Seeing Improvement

Fantastic day in the gym today, continuing a trend of great workouts. Heck, even my 40 minutes on the treadmill was bearable today.

Even better, since I started tracking my diet, I’ve lost four pounds and I’m finally starting to show some improvement in terms of fat reduction. Consequently, I look slightly more muscular, which I knew would be the case once the fat started leaving my body.

I still have a long way to go, though. My waist is hanging — not literally, but close — at 39 inches (down just slightly from 40).

Nonetheless, I feel great about my dedication to the process. I may not win this Challenge, but I will win.

Counting Calories

Well, my workouts have gone really well, but my diet is another story.

Not through lack of effort, mind you… or planning… or anything else. The fact is I’m eating well, but my weight has pretty much stayed the same. I think it’s one of two things or, perhaps, a combination of both:

1) I’m taking in too many calories. I’ve planned out my meals, of course, but I haven’t really paid much attention to my calorie intake. Instead, I’ve just tried to eat healthier and eat enough protein-rich foods to fuel my training.

2) I’m not drinking enough water.

So, to fix this, I’ve started tracking my calories. It’s not fun, but I found a Web site, MedHelp.org, that makes it a little bit easier—and I’m guessing there are others.

My goal is to consume between 2,100 to 2,300 calories per day. My stats from Day 1:

Click on image to enlarge

Click on image to enlarge

Faster Equals Stronger

I’ve been busy with work stuff and haven’t posted recently, but it’s been a crazy end o’ the week. The workouts have been going very well. On Saturday, I met with my buddy who’s a personal trainer and he about killed me.

The pace was much quicker than what I was used to, so it really wore me out. However, it made me realize that Saturday’s session needs to be my new standard — and on both Monday and today, I’m proud to say I met that standard.  

Monday, I concentrated on triceps and, today, I focused on my back. In fact, I did dead lifts for the first time in forever (because they can screw up one’s back if done wrong, I quit doing squats and dead lifts a long, long time ago — but I’m trying to re-introduce them into my training).

I’ve also done a good job getting my cardio a minimum of four days a week.

On the negative side, I haven’t lost a pound in the past week — nor has my waist gone down any, which is discouraging. Still, I’m a firm believer that hard work isn’t wasted. At some point, I have to lose the fat.

Day of Struggle

After a great workout yesterday, today’s effort was not so great. I concentrated on biceps, which is usually a strength (pardon the pun) of mine and I just didn’t have it. I felt weak and lethargic throughout the session.

Still, I stuck with it. 

Then, tonight, I saw a video from last year’s winner Halid Shokunbi and I got super-motivated all over again.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.

Lessons From Eriq La Salle

Eriq La Salle

Tough, but productive workout today. I did squats, hack squats, leg extensions, seated hamstring curls and seated calf raises.

I also talked to a guy that looked like a muscled-up version of Eriq La Salle about dead lifts. He told me that he had just added them back to his routine because he’d grown concerned about messing up his back — and that has always been my greatest concern with the lift. In fact, I just started doing squats again a few months ago after abandoning them for precisely the same reason.

After we talked and he gave me some pointers, though, I’ve decided to add dead lifts to my own repertoire. 

I’ve heard great things about them and I figure I’ll just take it slow and easy until I develop some confidence in my ability not to put myself in a wheelchair.

Understanding Dante

I had my first 30-minute cardio session today. On the plus side, I now better understand what Dante Alighieri was talking about; on the negative side… well, just about everything else.

To me, walking on the treadmill is b-o-r-i-n-g, although I did get a kick out of the closed captioning of the Dr. Oz show, which was playing on several TVs in the gym (coincidentally, his show was about weight loss and fitness). 

Now, I’m assuming that the good doctor said “concoction” or “concoct” and not “con cock” as the transcriber seemed to believe. But if he did, indeed, reference the latter I would urge his viewers to get a second opinion. I mean, I’ve heard of interval training, circuit training, weight training… I’ve yet to see any studies validating the benefits of con cock training. Honestly, I don't even know what that is.

Anyway, the rest of my workout went extremely well. I felt stronger than I have in months — even my ailing right shoulder wasn’t hurting as much as normal (although it is throbbing a bit now, two hours after the workout).

I focused on my chest today — cable crosses, incline bench press, flyes and cable chest presses.    

         

And tomorrow? Another chance to feel closer to Dante… legs.