MVP FITNESS 365

DAY 54 of 365

Going dark until Tuesday. 

I.  Can’t.  Wait.

SIDENOTE:  My chest and arms are actually a little sore from yesterday’s mini-workout.  Hmmm.

DAY 53 of 365

March or bust?!

I am obviously already looking past February.  It has been a miserable month for my progress.  Posts to the blog have been sporadic.  Workouts even more scarce.  If it weren’t for my eating clean 90% of the week, I would have nothing at all.  And yet, considering nutrition is 80% of the battle (if not more), I have continued to drop weight.

This week has been more of the same.  After a killer workout last week left me mostly incapacitated, I set a goal of hitting the program hard this week with three sessions in the weight room.  Sunday came and went.  I was willing, but my body had not healed enough to walk, let alone tear up my muscles even more.  Monday came.  Monday went.  I was finally up to the task of working out, but overwhelmed with life.  Everything fell apart for me from the moment I woke up.  I spent the day putting out all the fires.  It wore me out.  It started with the post office being closed when I absolutely NEEDED to send a few time-sensitive things out.  Ended up at Western Union working out the details instead.  Ugh.  Then Candy had a flat tire that we had zero money to fix (but had to nonetheless).  A few more similar excuses things popped up, and I just didn’t have it in me after dinner.

Tuesday was spent packing and preparing for the upcoming trip to Dallas this weekend (more later).  Reservations, tickets, laundry, cleaning the house, etc.  Now my wife will eventually read this (maybe!), so I should be honest in that she did 90% of the actual cleaning and house prep.  I did do some, however, but mostly more of the running around stuff.  With a running club race right after school and cheer practice after that, the gym wasn’t happening on Tuesday either.

That brings us to today.  Whew.  Well, I had already discovered last week what a mistake it was to put that much time between workouts.  The beginner’s DOMS hit me hard and kept me from hitting my stride last week.  As such, I knew that I HAD to get to the gym today.  And so, at 10:30PM, I headed out.  Big mistake.

Tonight was the worst workout I have had in a while.  Zero energy.  I ended up completing only half of it before crawling out the door with my tail between my legs.  I just couldn’t white knuckle it tonight.  It was not the brutal workout I needed, but still something.  A few deadlifts, presses, split squats and pulls. 

I used to be able to pull off late night gym sessions.  As I approach 40 this summer, it just isn’t in me anymore.  Lesson learned (hopefully!). 

So this weekend should be another interesting test.  We head off to Dallas to experience NCA’s for another year.  The absolute best cheer weekend I could ever dream up.  I am a BIG FAN!  800+ teams, 17,000+ cheerleaders, 35,000+ spectators.  It will be insane.  And, just like our last trip to Palm Springs, there will be no home cooked and measured meals.  I need to be better than I was just a few weeks ago.  I allowed a fun weekend to turn into two weeks off and a five pound weight gain.  That can’t happen.

Of course I will probably let loose a bit.  It is simply too restrictive to demand healthy alternatives when the city will be crawling with people, the restaurants jammed, and most of our meals spent in the convention center.  I won’t promise I will hit the hotel gym every night, but I would like to think that I will give it a shot one or two nights I am away. 

Bottom line.  I don’t mind a few days off program.  I absolutely MUST get back on track when I come home Monday night.  There can be no week long cheer hangover. 

WEEK SEVEN WEIGH-IN – 326.0 pounds

It feels great to get back on pace with a 6.2 pound loss.  With only a couple workouts on the books last week, this is further testament to the importance of diet and rest.    

I am cautiously optimistic for what remains of February, but it will be a definite challenge.  Five more days until I leave for Dallas.  

STARTING WEIGHT: 342.2

PREVIOUS WEEK: 332.2

CURRENT WEEK: 326.0 (-6.2)

TOTAL POUNDS LOST: (-16.2)

I am 13.5% complete and down 16.2 total pounds.

DAY 48 / DAY 49 out of 365

DAY 48

TGIF.  I wanted so badly to hit the gym.  Sadly, I was in such a ridiculous amount of pain that I could hardly get out of my chair most of the day.  The only reason I did even that was to prevent my legs from growing roots and freezing up altogether.  Not a good day.  I ate well, but no workouts to be spoken of.  Not much movement at all, in fact.  I can only do as much as my body allows.

DAY 49

Still not fully recuperated, I spent most of today stretching out my hamstrings hoping to still get in a late night treadmill session.  It took every bit of the day, but I finally made it onto the treadmill just after midnight.  Not exactly how I saw the weekend playing out to this point, but ehhh, I’m working on it.

Intervals were both good and bad.  I was soooo slow and lumbering, but I was able to push myself albeit at much lower speeds.  I went after it old school tonight, with Du Hast (Rammstein) and Head Like a Hole (Nine Inch Nails) blasting in my ears.  When all was said and done, I brought it tonight.  I actually feel GREAT right now, basking in the post-interval glow at 1AM.

Another weigh-in tomorrow.  The week consisted of one brutal weight lifting session and one interval workout.  That’s it.  I did, however, eat almost perfectly all week and still expect magic numbers in the morning.  I won’t be happy unless I drop at least 4 pounds (and kind of nervous about it too). 

For that to happen, though, I need sleep.  I’ll be out in 10 minutes.

Interesting week coming up…  more about that later.

DAY 47 of 365

I woke up not thinking I was going to make it through the day – at least not without a serious barrage of prescription drugs.

Sooooo sore.  My hamstrings were pissed.  My glutes not so thrilled either.  Ahh, they’ll get over it.  

It took some coaxing, but I think the majority of my body forgave me before too long.  I would have loved to just lay in bed all day, but even that was uncomfortable.  Sitting still in any position for any length of time was excruciating.  Ironically, the best I felt was when I was walking (slowly!).  I ended up pacing aimlessly around the house most of the afternoon.  At this point, my wife is wondering why I didn’t just vacuum the house.  Yeah, I don’t have an answer for that.  Sorry.

No treadmill session.  Let’s not get too crazy here.  And I forgot to wear my pedometer.  Still, I ate well, and I am pretty happy with the day.

Tomorrow is the big question mark.  I would really LOVE to get to the gym for another beating.  I just don’t know how much resistance I might get from my muscles.  I’m going to seriously try to get there.  It may not be the most inspiring workout, but I want it nonetheless.

A quick check….  yep, deadlifts.  Add to that incline bench, lat pulldown, Romanian deadlifts, Bulgarian split squats, and some ab work.  Ouch.  Six total sets of deadlifts?  And more squats? 

Ugh.

SQUARE ONE

So the gym this afternoon was brutal!

Apparently, just two weeks away from the weight room was enough to force my body to re-enact the awful beginner’s soreness that I thought was already behind me. 

I HURT.  BAD.

I started the next phase of my workout plan today.  After completing four weeks of the break-in phase, I have moved to the FAT LOSS I stage for the next 6 weeks.  My body simply wasn’t able to comprehend what was about to happen to it.  [Ugh.]

I had been doing 2 sets of 5 different exercises twice a week.  The new regimen requires 3 sets of 6 exercises THREE times a week.  My load just increased from 20 sets a week to 54 sets per week.  It was insane.  Same basic exercises, squats, lunges, deadlifts, rows, etc.  Just now being done to exhaustion.  And that is no joke.  I wasn’t able to complete my last set of lunges (using only bodyweight!).  My hamstrings were shaking so hard, had I taken one more step I really think I would have ended on the floor.  No, seriously!  I had to let several people pass me on the stairs heading out because I was moving so slowwwww.  Each step felt like the last one before my stumble down to the bottom. 

Tomorrow should be fun.  Woohoo (not)!  I doubt I get much done in the way of cardio, but I intend to walk quite a bit and stretch out these leg muscles.  I guess it’s time to strap the pedometer back on.  10K steps will be no joke in my current state.  I’d settle for half that right now.

DAY 46 of 365

I am the anti-Waldo! 

That is to say that everyone may not have known where I was, but they sure knew where I wasn’t – at the GYM.  I admit this was NOT what I had in mind when I took off for Palm Springs 13 days ago.  Despite jumping out to a motivating start, it took only a weekend at a cheer competition to throw everything out the window.

To be fair, all is not lost.  Hardly.  I was a bit disappointed though in how I handled my first steps out from the constraints of my program.  Let me catch you up…

I had spent a scheduled week away from the gym.  No lifting at all.  It was actually hard to rest like that, as I was just hitting my stride in the weight room.  Then again, I think that was the point.  I had intended to do cardio during that week, but I was never a big fan of cardio, and seeing as how it is so far down the fat loss hierarchy, I didn’t make it a priority.  I did, however, continue to eat well. 

Then Palm Springs came.  It was really just three days away, but we had no real way to control our food.  Most of the time, we were at the convention center and different teams from our gym were going onstage every few hours.  It made leaving for a healthy meal very difficult.  We packed a lot of our food, and ate convention fare (hot dogs, stale burgers, etc.) for the rest.  Only at night did we have a chance at a decent meal, and by then, we were all so hungry that anything sounded good.  I knew a few hours into the first day that I would simply enjoy the few days away, and come back ready to go.  Still, I didn’t go crazy.  An ice cream at night was probably the worst of it.

I weighed in at 329.6 when we got back – a gain of 2.4 pounds.  I had driven all night to get back.  My sleep was messed up, and I had junk to keep me awake on the road.  I know a lot of that gain was merely water weight.  I wasn’t concerned in the least.  Had I gotten right back on track, I would have lost those pounds and then some – easily.

Ahh, but there’s the rub.  Once I had enjoyed even the smallest ounce of freedom, my motivation lapsed for just a minute, and I was gone.  I had a cheer hangover.  I was tired and worn out from the weekend.  I was hungry.  I was lazy.  I took a few days, which became another week.  The next weigh in added another 2.6 pounds.  Still more water that will easily come off, but the longer I continued like that, the more permanent those changes would become.

Valentine’s Day was the last straw.  Oh how I thought I had missed chocolate.  In the end, however, it just wasn’t as satisfying as I had hoped.  I found that the payoff just wasn’t worth it. 

Was I going to waste a perfect January and throw away all that hard work?  Of course not.  So, I am back and still have a long way to go.

WEEK SIX WEIGH-IN – 332.2 pounds

STARTING WEIGHT: 342.2

PREVIOUS WEEK: 329.6

CURRENT WEEK: 332.2 (+2.6)

TOTAL POUNDS LOST: (-10.0)

I am 11.5% complete and down 10.0 total pounds.

WEEK FIVE WEIGH-IN – 329.6 pounds

STARTING WEIGHT: 342.2

PREVIOUS WEEK: 327.2

CURRENT WEEK: 329.6 (+2.4)

TOTAL POUNDS LOST: (-12.6)

I am 9.6% complete and down 12.6 total pounds.

DAY 33 of 365 – VACATION

Please excuse my absence over the next few days. 

I will be out of town at a HUGE nationals cheer competition.  That is how we roll for family vacations.  HA!  Although I intend to exercise while at the hotel, and eat “moderately well” while away from home, to think I will continue to lose weight is a silly notion.  I will likely gain a few pounds but rev that slowing metabolism back up again.  

Next week is going to be amazing.  I start back at the gym three days a week, and will be ready to correct any gain and then some.

Until then…  Eat.  Train.  Rest.  (I know, completely corny!  Almost sounded like an infomercial there.)