Days 42-60 The Halfway Mark

To shave or not to shave, that was the question. It isn't that poetic. I thought about it for awhile, but then, for me at least, it was a no-brainer. I can be a pretty hairy guy, and there is nothing prettier than a fat hairy guy. I was blessed and cursed at the same time. Blessed with the fact that I have hair pretty much all over my body EXCEPT for my back. Thank god for that. Cursed in knowing that the hair on my head will soon disappear. Ain't genetics great. What a bummer. I knew growing up that I would never look like a Roman God with a full head of hair. So Ill just try to settle as a bald Roman God. It isn't gone yet, so I rejoice.

It has been a couple of weeks with some ups and downs. I did miss one day due to severe illness. Workout rule # 1, never lift weights sick. Luckily it only lasted one day, well, actually two but I soldiered on the second day and managed not to get sick on myself or others. My routine has been the same, Monday through Sunday. I have added some variations but for the

most part it has been steady. I have a nagging right shoulder injury that won't heal and a nagging right elbow injury that wont heal, so dumbbell curls are out of the question and shoulder presses are off limits too. However I can still curl a lot of weight with the bar and on various machines without any pain, and I utilize other shoulder exercises that don't hurt me either.

I still weigh 180 pounds but obviously I have lost fat weight and replaced it with muscle. I have struggled at time to put weight on but a few weeks ago I decided on the 6 meal a day plan. It goes like this:

Early Morning Whey Protein Shake with Strawberries and non fat milk

Early Afternoon Whey Protein Shake with Juice of 1 apple, 1 Kiwi, 2 Celery sticks, 1 carrot, and 1/2 of a Mango with some blueberries (juiced in a juice machine)

Late Afternoon Whey Protein Shake with Strawberries and non fat milk

Pre-Workout Whey Protein Shake with Strawberries and non fat milk

Post Workout Dinner (Fish, Chicken light on the carbs)

Before Bed Whey Protein Shake with Strawberries and non fat milk.

The next 30 days my plan is to put on as much muscle as possible and the next 30 days I will cut back on the weights and concentrate on cardio and fat loss. I still have the love handles and you cannot yet see my six pack.

So here are the pics. Before and after Day one and Day 60.

Days 26-41

It has been a while since I updated this blog. Besides being a stay at home Dad this summer while I prioritize my next move in life, taking care of an energy filled 4 year old girl is no easy task either. (Did I ask that many questions when I was 4 years old.) Fitting in a 2 hour workout session every day is hard. Very hard, and by the end of the day I am exhausted. I'm not much of a house cleaner/dishwasher/dog-poop cleaner upper either so Karen has been helping with those task very very reluctantly after posting a 12 hour shift. The house cleaning is the argument starter of our relationship. If only I could count housework as a workout.

My experiment with spinning lasted only one session. Group bicycling really sucks for me. I don't get it at all. You sit in a smelly room with a bunch of people listening to an obnoxious guy/gal yelling through one of those Michael Jackson type microphones listening to really bad music, and then when its all done everyone hi-fives each other as if our team member won a yellow jersey in the Tour de France. I love camaraderie but generally with those I know. So I decided to spin on my own. listen to the voice in my head and groove to the sounds of my own beat.

The Yoga was an entirely different story. Very calming, very relaxing and none of the fluff I experienced in the spinning class. My only complaint is that the courses are at my gym, L.A. Fitness and you don't get the quiet and calm atmosphere that one would get in a proper Yoga studio. Plus, there is that big pane of glass that separates you from the guys doing cable triceps extensions while checking out the girls behinds as we are doing the downward-dog pose. Do I spring for a membership at a proper Yoga studio or tough it out in a prison yard like environment.

I have worked out every single day since starting this program. I can sleep 12 hours some days. I am starting to feel like a world class athlete in some ways (some ways, I still have a little bit-o-jiggle in my belly and love handles, but hey I am 42) There is always something hurting someplace on my body. The last few weeks it has been the inside of my left elbow. Some kind of tendinitis or something, so dumbbell arm curls have been out of the question. 

I have dialed in my workouts to look like this:

Mondays      -Legs, Abs 

Tuesdays      -Chest, Triceps and Shoulders

Wednesdays-Arms, Back and Cycling

Thursdays    -Legs, Abs

Friday           -Yoga, Push-ups and Pull-ups

Saturday       -Cycling, Abs

Sunday          -Cycling, Push-ups and Pull-ups

Also I have been swimming everyday with my daughter Grace working on expanding the amount of air that I can hold in my lungs. I plan to go free-diving/spearfishing in the Pacific Ocean for my fish.

Stay tuned for more pictures

Days 16-25

Working out everyday is tough. It is tough to motivate yourself. It is not like hunger, where your body tells you, "you gotta eat." It is exactly the opposite. Your body tells you, "you gotta rest." To exercise every day has not been ingrained as a habit yet. I want a day off, maybe even two, but since my mind and body have not yet been habitualized into my routine, I know that I cannot quit. These matters are made worse due to the fact that I have taken the summer off to spend more time with my daughter Grace. I have been able to do this because my gym has a children's area with very good supervision, that gives me the ability to frequently check on her during my workouts. I swim with Grace almost everyday and she has become quite an accomplished swimmer at the age of four. She can hold her breath and dive 8 feet to the bottom of the pool and retrieve things that I have place there. I didn't even learn to swim until I was 7 or 8 years old. She will be an accomplished surfer at 6 I'm sure.

This is how my training has progressed

Tuesday day 16

Arms and back with 30 minutes on the bicycle

Wednesday Day 17

Legs

Thursday Day 18

Chest Triceps and Shoulders

Friday Day 19

3 Mile Run in the Heat of the Arizona Moon trying unsuccessfully to dodge the rain.

Saturday Day 20

Arms and Back with 30 Minutes on the Bicycle

Sunday Day 21

Legs

Monday Day 22

Chest arms and triceps

Tuesday Day 23

Arms and back

Wednesday Day 25

3 Mile Run

Thursday day 25

Legs

I can really feel myself starting to get stronger now. Especially with my legs. I am pretty fit now cardio-wise and I will be starting regular spinning classes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday at 5:45 am, and trying Yoga classes twice a week. 

Days 12-15

Friday was the big test for my left knee. I did a few warm up stretches and then made my way to the recline leg press. I put on four plates at 45 pounds each put on my earphones and gently pushed the weights up releasing the hold and slowly lowering the weights down. I did twelve reps without feeling any pain, but 225 pounds is relatively  light so I put on another 90 pounds did 10 reps and still no pain. The big test for me, is 405 pounds. That was the last weight before the pain started to flare up in my knee. I released the hold and was able to squeeze out ten repetitions without any pain whatsoever. I completed another set pain free and deduced that my knee problem was  the result of irritation due to inactivity but I'm not a doctor. I finished my leg workout without a hitch so I'm ready to go!

Saturday and Sunday I decided to go easy and did 30 and 45 minutes, respectively on the elliptical trainer. 

Monday I worked my chest triceps and shoulders. My muscles were a little bit sore on some of the flye movements. My I can tell when my muscles need more rest because I can't do my maximum repetitions on the machines, but it has been more than a few days of rest so I'm not pushing myself too hard. I decided to switch over to cycling for my cardiovascular part of my workout, specifically spinning. Spinning is hard work. It will make me break a sweat faster than any other cardio workout I can think of. I have to be in at lease semi-good shape to start a spinning program or I will start to feel sick after 5 or so minutes. I did 20 minutes on the spinner at a reasonable moderate level without any ill effects, but boy did I sweat!

Days 8-11

Days 8-11

Monday began my first week on the program. My joints, muscles and bones hurt. I could still barely straighten my arms. Legs were still out of the question. I was still feeling that electric shock that would nearly jolt me right out from under myself. I decided to take it easy and do 45 minutes on the elliptical trainer.

By the time Tuesday rolled around I was 95 percent pain free so I decided to work my chest triceps and shoulders. I couldn't do as many reps as last week but my strength had not waned. I did the same workout as the previous week but added another set to my workout with the exception of shoulders. I stuck to three reps per set because my shoulders are the weak link on my upper body. I finished my workout with 150 sit-ups followed by 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer.

I wanted to give my upper body a break from heavy weights so on Wednesday I put in 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer followed by 30 minutes at home boxing, doing push-ups and sits-ups, and 3 sets of max-out pull ups, which for me right now only consists of about six or seven, but considering that my long arms have to pull 180 pounds of weight in only my second week I consider that a feat.

Thursday was the first day that I felt 100 percent pain free. I felt flexible and light in my step. I really worked my biceps and back. I did four sets of curls starting out with 40 pounds on each dumbbell and alternated with the curl machine doing four sets of each and lowering the weight and maxing out until I could lift no more. I followed my  biceps workout with a tough back workout using three different machines, doing four sets at each machine. I finished my workout with 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer followed by 150 sit-ups. 

I will attempt to do legs tomorrow and see if my left knee can take the weight. If it can't I'll have to make an appointment to see the orthopedic surgeon and go over my options. I have decided that this in no way will stop me from continuing my program. If the problem with my knee is serious then I will remove heavy  weights from my lower body regimen. 

Day Six and Day Seven--The pain

Day 6

I went to the gym after a nice sleep in and prepared myself for my second leg workout of the week. I warmed up for a few minutes, put on my new bluetooth headphones with music supplied from my iPhone and prepared to start another round of lower body exercises. I prepared the recline bench, put 225 pounds on the bar, sat down and on the first push in knew something was wrong. It was my left knee. Just below the kneecap on the right side. It was very painful, almost like an electric shock. i got off the machine and thought maybe there is something caught up in there. I squatted down on the mat and pushed myself up as if to do a normal squat without weights. Sure enough the shock feeling but this time it equated to a real pain, something tangible and I knew that something was not right. I was able to go on the elliptical trainer for 30 minutes on level 6 without any pain or discomfort so I will take a wait and see approach until my next scheduled leg session.

Day 7

My entire upper body is still very sore so I decided to do 45 minutes on the elliptical trainer. My knee is still pain free when I use the elliptical, but I cant yet bend the knee all the way down and come up pain free. I am going to give the knee a few days and if all is now well by then, I will have to see an orthopedic to see exactly what I have done to it......stay tuned

Day Five--And I've Been Run Over By A Truck

I knew that in starting this program that the first two weeks were going to be painful. I was going to be painfully sore and six days into this my upper body now feels as if it was run over by a truck. I have never been run over by a truck or a car for that matter, with the exception of when I was ten my foot was run over by a Camaro leaving the apartment driveway. It really didn't hurt that much though, as I remember. It happened the same year as my hernia operation as a ten year old and ever since that experience, I have always been cautious of lifting  really heavy weights.  The muscles in my legs have quickly healed. Much quicker than I though they would, but now my upper body is feeling the burn. My pectorals  hurt to the touch, my biceps are swollen and the inside part of my elbows (what it is called anatomically I haven't a clue) hurts when I fully extend my arms. But I know this is normal for me. I have been through this many times, but now that I am getting older I can feel not only the muscle pain but the joint pain as well, a good indicator for me to slow it up on week 2 and not push myself too hard. I have upped my caloric intake by about 25 percent. I am not eating any red meat for awhile, because I'm trying to flush red animal meat out of my system. So its been tuna, salmon, and a lot of Ahi Tuna along with a lot of fruits, vegetables, and nuts, especially raw almonds.

I drink a juiced shake post workout from a really nice juicer that can juice most whole fruits. This juice consists of: 1 whole apple, 1 whole mango, 1 whole carrot, 3 stalks of celery, 1 tomato, and 1 whole kiwi fruit. Then I mix the batch in a blender with a quarter cup of blueberries and two scoops of chocolate whey protein powder. This concoction really fills me up and it tastes pretty good too.

My workout was pretty straightforward. I worked my biceps and my back muscles. For my biceps workout I used dumbbells, a curl machine and cable biceps pulls. I did three sets of each. For my back I used the sit down row machine, the lat pull down machine and the cable row machine. I spent 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer at level 6 and finished my workout with 100 incline sit-ups.