The past couple of days I have really been putting my mind into my exercise routine. Many times I have been doing my 35 minutes of cardio and at about the 20 minute mark I have thought “Well, maybe today I can just go easy” but I eventually talk myself out of it. During my weights, sometimes I won’t push myself until I simply can’t do anymore. Lately, however, I have been pushing until muscle failure (or what seems like it).
Tonight I got home from the gym and realized just how good I feel, mentally and physically. Sure, my legs are tired, but I feel like I could keep going. I have also gotten back into the habit of drinking half of my body weight in ounces of water (I weigh ~170 so I drink 85 ounces of water a day). I didn’t think that would make much of a difference, but I have more energy and feel a lot better.
I also rarely take any supplements anymore. I used to take a pre-workout supplement, but it make me feel like I was going to go into cardiac arrest any minute, so if anyone wants some N.O. Xplode or NaNO Vapor, hit me up. I still take protein and I think that anyone doing a lot of cardio should take protein if they don’t want to lose muscle mass. Of course, muscle mass also has to do with the amount of weight and reps you do, but still, protein is necessary. I occasionally take Creatine, but it really doesn’t make me feel any different so I think I may stop using it as well.
I can say, one supplement that I used to take that I don’t take anymore and wish I did is Nitrix. That stuff made me feel great at the gym, I would suggest it to anyone.
I saw this ad the other day and I thought to myself, “REALLY!?”
Yes, just like that. This would be a perfect video to go on www.failblog.org.
Looks like corn farmers are angry or something, but why? They are already making tons of gravy thanks to the big Ethanol boom. Oh well, people, stay away from the stuff, it’s no good for you.
Don’t be a little sheep. Be smart enough to think for yourselves.
I have come to realize that working out after work simply won’t cut it for me. I get home and I feel like vegetating, or I have some studying to do, etc. Therefore, I made the painful decision to wake up early and go.
This morning was the first morning workout and man, it was tough. I didn’t even get to the weights. Honestly, the cardio felt like an eternity. I kept looking down at the timer like “why is this thing moving so slow?, surely it is broken!”
Finally, I was done… I think that if I make a habit out of this, it will get better, but man, that first day was terrible.
Last night I decided that since I was at the store, I should probaly invest in healthier foods and try to make some different eating choices. I bought some Egg Beaters and Whole Wheat bread for breakfast, so lo-cal yogurt for a snack, as well as some peaches and bananas.
Today I had 1/2 cup Egg Beaters (60 cal, 12g protein) and a piece of Whole Wheat toast (70 cal, 3.6g protein)for breakfast. (It should be noted that I added some Chipotle Tabasco sauce, which rocks the house).
For lunch I had a salad with some low-fat Ranch dressing (80 cal) and a smoked turkey sandwich meat:90 cal, 15g protein; mayo:35 cal; bread: 140cal, 7.2g protein) with a banana (105cal, 13g protein) for “dessert”.
I’m assuming that tonite I will have some fish (180cal, 40g protein) with a salad (80 cal) and maybe some yogurt (90cal, 8g protein).
If all that goes down as planned, it will net me about 930 calories and 98.8g protein. Protein is a very important part about eating healthy in that it helps you stay feeling full and it helps build lean muscle.
I’ve been running at the local track and decided that tonight, and every night after tonight, I would be going to the Rush. I have a membership that I pay for every month, I might as well get what I pay for. Not only that, but lean muscle is always burning calories, so weight training was a must. It is also important to maintain a constant heart rate during cardio, which I cannot do without some computer telling me what my heart is doing.
I started out with cardio on the elliptical. I think I pulled my hamstring the wrong way in a vicious wiffleball tournament earlier in the day (which myself, Captain Dude, and another co-worker dominated), so I figured I would go the low-impact route. Apparently my target cardio heart rate is 158, so I was at 158 for about 25 minutes (it took me about 7 minutes to get up there). Apparently I “ran” 3.8 miles and burned 500 calories during that cardio session, but I don’t think I believe it.
Next was weight training, so I decided on Biceps and Shoulders. I didn’t do much really:
Hammer Curls (reps are per arm):
27.5lb x 10
30lb x 10
32.5lb x 5
17.5lb x 25
Shoulder press:
80lb x 10
100lb x 10
100lb x 5
Shoulder Shrug:
90lb x 10
110lb x 10
140lb x 10
After that, I had enough. I had to run to Wal-Mart anyway. After I got home, I had a nice glass of BSN’s CellMass for a recovery drink.
I feel good, heck, I might even start doing this in the morning before work…
I guess I should probably try to improve my health since apparently my triglycerides are high. I guess all that beer and ice cream took its toll. I used to exercise for an hour at lunch every day, eat tuna, drink a boat load of water, etc. Now my breakfasts consist of sugary kids cereal instead of EggBeaters omelets, lunches are usually something unhealthy or too large of a portion and dinners are just the same. I don’t drink much water anymore, it’s mostly coffee and sugarfree Kool-Aid drinks.
So how do I plan on not being fat? Well, first off, 8-10 glasses of water a day. I should rephrase that to say 64-80 ounces of water a day. I would like to get back to the EggBeaters omelets, but on my bachelor-with-a-new-house budget, Malt-O-Meal is pretty good. Hey, at least it’s skim milk, right? Lunches will consist of a salad, tuna-salad sandwich with minimal mayo, and a fruit. Dinners, well, fish or chicken, a salad, and some kind of carb. I’m going to try to cut out sweets and substitute with fruit.
As for the exercise, I would like to get in at least 20 minutes of cardio at least 3 times per week. Optimally, 30 minutes of cardio, 5 times a week, with strength training.
I just ran/walked 2.2 miles with my dog. She’s a real pistol. Actually she’s a pretty good dog for a 1 year old doberman.
The results will come November 5th, when the next employee health day comes around. We shall see what happens.
