Day 17: Shoulders & Arms followed by Ab Ripper X

I finished the herbal cleanse program I've been on for the last 2 weeks and starting taking some new supplements that are supposed to increase calories burned during your workout. All the supplements are Advocare products which my wife now represents through Peak Performance.

Workout felt really good today and my arms & shoulders are still burning about 45min after my workout. I was happy to see myself at 191 today as well. I went out to a ballgame last night. I had one bratwurst and really felt hungry for a second. I avoided the urge and went for the chicken breast instead. I also really limited my alcohol intake. I had one tall white russian & one beer. Usually when I'm tailgating with my college buddies it's 2-3 bratwurst and 6-8 beers. Hmmmm, how did I ever get fat?

Day 16: Plyometrics

I think this is my earliest post yet! 2 workouts in less than 12 hours.

Sacrificing an hour everyday to workout is tough enough but to try to get it in before work is insane. Especially when you start work at 7:30am. I'm leaving early from work today to go to a baseball game. Since I wouldn't be getting home until 10-10:30pm I knew the only way to get my workout in was to get up at 5am.

Luckily little Eva slept through morning and I could go without interruption. Working out in the morning is a lot tougher than the afternoon I think. I never enjoyed morning workouts. Since taekwondo practice was always after 6pm my body has been use to training at night for the last 21 years. Plyometrics are tough enough on a warm body but first thing in the morning is killer. I was definitely tiring more quickly this morning but I felt energized after.

We'll see how long I last today now!

Day 15: Chest & Back followed by Ab Ripper X

This has got to be the toughest workout session. To make it worse, it's followed by 15 minutes of abs. It's just killer!!!

I showed some improvements though from last week. I did 130 total push-ups compared to 96 last week. I consider that a sizable accomplishment. Here are the types of push-ups in this workout:

You do a set of pull-ups or weight lifts in between sets of push-ups. Then the whole routine is repeated - that is why there are two numbers for each set:
Standard: 22 & 17 reps
Military: 6 & 0 reps I was outta gas the 2nd go around
Wide Fly: 19 & 17 reps
Decline: 16 & 8 reps (compared to 4 & 4 last week)
Diamond: 10 & 5 reps (hate these!!!)
Dive Bomber: 6 & 4 reps

I'm not going to even go over pull ups. I still suck at them. I keep at them though but I'm still using the chair for assistance.

Day 14: Rest & Weigh-in

Well, I'm a little disappointed in my weight loss this week again. I really minimized my alcohol intake this week (3 drinks total) and avoided soda. I ate lean, no junk food or snack food. I really thought I would have dropped more. Though I finished today at 192, I was as low as 190 a few days ago. It's frustrating.

Well, there wasn't much rest today. I had a taekwondo class to teach. I got there early and warmed myself up. 100 jumping jacks, some running and then hard forms practice. Class was spent working on proper falling technique and some jujistu as demonstrated by our guest instructor. My left thigh is killing me from taking a knee there while in a sweep.

Some good things to take from this week...

Yesterday, I was able to go a full 8 minutes of heavy boxing on the heavy bag. I've never gone that long. Not only did I feel I had more energy, I felt a lot more strength behind my punches. If I had this strength & endurance the last time I was in the ring I would have won by KO instead of by decision.

I also feel I'm running longer & stronger.

I'm using a new notch on my belt!

I'll just keep plugging. Tomorrow starts a new week.













Final weight: 192.2 lbs.
Weight lost this week: 1.2 lbs.
Total weight lost: 2.6 lbs.

Day 13: Cardio

Bleh!

I went into work at 6am today to make sure I could get everything finished and I could get home on time. Not in the cards today. I didn't leave work until after 6pm tonite. Last thing I wanted to do when I got home was work out. At least it was cardio. I decided to wrap up the wrists and work out on the heavy bag. The heavy bag is a great way to get a full body workout. I mixed the heavy bag with jogging and sprints. Definitely worked the stress out.

Day 12: Legs & Back followed by Ab Ripper X

I'm beat. Not sure what else to say today. Lot's of pull-ups. For those not familiar with Ab Ripper X, it's 330 sit-ups in a 15 minute session. That's after an hour workout. Damn, these people are mean. I can't do all 330. It's several different sit-up exercises with 25 repetitions in each. On half of them, I can do all 25. On the others, I can get to about 15-20. Sometimes it's because my stomach is just burning and on others, my lower back starts to give. I have a really weak lower back. I don't think it helps that it has to support my gut. Hopefully as I progress here, there will be less for my back to hold up.

Day 11: Yoga

Ahhhh, that stretching felt good after my body getting tore up from the lifting this week. I worked up one hell of a sweat though. It's amazing how much sweating you can do practically sitting still! I am just ounces away from 190 today and so close to hitting that elusive 189 mark I've been wanting to hit since last weigh in.

Bonus: Went for a 3.5mile run this afternoon with Christy. Felt great too. After we hit the halfway mark, we switched it up for the homestretch: 1 min jogging, 1 min sprinting, 1 min walking. That seriously kicked my butt.