Chaz1138’s BodyBlog

I made a some progress tonight.  I haven’t added more time to my workout, but I did manage to bump my total reps to 884, burning 278 calories!!!  I have not changed my last set of 6 sets of 10 "curls", so I must be getting more reps in on my back and legs.

I think the key might be that:

a) I am having a small meal a couple of hours before I workout, usually protein and carbs, with some amount of fat, like a meat and cheese sandwich or pasta and meatballs.  And

b) I have some small snack, like a demitasse or two of dark chocolate with a 500 mg taurine pill 20 - 40 mins before I workout.  And I suddenly have much more energy and endurance!

And I think I am building small amounts of muscle …

(Those are Tim Allen grunts in the title)

Got a new level!!!

17 minutes on legs!!!

3 minutes on arms!!! (+ 6 sets of 10 for "curls")
763 total reps!!!
258 calories burned!!!

All with bodyweight (about 190 lbs with legs locked out, 217 with legs in action)

I was playing around with the settings on my Healthrider and discovered a new placement for the handlebar and a seat adjustment.

I moved the seat back three notches, from 32 to 29.  I don’t know exactly what these numbers mean as I bought the unit used and lost the instruction manual years ago.  I was able to download a new manual, but it about as useful as Scarmanga’s superfluous mammary.  James Bond fans will know what I am talking about.   ;~)

I initially moved the seat back to keep myself from having to adjust my butt so often while working out.  Sometimes I nearly pushed myself off!  *LOL*  And then I upped the intensity of my legs by moving the handlebar to a second, almost hidden position that completely locks out any action from my arms.  I now only put out enough upper body effort to keep myself on the machine.  My legs do all the work.

Changing the location of the seat and locking out my arms has upped the intensity of my leg routine and getting through 13 minutes is now rough.  it used to be that I could cruise right on through to 13 minutes, but now, at about 10 minutes, my legs are shaking and the sweat is pouring out of me in buckets.  My glutes and lower lower back are also being brought into play with th is arrangement and I am excercising muscles I never have before.

And I still follow through with 2 minutes on my arms and back and 6 sets of 10 for my arms alone.

Even though I’ve been chubby for most of my life, I’ve never had buns before.  Maybe now, I’ll get some …

16:57, 664 reps (with bodyweight), and burned 207 calories on my Healthrider tonight!!!

WOOO HOOO!!!

… and one back.

I had a tooth go bad on me.  I did not want this to be a big interruption but the pain right now is driving me nuts and I am on two different pain killers and powerful antibiotics.  The killer thing about the antibiotics is that you can’t take them with anything containing calcium; you have to wait at least two hours before, or after, you’ve eaten or drunk anything containing calcium.  So … no milk, no protein drinks (because they all contain calcium caseinate) no cheese, no soy milk (calcium carbonate), even bananas (because bananas contain trace amounts of every element on the periodic table, including things like gold and silver) either can’t be used to take my medecine with, or need to be taken in this odd cadence between antibiotic pills.

Now, I realize that this shouldn’t stop me from jumping on my Heathrider, but I do have to be careful for the moment.  Just after I started on this journey my blood pressure jumped through the roof because of drastic changes in diet, exercise and having a relationship go south on me (probably the biggest factor in my bp being out of control).

Grr ……

Hopefully … by Monday … I can get back on the stick …

Worked my legs for 10 minutes today, up from 7 last week.

The timer on my HealthRider clocked me at 420 reps over the 10 minutes.

Tonight, I weighed myself by sitting on the scales and resting my legs on the floor and it read 195 lbs.  Could my legs really only weigh 21 lbs?

Well, if it is accurate at all, that means that I did 420 reps with 195 lbs!!!

WOOO HOOO!!!

Just about the same time I signed up out here, I cleaned out the area in the cellar where my Healthrider lives.  The Healthrider is a kind of "scissor" machine that you sit on like a bike.  You push out with your legs, while simultaneously pulling back with your arms and the seat lifts you up, so you are actually exercising with over half your bodyweight.  It is a pretty cool way to burn some calories and work your muscles, without the need for a weight set.  The handlebar is wide, and there are footpegs you can place your feet on and "lock out" the action of your legs, so you can work upper lats or lowers just by how far apart you put your hands.  If you relax your lats while pulling back, you can also do a kind of "curl," but it is not really what I am used to, so I am going to pick up some dumbbells.  The only things that are difficult to do are triceps, anterior delts, hamstrings and abs.  it also has a small bad mounted just under the seat so you can add weights.  I think there is five pounds on there right now.

But … since I have quite a bit of weight to lose first, I don’t need to worry very much about all that at the moment.  I’ll get to those muscle groups again.

Anyway, when I started out last Monday, I was doing about two minutes for my legs, and then my legs "locked out" and working my arms and back only for an additional two minutes.  Then I pulled my grip in close and did 3 sets of 10 reps specifically for my biceps and forearms.  Monday through Friday.

Then I took the weekend off from exercising.  I figure five days on and two off is a good thing as, even though I am not blasting biceps or ripping abs, muscles still need time to recoup.  I also allowed myself to have some more calories and carbs (watermelon and blueberries, yummmmmm).

And when I jumped back on the Healthrider yesterday morning I was pumping away with my legs only and looked down at the timer and saw that I has been going for 2:30 an my legs weren’t tired yet.  So I kept on going … 3:00 … 4:00 … finally up to 7:00!!! Without my legs getting tired!!!

WOOO HOOO!!!

I had never gone that long before; I think my best time in days gone by was maybe six minutes … using both arms and legs!  The only reason I stopped is because I needed to get off the machine and get showered and ready for work.  Hopefully, this will not be a anomalous high water mark.  Perhaps in a month, I can go for twenty minutes!!!