update. Let's jump in!
Budget-
I would like track at least 100% of my monies in my budget, which will be shared with my brother assuming he accepts the responsibility (accountability).
Action Steps:
1. I will enter income and expindetures on almost real time basis. I have the internet on my phone so there's no reason for any significant delays to data entry.
Status: Failure!
I absolutely bombed this one. I do great updating as I pay my bills, but not those daily purchases. This is very frustrating for me and I think I partly just don't want to know what I spend all my money on. Pissssssssssssssssssssss.
Workout-
I would like to track my dates of workout, exercises, sets and reps of each excercise, time of cardio workouts, weight, body fat % and BMI.
Action Steps:
1. Become more familiar with Sparkpeople.com (tracker for workouts and nutrition)
Status: Completed! I have switched to CalorieCount.about.com for its cleaner design and I can view the interaction between my eating and excercising much clearer. Sparkpeople.com uses pop-ups more than I prefer as well.
2. Start Lifting 5/1/2011
Status: Success in progress! I am lifting 3 days a week with a plan developed by "The Duke" of Indiana Strongman.
3. Find a way to measure body fat %
Status: Success!
I initially began looking at bathroom scales that measured body fat %, but they were typically cited as being inaccurate. I found this very affordable option, which reminded me of what we used in high school; the one and only Accu Measure Fitness 300!.
4. Get an accurate scale.
Status: Success!
After much comparision and review reading, I settled on a very simple digital scale with excellent reviews; the EastSmart Precision Digital Bathroom Scale.
Nutrition-
1. I would like to track my caloric, carbs, fats and protien intake.
2. Reserach Supplements
Action Steps:
1. Become more familiar with Sparkpeople.com
Status: Success!
I became familiar and then switched to CalorieCount! I'm very happy with it so far. It provides great analytics as long as I provide accurate data.
On to the end of week 2 and the start of week 3! No time for guilt regarding my budget, but I do need to reflect a little more about it.
Side note-I think I'm going to transition to a spreadsheet for tracking otherwise these posts get to be a lot to look at.
It is a foriegn practice for me to keep historical perspective on what I do. In a previous post, Let's Get Disciplined, I made some simple weekly goals. Since then I've decided to start tracking my workouts and nutritional intake (not so much the outtake). Its a strange perspective to have; looking at yourself as a science experiment, but I think it will show me some interesting things about my behaviors and possible factors influencing those behaviors. I can't wait to track myself for a year and draw out some significant data sets with regards to say, what season the church is in or if I have a new job (which will probably happen over the next year). I think this will be a neet experiment.
I'm thinking I'll approach it from three different avenues. Probably not so suprisingly, I will track my nutrition, workouts and budget. I'll provide an update monthly over the whole tracking process to reflect on different factors and obstacles that may have affected my ability to achieve certian goals in those three areas.
I think I'll track for one month and make adjustments and repeat.
Budget-
I would like track at least 100% of my monies in my budget, which will be shared with my brother assuming he accepts the responsibility (accountability).
Action Steps:
1. I will enter income and expindetures on almost real time basis. I have the internet on my phone so there's no reason for any significant delays to data entry.
Workout-
I would like to track my dates of workout, exercises, sets and reps of each excercise, time of cardio workouts, weight, body fat % and BMI.
Action Steps:
1. Become more familiar with Sparkpeople.com (tracker for workouts and nutrition)
2. Start Lifting 5/1/2011
3. Find a way to measure body fat %
4. Get an accurate scale.
Nutrition-
1. I would like to track my caloric, carbs, fats and protien intake.
1. Reserach Supplements
Action Steps:
1. Become more familiar with Sparkpeople.com
Activity Feed-
8:??pm- landed in LaGaurdia
9:30pm- Taxi Cab to Marie's in Brooklyn (Pic 1)
10:??pm- Best Chinese Delivery I've ever had
11:00pm- Started Teen Wolf
11:30pm- Sleeping on first couch
12pm- Awakend by Angry Asian Lady Phone Conversation
12:15pm- Sleeping Again
8am- Awake
9:45am- Walking
11:45am- Lunch at New Apollo
12:45pm- St. Nicholas Catherdral
1:30pm- Resting/Blogging at BnN
Now I'm headed to Little Italy!
