Cardio, Strength Training, Pool & Eats for 7/16

I have to say that day was just about as perfect as it can get. It’s a short day as well for me since I need to be in bed by 2PM. I do tend to make the most of the day though and I do that by getting up at 3AM.

So I was off to the gym at 4:30Am just after a very good breakfast that I will post at the end of this one.

I started it all with my cardio session of 2 hours again. It was an OK workout only because I am still having a bit of an issue on the treadmill; both with my knee and my right foot. So for the treadmill I have to lower the incline and that seems to help those issues out. I still hope I am able to keep on building up my endurance. I don’t feel like I am but come September 1st or so when I have my next evaluation I’ll sure find out then. I know I can do the endurance test on my own but right now I don’t want to know the results.  All in all I did do 2 hours though and that is something to be proud about. I still have the motivation , determination and drive to workout to the best of my ability.

So for my Cardio I did:

• 35 minutes of Elliptical Trainer @ 1.91 miles, Level 25, Average speed of 3.28 mph & 600 calories burned.

• 70 minutes on Treadmill @3.85 miles, Average speed of 3.35 mph. I did Incline of 11% for 8 minutes and 13% fro 2 minutes-repeated 3 times. Then my knee and foot started hurting again so the second half the incline went from 8-9% and increase the speed at times from3.4-3.5 mph. & 904 calories burned.

• 15 minutes on Bike @ 3.69 miles, Level 11  & 220 calories burned.

So for this workout of 2 hours I burned about 1724 calories.

From there I was able to rest a bit before I worked out with Chris on the TRX Suspension Training. That went pretty good as well and we were able to work the arms, chest and shoulders today. I feel it’s not the best way to work the arms but it still is a good workout and it add variety. Tomorrow we will again be working the arms but this time with weights

We did the following with the TRX system:

• Curls
• One Arm Curls
• Skull Crushers
• Chest Press
• Shoulder flys and lifts
• Laps
• ALL above repeated 4 times

It was a good workout and in this part I burned around 900 calories.

After both of those workout I went home and found time for a little bit of relaxation by the pool. There I spent some time in the pool and equal time laying in the hot tub to relax those sore muscles. What a way to wrap up my day. If I didn’t have to have some lunch and then sleep I could have stayed by the pool all day. It was just awesome to have some great balance in my day.

Now for what I ate today that went and will goes as follows. Now for some reason because it is a short day I am not able to get all my protein and vegetables in. I really don’t know how to correct this problems so these meals will have to suffice for now. I am not hungry so I guess that’s a good thing as well.

My EATS:

Breakfast:@ 3:30 AM

• Egg Whites with grilled onions
• ½Cup Oatmeal with cinnamon

Snack: @ 9:45 (after workout)

• Mixed Nuts (Almonds, Seeds, Cashews) non-salted

Lunch:

• Grilled Chicken
• Raw Cabbage, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Cucumber and Green pepper salad with some   fresh dill & some freshly squeezed lemon & 1T Udo Oil.
• ¼ Brown Rice

Snack:

• Chicken Breast
• Sliced Cucumbers and Broccoli

So that wraps it up for another good healthy day of exercise and eating. Now it’s almost time for bed. But first though I might do some reading to unwind a bit more.

Have a great day all

Eating Clean Today 7/15

Today I have to say was a perfect day of eating clean. I didn’t have a single processed food. Nil, Nada, No way and No how J  it’s something I am truly happy about. The meal plan still might seem a little generic for most of you but it’s something that works for me. I am sure it’s the right thing to do and the dedication I put into this and of course the preparation as well will surely benefit me health wise; which is most important.

So today I had:

Breakfast:

• Egg Whites with grilled onions and green peppers
• ½Cup Oatmeal with cinnamon

Snack:

• Small Chicken Breast
• Orange Slices

Lunch:

• Grilled Chicken
• Raw Cabbage, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Cucumber and Green pepper salad with some   fresh dill & some freshly squeezed lemon.
• ¼ Brown Rice (The kind that takes 45 minutes to cook)  :-)

Snack:

• Homemade Turkey Burger
• Lightly Steamed Broccoli

Supper:

• Grilled Salmon with Fresh Salsa
• Lightly steamed Broccoli, and Asparagus with 1T Udo Oil

So like I said I am quite happy with this and hopefully will continue to eat like this. It will be a bit harder at work, but I’m going to try my best at it and make it work.

Happy eating everyone!

Todays Workouts for Wednesday 7/15

Oh how I like and greatly enjoy my days off. Then again who doesn’t. It just seems like I have my best workouts on those days and not so good workouts on my work days. So I’ve come to except that fact, but will continue to push myself as much as I can to get to were I want to be. I’ll continue to take the good and the bad.

So today I was at the gym by 5:30AM so I could get my 2 hour cardio sesssion in before I worked out with Chris. It went pretty well and I was at my best as far as level of intensity. I know I could do more but I’ll take what I got.

My cardio for today went like this:

• 35 minutes of Elliptical Trainer @ 1.85 miles, Level 25, Average speed of 3.22 mph & 571 calories burned.

• 70 minutes on Treadmill @ 4.10 miles, Average speed of 3.60 mph. I did Incline of 11% for 8 minutes and 13% fro 2 minutes-repeated 3 times. Then my knee and foot started hurting so the second half the incline went from 5-9% and increase the speed to 3.5-3.6 mph. & 1027 calories burned.

• 15 minutes on Bike @ 3.60 miles, Level 8 & 218 calories burned.

All in all I did 2 hours and burned 1816 calories.

Not to bad for 2 hours of pure pleasure and work. It sure beats sitting at home wondering how I am going to get into shape.

Then from there I met up with Chris for strength training and found out that today was going to be another leg day. I still wasn’t fully recuperated from the last leg workout so I was a bit worried about how I would hold up. We did a variety of exercise with the dumbbells that included:

• Lunges with dumbbell curls
• Lunges with chest presses
• Steps ups with dumbbell squats
• Squats and Presses
• Plus this one thing I had to do I have to describe. I take two 45 pound plates (one in each had) walk up a flight of stairs go through the upper part of the gym with them and then go to the other staircase on the other side and then return to starting point. It’s not as easy as it might sound and it sure got my heart rate up there. It might have been the hardest yet the most satisfying exercise.
• Then repeated all of the above 3 times.

During that strength training I burned about 850 more calories. For a total of 2666 calories burned. A very productive and good day for me. The eating is going well too and as soon as I can I’ll be posting what I am eating today.

Time for me to start prepping my meals for the week and then go out and run some more errands.

Hope everyone is having a great healthy and focused day.

Catch you all later.

Some Thoughts for Today 7/14/2009

Before I head off to be today I thought I’d stop in and say Hi! It’s been a very couple of busy days for me and it’s almost time for me to get to bed so I can get up at be at the gym by 5AM.

I’ve also had a couple days of some great workouts and gained some knowledge as well about my meal plan and some other stuff as well.

I’ve talked to Paul, my trainer about my eating last week and we have come to come conclusions to why my weight loss week was a bit low. It seems like I might not have been eating as clean as I thought I was and I forgot that he wanted me to not have any cheat meals for 30 days.  Plus we tweaked my meal plans a bit more and I will now be adding in more fresh and raw vegetables in (Cabbage, Broccoli and Cauliflower) . I am going to try to limit the amount of cooked vegetables as well since that process does take some of the nutrients out of them. Also I will be drinking my natural water and not the carbonated water that I have been. Another thing that goes is the Pam cooking spray because of the process and for other reasons that I can’t remember. I am going to be cooking more with natural Olive Oil and continue to not eat processed foods. Another thing I am going to be putting a hold on for now, and Paul doesn’t know this, is that on Tuesdays I usually eat out with some friends and go to a buffet at M Resorts. I do tend to eat healthy there but I find that a lot of there food has added things that my body don’t need, like salt and sugar. So starting next  I won’t be eating out. I talked with my dear friend and we are going to be taking turns eating at each other places, That way we can prepare healthy food the way that we want to and therefore we will be able to eat more natural, non processed foods. I am sure that this will not only aid in my weight loss but it will be away to save some money and eat healthier at the same time.

I do have to say that I have some great supportive friends here and I am so lucky for that. It helps me out in this journey to be around people that have the same mindset as me when it comes to eating well and exercising too.(Thanks James) It makes this whole process a lot easier and just overall puts me in a better place and in a place were I know I will succeed.

Another thing that I want to mention is that I am again so impressed with both Paul and Chris. They continue to push me, help me learn more about proper nutrition and they take the time out to focus on a plan that will work for me.  They give me there full attention when I need it and I can’t say enough good words about how together, the two of them have and will continue to lead me in the direction that I need to go in order to help me achieve my goals. There awesome people and what I continue to gain from there knowledge and experience, is priceless.

On a final note I have to thank all of you as well for your awesome and continued support. Without all of you cheering me on, giving your advice, comments and support I don’t know  if I could have done this without that. You all are so special to me.

Well i need to get to bed. I will post my workout and eats tomorrow and of course do some blog hopping as well.

Have a healthy and fit evening..

This weeks weigh in results 7/13/2009

Today is or should I say is weigh in day and I’ll get to the point since I have to be to work shortly.

This week I lost 1½ pounds.

While I should be happy and grateful with those results, I am not. It was again another disappointing week for me. I really did feel like I worked my arse off and because of that I felt that there should have been a greater weight loss.

I really don’t know what else to say. I guess I’ll just have to somehow try harder this week.

The Bad and Good about todays workout 7/12/2009

I have to say that all night at work I was totally thinking about the gym and the fact that I really really really didn’t want to go. I just wanted to go home, chill out and just rest. My legs were still sore from “leg day” and I just wasn’t motivated to do anything. I didn’t want to feel the discomfort that I knew I would feel by working out  today. I was given in to my old way of thinking again and just wanted to rest and not do a darn thing.

then I realized and have always realized that that thinking was and will not get me anywhere. If I gave in then I would sure feel guilty about it and then how would I explain to Paul that I gave up for the day and gave in to the discomfort that I was feeling. I could imagine what he would think or call me if I reported that I didn’t work out and just went home a sat around feeling sorry for myself. Of course that wasn’t the only motivator to get me to go. The truth is that I know I need ed to go and work through this on my own terms. Yes, i might not have the greatest and most intense workout of my life, but at least I was going and doing something that would greatly improve my life and of course my thinking. So I sucked it all in and went.

Like I said it wasn’t my greatest workout and for that I am disappointed a bit. I really didn’t increase my intensity which was one of my goals this week. All though I do have to say that Wednesday and Thursday were some awesome workouts. Another goal I wanted to achieve was to get in 7½ – 8 hours of cardio in this week and that goal I did achieve successfully. Over the 5 days that I worked out this week I did do a total of 7½ hours of cardio and did workout with Chris 3X this week and the goal was 4X. it would have been four if I hadn’t been sick on Monday. I also didn’t work on my core or planks at home but did do them with Chris twice this week using the TRX suspension system. All in all it was a good week, but one that could use some improvement as well.

Now the big test comes when I weigh myself in the AM. I haven’t weigh myself all week so I am not sure what the results will be. So I am a bit nervous about it. Some come the morning check out my results to see how I did.

So today I did 1 hour of cardio that consisted of:

• 35 minutes of Elliptical Trainer @ 1.86 miles @ Level 18
• 25 minutes on Treadmill @ 1.35 miles and Incline 11% for 15 minutes and the 5% for 5 minutes and then 13% for 5 minutes.

I kind of had to decrease the incline a bit because my legs and foot were getting tired and wanted to take a bit of a break to recuperate a bit.

So for that workout I burned 1025 calories.

Now it;s time for lunch and then bedtime. I was hoping to get a swim in but first it’s to hot out and 2nd I am just to exhausted to get out there.

Tomorrow is another new week with greater improvements in all areas of my life. Catch you all later….

Another Workout Cardio and TRX 7/11/2009

Another busy day for me as well with 2 workouts done after work this morning.

First I met up with Chris for part 1. This was the strength training part using the TRX suspension again. Today was also leg day so i knew I was in for a workout. All together we basically did a variety of squats and lunges with running a lap in between sets. Towards the end my legs felt like jello which meant that to me I worked hard at it. All which is a good thing.

I also used my new watch/heart rate monitor to calculater the HR and calories. For this part 1 workout I burned 852 calories. Not to bad for a leg workout.

Then from there is onto my cardio and boy today I really didn’t want to do it. I usually get my cardio done first and then do my leg work, but today my appointment with Chris was early so I had to do my cardio and Part 2. Now I know why I like doing my cardio first, especially on leg day. My legs were so tired from the first workout  that I really just wanted to go home and rest and call it a day. Then I realized that was my old way of thinking and  I knew I had to push through this rough part and still get my cardio in, at least 1 hours worth. I didn’t want to be a quitter so I went up stairs and started  Part 2 which consisted of:

• 35 minutes of Elliptical Trainer @ 1.80 miles, Level 18
• 25 minutes of Treadmill @ 1.75 miles, 5-7% incline

I forgot my book and pen to record everything so I don’t have all the statistics for this work out.

I did though workout for 1 hour and burned 1083 calories.

Total with both workouts = 1935 calories burned.

Not to bad for a days work. My eating was also on track as well and I am hoping for a good weight loss come Monday morning. I would post what I ate today but I am again running  abit behind today.

I just wanted to check in with you all and hoping also that your’re having a healthy and fit week-end.

Catch you all later.. Again also thanks  for your awesome support.

A workout, I think 7/10/2009

Well again i am running late and I will make this brief. I need to hurry up post, get something to eat and then get ready for bed. All to be done in less than 2 hours. I did get to the gym today for both my cardio and strength training routines.

First was the cardio and boy was it a disappointment. I just wasn’t up to par and now that I look upon it I guess I should have tried to push myself more. It’s just that the legs would perform like I wanted them to. So all I got in was 1 hour of cardio and it went like this:

• 60 minutes Treadmill @ 3.4o miles, Incline 11% for 8 minutes & 13% for 2 minutes (repeated 3 times) then 5% for 8 minutes and  7% for 2 minutes (repeated 3 times) & 1105 calories burned.

I had to reduce the incline because of two things.

1. My legs were extremely tired and jelly like.
2. My right foot was starting to hurt.

So to prevent any serious damage or discomfort I reduce it a bit. Not happy with that because now I feel that I should have just toughed it out and kept going like I have been these past two days.

Once I was done there is was time to meet up with Chris for the other part of my training. Again we worked on the TRX Suspension training and worked the chest and back. Tomorrow we will be working the legs It went better than yesterday and it’s probably because I was more comfortable with it.

With this system we did some chest presses, 1 & 2 Arm pulls, Planks, Standing rows and of course we increased the laps to 2 after each set. I am sure we did more with the TRX but I can’t remember at this point.

Now I am off to bed and hoping that tomorrows training will go better than todays. I am sure it will. I just have to continue to stay focused and positive.

Again thanks everyone for stopping by and commenting. You all are an awesome bunch of people.

Take care and have a great week-end.

Todays cardio and workout news 7/9/2009

OK, I might as well get to the point today since I still have a lot to do before I get to bed. Unfortunately my week-end is almost to an end and I’ll be back to work tonight. I was up as always bright and early to get my cardio workout in before I meet up with Chris for the strength training part of my day. I knew what I wanted to accomplish and I have to say that I did that and more. I even impressed myself. and I think that even Paul might be even a little impressed as well. He is tough though.

So this is what I accomplished as far as cardio goes and in this order as well:

• 30 minutes Elliptical Trainer @ 1.64 miles, Level 25, & 840 calories burned.

• 70 minutes Treadmill (Includes a 5 minute warm-up and cool-down) @ 4 miles, 11% incline for 9 minutes and 13% incline for 1 minute-repeated 6 times. Average speed 3.51 mph. & 1283 calories burned.

• 20 minutes Stationary Bike @ 5 miles, Levels 12 & 13, & 177 calories burned.

• 10 minutes Stepper @ Levels 5 & 6, 32 floors climbed & 148 calories burned.

• 2o minutes Treadmill @ 1.06 miles, Average speed 3.20 mph, 5% incline & 235 calories burned.

So the workout lasted 2½ hours &  I burned 2683 calories.

I’m still not sure how accurate the calorie burn is. I just go by what data I input into the machine and it calculates it all. Soon I’ll be having a heart rate monitor that will hopefully do a more accurate calorie count. I guess we will soon find out. So I have to say that I am pleased with this workout. I have to say that i believe that the only reason I was able to get that much time in is because I was well rested and I didn’t have to work all night first. So I have a feeling that on Friday I’ll only have time for an hour cardio and hopefully 1½ on Saturday and Sunday. Who know my adrenaline might be still pumped up and I’ll be able to do even more. All I can do is give my best and try harder to make it happen.

After I finished that routine I was able to rest for about 15 minutes before I had to meet with Chris for another good workout. Today we tried something different as far as strength training. We used what they call a TRX Suspension Training. Here’s a video that shows some basic stuff you can do.

We worked the upper body and shoulders as well. There is so much you can do with this that the amount of movements and intensity are so numerous. At first I didn’t care for it and found it a bit awkward but once I got the hang of it I could really tell I was getting a solid workout. then of course in between sets I had to run a  lap as well just to keep the heart rate up there.

All in a all a very solid workout day. One I am pleased with immensely.

Time for lunch now. All most forgot to post what I ate and will be eating today. Some pretty good clean eating  along with a perfect workout day can only mean good things.

My Meals for the day are as follows:

Breakfast:

• Egg Whites with onions and pepper
• Cucumber slices
• Oatmeal with cinnamon

Snack:

• Strawberries
• Low Carb protein Shake

Lunch:

• Grilled Chicken with Salsa
• Steamed Cauliflower and Broccoli with Udo Oil and Cayenne pepper

Snack

• Green Peppers
• Chicken Breast

Supper:

• Grilled Salmon
• Brussels Sprouts

Have a great and healthy day everyone…..

Todays Eats 7/8/2009

Well here is what I am eating for today.

My Eats for the day are as follows:

Breakfast:

• Egg Whites with onions and pepper
• Carrot sticks
• Oatmeal with cinnamon

Snack:

• Cucumber and Onion slice with Vinegar
• Chicken Breast

Lunch:

• Grilled Salmon with Salsa
• Steamed Cauliflower and Broccoli with Udo Oil and Cayenne pepper
• Sweet Potato

Snack

• Blueberries
• Protein Shake

Supper:

• Grilled Lemon Chicken Breast
• Steamed Broccoli and Asparagus

It’s a pretty basic and simple meal plan I follow and that’s what works for me. I on occasion add more variety with different fruits but this is basically what I do eat on a daily basis.