Bikeboy

Charts can be so cool when your progress is positive. I’ve lost weight 3 weeks in a row. The 190’s are now far enough away that my weight fluctuations don’t pop me up there. What do the pollsters call it? Its 190 is not within the margin of error.
Even my margin of error seems to be getting smaller. While I’ve been loosing weight the fluctuations seem to be about a pound whereas before is seemed to be 2-3 pounds. Anyone else notice this sort of trend. When you first start losing weight its often referred to as water loss. I bet the better diet has something to do with it.
So progress is being made, keep it up and happy holidays!

Ok, so Thanksgiving is going to be my cheat next week. I love pie and this years are going to be great! I know this because its my job to make them. So there will be two pumpkin pies and at least an apple pie. So, in order to pay for this pending transgression I’m going to redouble my efforts both in the gym and at the table. Lots of salad and not so much carbohydrates. Also I’ve found that long walks are best for cardio. I’m talking 6+ mile hikes. So even if its raining I’m going hike every day for the next week. The walks are in addition to the weight training. And then on Turkey day itself I’m looking forward to going for a bit of kayaking at my sisters house. That really works your arms and core and you get so cold that the shivering has to account for something. So cross your fingers and hope that my weight trend continues down.

Hope everyone has great plans for next week.

My wife noticed a change in my muscle firmness. I’ve been doing this for a couple of months now so the comment was not expected. If it were the first three or four weeks then I would mark it up to the novelty. But this is going on 3 months so the effects must really be noticeable. Zounds thats a rush. Pants that had grown tight are starting to fit again. Can’t wait for my fat pants to be retired. Should I symbolically burn them?
So I’ve been at this for 3 or 4 months. Progress is slow but in a positive direction. Keep this up and by my 50th I’ll be in my best shape in quite some time. Ready to show off on the boat. Yep, that’d be something, have the boat in the water and a grand day out.

And a good start to it as well. Increased my 1RM to 180 and my waist seems to have come down a bit. So while the progress is slow it is in a positive direction. Maybe by my 50th I can break 200 and have a 33 inch waist. That would be a hoot. I’d definitely make sure that I was somewhere that a bathing suit was required. Or maybe even a wet suit while I master my first kiteboarding. I’m drooling just thinking about it. Wind whipping around 20 and the kite fills and lifts. Next thing you know I’m 15 feet in the air laughing like a madman.

As my son would say, "on yeah, I’m gonna own it!"

Today is not my favorite day. Got up and weighed myself. Up 1.5 lbs. Did my exercises. No progress there. While I’m not as diligent as some you’d think that there would be some progress. I lift 2 times a week and cardio another 2-3. Thats on top of the long (4-5 mile) walks that I take. This is not a binary thing, lifting multiple sets at 70 - 90% of 1 rm twice a week (expletive omitted).
No, my weight has always gone up and down by a couple of pounds. Starting now I will add more green leafy vegetables and less bread. And maybe change the bench press a bit. Small changes over a long enough time. You’re nearly 50 so what’s a couple of months?

The weather has gotten into its fall "rain with flecks of sunshine" bit. Not all of Oregon is this way, most is high desert. But west of the Cascades its a continual mist.
Which is why I’m doing intervals. Trying to do 8 X 40 with 120 rest. I just pushed the tension from 15 to 20. Don’t know what that is in watts. Its enough to push it from hard to gut busting. When I get off the machine the stairs from the basement are at least two flights longer. And I have to walk on my tippy toes because the glutes (?) are so very tender.
But my wife says "Yum, I like whats happening". Even 50 year old men like it when someone they really like says "Yum". So is it worth it? She says she loves me for better or worse, but I think that I’ll do my best to keep the answer as easy as possible.

Just not in every way. The weight is coming down, yeah. And I can now do 4 pullups rather than 2, yeah!!!. I’ve also started to do deadlifts at about 5X220 lbs. , onward and upward!

It seems that my benchpress is stuck a bit. But I’m going to argue that its not. Why? because I feel that my form is much better now than it has been. The lift goes all the way down to my chest, waits for a small pause and then goes back up. I also do my progression from 70% and add 5% until I’m at 3 lifts. Then I go back to 70+% and start again. Next session I’ll be back at the lower end and I’m going to get 175 - 180 lbs. I had a friend in college who was an athlete. He always wanted to get the 45 lb plates on the the bar. If I keep going then someday I’ll get to 4 plates and the stick.

I did my lifting today. I think I remember having to push to get that last rep in. No, really I do remember pushing the last rep and saying to myself. "Just, gasp, a little bit, wobble, more." And then it went all the way up and I was done for the set. Tonight none of those muscles are sore  or twitching or tingling. I read other blogs about people feeling sore the next day and I’m not. Yet Im also not making any progress. But I am giving it everything I can when I’m there. Maybe its time to switch, like to dumbbell bench presses.

So I felt good enough to do some lifting today. No PR’s have been set, maybe next time. At least I got over that really nasty flu.

The best laid plans of mice and men. There are scads of advertisements to get flu shots. If you haven’t already then go get one now. My son has had a fever for 3 days and now I have one as well. And here I thought that the muscle soreness was because of the negatives that I did. This could last a week. Argh…( really sh^* f(@% p^## ). And if I had gotten the flu shot I wouldn’t be in this state. The whole idea of this site is to motivate good health choices. And then to blow it by procrastination.

So enough self flagellation. My next workout is tomorrow. Is it worth trying to lift? Not going to be setting any records if I do. On the other hand, it might be nice to do something. Or am I just asking to prolong the flu?