Thursday Jan 26

Whoa, this is getting rather odd. I'm actually posting on the day that I worked out.

I mean, I just worked out and I don't think I'm going to be doing anything else except working for a few hours until I go to bed, so I'm posting to my blog now.

Six rounds ... count 'em!

Whoa. It's been a while since I've done this, so .. I'm going to take a moment.

A moment was taken.

OK then, back to what I was going to say. I had a great 40-minute CrossFit session in my own garage gym tonight. I did this for six rounds:

20 H2H kb swings 16-kilo bell used for most rounds
20 kb cleans
20 kb clean and presses
20 kb snatches
20 step ups
20 bicep curls
15 BW squats
20 push ups

Not a bad workout. Not great, but not bad. I'm trying to cover as many bases as possible without bugging my stomach too much. after this session, it was merely ok.

Still not quite at the calorie count I want, but getting closer. I just don't want to risk my knees running on pavement or a treadmill when I'm still over 220lbs. I'm still way over that, to be frank. But at least this workout gets me closer.

Wednesday Jan 25

Good book, not so good reader

It's getting to crunch time around me at work. Of course, I'm already done most of the work to be completed, just need to put the whipped cream and cherry on top and I'm done.

But work, as in life, sometimes has a habit of dropping something on the head of your humble narrator, the dancing hippopotamus that I am. I'm sure something will come that will add some level of stress. The key, I'm told by the book I'm currently reading, is to stay calm and realise that any crisis is an opportunity.

Yeah, sounds weird, but when the guy on the audiobook says it, it sounds reasonable.

Got this done for nine rounds Wednesday night, then went off for a walk in the pool:

1:55 on the elliptical trainer
1:55 kettlebell lifts - the 16-kilo bell for almost all rounds.

Walk in the pool was about 35 minutes.

With the heart rate monitor on, it was cool to watch the up and downs of my HR during the session:

I've got an old, used monitor in the garage that can be hooked up to my iPhone rather quickly. The same iPhone is also hooked up via Bluetooth to the Polar H7 HR thingy around my chest during the session.

Hmm, I guess it's time to get a pic of that up on this here blog, I guess. There is a group of "fitness shops" called Orange Theory around here that do exactly the same thing - put a HR monitor on you and then put that information up on a big screen in front of a class of people there with you at the same time. I guess it's for motivation. It would also help take the guess work out of who is working the hardest. Meh, I'll stay at home with my rather much more inexpensive setup. At least I know who didn't wipe down the equipment after their workout at home.

Tuesday Jan 24

So ... I got back on the trainer tonight. a nice 35-minute session, followed by a short walk in the pool.

It was a nice a boring cardio session. I was reading from my earlier blog entries, from September to December of 2011, and then the next two months after that. It's where I got the genius workout plan for tonight.

These were, of course, the entries which describe my campaign to get to 211 for the 2012 Nationals in March. I ended up losing the match to come third, man. Bummer. But I think the true success was in the attempt. How many 42-year olds compete at Nationals?

Some of those workouts were stupid simple. I mean, check out this workout from a few days before the event itself.

Forgive the spelling errors, too. I was exhausted.

I have to do more training, it's plain and simple. Half hour walks and 25-minute gym sessions are not going to help me out. I need to use more calories. I need more offence in my game.

I used the football team as a metaphor to explain it to myself earlier today. My diet is like the defence. If your diet is good, if your defence is good, at least you stop things from getting worse. At least you stop "the other team" from scoring; at least you stop getting more fat.

The exercising is the offence. If you select the right play, the right thing to do and go for it as hard as you can, you're going to score. Calories will be used,  the weight will come off. You will win.

If you have no offence or at least a very bad one, you can still win. It's just going to take longer. I'd rather be up by 45 points at the half and cruise to victory. Alas, it seems I'm making this harder on myself than I need to.

But you'll never win if you have a bad defence. "Defence wins Championships" is a motto I don't need to quote to anyone. It's a truism that is 100% true, man. If you have a bad defence, you'll never win. If you have a crappy diet, you'll be fat. If your defence is a bunch of nine-year-olds facing off against a CFL team, well you can predict, right?

I changed metaphors, but you get the idea

Of late, my defence has been "ok", but I have to make sure I stay away from idiot food choices after 4 pm. That open space of time from after school until I go to bed is what I need to work on, my readers. I'm improving my offence, but I have to start filling in the holes on defence, too.

Sunday and Monday Jan 23

So... yeah. I'm trying to up the rate of weight loss at the moment. Give myself a much-needed kick in the all too large pants.

Sunday was a 35-minute elliptical session. during which I got my heart rate up to 170 bpm. I had my heart rate monitor on - having it is a really cool thing, to be honest. Takes the guess work out of how hard am I working, is my mind lying to me or what ... that kind of a thing.

Monday was another 35-minute session. I started it off thinking quite conservatively, in that I thought to do a session that would be just under 30 minutes. I got that done, and then took a second to realise that I needed a bit more done. So I put the GymBoss timer back on and kept going until I got to 35 minutes.

Like eight or nine rounds of this:

1:55 elliptical machine. earlier rounds went easy, later rounds, went harder
1:55 kettlebell lifts, swings and presses. Used the 16-kilo bell for most rounds.

I really liked the cleans and presses - I think they will help with rugby. They certainly helped get the heart rate up.

ugly shoes, good workout

Thursday, Friday and Saturday Jan 21

Thursday was to be a walking in the pool night, but it ended up being a "pass out on the couch, 'cuz this week has just been a freaking long month so far." kind of a day.

I did have a great stretching session in the morning, however.

Friday I did the same stretching session in the morning, but this time did get to a 35-minute walk in a pool, just very late.

Saturday was a "workout" all day - cleaning and vacuuming a rather messy house. Non-stop, really. I did go for a 2k walk in the evening, which was long enough for me to realise that I need to do more for my stomach.

I need to do more for my physical health at the moment. It's a no-brainer.

Can hardly wait to walk here in the summer time.

Tuesday and Wednesday Jan 18

Tuesday was a rather long and harrowing day - it wasn't an ice storm, but there was slippery stuff everywhere and people were getting antsy all over the place at work.

I didn't get to train until going for a water walk and long sauna later on in the day. I did check when I got home and I hit 251 after the sauna.

Meh, it's progress, but I still have a long way to go.

In any case, Wednesday was also a mess and nothing. Wanted to go for a swim but wasn't feeling up to it. Not really.

Saturday, Sunday and Monday Jan 16

Saturday got this done for seven rounds:

1:55 on the elliptical trainer
1:55 kettlebell swings.  (different bells, different swings and movements)

It took just under a half hour to get the seven rounds done. I did do a fair stretch after but was still decently sore. I was pretty unimpressed with the number on the scale at home. Seriously, I need to get things moving in the right direction again.

Yup, my Vibram Five Finger shoes.

Sunday, I got this done for five rounds:

20 H2H KB swings
20 KB cleans
20 KB clean and presses
20 KB snatches
20 step ups
20 bicep curls
20 BW squats
15 push ups

Not a bad workout, to be honest. I also did this one barefoot in the garage. As I recovered on Monday, it was nice to feel no pain in the knees or hips from these workouts.

Monday ... ah, Monday. Monday I had a Rugby meeting, so all I got done was a 25-minute session on the elliptical trainer. I did do like five sprint sessions in the second half of the session. I did learn a lot of stuff at the meeting. I was good and stuck to my diet, too.

I do plan on having longer sessions on the elliptical trainer in the near future. I do know my body well enough that 25-minute sessions really aren't going to help all that much, even when I "sprint" on the thing. From my own experience with weight loss, I'll need to be doing at least 35-minute sessions, along with sprints and kettlebells, too.

I also did have a discussion about life after rugby. Seems this guy will be happy with Slo-Pitch baseball. That's never really been my speed, to be frank. When I mentioned that after I get my stomach healed up, I'd be starting BJJ, his line was that "It was too late for him to start with that.". I was sorry to hear that - such an inclusive thing BJJ can be; I'm hoping to convince him otherwise in the coming years.

Bare minimum, I'd like to get that guy to try it out at the rugby pitch, see if it's something he'd enjoy even at that level.

Thursday and Friday Jan 13

Yeah, that's pretty much it. I kept up the good habits of stretching in the mornings with a coffee and walking in the pool in the evenings for about a half hour. Thursday was a cool night, as I got to eat some cool food.

Friday was boring, as we tried a new place and ... it was kinda lame. Ah well, life will go on.

At least my knees and hips are liking the habits of walking in the pool.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday Jan 11

The last three days have been a real struggle to carve out time for training.

Each day was an almost exact photocopy. Kind of scary to be frank, but at least some good things are happening.

Early morning stretching session after getting things ready for the day. Working on quads, ITB bands, hip mobility and rhomboids/ lats for about 10 minutes each day.

I arrive at work a bit early these days, so I've been doing my morning pages and gratitude journal writing there. Takes no more than ten minutes and it sets me up in a positive mental light for the day. Well worth the investment of time.

In the evenings, a 30 minute walk in the pool later on in the day. At the end of the walk, I have been bringing my Rogue SuperNova into the hot tub and rolling with it in there. Honest to goodness, what a discovery.

Been getting to bed progressively earlier, too.

Saturday and Sunday Jan 8

Saturday I had to do a lot of running around and wasn't up to the task, to be frank. Man, it was a tough day to be out and about, but it got done.

I stretched in the morning, but that was about it. I spent the day chasing and trying to get things to work for me. Meh, whatever. I did finally go for a nice easy walk in the evening - a 2km walk with my wife in the cold. All good, all good.

Sunday I got a pretty good set of workouts done in the afternoon. I got the elliptical trainer and kettlebell workout again ... at the end of it, I did four rounds of double kettlebell clean and press.

1:50 Elliptical trainer
1:50 Kettlebell lifts

then the four rounds of 1 minute clean and press. Got 16 - 15 - 16 -16 done. That was pretty fast for the 12 kilo bells. Next time I'll get up to the 16 kilo bells.

After that, I got to the pool again with my son. That was a pretty nice stretch after a number of sprints after him...

Thursday and Friday Jan 6

Thursday was supposed to be a training session with my rugby club, but instead, I trained at home.

I did six rounds of training and kettlebells:

1:50 on the trainer
1:50 of kettlebell swings

Much later in the day, I got a walk in the pool by myself. I was basically sprinting in the pool, which was pretty hard on the quads.

On Friday, I was really sore and took it easy on the training during the day. I did get about 25 minutes on the elliptical trainer at home.

Wednesday Jan 4

This day was a weird one. I went to bed too late last night and woke up late. I need to get that under control. I spent the day trying to be helpful but not doing very well.

I did get this workout done before going to bed for six rounds:

1:50 round on the elliptical trainer
1:50 kettlebell lifting 12 kilo then 40 lb kb

You can tell when I switched from the light bell to the heavier bell from the spike in the heart rate. Also ... did three rounds of one minute double kettlebell cleans and jerks to make up the time to get to a half hour.

got 14 - 14 - 14 for the rounds of a minute long, then 30 seconds off. At least I think it was 30 seconds off. Might have been like a minute rest. Anyway, those are the last spikes on the HR there at the end. Very effective way to get the HR up, let me tell you.

Tuesday Jan 3

Its nice having a fairly well put together elliptical machine in the house. Very low impact. Yesterday's HIIT workout was pretty cool, so today I got to take it down a notch and just do some steady state cardio.

A nice 28 minutes on the thing, just at a steady pace, that's all.

After a nice long day, I also got back into the pool for a 35 minute walk.

Then a hot tub.

Sunday Jan 1 and Monday Jan 2

Well a new year. Woot.

Sunday was a clean up day around my house. I didn't go idiotic New Years Eve and was up early, stretched with a coffee and cleaned up the elliptical and did some basic maintenance on it. Worked pretty well. Made some space for it and tried it out for a few minutes before having to go to a birthday party.

Later on, did go for a walk around the neighbourhood, too.

Monday was this:


A crazy six rounds of

 1:50 on the elliptical
1:50 of Kettlebell cleans

yeah, it was pretty crazy. Got a pool walk in later, too.

Tuesday Dec 27th- Sat Dec 31

Most of these days were me chasing my son until he collapsed and I got to do a water walk for about a 35 minute period later on in the day.

Also, kettlebells.

Also, on Thursday, someone decided that they were going to get rid of an elliptical trainer in my neighbourhood. Yeah, grabbed it off of them for free.

Needs some tender care, but looks good so far.

Monday Dec 26th

I had a half workout this day, as I had to go and be a dad. Got this done for two rounds before some six year old exploded.

20 H2H swings
20 kb cleans
20 kb clean and presses
20 Kb snatches
20 push ups
20 bw squats
20 step ups
20 bicep curls


Later on, I did get a pool walking session done, too

Sunday Dec 25

It's the kettletree!

Merry Christmas ... after I got woken up really early, got the presents done ... was kind of bored in the afternoon, so ... I got this done for four rounds ... again:

20 H2H swings
20 kb cleans
20 kb clean and presses
20 Kb snatches
20 push ups
20 bw squats
20 step ups
20 bicep curls

All was good.

Kind of boring at this point, but it's ok. I like boring.

Saturday Dec 24

Man, got the exact smake workout done as Friday night:

20 H2H swings
20 kb cleans
20 kb clean and presses
20 Kb snatches
20 push ups
20 bw squats
20 step ups
20 bicep curls

All was good.

Later on, got a walk in the pool done, too.

#awesome.

Monday Dec 19-Friday Dec 23

Most of these days were spent in the frantic completion of work, such that no training was possible. Generally, I did get a stretch in the morning, and a walk in the late evenings.

But I was constantly interrupted in sessions with "Ohmygoodnesswehavetodothisbecauseweforgot" kind of things from my family.

Ugh.

I did get a really cnei workout done Friday night, after all the madness. A 30 minute kettlebell session with this being done four times:

20 H2H swings
20 kb cleans
20 kb clean and presses
20 Kb snatches
20 push ups
20 bw squats
20 step ups
20 bicep curls

All was good.