The Best Shape of My Life!

Well, so far I’ve been doing better for the rest of the week. Monday was hard, especially in the afternoon/evening. I usually am always tired at that time of the day anyway, and I was moreso on Monday since I didn’t get much sleep. Then, of course, I got a second wind, so I was up late Monday night, too. But I got a bit more sleep, so Tuesday was okay.

Here I am writing this at 11 pm. But that’s about normal for me, and I do get to sleep an extra hour tomorrow morning. So I guess I’m not really sleeping an "extra" hour, but I have a bit of time to use as I want. That might help a bit.

I’ve done three workouts so far. Two strength and one cardio. I feel great. Even for being tired, worn out, and very heavily stressed this week, I’ve been doing pretty well. I’ve even been eating better than usual. I forced myself to buy healthy snacks and foods for this week, and I’ve been eating them. Of course, I haven’t been perfect, but overall, it’s been an improvement. Maybe the lack of sleep has caused me to find other avenues for good energy.

Tomorrow morning I’m planning on hitting the gym and doing a third strength workout. I’m starting to feel the results again, and I think I’m starting to see some changes. Nothing major, by any means, but if nothing else, I’m feeling better about what I’m doing, how I look, etc.

I’m also back to drinking more protein shakes (mostly I make my own) and using vitamins. I’m using a multi that has BCAA’s in it as well as some other stuff. I hate taking pills, so I found something all wrapped up into one massive pill. Of course, a "serving size" is two pills. Painful. But, I know my body needs the nutrients. And maybe the other stuff will work on me a bit, in a positive way.

We’ll see what I feel like at 6 am when I wake up. Have a good one everyone.

It’s ten till 4 in the morning, and I’m wide awake! I’ve been awake off and on all through the night. I didn’t actually go to bed till about midnight, and then I’ve just been waking up periodically since. I finally forced myself to get out of bed around 3 and I’ve been looking for things to do to keep me occupied. So I decided I would write this post and vent my anger and frustration.

I can’t figure out why I can’t sleep. It’s a normal Sunday night/Monday morning. I have to be at work in about 3 hours. I just got back from spring break vacation (though vacations don’t normally cause me to be awake the night before work resumes). I didn’t drink any coffee late at night tonight, and I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary from any other night. I JUST CANNOT SLEEP! And there’s no point in trying to force myself to sleep for an hour…..I normally wake up around 5 am.

So, I guess I’ll just go get something to eat, get an early start to my morning, and prep a good workout. The gym opens at 5 am, so I think I might go in early and hopefully get something done there that will be worthwhile. I haven’t done a good workout in over a week (spring break), so I was hoping to get some rest so I could make this morning’s workout a good one. Hopefully I can still pull it off. We’ll see.

And no, I’m not going to try sleeping pills, and no, I don’t have a sleep disorder.

And yes, I may be tempted to sneak in a nap in the afternoon.

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

This week is spring break for not only the school I teach at, but also for the university. How convenient! Yeah, on one level. But not for my health and fitness level. Oh well, we all need a break every now and then.

I did play some tennis with my bro-in-law yesterday, and I went out and ran today. It was beautiful today! Even a bit warm. Around 70 degrees or so. It felt good to be outside and run a bit. Now I’m tired.

Diet sucks, but that’s been the norm for me lately. With my time schedule the way it is, I can’t keep up with myself, much less with fitness and diet. But I’m doing the best I can, and I have been eating more home-cooked meals, which tend to be healthier for me. Beats ordering pizza and Chinese every night!

Ok, so more rest and fun while on "vacation," and then I can get back into my routine of things. Maybe even drop my bodyfat back down to 10%, like it was at one point. Maybe, just maybe, I can "run" off (through various cardio and strength activities) enough blubber to get back into some 33 waist jeans. That would be the day.

Hey, it’s good to dream while you’re on vacation. I think. Have a good one!

Yep. Did both.

5:30 am: Cardio. Ran one mile in 7:41. Not too bad for not running in a while. Finished out with a total of 15 minutes of running and/or walking briskly on the treadmill.

8:15 pm: Weights. Fully body circuit (see my workout program for details). Canceled the shoulders, bis, and tris tonight. Was too exhausted after conferences at school till 7:30. I was actually surprised I had the energy to do the workout I did. I’m sure I’ll be slightly sore tomorrow night and Saturday morning. But that’s okay.

Plan on running again Saturday morning. I’m getting into it again. Partly because I need to get rid of my gut (I’ve gained bodyfat since the last time I measured), and partly because I do actually enjoy running when I’m in the mood for it.

I’m now going to bed.

March is here, and along with it, my spring program. I’m hoping to burn off some of the fat that I added during the winter, as well as build a bit more muscle. I’m using a program that I got out of the Jan-Feb Maximum Fitness magazine (modified for my needs of course). It seemed like a cool program, and I hadn’t done some of the exercises in a while.

It’s a full body routine (I’m going to post it in my workout program section of my profile), and it hits every major muscle group. Abs aren’t hit directly, but trust me, a lot of the exercises require core stabilization and strength. So much that doing a couple of the exercises yesterday was somewhat difficult.

I’m already feeling the effects from yesterday’s workout, and then, to add to that, I ran/walked this morning! I’ve picked up running again. Partly because I know it’s the easiest form of cardio to do. All I have to do is get my rear out of bed and hit the road (or the treadmill, which is what I’ve been using lately). I’m also running because I know it’s the best way to burn some of the extra fat off. The cool thing is that I’ve found it to be somewhat interesting this time around. I hope I stick with it.

I ran last Friday on the treadmill for about 20 minutes, last Saturday for only about 10, and this morning again for about 20. Of course I’m not running the entire time. I do a lot of intervals of running, walking, sprinting, and jogging. The whole spectrum. Long distance running was never my thing, and I get bored, so I change it up a bit on the treadmill. Once I get outside, I might go more for distance.

Anyway, we’ll see how this week goes. I’m going to try to do some bodyweight exercises tomorrow, such as pushups, pullups, plyometrics, etc. We’ll see how it works out for me. Next strength workout isn’t till Thursday.