Accomplishments week of 12/31

The Excel sheet above and the"Accomplishments" is inspired by (and downloaded) from Ms. Bitch Cakes.(Thank You), but I had to change the pink color.

In 2004 (thanks to Robert Scoble ) I started blogging, then in 2009 I shut that blog and took some time off......I've always been fairly anal, OCD or organized - whatever term you want to call it, with tracking things, exercise and travel so since I'm still tracking this I figured I'd store the content, once again, in a public format.

This past week:
Started a new blog........
3 nights out of town (Atlanta, GA)
Took my 68 (and last) flight of the year
Signed up for the Men's Health 52 Day Challenge
Signed up for the Warrior Dash
Worked out with my new Weight Sled & Foam Roller
Started a new workout template from Big Book of Exercises

News Years Eve

An afternoon stroll in the 78 degree sun.

I actually did some work on Thursday

1a DB Split Squat 2 15
1b Push up 2 12
2a Inverted Row 2 12
2b Combo Shoulder Raise 2 12
3 Lying External Rotation 2 12
4 Side Plank 2 8

Nothing that amazing just an afternoon workout, oh yeah I'm in "Warrior Training".

I am a warrior

Idle time is not always best spent on me.....I've fallen victim to late night QVC products ( a car alarm ) , home sick from work ( a newspaper subscription) etc.... Early this morning I had some idle time and I came across a site for the "Warrior Dash".....and look there's one close by "LINK"
What is the Warrior Dash you might ask, I'm so glad you asked...
here's the first 4 points of the wavier, it's enough to give you the general idea.

Waiver and Release Of Claims, Assumption Of Risk and Warning Of Risk
1. I understand that entering Warrior Dash is a hazardous activity.
2. I understand that Warrior Dash presents extreme obstacles including, but not limited to, fire, mud pits and steep hills.
3. I agree not to participate unless I am medically able.
4. I agree to not consume alcohol prior to Warrior Dash or ingest any medicines or substances that will inhibit my mental or physical ability to safely and effectively participate in Warrior Dash.

Here's 4 of the 12 obstacles....

Here is their training advice...

How do I train for Warrior Dash?
1. Day one: run as far as you can. Go home. Day two: do the same thing.
2. Find the dirtiest pond in your neighborhood and snorkel in it - in your slippers, without goggles.
3. Practice your climbing and crawling skills at your local jungle gym. Ignore the small children and parental glares.
4. Do not shower or shave for weeks in order to obtain a true Warrior look.

All in all how tough could this be? I'll let you know on Jan 30th.

I'm such the romantic

.......click for biggie size.......

I'm laying out my January travel plans this afternoon and trying to always be a good steward with my company's money I always search for the best hotel prices that I can find.
I came across the "Romance Package" with the added bottle of champagne or wine...since I'm traveling alone this isn't the best suited accommodations for me. What I did find odd was that with the "Romance Package" you had a choice of 2 double beds or a room with a sofabed...nice touch Hilton! The smoking room is self explanatory...I think.

Two for Tuesday.....

Second session today as I had to work off the 860 calorie Steak-N-Shake A1 PepperJack Melt, 610 calories worth of french fries, a 140 calories worth of creamy coleslaw and oh yes the 540 calorie SMALL chocolate milkshake.....I can't even add all those numbers up.

So it was off to Fitness 19 for an after work session.....I do enjoy lifting in a gym when I get the chance.

Team Hoyt

I saw this on Ross Enamait's site at lunch and thought it worthy of passing on. I've followed "Team Hoyt" for years and when you see and hear about the devotion that the father has for the son and that the son has for the father it might leave you speechless. Then you look and the number of events that these two have participated in, it only goes to prove.... if you can conceive it you can achieve it..

December 28, 2010

http://runkeeper.com/user/SWF/activity/21652218

Still to cold for a morning run........

The Tech Behind the Wreck

I travel a fair amount and due to new technologies there are so many ways that I can plan and track my workouts while on the road. I use both a Blackberry and an iPhone and in my opinion the iPhone puts the Blackberry to shame when it comes to the applications.

My favorite app on my iPhone is Runkeeper, it tracks your runs/walks using the iPhones built in GPS. Once your run/walk is over it uploads it to the Runkeeper website where you can see your activity trends and create detailed reports. It even creates a Google map of where you exercised. It also allows you to select your worko out type run, walk, cycle as well as stationary machines like a treadmill and elliptical,You can find local races to participate in and have friends and family watch your race progress over the internet. It even ties in with FourSquare for badges and Facebook.

Next up is iFitness and for some reason it's not currently available in the United States. It comes with a variety of exercise templates. You can easily create your own template with their exercises as well as incorporating your own exercises. There are picture and video explanation of all the exercises. Your workout history can easily be exported and e-mailed to you.

This Men's Health application has a great series of body weight exercises and it only cost .99. It also keeps a log of all your workouts and links to many Men's Health articles.


DropBox allows me to store all of my 52DC excel sheets (as well as any other file type) on the web and have access to them at anytime on both the iPhone and any PC that I log into.

Good Morning Monday

http://runkeeper.com/user/SWF/activity/21614414

So possibly the 40-4-40 is in my future for the next challenge.

Dropping the holiday pounds

Lots of cool holiday gifts, a Stretch-Out-Strap, foam roller, and The Men's Health Big Book of Exercises....
The book was something that I have wanted for a long time but spending the $15.00 to add another book to my library was just something that I really didn't want to do. As with most of the exercise books that I've I started out by skimming through and then focusing on the chapters that interest me. The book is packed with lots of good information, showing how to do exercises with barbell, dumbbell as well as kettlebell. There's a section of warm ups and body weight exercises.




So it's the 12 week fat loss workout...12 weeks should be ample amount of time to see some body composition changes. Low sets and high reps for the first week with the later weeks changing to higher sets and lower reps.

I ran the the first workout this morning and even with the rests my heart rate did manage to get up there.

and the final Christmas gift was a weight sled....something that I've wanted for a long time. I finished today's workout with sled pulls and sled rows...yet another way to get the heart rate up.

So What To Do

Over the past 52DC's I've had a variety of goals,

Some of them have been, the percentages are where I finished the challenge at..

CE: 90/104/80 (112.5%)

RT: 17/17 (100%)

CT: 25/12 (208.33%)

PG1 (5% Challenge): 7.2/11 (65.45%)

PG2 (Walk Run 30 Miles): 72.56/30 (241.87%)

PG3 (Journal to wife): 15/15 (100%)

CE 90
RT 24
CT 10
No SODA 47

CE: 96/104/90 (106.67%)

RT: 24/24 (100%)

CT: 16/10 (160%)

PG1 (No Midnight Snacks): 51/35 (145.71%)

PG2 (Yoga): 7/7 (100%)

So now as the next challenge approaches the focus of goals comes to the forefront...I know that I've put some weight on over the last year, especially the last few weeks, so I'm sure that weight loss will be incorporated in there somewhere.

So it's the day after Christmas I'm off to workout and then to the airport to fight this Eastern snow storm.

Hello It's Me Again

This is my new electronic home for my workouts, an e-diary of sorts. A previous home was at Why's It So Heavy but that was at a different point in my life.

For the present time I'm participating in the Men's Health 52 Day Challenges.
Over the past few years I've participated in 8 or 9 of these.....the basic premise is as follows:
How It Works

1. Set Your Goals
You set 4 goals:
Goal 1: Number of 1/2 day "blocks" of Clean Eating you will do for the Challenge.
Goal 2: Number of Resistance Training (weightlifting) sessions.
Goal 3: Number of Cardio Training (HIIT/Steady State Cardio/Long Walk) sessions.
PG1: Personal Goal 1 must be exercise, fitness or weight related, and must be measurable in the same way that the Core Goals are measurable. This is the only Personal Goal (PG1) which counts towards a Medal. You may set other Personal Goals that are meaningful to you, but they do not count towards a Medal.

Note: Your Personal Goal does NOT count towards a Bronze, Silver or Gold Medal.

2. Tally Your Results
Your Level of final placement, Gold, Silver, or Bronze is achieved solely from the Core Goals of the challenge, CE's, RT's, & CT's.

Make 1 Core Goal: Give yourself a Bronze Medal
Make 2 Core Goals: Give yourself a Silver Medal
Make all 3 Core Goals: Give yourself a Gold Medal
Make all your Core Goals and your Personal Goal 1: Give yourself a Gold+ Medal
Make all your Core Goals, PG1 along with 95-103 CE's: Give yourself a Platinum Medal
Make all your Core Goals, PG1 along with 104 CE's: Give yourself a Platinum+ Medal
so that's the 50,000 foot view.

How I got to the point of trying to be healthy (again in a nutshell)
For most of my life I trained with the mindset of a Powerlifter - lots of food and lots of bodyfat - but hey I was strong. 6 years ago I was somewhere around 280 lbs and my blood work and blood sugar was a mess. One evening I met my family for dinner I took two steps out of the car my blood sugar crashed and I passed out in front of my family - the next morning I started getting my diet in order - no more sugar sodas, Little Debbie snacks.....etc...you know the drill. I dropped 90 lbs over the next few years and got the "Clean Bill" of health from my doctor. Now I fluctuate in weight depending on what I'm doing in the gym but I manage to keep the diet under control. Lots of lean meats, fresh veggies & complex carbs (plus some exercise), I can't remember the last time I ate a white potato.

.........now fast forward to 2010 - in the last year I've gotten married, gained a few pounds, survived cancer in other words I'm doing good. I have manged to find that the accountability of the 52 day challenges work.

I'm sure over the next few days (more than likely the next few hours) I'll post my next workout template etc.....