El Gilbro’s BodyBlog

El Gilbro’s gym has moved.

 When we got our elliptical trainer a year ago, the logical location for it was in the basement beside the home-gym/free weight setup.  The basement served as our gym and laundry room.  Over the past year, my wife rued going down into the basement to work out.  In the winter, it’s cold.  In the summer, it’s hot.  A lot of the time, it’s damp.  It’s dusty.  There’s spiders.  She decided it was time to move the elliptical trainer.  She also decided that in light of my recent breathing problems (asthma), it would be best to move the entire gym setup out of the damp, dusty basement so that I wouldn’t be down there for prolonged periods of time.

 Our bedroom is huge.  12′x24′ with a cathedral ceiling.  After rearranging the bedroom furniture a little, El Gilbro’s gym is now just a few feet from my bed.  No more unregulated temperatures.  No more spiders.  No more dust or damp mildew smell.  From the basement to the top floor.

From this point on, the calorie-burning takes place in the bedroom

El Gilbro’s gym has moved.

 When we got our elliptical trainer a year ago, the logical location for it was in the basement beside the home-gym/free weight setup.  The basement served as our gym and laundry room.  Over the past year, my wife rued going down into the basement to work out.  In the winter, it’s cold.  In the summer, it’s hot.  A lot of the time, it’s damp.  It’s dusty.  There’s spiders.  She decided it was time to move the elliptical trainer.  She also decided that in light of my recent breathing problems (asthma), it would be best to move the entire gym setup out of the damp, dusty basement so that I wouldn’t be down there for prolonged periods of time.

 Our bedroom is huge.  12′x24′ with a cathedral ceiling.  After rearranging the bedroom furniture a little, El Gilbro’s gym is now just a few feet from my bed.  No more unregulated temperatures.  No more spiders.  No more dust or damp mildew smell.  From the basement to the top floor.

From this point on, the calorie-burning takes place in the bedroom

This year has been terrible for my fitness goals.  For the first three months of the year, I had a nasty cough that severely limited my activity.  Cardio and lifting were completely out of the question.  Two minutes into any workout, I’d get a coughing fit that was enough to bring me to my knees.  I couldn’t breathe.  3 months and numerous trips to the doctors’ office for tests later…I’m diagnosed with asthma.  The roller-coaster of life events (hospitalization of my mom, birth of my son, death of my father) during this time also shot to hell any decent eating.  The lone accomplishment I have through the first 3 months of the year is sticking to my "no soda" New Year’s Resolution.

For the past month, they’ve been treating my asthma with medication.  During this time, I was able to workout with super light weights and super high reps and still be able to breathe.  So far this week (after a month of treatment), I’ve been able to complete a heavy chest/tri’s workout and a back/bi’s workout without having any breathing problems.  I also ran about a half-mile without any breathing trouble.

Not being able to breathe sucks.  I don’t want to multiply my problem by being out of shape or overweight.  My goals have now changed.  I’m no longer worried about mass at any cost.  My target weight is now in the mid 180’s.  My main goal is going to be to increase my running time/distance to improve my cardiovascular health.

I know it’s a few days late, but I’ve been busy since Thursday.

My wife gave birth to a beautiful baby boy on Valentine’s Day!  He was 18 and 3/4 inches long and weighed 8lbs 4.8 ounces!

The New York Football Giants are going to the Super Bowl!!!!

Go G-Men!!!!

I completed my first real workout in over two weeks today.  I started off the first few days of the year on a good note.  However, my mom was admitted to the hospital with serious problems for over a week.  During this time, I also got a nasty flu virus.  With everything that was going down, working out was the last thing on my mind.  I had one or two very, very light workouts that really couldn’t count for anything during this time.  I’m a little ashamed that it took me this long to bounce back, but I’m going to try to stick to a consistent schedule and not let anything interfere with it this time.

My focus this year is on doing cardio consistently.  That’s my biggest downfall.  I always put cardio off.  I need to do it on more consistent basis to get the results I want.

My goals for the new year:

Clean up my diet for good…..

Increase my cardio length and consistency……

Drop bodyfat………..

Add at least 30-50 lbs. to my major lifts……

Get 3,000 hits on my BodySpace…..

Get over 50,000 BodyPoints…..

My Ultimate Goal:  Finally get that 6-pack!!!!

Just finished my first workout since Sunday when I got sick.  It was also my first workout since I began my cut on Thursday.  I shortened my rest periods in between sets to keep my heart rate elevated and get more of a fat burning effect.

No "conventional" cardio today.  This morning I spent two hours removing weeds with both a weed eater and pulling them by hand.  I’m getting ready to head out for 3 hours of push-mowing.  5 hours of steady yard work is a good enough substitute for 45 minutes to an hour of conventional exercise, I think.  My cardio tomorrow will go back to "normal" tomorrow; the elliptical trainer and jogging.

Thanks to a minor sinus infection, I haven’t worked out since Sunday.  The workout I did do on Sunday was very light weights with high reps.  The pressure in my head and slight fatigue at that time wouldn’t allow me to move heavy weights.  I finally have it beat and am planning to get back into the swing of things later today.

The "official" start date of my next cut is November 1st.  However, I’m getting a few days head start from a cold/virus.  I started to get that crappy scratchy feeling in the back of my throat yesterday, and this morning my sinuses were congested.  I’m trying to nip it in the bud with all kinds of cold medicine.  I have a general sluggish feeling, partly due to the cold medicine and partly due to the illness.  I was able to do a light chest workout today (very light weights/high reps).  I don’t "officially" start my clean diet until the first; but if I continue to feel this way in the next few days, I won’t be eating much anyway.

I haven’t decided if I’m going to give another fat burner/energy supplement a try.  Hydroxycut hasn’t worked in two prior cuts.  I did a 3-day trial of ‘2Shredded’ and didn’t notice anything.  No visible change, no measurable change, and most importantly, I didn’t feel a change in energy.  If I would try a fat burner, it would be after 3 or 4 weeks of cutting.