November Goals Assessment and Other Blog Challenges

26 Think of a time when you felt like you were failing. What did you learn from this experience that helped you become a stronger person?

There have been many times in my life where I have felt like I was failing.  Not all of them include fitness.  Many of them include relationships and jobs and direction.  What I learned it that leading a good life depends mostly on oneself but it cannot be achieved without the support of others.  Make no mistake you personally will always have to do what seems like the heavy lifting, there are times you can do that alone, but there are many more times when you cannot.  Having good people around you makes the whole difference as to whether you succeed or fail.

27 Describe your most memorable meal.

It would have to be the 12 course dinner from Amber and my second anniversary.  It was really good food but very high end cuisine and weird.

28 Which 3 exercises would you recommend to a novice to improve their fitness level?

Cardio – jog, use the elliptical, vigorous and extended time doing jumping jacks or something.  Do something that gets your heart rate pumpin’ for at least 25 minutes every day.

Push ups – done well they build core and arm strength

Cycling – Go for a bike ride where there are hills and go at a pace where you are slightly uncomfortable

Basically all these are or can be free (most folks already own a bike as far as I know) and they will take you quite a ways into getting fit if you put enough heart into them.

29 How did you do on your November goals?

Here they are:

Find out what my max weight is for bench press

I did find this out for a six rep max is, 170lbs, more than my body weight, I’m actually quite happy with that, my new, open ended goal is my old usual weight 220lbs.

Run at least 40km (this is only a goal really because I’m thinking that a lot of it will be on the treadmill due to weather

I ended up running 45km, not a long long way, but more than the minimum of my goal.  I did miss running during the middle of one week while I was a bit under the weather so I am glad I made it.

Fit into my calorie goals on myfitnesspal (chrispy47) minimum 90% of the days.

Done!  I have been within my calorie goal every single day this month, but probably not today with a work Christmas party (early I know).  so 29/30 96.7% Success.

30 What are your goals for December?

1. Run 40k
2. Run three times during the Christmas break
3. Bench Press 180 or more
4. Maybe some more later.

The Physical Changes The Mental

We were talking at karate last night about the road to earning a black belt at our club and how along the way one ends up changing.  For each individual the change is different but they way it happens is basically the same.  Through hard physical work comes a mental change.  When the body is worn down it allows the mind to accept that changes must occur.

I think this relates very well to fitness and diets and whatnot.  Think about this.  Do you know someone who has lost weight simply by dieting?  Could be yourself, could be someone you know.  I did it a couple of times.  Did the change last?  Mine didn’t. Clearly for some people it does, and I would argue that in those cases the trials and willpower of the dieting alone is their physical challenge, but for the most part, from accounts I hear or have read, or have experienced myself when someone only diets the weight change last for as long as the diet lasts.  When the diet is over, or a goal is reached one rewards themselves with food, or goes back to old habits only to return to the previous weight.

When a physical commitment is made it seems to be a different story.  Also from what I have heard, read and experienced that physical must be to an extent where one is pushing themselves to the limit more often than not. The body wants to give up, but the mind pushes you through.  Once the mind realized really what you are capable of it becomes the desire to keep going.

I’ve lost weight before by eating less, it like mentioned above lasted for as long as the diet lasted.  I’ve lost weight with casual, convenient exercise riding my bike in the mornings when I had a job where I worked at 10am.  But when that was no longer convenient I stopped and my weight went back up.  It was not until I spent so many hours on the elliptical almost three years ago now that I broke myself and realization came.

Here’s a parallel example for you in case I am not explaining this physical changes the mental concept well enough.  The army.  In the army you get a whole bunch of new 18 year old recruits.  Each of them individuals.  The officers work them like dogs, shout and scream at them, ensure they can make a bed so tight you can bounce quarters off them and do push ups for blinking at the wrong time.  What does making your bed have to do with the real tasks at hand of being in the army?  Discipline!  How can you follow the orders on the battlefield if you can’t follow one to make your bed.  Then when they have worn these folks down, made them march and push up and run and assemble a gun is eleven seconds, they are changed mentally, they are a unit and will do exactly what you ask them to do.  The physical trials change the behaviour. (Yes this is a gross generalization of army bootcamp life)

My point here is, because I have experienced it myself, that if you want your fitness levels to change, if you are starting a path to get yourself in shape and you want it to stick, you have to really, Really put your nose to the grindstone and wear yourself out again and again.  Let your mind show your body what it can really do.

Dear Santa

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here and over at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

Dear Santa

List at least ten things that you may or may not need that you’d love to find under your tree this year!

This list might actually be mostly stuff I get, Amber asks for a list for my birthday and Christmas each year and she picks and chooses from that so here it goes.

1. The Avengers on DVD – I’ve purposely not bought this in order to leave the gift option open.
2. Paper Mario: Sticker Star – Games in the Paper Mario series are always great and this one looks to be no exception!  Would make a nice game to play on the way to London (Ontario) to visit her mom right after Christmas.
3. Comics – DC is putting out volumes of their new 52 series.  I only get two books monthly, Batman and Nightwing, so get The Flash volume 1 or Superman volume 1 or a few others would be great.
4. Under Armour shirts – like the on in the picture to the left there.  I have ripped a couple of mine on barbed wire doing the Run For Your Lives and the Warrior Dash.
5. Scribblenauts Unlimited – For Wii U, I did buy a few games already at lunch of the Wii U but this is one that has escaped my budget and it looks very neat. (It’s also for 3DS)
6. Superman New 52 figure – yeah it’s a toy, but I got the Batman one in October and one should have the World’s Finest!
7. Under Armour Hoodie – I got one a while back and it’s an awesome sweater! Very comfy!
8. Mittens – working at daycare I am outside for at least a couple of hours each day, gloves just are not warm enough
9. Funny toque – Amber has her own collection and last year I got a Ninja Turtle toque, so it would be neat to get something else.
10. Massage gift card – I can always use a massage and really it’s in our budget every other month, but I’d take that as a gift anyways!

Now it’s your turn!  Put your wish list on your blog and then link it here, or just put it right in the comments!

A Whole Bunch Of Challenge Topics

17 Which music style/band/song motivates you the most?

I think just really upbeat, music helps.  I have some songs by Infrared Riding Hood that are great, Good Time from owl City and Carly Rae, Gungham Style music like that.

18 How do you reward yourself when you achieve a fitness goal?

Usually with gear of some sort.  A new under armour shirt or something.  Once in a while with food, it’s nice to just eat something ridiculous on a day where I have burned 1000 calories.

19 There’s an app for that…What’s your favorite fitness technology?

I use my fitness pal a lot (chrispy47)! Amber put me on to it and now it’s just become part of my day.  Other than that just my Ipod, I always have that with me when working out or running.

20 Your most awkward fitness etiquette moment?

Thankfully I don’t think I have one!

21 Pilgrims left their home to find something better in the New World. Where did your fitness journey start and where are you headed?

My fitness journey started on the floor of the dojo at karate where I was gasping for breath.  It lead me to the elliptical machine for about 3 months and has taken me to many fantastic places.  A most improved player award for hockey that very next winter was the first stop.  Running in races was the next place. I’ve even come second in a race of over 3500 people!  Now my fitness journey is aiming me toward the possibility of a triathlon and a 1/2 marathon.

22 Today is Thanksgiving. Write a thank you letter (or a few!) to those you helped you on your fitness journey this year.

Dear Amber and Jodi, Thanks! Amber gives me a lot of support in my endeavours to be all fitnessy, and Jodi gives me the exercises and crazy ideas to do things that push my limits.

23 Dear Fitness Santa…What do you want for Christmas (or other holiday you celebrate)?

I would like… a few workout gear things, I’d mention goals and whatnot, but Santa doesn’t bring those to you.

24 Share your favorite turkey left overs recipe.

Bread, turkey and lots of gravy all heated up, simple and awesome!

25 How do you handle exercise and clean eating during the holiday season?

For our Thanksgiving here I just made sure that I ran or worked out on the day of a big meal, keep my metabolism running hot when I’m going to stuff my face!  As for clean eating, I’ve already discovered that I totally don’t do that, I eat too many things like hot chocolate and whipped peanut butter.  I just avoid the really junky greasy food and it’s all good.

I’m Still Here

I feel like I kind of feel of the earth for a few days there.  A combination of being a bit sick, sleeping a lot and a new game system will kind of do that to you I suppose.

I don’t have much time as I should really be in bed already but I still need to shower.  So Let’s get up to speed and then I’ll get you the details later.

I had my birthday!  I’m 33 now, I think I mentioned that last week.  It was a great time at Boston Pizza and I got to hand out with lots of good friends and Matt visited from Toronto and it was a wicked time!  Thanks to his sister’s new place I discovered a great diner that does their homefries on the flat top, so good!

I got a Wii U – I mentioned that twice on the weekend, my impressions are upcoming, I think Sunday that gives me a week with the system! (Hint – It’s GREAT)

I’m totally on track for my November goals!  I have fallen off the blog challenge wagon a bit here but, I will be sure to catch them all up, maybe tomorrow.

Talk soon folks!

Unpacking Wii U

So I have my Wii U!  I got four street passes on my 3DS while in the store which was awesome.

This is everything I bought.  I got the pro controller at Wal-mart since EB was not open yet and there was no line up.  Wal-mart was all sold out of their units.  EB on Chemong only got seven extra units and by the look of the line they got snapped up pretty quick.

This is the inside of the box. Nothing too amazing there.

I unhooked my Wii and took it to the bedroom to use for Netflix there. as you can see the pad is pretty big.  The system itself is a big bigger but not too much.

In the process of setting up.  Finally now the update is done, it took almost an hour.  I guess that is what happens when you have a few hundred thousand people all downloading something at the same time.

Wii U Launches Today

In about five hours I will have my hands on my Wii U.  I’m pretty excited for it.  I’ve been looking forward to this for quite a while and it will be the third system I have bought on launch day.

Six years ago tomorrow (November 19 2006) I got my Wii.  I couldn’t get a preorder in so at about 10:30pm on the Saturday before I drove by Wal-mart to see if there was a line.  One was forming and so I left my (now ex) wife there and went to get lawn chairs and blankets and junk to prepare to spend the night on the door step of the store.

Night never seems as long as when you are outside, in a very light snow, very cold and anticipating something great.  It was pretty awesome.  It was actually kind of fun too, we met people, I drove over to Tim Hortons a few times to get hot chocolate and bagels and stuff, we played DS with people, it was cool.

The other system I got on launch day was the 3DS.  I knew that living in Peterborough it would not be nearly as difficult to get a hold of a handheld system on launch day.  I didn’t preorder one, I simply went to Zellers and got it.  My friend code is 0903-2736-8751 by the way post yours in the comments and I’ll add you.

For Wii U I managed to get a pre-order. That is why I am typing this on the comfort of my own couch with my laptop instead of with freezing fingers outside of EB Games on my phone! I’m also picking up New Super Mario Bros. U and ZombiU, the deluxe system comes with Nintendo Land as well.  I’ll be sure to post some photos and reviews later in the day, along with my Nintendo Network ID.

For now, some links.

Nintendo Land Site

New Super Mario Bros U

ZombiU

Wii U

It’s Hard To Soar With Eagles, When You are Surrounded By Turkeys

So I went and played goalie last night in Milbrook and suffice to say it was a bit of a gong show.  I’m there, I’m ready to make saves and stop pucks and all that. I’m doing pretty well, getting in the way of many of the first shots and steering pucks out of danger. Until my “team” decides to give up on the entire concept of defence.

Two one ones, three on ones, three on NONES! Even when I did make that first save, the other team had enough time and space to get another couple shot before my defence even cruised back into position!  I Can’t stop everything!  I’ve been known to make the odd incredible save now and then but it was ridiculous!  I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count how many times there were odd man rushes like that. And when that gets coupled by the fact we got out shot three to one, it is so demoralizing.

I was frustrated!  I still am I think.  Totally not my idea of fun to be hung out to dry for more than half the game (if you can even call it that).

It goes to show that sometimes no matter how badly you might want to compete, how hard you are ready to try, you need the support of others to really show through as amazing.

Blog Challenge Topics

13 Give your favourite Fall Harvest recipe – think apples/pumpkins/sweet potatoes.

I don’t really have one honestly, not one that I know the recipe off hand at least.  Candied Yams is something my Grandma used to make at Thanksgiving and Christmas and I LOVED it!  My mom has tried to duplicate it in recent years when it became her job to cook at those events but she could never quite get it.

14 How do you maintain self discipline?

I think I do this by always having a goal to work towards.  In general if you don’t have a goal you don’t follow the steps to success.  I also think though that good eating and exercise are just such a part of what I do now that it is not that hard.  I didn’t change my habits just to get in shape and thin just to go back to before.  I changed my lifestyle and it’s awesome.

15 Today is the Great American Smoke Out. What are some bad habits you got rid of or are working towards fixing?

Eating junk food and lots of it!  I don’t smoke or drink so those were not hurdles in my path to a healthier life.  Just the amount of food I ate and what I chose to consume.

16 What are some unexpected benefits of a healthy lifestyle you discovered?

I’m not really sure I have discovered any benefits that were unexpected to be honest.  I knew that if I got in shape I would be able to be better at hockey and karate and the other physical things I do.  I knew I’d have more energy for the day to day things, I knew I’d be able to eat more once I got into shape (sometimes I think I eat more now then I even used to before! Just better food!)

Apparently this happens too.  Amber notices though.

Yay, It's My Birthday

I don't know why some people dislike their birthday.  I love having my birthday!  Seriously what's not to like? Cake, presents, well wishes from lots of people!  It's all fantastic!  It's only noon-thirty and I've already had more facebook messages and tweets than I can even think about!

So far I have spent the day at work, and it's been a pretty good day, except the guys working on our plumbing setting off the fire alarm right before lunch.  Kids HATE when the fire alarm goes off.  Later tonight there will be tacos at my house and then Amber is coming to watch me play goalie tonight in Millbrook.  Should be a good evening.  The folks here at work have already said their happy birthdays and we've got cake in the kitchen, awesome!

Now maybe you are now wondering what you can do for an old man on his birthday.  I'd love it you either took part in or pimped my idea of The WCP International Race Weekend That would be super awesome.  Once I do the separate page for it on Saturday I'll totally give your blog a permanent link on said page if you do!

Anyways, go down to the store, get a piece of cake and have a great day! :)

Thanks Everyone!

The WCP International Race Weekend

I was on a Sunday morning run and I got to thinking about half marathons.  I don’t know which one of you it was that planted this idea in my head, but I was sure that I was not a fan of the idea at all in the summer.  I’ve had far too many people ask me if I plan on doing a half marathon for the idea to go away though.  It seems that just because I’m not to shabby at running a 5k race people think I should be able to do about five times that amount no problem.

All this lead me to thinking about what I like about races and what I don’t like about them.  Here is the short list.

What I Like About Races:

• Actual competition
• Cool SWAG (Race bib, t-shirt, etc…)
• Pride in completing
• Meeting new people (thought this only really happened at Run For Your Lives)
• Training for the race
• Looking forward to the upcoming date

What I Don’t Like About Races:

• Porta potties
• Waiting
• Driving to the venue
• They decide my start time
• Some people can’t do races because they are only on the weekend, or in the morning or whatever

So what does all this have to do with the title, well I was reading The Fitness Cheerleader’s blog when I read this:

I love training for races. I love having that goal. I love the bragging rights of “I’m training for XYZ race”.

And I guess my other musings were still stewing around in my head and I thought, yeah I like training for races and having a goal, but who is really in charge of races?  Why do I have to go somewhere and pay to run to have a motivation? Why couldn’t I host my own race?  Hosting a race costs money though, to have people there and be sure they have water and food available and parking and a well marked course and timers and staff.

But I run all the time at home with just me and a stop watch, and I know a bunch of my readers do to.  Why can’t we all just race ‘together’ at home?

Winter is coming here in Canada, and I’m doing this idea specifically to aim to run a half marathon, so while I just got up and ran 5k one day last summer, I know I cannot do that with a half! And so I propose to you:

The WCP International Race Weekend

April 26-28 2013

Choose a distance that challenges you 5k, 10k, half marathon, Sign up on the Facebook event page OR on a new and separate page of my blog that will be up in the next couple of days. Train for the race, and when you do your race run anytime on that weekend, send me (more likely post to facebook) a picture of your stopwatch for an official time (clearly we are working on the honour system) if you are the competitive type, if you don’t want to post a time, but just that you completed a certain distance, then just get a picture of you all sweaty and state how far you went!  This is a maximum participation kind of thing.

What’s in it for you?

• You get to be in a race with other people, without paying any fees or traveling
• A custom race bib provided by me (you’ll have to print it though)
• Friendly Competition
• Satisfaction of completing a challenging distance

So who’s with me?  I’ll even sign up first, the Facebook event has been created!

If You are a blogger and are going to take part, I’d love if you promote this whole idea, I think it could turn out to be something that is pretty cool!

Friend Making Monday - What’s In Your Fridge?

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here  and over at at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

1. List a few common items that can always be found in your fridge.

Milk, ketchup, yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese, veggies, fruit

 

2. What kind of milk do you drink?

Skim milk.  I used to drink 2% but Amber weaned me down to skim in about a year of living together.

3. Do you prefer fresh or frozen vegetables? 

Depends what I’m making.  Corn and Peas frozen is just easier, anything else, like carrots, potatoes, parsnip, broccoli fresh is best!

4. What do you currently have to drink in the fridge?

Milk, Coke Zero.  We have a water cooler though for water.

5. How often do you clean out your refrigerator?

Amber usually does this, if I do it it is because the junk in there is too overwhelming to find the actual food.

6. What’s the healthiest thing in it right now?

Yellow beans, I just bought them yesterday!

7. What’s the most unhealthy thing in it right now?

Um, I guess the VH Sweet and sour sauce, it’s tasty by not great for you.

8. What do you wish you had in it that you don’t have now?

Nothing really, I’m an adult and don’t need to wish for things to be in there, I just go buy them.

9. How often do you shop for groceries?

We tend to do ‘a grocery shop’ twice a week and then I pick up things now and then, but we only spend about $100 a week.

10. What’s the weirdest thing in your fridge right now?

There is a really old pomegranate, that’s a bit weird

Bonus:  If you could choose one thing to put in the fridge and make it calorie-free what would it be? 

Pie, strawberry – rhubarb to be exact!
 

Now it’s your turn! Don’t forget to answer the questions and come back to post a link in the comments section! Happy Monday!

What songs do you listen to when you workout?

My playlist is actually quite the variety of music!  Instead of me trying to remember them all and list them, here is a picture of my play list:

Most of it is very upbeat music of course with a few funny songs mixed in.  Some 8-bit, some made by friends and not a lot of it too mainstream.  Some of the ones I like best are Wildcat by Ratatat, Let Me Out by Dover, Levels by Avicii and Electro Bot by Infrared Riding Hood.

Sometimes I just listen to my whole ipod library or to my playlist for when I am riding my bike or whatever, but it’s the same type of variety so it works out to being about the same.

What do you listen to?

Some More Drawing

I’ve spent about a year now getting paid to draw every few days, just one of the benefits of working at day care.  And so I’ve decided in the last bit to do a few of them up with sharpie and then colour them on the computer.  And so, here they are.

Today is Veteran’s Day. (Thanks troops!!) Do you have a solider story to tell?

I don’t really, I’m not a soldier.  My brother in law is though, he’s pretty kick ass too.  Thanks Greg! And thanks to everyone else who has given up their lives or their time and safety to work towards a better world for the rest of us!

Do I Have A Fitness Mentor Or Hero?

I think the closest thing I have when it comes to that is Jodi. I’ve put the shaping of my fitness in her hands and trust her judgement. I knew I did not want the crabby old guy at the gym as my trainer for sure and I’m very happy that in Jodi I’ve found a good friend and someone unafraid to assign me ridiculous things to do at the gym. Without her guidance I wouldn’t be nearly as fit as I am today.

Favourite Football Story

I don’t think I actually have a single favourite football story.  This might come as a surprise but Canadians generally aren’t as bonkers for football as Americans are.  My high school didn’t even have a football team let alone have the whole town show up for games!  I think if my school did have a football team I would have tried out, we only had a rugby team and I thought it was insane to play ‘football without equipment’! 

During high school though I watch a lot of CFL football because a few of my friends did.  Being interested in a sport is much easier when you have people around that are also interested and you can talk with them about what is going on.  We also played touch football during our lunch break in the spring and fall and tackle in the winter (more cushioning and not as muddy when you hit the ground).

One year a group of friends and I took a trip to the Eastern Conference Final game in Toronto all piled into one car.  We purposely sat in the wrong seats because these seats that were open were better, the usher made us move and during that move the Toronto kick returner ran the entire length of the field for a touchdown!  That same year Everyone was over at my house to watch the Grey Cup game (oldest trophy in pro sports I believe).  The Grey Cup game usually happens right around my birthday, and so it was a dual thing, we all made our own pizzas, and watched the game, fantastic.

Thinking about all that I really don’t understand why so many people have bad feeling toward high school.  I was not the most popular, I didn’t have a girlfriend until the final year, but those years were some of the best ever for me.  Great friends and good experiences!

Pet Peeves and Workout Preferences

My fitness pet peeves are actually very few I think.  One of them is waiting for a specific machine.  Usually my programs are varied enough that I can move to something else and come back to that exercise a bit later in order to get it all done, but it annoys me.  That type of thing especially annoys me when the gym is filled with college kids that really aren’t doing anything except posing and trying to look good for the girls there or something.  I think the chicks would be more impressed if they actually saw the guys doing something rather than sitting on the bench press bench looking around.

That brings be to working out in a group or alone.  The fewer people in the gym the better!  I can get to my things easier and get my workout done faster if there are fewer people there.  As for classes I tend not to do them simply because of how I choose to spend my time at the gym.  When I have done classes I tend to get a bit bored and distracted.  Working out on my own definitely works better for me.

Six Rep Max Day 2–Legs

All weekend I thought I was going to PD last night.  When Carley arrived at work I said ‘Her, ready for COP tonight?’  She looked at me like I was stupid and said ‘That’s on Wednesdays.’ Oh right!  So now I had an evening where I knew Amber had PD to do, I had nothing, and Wednesday was now a bust for working out.  I decided that I would head off to the gym and do my Leg day for the six rep max.

Here is the program:

I start was not so bad the pull downs and the step over push-ups were not too bad though I started doing the pull downs at 57.5 pounds and had to go to 50 so I could complete it.  If I was doing it like regular lat pull downs I would have been at like 120, but doing this with only the shoulder power of having your arms extended all the way is hard.

I was a bit shocked at the weight I used for the leg press!  I did this one on the seated thingy at the gym.  You still put on the weights like for a barbell, but it’s got rails and everything, I’m not sure how much the thing weighs without weights, but since an Olympic bar comes in at about 40 pounds, I would guess that this is about the same.  Eventually I had four plates on either side – 360 pounds – and that was my max!  So probably close to 400, but since I don’t know for sure, 360+bar is what goes in the book.

The worst thing by far is the split squats.  If anyone tells you that doing split squats is a fun way to spend ten minutes or so at the gym, punch them right in the face.  You can tell them that I said that was ok.  To be fair Jodi told me it would suck, and she was not lying.  It wasn’t so bad until I decided that I had to do the amount I thought I could and here’s why.  I had already done 50 and 90 pounds (plus the bar – this was on the smith machine) and was half way through putting on some more weights to have 140 pounds on there when Jodi came by gathering stuff for a class she was about to run.  I quickly got her attention and asked a couple questions and then got back under the bar and did six reps in each lunging stance – knee coming to the floor. ‘Ah yes I thought, 140 plus the bar, not too shabby!’ Then started to take the weights off and noticed that I had only done 115.  Well! Nuts to that, and I put the weights back on plus the 25 extra to be at 140 and did it again.  I nearly died, it was so hard.  But I did it.  As soon as I put the machine on the stoppers though I thought my head was going to come off.  The pain in my neck was INTENSE!!  It hurt sooooo bad.  I don’t know if I was contracting muscles there to do the thing, or the bar was resting on the wrong spot on my shoulders or what but, I was nearly in tears and working my neck with one hand as I leaned on the machine with the other for a good two minutes or so. 

I finished with the circuit Jodi had laid out  but used a 15 pound dumbbell instead of a medicine ball because the class she was doing was using every medicine ball in the whole gym!  I have to get better at skipping! Especially when I and run down, because I know I looked like a tool for each of those three, two minute parts of the circuit!

OOOOHHH Oops, just writing down these titles here I realized I did one whole exercise wrong.  I Did calf curls, when I was supposed to do calf raises!  Oops!

Six Rep Max for Legs:

Leg Press: 360 + bar

Split Squats: 140 + bar

Calf Curls: 105 – I’ll have to get the number for Calf raise next time I’m at the gym!

How Do you Overcome Setbacks?

Thankfully I have not had that many setbacks during the time I have been all fitness-like.  Right now I have my arm hurting quite a bit, and I have had some back pain along the way, and I hurt my leg during the Mudnewton this year, but none of these have stopped me.

Mostly I think I handle setbacks simply by doing something different for my workout when the time comes and maybe a bit of rest.  For instance with my arm hurting I have just done cardio things instead of weights, not a big deal there.  When my leg was hurting I did have to take a break from running for a few days, well I was supposed to miss a whole week, but I did a short 2k run mid way through.  When my back has been hurting a bit I have tried to figure out why and done exercises to help it feel better.  So when it comes to physical setbacks, I either change what I am doing to avoid the problem area, or seek a way to help out that area and maybe grit my teeth a little and bare the pain.

When I was on my mission to lose weight I’d have at least one day a week where my weight would go up.  in the beginning of the whole journey these weekly (or sometimes twice a week or sometimes every other week) spikes in weight would be a bit demoralizing.  I’d be thinking ‘I did all that work yesterday!  Why did I go up today?!’  It made me work harder, I had a goal to reach and I was going to get there.  Eventually I accepted it as part of the cycle, and took it in stride.  I knew that on the days where I went up half a pound, if I stuck to the plan and did my thing the next day I’d be down that weight plus a little more.

We all deal with setbacks differently of course, but I think what it important is to keep the goal in mind and continue the work towards it.

3 tips to improve your workout

I’m not sure whether or not the things I am thinking of would actually ‘improve’ the quality of your workout, but, they are things that make my workouts much more enjoyable.

1. Good music and good headphones.  Very important, especially when doing monotonous things at the gym like the elliptical or the treadmill.  You’ve got to have good tunes to keep you pumped up.  Or songs that remind you of certain things or something to keep you going.  A few of my personal favourites (that you are unlikely to find on your own) are:

• Sugar Lumps – Flight of the Conchords – It’s funny, sort of the same theme of Sexy and I Know It, but Flight of the Conchords!
• Quantesc - Jolt vs Into The Sun – This is a song where the Into The Sun part is done by my friend Matt, good beat to it great for running!
• Avicii – Levels – Flo Rida thought it was good enough to rip off, I think it’s good enough to work out with.
• Cute Invasion – firestARTer – More 8-bit music – the beat is awesome for cardio though.

2. Do something you enjoy.  If you are working out doing things you hate you won’t do them, simple as that.  I hate doing box step-ups, and every time Jodi puts them on my program they only last about half the time I do that program.  They take too long and I don’t like them.  I run because I have come to like it, I like all the crazy workouts Jodi gives me too.  It seems a lot less like work if you enjoy doing it.

3. Change it up.  Even a program you love can get boring after a while, so change up the things you do in your workout.  It helps to keep it interesting, it helps keep you body from getting to used to a certain routine and it’ll keep you going to do exercise things.

What are your tips?

Friend Making Monday: Ten Things To Be Thankful For

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here  and over at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

Ten Reasons To Be Thankful

1. I have a fantastic wife
2. I have a job I love
3. I work with amazing people
4. I have family that is supportive
5. My friends are awesome!
6. My body is healthy, strong and capable
7. I was fortunate enough to be born in a great country
8. I’ve been able to travel not only within my country but the world
9. I’ve had teachers willing to put me in situations where I have had to learn hard lessons…
10. I’ve been able to learn those lessons and do something about it!

Your turn!  Make your list and post a link in the comments below!

Injury and Day 4 of the Blog Challenge

So my arm got hurt.  Not only did I bash my hand yesterday on the box at the gym, but when I played hockey last night I took a shot in warm up that missed all the padding I had on.

See our first game of the night the other team didn’t bother to show up, which really sucks because we were playing in Peterborough on a bigger ice surface for a change and I could have really had my wheels turning!  But since I had my goalie stuff there, I played net for our divided team.  It was not that pretty, but it was a pretty one sided game as well.

Time for the second game where I was supposed to play goalie anyways and I went out for the warm up and on like the third shot a guy got me right above the blocker, but on the side of my forearm where there, as it turns out, is no padding at all.  My arm went dead, and I dropped my stick.  I skated a few little turns waiting for my hand to be useful again.

I played the game, it was hard to hold onto my stick and rotation of my forearm killed!  In the first half of the game I got completely lit up.  Even if I made one save, or two the third shot went in, or guys were wide open in the slot.  It was bad.  So as a mercy the Ref (without asking me) switched the goalies.  In the second half, I had a shutout (I only had to make about 10 saves though) and the other guy had holes shot through him.  I’m glad it wasn’t just me being exceptionally terrible!

Just a bit of a lump there

Now I am faced with the decision of going to the gym.  I’ll look at the exercises Jodi gave me for day two and decide.  Most of it is leg strength so I might be ok to go.

Please share your favourite clean eating breakfast recipe.

I actually am not exactly sure what ‘clean eating’ is.  Give me a second to use Google.

After looking up what clean eating is, and looking at the foods I eat for breakfast.  I don’t have a clean eating favourite recipe.  Bread or english muffins kills the whole idea right there.  Though that would be the closest I come really.  Eggs, toast, home fries (on the flat top not in the fryer!!) and ham.  My usual breakfast is PB&J on english muffin and oatmeal (like Quaker instant oatmeal) and I think the only thing that would qualify there is the homemade jam (pectin, lemon juice, sugar and strawberries).

Six Rep Max

Today I hmmmed and hhhaawwwed over going to the gym.  You see, I went to karate for a couple hours to start my day.  I think running on Saturday mornings is over, it’s dark and freezing and not really how I want to start my weekend to be honest.  So Karate from 9-11 and tonight I play hockey early at 7:15, and so I had a bit of a debate as to whether I wanted to go to the gym after karate or just go home.

Eventually after about two minutes of internal debate I decided that I would go.  I wanted to get started on my new program!  When Jodi and I ran through it the other day I was pumped to get going. So here it is in full:

First thing, Box jumps, the second biggest box was taken, and so it was either step down and use a smaller box or Batman-up and just use the bigger one.  Bigger one it was.  One the very first jump, I swung my arms to get some momentum and smashed my hand on the corner of the box.  Right on the meaty part of the thumb ‘thankfully’.  So now I had to complete my day with the equivalent of a charliehorse in my hand, great.

From there it was on to find out what my six rep max was for a few different arm exercises.  The idea was to start out with a lower weight and then add on in increments until I could only do six reps with good form. Here are the numbers, not bad and couple were surprising.

Bench Press (weight includes the bar): 160

Dumb Bell Single Arm Row: 70

Incline DB curl: 27.5

Seated Tricep Extension: 60

Seated Shoulder Press: 45

I forgot to write in my circuit time until just now, 10:10.50, I was aiming to have that under ten minutes, now I have a new goal to go for.

I’m pretty happy with the bench press, I’dlike to get that up to at least 180 though.

Next time at the gym it’s be max reps for leg things yay!

 

Challenge Day 3

What would you tell a friend who wanted to quit?

Quit what?  Smoking I’d say good idea!

Eating? Not thought through well enough.

Drinking?  Maybe keep drinking water, but they could drop other things if they thought it best.

Working out? If they had been at the gym for an hour or so already, then yes, if they wanted to give it up completely? Probably not a great plan.

Yesterday Was Another Assessment Day

After the incident with the Wal-Mart bought scale and my increasing weight I thought it best to get another fitness assessment done.  Basically because I want to know what my status is at.  I was actually a bit surprised when we were doing the measurements and REALLY surprised when I got back home and put the numbers onto the spread sheet.

The best part of the whole thing is this.  We did my last assessment July 17th right before the Warrior Dash and my body fat percentage was 7.7%, today, it was the same.  Score, I’m very happy about that.  I was also a little bit surprise that my weight was about the same 75.5Kg three and a half months ago and 75.6Kg today.  which is a bit funny because my weight lately has been bouncing higher and higher it seems on Wii Fit in the morning, but really, it has not changed that much at all over time.

 

Next up of course was the skin fold and I am super impressed with these, especially the iliac crest! Down by 10mm.

You might be wondering why I am happy about a number that is not my lowest.  The reason is simple, my very lowest number I was a waif of a man, not much muscle really, not much of anything.  Now I’m a much more filled out person.

Muscles didn’t change much and in fact went down a tiny bit in a couple measurements.  Not ideal, but I have been doing a LOT of running and so leaning out is not completely unexpected.

Also we set up two new days for the gym.  Gone are push day and pull day and I’ve got programs that work on explosive power and endurance and getting to max weight for other groups of exercises.  It’s like Jodi was reading my mind, or maybe my blog,

Woo! Exciting!

Also:

Give 5 strategies you are using to keep the holiday pounds off

1 Eat in controlled portions

2 Exercise days when I have bigger meals planned

3 Don’t keep sweets and stuff in the house

4 Lots of cardio

5 With the extra time I have booked off work play more hockey!

 

Challenge day 2 complete!

Fitness Goals For November

So as much as I sort of rebelled at the end of my last month long blogger challenge I’m about to pick up another one.  I think, however, that for the most part I’m going to condense some of the daily posts into kind of a 2 for 1 or 3 for 1 type of thing.  Mostly because sometimes my answers to the topics are really short, or because I have a better topic on hand.

The first one here I will do as a stand alone, but I think that after meeting with Jodi later today these goals might change a bit because I feel like I need a challenge at the gym and who better to help me out with that than the trainer I have had for over two years?

At the moment though my goals would be as follows:

Find out what my max weight is for bench press

Run at least 40km (this is only a goal really because I’m thinking that a lot of it will be on the treadmill due to weather

Fit into my calorie goals on myfitnesspal (chrispy47) minimum 90% of the days.

Maybe there will be an update to this before the end of the night, we shall see.