Today was one of those long days! Whenever, I have to take the parents out for their appointments, shopping and other errands, I get the workout done, try to get in a light meal, and then get them to their destinations. This usually takes over 4 hours. Today I was out with my stepdad for about 4 1/2 hours. I took him to his kidney doctor, then we went out to Walmart for some groceries and then off to the pharmacist to pick up his medication. After that I drove us home.

Before the trip out with my stepdad, I hit the legs pretty hard. The 20-lb weighted vest is proving to be a worthy addition to my leg workout. I KNOW at the end of each workout that I have had a workout. There is a bit of aching and soreness, but I attribute part of this to having to drive and then to do a lot of walking around today. I certainly hope that all of this weighted work will yield great results during the cutting stage of my Transformation Challenge. I have gotten used to doing the running and rope jumping in the vest and it is becoming slightly easier to get through---only slightly easier! LOL!

One thing I can say for sure is that I am not feeling as "squishy" as I was. The old arms and ab region are starting to feel firm again. I think that I am beginning to make some progress in the back area as well. Hopefully, the pictures taken after completion of week 4 will show great progress. The diet has been really good! I decided today to eat a light, clean meal before taking my stepfather out today and was surprised at how I had burned it up before returning home. I was starving when I walked through the door tonight. I have eaten another clean meal and am about ready to shut down the eating for the night (7:30 pm).

I continue to integrate those extra push-ups into the workouts and believe that I cans see some changes in the "wittle bitty" chest. Hopefully, I can get near my pre-injury levels with my chest development. I am going to hold the number down to 250 total for a while. Doing them 6 days per week yields 1,500 extra push-ups per week. I want to be careful to avoid shoulder impingement!

Tomorrow, I hit my abs, 3-mile run, and stretches. I will have interesting conditions for the 3-mile run since it has been raining off and on all day. In fact, I finished up my workout this morning in some fairly hard rain. Unless there is torrential rainfall on tomorrow, I don't anticipate a problem getting out there and getting the run in. It just won't be fast! LOL!

Everyone, have a wonderful Wednesday night!

Here is what I did today:

• Stretching Regimen
  
• 3 x (2 x 40) Lunges (20-lb weighted vest)
  
• 3 x 40 Seated Calf Raisers (20-lb weighted vest)
  
• 3 x 40 1-legged Squats (20-lb weighted vest)
  
• 3 x 40 1-legged Calf-Raisers (20-lb weighted vest)
  
• CARDIO:
  
• 3-Mile Interval Run (20-lb weighted vest) with following:
  
• 5 x 1-Minute Rope Jumping
  
• 5 x 40 yard Traveling Lunges
  
• 5 x 40 yard Bounds
  

TRANSFORMATION CHALLENGE DAY 18:

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
  
  

• Got in 2 sets of 50 regular push-ups, inclined push-ups, and 2 sets of 25 triangle push-ups for a total of 250 extra push-ups!
  
• Diet has been extra clean today!