I got off to ANOTHER late start today. I cannot seem to get my sleeping back on track. I got up at about 6:30 this morning and was still tired. I slept in on and off last night. I am going to make the effort to be up at 5:00 tomorrow morning. Once I finally caught everything up, I got in the first workout of the second week of Cycle 31 and of The Transformation Challenge, which is in day 8. 

I continue to be attentive to maintaining good form and attention to details with the workouts and believe that it is paying off. I had a great workout, hitting all elements hard. I finished everything off outside with the hanging leg raises with 5-pound ankle weights, a 1-mile walk, and 1-mile run which I finished in 6:28.

As far as diet today, I will give myself a "B." I decided that I would only eat ONE meal today and that would be dinner. Most of what we had were healthy variations on typical Super Bowl Party Food, so it was not that bad for me. I sampled a little of everything, but did have dessert today. The first "official" dessert in over a week and I enjoyed both servings. Now back to the clean diet on tomorrow.

I took profile pictures. I have decided that I will post progress pictures every two weeks. I read a great article by the Hugo Rivera, http://www.hugorivera.net/natural-bodybuilding-gains-power-of-positive-pressure.html, that really helped solidify my thinking about this current challenge. Having something to work toward (positive pressure) does make one more intense and intentional in their workouts. He offers a number of suggestions that might be beneficial to other who are in the midst of a transformation. One was to post pictures every TWO weeks instead of every week. Given how I felt last week about my "before" pictures for the Transformation Challenge, I think that next week will allow me to see more significant change. There has been change this week, however. I am down two pounds and can see some difference even in my new profile pictures. I am now convinced that I was correct in entering the Challenge in the "LEAN" category. I am really going to concentrate on getting not only my abs, but my back and quads ripped, something I have not seen in years! LOL! Tomorrow is arm and shoulder day. I am looking forward to it!

Anyway, I am wishing you all a great remainder of Sunday, the weekend, and the game. As I type this, the lights have gone out in the Superdome. Hopefully, by the time this is posted, play will have resumed.

Here is what I did today:

• Stretching regimen
  
  
• 3 x 50 quasi sit-ups
  
  
• 3 x 50 push-ups
  
  
• 3 x 50 reverse crunches
  
  
• 3 x 50 crunches
  
  
• 3 x (2 x 30 sec.) side planks
  
  
• 3 x 30 sec. front planks
  
  
• 3 x 30 sec. evacuations
  
  
• 3 x 15 hanging leg raises (chin-up grip, straight leg, 5-lb ankle weights)
  
  
• 1-mile walk
  
  
• 1-mile run (6:28)
  

TRANSFORMATION CHALLENGE DAY 8:

Goals:

1. To build more muscle in my chest.
   
   
2. To build more muscle in my legs (quads).
   
   
3. To build more muscle in my back.
   
   
4. To continue strengthen my core in preparation for resumption of planche push-up training in 2013.
   
   
5. To obtain a 5-6% body fat percentage while adding approximately 2-5 pounds of muscle during the next 12 weeks.
   
   
6. To work on consistently running at or below a 6:15 mile pace on all of my runs.
   
   
7. To continue to strengthen my arm and shoulders and prevent a recurrence of
   impingement syndrome.
   
   
8. To continue integrate my full body stretching regimen into my daily workouts
   
   
   

• A=100-95% Clean
  
  
• B=94-90% Clean
  
  
• C=89-85% Clean
  
  
• D=84-80% Clean
  
  
• F=79% and below Clean
  
  

• Week 1 weigh in on Today-149.4 pounds-Down 2 pounds from last week
  
  
• Week 1 profile pictures taken today, progress pictures next Sunday
  
• Got in an additional 100 (2 x 50) push-ups and 25 Triangle push-ups after the workout.