Today was a milestone for me in Christy's water challenge. I hit 414 glasses of water!
Archives for January 2008
Mission 1, Day 69: Opportunity
The day started off with a decent, but not very inspiring weight workout. It helped me to see the opportunity that exists for me in near future.
Opportunity can be such a fleeting thing. You need to be on the lookout for all your opportunities because you might miss one if you're not careful. At the same time, you need to create your own opportunities. It is an interesting conundrum.
As I went through my day I realized how many different opportunities exist for me on a daily basis that I let slip by. Time is the biggest issue when it comes to opportunities. Time is the reason I workout so early in the morning. If I didn't, the opportunity to workout might pass me right by. If that happened, the opportunity to be in the best shape I can possibly get into would also pass me right by. None of that is acceptable to me.
For me, I live to lift and I also lift to live. On the one hand, it is a major passion of mine. I enjoy it so much that I do it even when I don't feel like it. On the other hand, I do it to enhance the quality of my life. I don't want to be a fat middle-aged guy who sits around doing nothing. I refuse to be a complainer. Instead, I choose to be a doer. So many people say they are going to try to lose weight or try to get to the gym but Yoda was definitely correct when he said “Do or do not do, there is no try.”
What the heck is trying? It is an excuse to fail. When you say you are going to try and you don't follow through, you can always fall back on the idea that you never said you were going to do it, just that you were going to try. Conversely, when you say you are going to do it and you don't, you have failed. Take that up a notch and put what you are going to do in a blog and suddenly you have a powerful force. You have an opportunity to make it happen. Opportunity strikes and you have to be ready to respond.
Accountability Log:
| Mission 1: Day 8 of 40 | Accountability | ||
| Meal/Training Plan: Real-time accountability | Each task completed? | ||
| Day 69: January 2, 2008 | Yes or No | ||
| 3:30 a.m. | Meal 1: Protein shake with glutamine and 15 g. of oatmeal | Yes | |
| 4:00 a.m. | Supplements: Animal Pak, Glucosamine Chondroiten, calcium, chromium, glutamine | Yes | |
| 4:30 a.m. | Workout: Lifting and 30 minute HIIT with 6 glasses of water | Yes | |
| 6:00 a.m. | Supplements: Glutamine and chromium and 3 glasses of water | ||
| 6:30 a.m. | Meal 2: Chicken breast with large salad and 3 glasses of water | Yes | |
| 9:30 a.m. | Meal 3: Chicken breast with large salad and broccoli 3 glasses of water | Yes | |
| 12:30 p.m. | Meal 4: Tuna (6 oz.) and 3 glasses of water | Yes | |
| 3:30 p.m. | Meal 5: Tuna (6 oz.) and 3 glasses of water | Yes | |
| 6:30 p.m. | Meal 6: Protein shake, small salad and 3 glasses of water | Yes | |
| 9:00 p.m. | Supplements: Protein shake, glutamine, calcium and 3 glasses of water | Yes | |
| Accountability Areas: | Points | Possible | |
| Meal 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Meal 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| Meal 3 | 1 | 1 | |
| Meal 4 | 1 | 1 | |
| Meal 5 | 1 | 1 | |
| Training | 1 | 1 | |
| Post Workout Nutrition | 1 | 1 | |
| Water | 1 | 1 | |
| Pre-sleep nutrition | 1 | 1 | |
| Accountability | 1 | 1 | |
| Daily Totals: | 10 | 10 | |
| Mission Totals: | 68 | 70 | |
| Workout Log: | |||
| DB Incline Bench | 65 x 6 x 5 | [PB] | |
| Cable seated row | 180 x 6 x 5 | ||
| DB shoulder press | 50 x 5 x 5 | ||
| Wide grip lat pulldown | 150 x 5 x 5 | ||
| BB Close Grip Bench Press | 140 x 5 x 5 | ||
| High Pull | 100 x 5 x 5 | ||
| Chin up challenge | (80) 5 x 5 | ||
| Core training: Leg lifts, ball side reaches, crunches | 3 sets | ||
| Push up training | 25; 19; 19; 15; 30 |
That's all the wisdom I have to offer for today.
Until tomorrow…
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Push up Challenge: Workout #2
I just completed my second push up challenge workout. I was worried because this morning and did a chest workout and was pretty wasted from that. The goal today was to do 5 sets as follows:
27
19
19
15
Maximum (but minimum of 25)
My results:
27
19
19
15
30
That's a total of 110 push ups! I was amazed that I pulled it off. What I did was sit down before hand and visualize myself doing all 5 sets at the number required. Then, before each set, I visualized just that set hitting the correct number. Such is the power of visualization.
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Mission 1, Day 68: Reflection
Today was a day of reflection and consideration for me. I spent the entire day thinking about my past and the things that happened to me and how I reacted to them.
I have gone through a couple of periods in my life where I wanted to “lose weight” and even once lost 25 pounds in a short period of time (like 4 weeks), but for whatever reason, I never seem to continue down the path. As I reflected on those things I realized that I would generally just give up. I would look at the progress, get comfortable and just give up.
Today was a day that showed me why things are going to be different. Today was an all fruit day. I spent the entire day keeping busy and doing things. Around 2 p.m. I found myself with friends at a small Italian food place to watch the Rose Bowl game (USC is my favorite college team–and after today's game, they should definitely have been playing for another National Championship). Here I've been doing low carb for a week and about to start my second week. I just came off an all protein day and I'm in the middle of an all fruit day and here is all this wonderful food on the menu. I was very tempted by the food. I even thought “Pasta with marianara isn't so bad…mostly carbs” and considered eating a small portion. That thought was extremely fleeting because I knew that today was all fruit and all fruit it was going to be. So what did I eat? I had a tangerine, two apples and a banana with 6 glasses of water!
The point is that I've been doing alot of reading and I've learned that my mind is the biggest obstacle I have to overcome. I have discovered that by controlling my thoughts and pointing my mind towards good decisions, the nutritional decisions are easier. Exercise isn't really that hard for me to focus on because I really enjoy it more than most people realize. If I was younger and had the time I'd probably be a bodybuilder…that's how much I enjoy the training. The nutrition, however, is always my downfall. I now know that I just need to win the mental battles and the nutrition will happen.
Accountability Log:
| Mission 1: Day 7 of 40 | Accountability | ||
| Meal/Training Plan: Real-time accountability | Each task completed? | ||
| Day 68: January 1, 2008 | Yes or No | ||
| 5:00 a.m. | Meal 1: 2 apples, 1 banana with 3 glasses of water | Yes | |
| 5:00 a.m. | Supplements: Animal Pak, Glucosamine Chondroiten, calcium, chromium, glutamine | Yes | |
| 5:30 a.m. | Workout: 30 minute run with 3 glasses of water | Yes | |
| 6:00 a.m. | Supplements: Glutamine and chromium and 3 glasses of water | ||
| 8:00 a.m. | Meal 2: Smoothie with strawberries | Yes | |
| 11:00 a.m. | Meal 3: Strawberries, raisins with 4 glasses of water | Yes | |
| 2:00 p.m. | Meal 4: Tangerine, 2 apples, banana and 6 glasses of water | Yes | |
| 5:00 p.m. | Meal 5: Smoothie with strawberries and 4 glasses of water | Yes | |
| 8:00 p.m. | Meal 6: 3 apples, raisins and 3 glasses of water | Yes | |
| 9:00 p.m. | Supplements: Glutamine, calcium and 4 glasses of water | Yes | |
| Accountability Areas: | Points | Possible | |
| Meal 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Meal 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| Meal 3 | 1 | 1 | |
| Meal 4 | 1 | 1 | |
| Meal 5 | 1 | 1 | |
| Training | 1 | 1 | |
| Post Workout Nutrition | 1 | 1 | |
| Water | 1 | 1 | |
| Pre-sleep nutrition | 1 | 1 | |
| Accountability | 1 | 1 | |
| Daily Totals: | 10 | 10 | |
| Mission Totals: | 58 | 60 | |
| Workout Log: | |||
| Running | 30 minutes |
So that is what I did today. As I said, it was a very reflective day. I did alot of writing in my journal and I considered each of my goals individually. This week I am creating my own personal strategic plan and it will include all my fitness goals.
Tomorrow is the second push up challenge workout. I am sure it will be harder than the first.
Until tomorrow…
Related Posts:
Mission 1, Day 67: Happy New Year!
Today is New Year's Eve and I rang in the New Year on New York time. I am not a person who stays up late because my body just decides it is time to go to sleep and so I go to sleep. It is the result of getting up early for the gym each day.
Today was a great day. First, it was an all protein day for Metabolic Surge and that's always tough to fill up with enough calories, but I managed to eat nothing but protein and drink nothing but plain water all day.
My workout today was amazing. Today called for me to do 3 sets at 15 reps and so I decided to push up the weight about 5 pounds on each exercise. When I was done with the workout I was exhausted. See the results below in the accountability log for today. I began to feel the workout in my body about 3 hours later. My entire body is aching from the deadlifts. I was shaking when I was done with them.
I do not make resolutions. Instead, I am going to make a guarantee. I guarantee that I will end 2008 as a lean, mean, fat burning machine. There, I've said it and now it is here for to push me forward all year long!
Accountability Log:
| Mission 1: Day 6 of 40 | Accountability | ||
| Meal/Training Plan: Real-time accountability | Each task completed? | ||
| Day 67: December 31, 2007 | Yes or No | ||
| 4:00 a.m. | Meal 1: Protein shake with oatmeal with 3 glasses of water | Yes | |
| 4:00 a.m. | Supplements: Animal Pak, Glucosamine Chondroiten, calcium, chromium, glutamine | Yes | |
| 4:30 a.m. | Workout: Weightlifting, HIIT cardio (30 minutes), chin up training with 3 glasses of water | Yes | |
| 6:00 a.m. | Supplements: Protein shake with glutamine and 3 glasses of water | Yes | |
| 9:00 a.m. | Meal 2: Tuna (6 oz) with 3 glasses of water | Yes | |
| 12:00 p.m. | Meal 3: Tuna (12 oz) and 3 glasses of water | Yes | |
| 3:00 p.m. | Meal 4: Chicken breasts (2) and 3 glasses of water | Yes | |
| 6:00 p.m. | Meal 5: Lean beef (6 oz) and 3 glasses of water | Yes | |
| 9:00 p.m. | Supplements: Protein shake with glutamine, calcium and 3 glasses of water | Yes | |
| Accountability Areas: | Points | Possible | |
| Meal 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Meal 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| Meal 3 | 1 | 1 | |
| Meal 4 | 1 | 1 | |
| Meal 5 | 1 | 1 | |
| Training | 1 | 1 | |
| Post Workout Nutrition | 1 | 1 | |
| Water | 1 | 1 | |
| Pre-sleep nutrition | 1 | 1 | |
| Accountability | 1 | 1 | |
| Daily Totals: | 10 | 10 | |
| Mission Totals: | 48 | 50 | |
| Workout Log: | |||
| HIIT Cardio | 30 minutes | ||
| Chin up challenge | (90) 5 x 5 | [PB] | |
| Push up challenge training | 5 sets for 101 total | ||
| Squats | 210 x 15; 210 x 15; 210 x 14 | [PB] | |
| Deadlifts | 205 x 13; 205 x 14; 205 x 13 | ||
| Step ups | 30 x 15 x 3 | ||
| Bulgarian Split Squats | 35 x 15 x 3 | ||
| [PB] = Personal Best |
Form was essential on these lifts. I also needed to use straps for the first time on my deadlifts. I wanted to be sure I could lift on all sets. While I was short on the scheduled repetitions, the deadlifts kicked my butt. I could not have done another rep if my life depended upon it.
I hope you all have/had a Happy New Year!
Until tomorrow…
