newway45’s BodyBlog

On Saturday I woke up early to get in a workout. I read in Men’s Health Get Back in Shape book that there are 10 standards of being in shape. I know not everyone here reads Men’s Health but it is one of the publications I read. I am working on seeing how I do in each of the 10 categories. So on Saturday I set out to see how I would do on Standards 2 and 6. Run 1.5 miles within 10 minutes and do 40 pushups. My results were 1.5 miles in 18 minutes and 30 pushups. I actually did a 1.7 mile jog/walk but only timed the 1.5 mile mark. I did 30 push ups and 20 crunches, 20 reverse crunches, 20 each of left and right side crunches. So that was on Saturday June 26th. On Sunday June 27th I did 30 minutes of swimming. Today, Tuesday June 30th I did a 1.7 (untimed) jog/walk and 4 sets of the following circuit. 10 push ups with the Perfect Pushup, 15 crunches, 15 reverse crunches, 15 left side crunches, and 15 right side crunches. Except on the second circuit I was counting and thinking while doing my left side crunches when I realized I was at 20 all ready. so I did 20 on the right and finished the other circuits at the 15. I did all this before work because I didn’t have to be in until 10:00 today. So far I am off to a good start to my new 2-3 times a week exercise goal. On Sunday I will update how I did for the week. Thank you to anyone who is keeping up with my progress.

OK I am a little ashamed to say that I did not do too much during this period. I did a few more workouts like the previous period. I also did a couple workouts on tv. We have the exercise channel and I did some Jillian (from Biggest loser) workouts. They were pretty good workouts. I am happy about what I did because compared to last year I did a lot. However, I did go down to 219 and 44 inches. I am now 225 and 45.5 again. What I have realized is that I am setting big goals which are not only a good idea but they are also essential to making lasting changes. What I have noticed is that as soon as I mess up once I feel like I blew the whole thing and slack off. So for right now I am going to set the goal to exercising 2-3 times a week for the next month. Right now I am not setting any loss goals or amount of exercise goals. Just that I do something 2-3 times a week. We will see what happens after a month and step it up to the next level.

Here is what I have done this week. I think you will be pleased, as I am. I am finally finding my groove.

Apr. 26 9 hours of skimming, glueing, setting vinyl tile, setting cove base (600 square feet of tile and 200 square feet of base), 2 sets of 40 crunches

Apr. 27 6.6 mile bike ride 44 minutes

Circuit Style: Ab roller 15 reps, Perfect pushup 10 reps, Tricep Extension 10 reps 10 lbs, bicep curl 15 reps 25 lbs, shrugs 20 reps 35 lbs, Front-side-rear lateral raises 10 reps 10 lbs, bent rowing 15 reps 25 lbs, calf raises 15 reps 25 lbs each side, side bends 15 reps 25 lbs, bicycle crunches 15 reps each side, squats 10 reps body weight. I did this circuit three times.

Crunches 3 sets 20 reps 15 seconds rest in between and 9/10 ths of a mile walk after dinner

Apr 29 6.6 mile bike ride in 37 1/2 minutes

Circuit - Ab roller 15 reps, Perfect Pushup 10 reps, Tricep Ext. 15 reps 10 lbs, bicep curl 15 reps 25 lbs, shrugs 20 reps 35 lbs, front-side-rear lateral raise 10 reps 10 lbs, bent rowing 15 reps 25 lbs, calf raises 15 reps 25 lbs, side bends 15 reps 25 lbs, bicycle crunches 20 reps, squats 10 reps, dumbbell flyes 15 reps 25 lbs, wrist curls 10 reps 25 lbs, reverse wrist curls 15 reps 10 lbs. I did this circuit for 3 sets

run the stairs 7 times

May 2 7.7 mile bike ride 45 minutes and 46 seconds

Circuit Ab Roller 15 reps, Perfect Pushup 10 reps, reverse wrist curl 15 reps 10 lbs, wrist curls 15 reps 25 lbs, tricep ext. 15 reps 10 lbs, bicep curl 15 reps 25 lbs, front-side-rear lateral raise 15 reps 10 lbs, shrugs 25 reps 35 lbs, bent rowing 20 reps 25 lbs, dumbbell flyes 20 reps 25 lbs, bicycle crunches 20 reps, crunches 25 reps, side bends 20 reps 25 lbs, squats 15 reps, calf raises 20 reps 25 lbs, neck raises 10 reps 10 lbs, reverse neck raises 10 reps 10 lbs. I did this circuit for 3 sets.

My progress picture does not show much difference since the last time but I am sure in two months when I post again it will definitely be a big difference. My next progress picture will be in the beginning of July.

A little history behind the name. John is a person I went to High School with. I did not do much in HS because I absolutely hated it. I got in in the morning, did the least possible, and got out right on the bell. I did not hang out with anyone from school after school. I worked part time from Freshman Year and went to Aikido school for eight months but did nothing school related unless I had to. As much as I did not associate with people from school I did observe. John was one of those guys who just seemed to get along with everyone. He was a boxer and in great shape. I always thought that I would love to be in the shape John was in not taking into consideration the hard work he put in to be that way. Well, here we are almost 30 years later and we connected on another social networking website. Come to find out I finally got my wish. John and I are finally in the same shape. Unfortunately we are both out of shape. I would talk about my exercising on the site and he would say why are you doing that, round is a shape. Well, the other day I went on his site to see how he was doing. He said that he was getting back to the gym. Then I did a crazy thing. Since we are in about the same shape and have similar goals I challenged him to see who can get there the fastest. Well he took it serious and he is on a mission. The main point is that we are both going at it in a fun way and motivating each other. So it is totally friendly but that is why I have also stepped up my game. Now another person from HS, Shane, has joined us and Francesca has started using her home gym again. I never thought I would ever look back but I am glad I have reconnected with the people from days gone by. Stay tuned for further updates.

April 5th I did 1.1 mile walk/jog that took 15 minutes and 32 seconds. That was 3 minutes and 4 seconds faster than the day before. I also did the following:

3 sets crunches for 25 reps

bicep curls 1 set bomb 21 with 25 lbs

shoulder raises 1 set front, side, rear 10 reps with 10 lbs

shrugs 1 set 25 reps with 25 lbs

The rest of the week was rough and I did not get anything else done.

April 11th I broke my rib. So I took a few days to heal and work.

April 18th: 4.5 mile bike ride, 1/2 hour swimming, 1/2 hour mowing, 2 sets bicep curls 15 reps with 25 lbs., 2 sets shrugs 25 reps with 25 lbs., 3 sets crunches 25 reps.

April 19th 12 hours skimming floors, glueing, laying vinyl tile and setting cove base-500 square feet, 2 sets crunches 45 reps each

April 20th 6 1/2 hours rip out shower walls with tile and dense shield, tear out tile and mud bed floor, remove old pan, tear out rotten wook, replace rotten wood. And the following:

3 sets crunches 40 reps each

Circuit style - bicep curls 2 sets 15 reps 25 lbs, shrugs 2 sets 25 reps 25 lbs, Front-side-rear lateral raises 2 sets 10 reps 10 lbs, tricep extensions 2 sets 10 reps 10 lbs

April 21 Corian sills in one house (16 all together) I knee wall in 2nd house

April 22nd remove and replace 7 cracked tile, worked on rebuilding shower

crunches 3 sets 40 reps

Circuit style - bicep curls 2 sets 15 reps 25 lbs, shrugs 2 sets 25 reps 25 lbs, front-side-rear lateral raises 2 sets 10 reps 10 lbs, tricep extension 1 set 10 reps 10 lbs - 1 set 10 reps 25 lbs

April 25th 6.6 mile bike ride 45 minutes

4 sets crunches 40 reps each

circuit style - tricep extension 3 sets 10 reps 25 lbs, bicep curl 3 sets 15 reps 25 lbs, shrugs 3 sets 25 reps 25 lbs, front-side-rear lateral raise 3 sets 10 reps 10 lbs, bent rowing 2 sets 15 reps 25 lbs

I’m starting to get a hang of this and can’t wait until my next post to let you know how I am doing. 

I did a couple of things but not that much. However, this week I have recruited my family to get involved with me. I know that will have a beneficial effect on me. On April 2 I did some pushups. I set of 5 with 52 lbs. on my back (my son). Then I did a set of 5 with 79 lbs on my back (my daughter). Then I did two sets of 10 bench press with my son. Then 1 set of 10 and 1 set of 3 with my daughter. They love when I use them to exercise.

April 4th. we went on a 1.1 mile walk. We didn’t go fast because we just wanted to see what our base pace would be. We all kept our own time. My time was 18 minutes and 36 seconds. I started to sweat but it was not extremely taxing. Then I did 2 sets of push ups with the Perfect Pushup, 15 reps each. I also did 3 sets of crunches, 20 reps each.

I already did some stuff today but that will be on next weeks report. I feel I am finally going to hit my stride. We all made up a chart of where we are at and where we want to be. We set goals for our ultimate achievements and we set our first mid-term goal. Mine is I want to go from 222 lbs to 210 and 46 inch waist to 42 by May 14. I need to fix the pedal on my bike so I can switch off from walking/jogging to biking so I can have a nice mix of things to do. All right, until next week, keep working it and I will let you know how much better I do next week.

I always seem to get a good start but don’t finish very well. The only good thing is that I am doing something and I am working on controlling my eating. Doing this I have been able to stop the upward climb of my weight and waist. This in itself is an accomplishment for me. However, I want to take my July or September progress pictures at Caladesi Island. That is going to be my family’s treat for my progress. The reason I am doing that is the picture I have up now is from Caladesi Island about 7 years ago. So I am working on it being a great deal better than the last one.

 My exercising for the week goes as such:

Mar 15. 3 mile bike ride

Crunches 2 sets of 20 reps

Push ups 2 sets of 10 reps (with the perfect pushup)

Yep, that is it for the week. The pedal is broken on my bike and my leg started to hurt a bit so I cut my ride short. The next day I had 15 tiles (20 X 20) to change in a house. I was on my knees for over 5 hours and my leg started to cramp so bad from the bad pedal.

Right now I am actually concentrating more on a job search and increasing my Financial Education that I am letting my Physical training and learning slip. I need to find a good balance between it all.

OK here is the shocker. I did nothing. That is right, no exercise whatsoever. Other than what I do at work on my job I did nothing extra. The time change has helped me out, I feel more like myself and did start back up yesterday. So I will be posting a better week next Sunday. I could fill this with many excuses, some of which are legit. However, I could have worked through or around all of the situations and did something. So I take full blame, make no excuses and just promise to get back on track from here on out.

Wednesday Feb. 25 I did a 6.4 mile bike ride. I did it in 1.6 mile increments. I had no work and had to take the kids to school. When I got to the car I discovered I had a flat. I changed it to the spare and it was also flat. So the kids and I jumped on our bikes and biked the 1.6 miles to school. I dropped them off and biked home. My sister-in-law came later that evening to take me to get my tire fixed so it wasn’t fixed by the time the kids got out. So I biked back, picked them up and rode back for a total of 6.4 miles.

 Unfortunately there wasn’t much else this week including work. I definitely ate too much and did not sleep well. So I am back up to 221.5 and a waist of 45.

My realistic short term (two month) goal is to get down to 215 with a 42 inch waist by May 2nd. I will keep you updated on my exercising and hopefully it will be way more intense then the last two months.

Thursday Feb 19 I did a four mile walk. My car broke down and while it was getting fixed I walked four miles. I don’t know how long it took me but I walked at a fast pace.

That is all I did for the week. I am not making excuses but don’t forget I am a tile setter so I do work physically hard. I am not just lounging on the couch the rest of the week. I know I need to get to work.

I ordered a Rugby ball and my family and I are going to get out and play. My middle daughter has played it in school and I played it when I was in the Marine Corps. We both love it and will do it the most. Hopefully that will be regularly enough to work as my cardio.