El Gilbro’s BodyBlog

Okay, so we’re only assuming it’s the flu because my doctor’s office isn’t getting their "flu swabs" until October and the symptoms I presented point to a viral infection and since flu season is right around the corner……

Anyway, it started last Sunday.  I wake up and most of my muscles are sore and I have a sore throat.  Within two hours, I feel fine so I figured that I was just sore from the prior day’s activities and my sore throat is just the result of the bedroom being too cold over night.  Lunch time rolls around and I’m not too hungry, but that’s okay because we’re having a cookout later and I want to do most of my eating at that time.  Then…..the afternoon rolls around and I take a 3 hour nap.  I’m not one to nap.  I wake up with a headache.  The cookout takes place and I hardly eat anything….  Later that night, I’m running a fever.

I wake up Monday morning with body aches, sore throat, fever, headache…..Great!  Spend all day in bed.  Fever and headaches disappears late into the evening.

Tuesday, I trudge back to work with body aches and a sore throat.  I make it through the day and get home exhausted.  Wednesday, with body aches at full force, I go to the doctor.  They do a strep test on my throat.  It comes back negative, so they tell me that whatever I have is viral and that I should stay home from work at least another day.

Thursday, same thing, severe body aches and one of the worst sore throats I’ve ever had.  A nurse from the doctor’s office calls to let me know that the strep test that they sent away to the lab also came back negative.  I let her know that none of the symptoms have gotten any better and my throat is killing me.  She tells me that I’ll probably be called in for blood work the next day.

Friday, body aches are slightly better but my throat is on fire.  I can’t swallow anything at all without being in terrible pain.  Dr.’s office calls back….."It’s the effects of the virus, nothing we can do.  Come back in early next week if symptoms persist."

Saturday, the body aches finally seem to be subsiding.  I’m just slightly sore in some muscles as opposed to being incredibly sore throughout my entire body.  My throat is still killing me and there are white patches in the back of my mouth that weren’t there on Wednesday when I was at the Dr.’s office.  A personal friend that is a doctor calls in an antibiotic Rx for me.  I take the antibiotic and take a nap.  My throat feels slightly better after waking up.

Sunday is spent in bed with a sore throat and fatigue.

Monday, I was able to return to work with a slight sore throat and less fatigue.

Here it is, Tuesday, and I still have the remnants of a sore throat that makes eating difficult.  I’m not as tired as I was and the muscle soreness is completely gone.  I feel like another good night’s rest will knock this out of me completely.  I’ve lost about 10 lbs. over the course of the week between having no appetite and pain when swallowing.

My daughter’s fall soccer season has started (practice started the week of August 10th and her first game was this past Saturday). 

One thing is for sure….she is TEARING IT UP!!!!!  I’m so proud of her.  She is light years ahead of where she started just a few short months ago in the spring season.  She went from dribbling in a straight line and being afraid of going up against opposing teams’ players in the spring to dribbling through traffic all over the field and stealing the ball from the opposition.  She was flying all over the place with a huge smile on her face!!!!

The spring soccer season for my daughter’s "under 6" team that I was coaching has come to an end.  It was a fun learning experience for all involved.  All of the kids improved greatly since the beginning of the season.  I’m very proud of them because this was the first time playing soccer for three quarters of them.  On top of that, we were limited to one 1 hour practice per week.  Unfortunately, my work schedule won’t allow me to coach again in the fall season, but my daughter loves soccer and wants to keep playing.  It’ll be a nice change to be able to sit on the sidelines as a spectator and not have to worry about rotating substitutions so everyone gets equal playing time and whatnot.

On to my new routine……

I’ve been doing P90X since the beginning of the year.  It’s a great program and I love the workouts.  The only problem is that my schedule makes it very hard to find the 1hour+ block of free time to get the workouts in and stay on schedule.  I still plan on using workouts from P90X, but it’s going to be more of the cardio workouts.  I’m going to do my lifting outside of the P90X programs for a month or two.  I can get through the cardio workouts without getting bored like I do on the elliptical trainer, and I can split up my lifting workouts to fit them into smaller time slots than the P90X workouts.

Right now, I need to get on a consistent routine.  Once I get the consistency down, I’ll worry about increasing the intensity and volume and eventually work my way back up to routine with longer workouts like P90X.

Today is the day of the first practice for my spring soccer team consisting of 9 kids under the age of 6.  This oughta be fun!!!

I read a quote on the forums that said "If you want something you’ve never had before, you need to do something you’ve never done before."

What I want?  A six-pack.  What I’ve never done?  A really strict diet.

Everytime I tried to jump into a diet, I fell off the wagon after about two days.  Since New Year’s Eve, I’ve been easing my way into cleaner eating.  I’ve been trying to plan out and prepare meals ahead of time to stick to a plan.  I’ve been far from perfect, but I’m getting there with baby steps.  I hope to squash some poor eating habits (i.e. skipping meals, snacking on junk, gorging myself in the evening after skipping meals, etc.) before I fully committ myself to a strict diet plan.  Going from eating however I like right into a strict diet hasn’t ever worked for me, so I’m hoping this approach eases the shock a little.

Not only am I in pursuit of visible abs….but about a year ago I was diagnosed with asthma and acid reflux disease.  I’ve read about numerous people who have eliminated symptoms of both conditions by losing weight.  I’m hoping that dropping some fat will not only get me the appearance I want, but will also eliminate the need for one or two prescription meds I have to take.

Today I complete my first week of P90x.  For years I was always skeptical of any infomercial programs or equipment.  After seeing the P90x infomercial many times (is there nothing good on tv on Sunday mornings?), I thought I’d like to give it a try.  Santa caught wind of that and I got it for Christmas.

It’s been about 8 years since I’ve had a workout program that wasn’t my own.  Within the last 2 years, I’ve become really complacent with my workouts.  Frequency, consistency, and length all varied.  If I didn’t feel like doing an exercise, or even an entire workout, I didn’t.  My routine eventually become Chest & Tri’s one day, Back & Bi’s the next day, and then maybe a day for Shoulders…repeat 4 days later.  Not good.

So doing P90x basically eliminates the excuses for me.  I set aside enough time each day to do the day’s workout.  I do the exercises on that day’s DVD and I’m done.  No skipping over entire workouts.  No skipping exercises I don’t like.  Just "press play" (as their slogan goes) and follow along regardless of how much I hate doing a particular exercise.

Wednesday was Chest & Back, followed by the "Ab Ripper" workout.  I haven’t been that sore in a loooooooong time.

Thursday was Plyometrics.  "This should be a cake walk.  It’s just jumping around", I thought.  This was the hardest workout I’ve done in a while and the soreness that followed made the soreness from Wednesday’s workout seem like nothing.  I don’t look forward to this workout again, but it has to be working the way I felt afterwards.

Friday’s workout got bumped to Saturday because I was down and out with a stomach virus.  Shoulders & Arms wasn’t too terrible because shoulders have always been my strong point.  I did a little better with the ab workout this time and the soreness the following day wasn’t nearly as bad.

Sunday was Yoga.  HOLY CRAP!!!!  I new Yogi’s were in shape, but never realized just how difficult it could be!  Sweat was pouring off of me not even halfway into the workout.

Monday was Legs & Back, followed by Abs.  The soreness in my legs from Plyometrics finally subsided on Sunday….just in time for Yoga to bring it back a little….and Monday added to it a little.  My back nearly as sore after this workout as it was after the first workout.  I’m also able to hang with the ab workout better and the soreness afterwards is minimal.

Tuesday was Kenpo Karate cardio.  I really liked this one.  It made me work and I got a good sweat going, but it wasn’t difficult for me.  I was most prepared for this workout compared to the others because of my Isshinryu Karate days.

Today is the last day of week one.  It can be a rest day or a day to do the Stretch workout.  I plan on doing the stretch DVD later tonight and hopping into Week 2 tomorrow. 

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!!!!