Today marks the 41st anniversary of my parent's wedding. Impressive, yes?
A reason to celebrate? You bet it is!
When asked if they could believe how long they've been married, the response was what you'd expect. "Nope! Time really flies!" was the reply followed by a chuckle.
What's this got to do with health and fitness? Good question.
One key to a long-lasting happy marriage is commitment. Agreed? I believe that the same applies to health and fitness. Commit to making changes for the better in your life and you will become healthier.
Stay with it. My parents will be the first to tell you that it wasn't always smooth sailing. How often have you given up on a healthier lifestyle because you ran into a bump (or bumps) in the road? Maybe you ate poorly over the holidays? Or did an injury derail your exercise for a month?
Change becomes a part of you. Getting married meant lots of changes for my parents and probably yours, too. Moving in together, merging finances, in-laws, etc. Eventually, all that just became their way of life. Exercise and working out (in some form or fashion) is now just a part of my day. I can't imagine going without it. Good nutrition has been a process that continues to change and take shape but "healthy" is now just the way I eat a majority of the time.
Celebrate those anniversaries. When we first start dating someone, the anniversary might only be a week or a month. Once marriage rolls around it becomes a yearly event. Why don't we do this with the other positive changes in our lives? Celebrate the fact that it's been one week since you decided not to eat ice cream right before trying to go to bed. How about the fact that you've been going to Yoga class 3 times per week for the last month? Has it been a year since you were able to bench 200 LBS and you've never looked back?
These things all seemed awkward at the start for sure. But committing to something, staying with it, and letting it become a part of you leads to permanent change. Next thing you know, it's been 41 years! :)
WORKOUT - LEGS
All 3 supersets of the Day 31, Week 5 workout were leg related. This wasn't too bad today since the number of sets and reps are scaled back during this week. I still managed to work up a good sweat, though!
Superset 1: Leg Extensions, Leg Curls
Superset 2: Donkey Calf Raises, Dead Lifts
Superset 3: Seated Calf Negatives, Barbell Squats
Total Time => 40:34
Comments:
Did much better today at keeping things moving and not letting the rest periods get away from me. Took too much time between sets adjusting weights, moving equipment, etc last week. Workout wound up being shorter by almost 5:00.
My legs were pretty rubbery on the way up the stairs today. I think the dead lifts did their job. :)
Seat warmers tomorrow? We'll see! :~)
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast started off with a BIG bowl of oatgurt, a peach, a coating of cinnamon, and a big scoop of almond butter. The meal was topped off with a smoothie that got away from me. Ha! You may have noticed that I like my smoothies whipped up so thick that you have to eat rather than sip them. Since learning the xanthan gum trick, I've been adding a bit here and there if things are a little too thin for my taste.
This morning, I put in about a half cup each of chilled coffee and almond milk, a frozen nana, 3 TBS of coconut milk, 2 heaping TBS of cocoa powder and some (might have been more) cinnamon. There was a whole lot of splashin' going on in the blender so I knew a sprinkling (and it doesn't take much!) of some x-gum was in order. I got a bit over confident and added the powder right from the bottle instead of measuring. Next thing you know...choco/coffee pudding. Whoops! As mentioned, I like to eat my smoothies, but this one actually jiggled on the spoon. Hey, it was still delicious!
Mid-morning snack was my usual 1/2 cup of yogurt with 1/3 scoop of whey protein isolate powder and 4 tsp of ground flax seeds.
Lunch was wasabi salmon from this book and a salad of raw broccoli slaw, with tomato, peppers, celery, and scallions. As a dressing for the salad, I went with Annie's Organic Oil & Vinegar. Good stuff and pretty well assembled for a bottled dressing. And if it's good enough for this well-educated lady, then it's good enough for me!
For a mid-afternoon snack, I popped my usual nut mix of cashews, almonds, walnuts, and Brazil nuts while gobbling down a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese.
Tonight's dinner was yet another gem from our favorite book. Chicken cacciatore! You gotta say it with an Italian accent. Ha. The basic recipe consists of chicken breasts sauteed in EVOO, sauteed onions, peppers, mushrooms, and fresh tomatoes diced up with Italian seasonings. Christina had hers without the peppers and I added parm (of course!) to my plate. Outstanding!
Pre-bed snack was a 1/2 scoop of whey protein isolate powder with a little water.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Optimum Anabolics - Day 30/A Moment To Breathe
Since we ran most of our errands yesterday and last night turned into a late night for this old-timer (haha), we were able to sleep until 8:00+ this morning. That's late for us anymore. The day was spent doing mundane tasks around the house, paying bills, and munching.
After dinner, we took some time to chill and breathe a little. We didn't even clean up the kitchen!
I had posted a couple high school/early college photos on Facebook so we had a few good laughs at the comments that had come in. Then we went through a box from the basement that contained some old photos from birth through my grade school years and even some high school memorobilia (otherwise known as junk!).
All the high school stuff prompted me to return a call to a good friend from high school. He teaches in the district we graduated from, so he reminded me what a lot of that stuff I had boxed up all these years was about (homecoming trinkets, favors from dances, various award certificates). I figured since I barely had no idea what any of the stuff was, that it should be designated as clutter and was destined for the trash.
Crazy what we hang on to that keeps us from breathing and our spaces so cluttered.
WORKOUT - ARMS/ABS
The Day 30 workout was a repeat of Day 23 and included 2 supersets of arms followed by a superset of ab work.
Superset 1: DB Preacher Curls, Overhead Cable Extensions
Superset 2: Twisting DB Curl (arms braced against wall), Close Grip Push Ups
Superset 3: Mountain Climbers (with 5 LB ankle weights), Hanging Knee Raises
Total Time => 41:10
Comments:
My shoulders were suprisingly sore from yesterday's workout.
Weights were just about perfect.
Mountain climbers have to be one of the best ab/core exercises ever invented.
Just like yesterday, I did a 15 minute bike ride after finished up with the iron.
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast was an omelet consisting of one egg, two egg whites, green and red peppers, white onions and raw milk cheddar cheese. I topped it with a few shakes of the Louisiana hot sauce, too, of course.
Since I had plenty of meat on the menu for today, I opted for a breakfast dessert smoothie we'll call the "pick me up". 1 cup of freshly brewed coffee over ice, half a ton of cinnamon, a few shakes of chili powder (oh yes!), 2 heaping tablespoons of cocoa powder, stevia powder, 1 scoop of plain whey protein isolate powder, and xanthum gum all blended up until it's so thick you have to eat it with a spoon. When it reached that point, I tossed in a few each of almonds, cashews, and walnuts and pulsed a few times just to break them up and add a little crunch (and healthy fats) to the mix.
Lunch was a grass-fed beef burger wrapped up in turnip greens "buns" along with some dijon mustard and sliced tomatoes. On the side, I had a heaping portion of steamed green beans mixed up with sauteed onions and garlic.
Come dinner time (post workout), Christina and I made one of our favorite things...pizza! To keep things gluten free, we used Gluten-Free Pantry's French Bread & Pizza Mix for the crust. This got split into two pizzas...one for each of us. I topped my pie first with minced garlic that had been briefly sauteed with EVOO. Next came the homemade Italian sausage, grass-fed organic mozzarella cheese and then the veggies and mushrooms.
Here is a pre-bake pic...
For dessert, a cut up a banana, sliced kiwi, and a crumbled Cocoa Mole Larabar all went together into a bowl and got topped with cinnamon, steel cut oats, and about a 1/4 cup of almond milk. Not bad, huh?
Needless to say, there was no need for a pre-bed snack tonight. (~:
After dinner, we took some time to chill and breathe a little. We didn't even clean up the kitchen!
I had posted a couple high school/early college photos on Facebook so we had a few good laughs at the comments that had come in. Then we went through a box from the basement that contained some old photos from birth through my grade school years and even some high school memorobilia (otherwise known as junk!).
All the high school stuff prompted me to return a call to a good friend from high school. He teaches in the district we graduated from, so he reminded me what a lot of that stuff I had boxed up all these years was about (homecoming trinkets, favors from dances, various award certificates). I figured since I barely had no idea what any of the stuff was, that it should be designated as clutter and was destined for the trash.
Crazy what we hang on to that keeps us from breathing and our spaces so cluttered.
WORKOUT - ARMS/ABS
The Day 30 workout was a repeat of Day 23 and included 2 supersets of arms followed by a superset of ab work.
Superset 1: DB Preacher Curls, Overhead Cable Extensions
Superset 2: Twisting DB Curl (arms braced against wall), Close Grip Push Ups
Superset 3: Mountain Climbers (with 5 LB ankle weights), Hanging Knee Raises
Total Time => 41:10
Comments:
My shoulders were suprisingly sore from yesterday's workout.
Weights were just about perfect.
Mountain climbers have to be one of the best ab/core exercises ever invented.
Just like yesterday, I did a 15 minute bike ride after finished up with the iron.
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast was an omelet consisting of one egg, two egg whites, green and red peppers, white onions and raw milk cheddar cheese. I topped it with a few shakes of the Louisiana hot sauce, too, of course.
Since I had plenty of meat on the menu for today, I opted for a breakfast dessert smoothie we'll call the "pick me up". 1 cup of freshly brewed coffee over ice, half a ton of cinnamon, a few shakes of chili powder (oh yes!), 2 heaping tablespoons of cocoa powder, stevia powder, 1 scoop of plain whey protein isolate powder, and xanthum gum all blended up until it's so thick you have to eat it with a spoon. When it reached that point, I tossed in a few each of almonds, cashews, and walnuts and pulsed a few times just to break them up and add a little crunch (and healthy fats) to the mix.
Lunch was a grass-fed beef burger wrapped up in turnip greens "buns" along with some dijon mustard and sliced tomatoes. On the side, I had a heaping portion of steamed green beans mixed up with sauteed onions and garlic.
Come dinner time (post workout), Christina and I made one of our favorite things...pizza! To keep things gluten free, we used Gluten-Free Pantry's French Bread & Pizza Mix for the crust. This got split into two pizzas...one for each of us. I topped my pie first with minced garlic that had been briefly sauteed with EVOO. Next came the homemade Italian sausage, grass-fed organic mozzarella cheese and then the veggies and mushrooms.
Here is a pre-bake pic...
For dessert, a cut up a banana, sliced kiwi, and a crumbled Cocoa Mole Larabar all went together into a bowl and got topped with cinnamon, steel cut oats, and about a 1/4 cup of almond milk. Not bad, huh?
Needless to say, there was no need for a pre-bed snack tonight. (~:
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Optimum Anabolics - Day 29/Scott Eats Parm (and more)
Christina and I took the time after dinner last night to plan out our meals for the upcoming week. Exciting Friday night, huh? It was well worth our while, though, as we headed out to the local farmer's market early (relatively) this morning and picked up much of the produce we needed. I seriously cannot believe how much ORGANIC fresh produce we bought today! I'll post some pictures on Day 31 (I know, the suspense is killing you) because it's worth documenting in both words and pictures. Hehe.
From the market, we did our familiar loop to the post office box, to the bank to take advantage of a checking account offer, and then to the chain grocery for the balance of our food needs for the week.
Once home, it was time for lunch, to install a couple of door stops (our house, not the rentals), make a few business calls, email, and blog for a bit.
My workout came a little later in the afternoon today to allow for my carb intake to be timed with dinner (rather than my usual breakfast meal) and a birthday party we attended tonight.
WORKOUT - SHOULDERS
Superset 1: Lying Cable Pullover, Twisting DB Military
Superset 2: Dip Bar Shrugs, Side DB Lateral Raises
Superset 3: DB Shrugs, Barbell Military
Total Time => 38:57
Comments:
Week 5 continues a 3 week break of sorts from the beating the first three weeks puts on you. It's a welcome break, believe me!
Much better on the weight choices this week.
For my "extra credit" cardio today I did a 15 minute bike ride. Since riding is essentially zero impact, it was great for getting the heart rate up there without messing with my left heal. Thankfully, it is coming along nicely in the healing process.
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast was a beast of an omelet consisting of one egg, two egg whites, some fresh grass-fed beef Italian sausage (about 2 oz), green and red peppers,white onions and raw milk cheddar cheese. I topped it with a few shakes of the Louisiana hot sauce, too, of course.
Lunch was a badly needed (I was Jonesing!) "Hugh Jass" salad with spring mix greens, red, yellow, and Hungarian sweet peppers, scallions, celery, zucchini, tomato, and that to-die-for dressing left from last night's broccoli slaw salad. Protein side kicks were leftover apple-soy salmon and grilled ginger chicken.
Look at me all ready to dig in!
My post-workout dinner was quite the feast. I had all sorts of stuff going on!
Whole wheat spaghetti noodles, pasta sauce with sauteed green peppers, onions and mushrooms, Ezekiel bread, butter, and butter, and TONS of TJ's Romano Pecorino and Parmesan cheese.
For dessert I made up what I'll call a peach pie smoothie. One frozen peach, one frozen banana and tons of cinnamon all blended up with a cup of almond milk and a big scoop of plain whey protein isolate powder. Oh. My. Goodness.
Right after dinner, we split and headed across town for a surprise birthday party. I challenged my body with several different appetizers (including, but not limited to, calzones, chips with salsa, chips with cheese dip, crackers with pulled chicken spread, and some Chex Mix "kibbles and bits"), two beers, a couple splashes of wine and two shots of Three Olives "Bubble" vodka. This stuff tastes just like bubble gum. Unbelievable.
A game of "beer pong" was gathering in the backyard so we hit the road before things got really ugly. Once home, I took a couple of digestive enzymes and then headed for bed around 11:30. Thankfully, tomorrow's workout is scheduled for the afternoon. :~)
From the market, we did our familiar loop to the post office box, to the bank to take advantage of a checking account offer, and then to the chain grocery for the balance of our food needs for the week.
Once home, it was time for lunch, to install a couple of door stops (our house, not the rentals), make a few business calls, email, and blog for a bit.
My workout came a little later in the afternoon today to allow for my carb intake to be timed with dinner (rather than my usual breakfast meal) and a birthday party we attended tonight.
WORKOUT - SHOULDERS
Superset 1: Lying Cable Pullover, Twisting DB Military
Superset 2: Dip Bar Shrugs, Side DB Lateral Raises
Superset 3: DB Shrugs, Barbell Military
Total Time => 38:57
Comments:
Week 5 continues a 3 week break of sorts from the beating the first three weeks puts on you. It's a welcome break, believe me!
Much better on the weight choices this week.
For my "extra credit" cardio today I did a 15 minute bike ride. Since riding is essentially zero impact, it was great for getting the heart rate up there without messing with my left heal. Thankfully, it is coming along nicely in the healing process.
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast was a beast of an omelet consisting of one egg, two egg whites, some fresh grass-fed beef Italian sausage (about 2 oz), green and red peppers,white onions and raw milk cheddar cheese. I topped it with a few shakes of the Louisiana hot sauce, too, of course.
Lunch was a badly needed (I was Jonesing!) "Hugh Jass" salad with spring mix greens, red, yellow, and Hungarian sweet peppers, scallions, celery, zucchini, tomato, and that to-die-for dressing left from last night's broccoli slaw salad. Protein side kicks were leftover apple-soy salmon and grilled ginger chicken.
Look at me all ready to dig in!
My post-workout dinner was quite the feast. I had all sorts of stuff going on!
Whole wheat spaghetti noodles, pasta sauce with sauteed green peppers, onions and mushrooms, Ezekiel bread, butter, and butter, and TONS of TJ's Romano Pecorino and Parmesan cheese.
For dessert I made up what I'll call a peach pie smoothie. One frozen peach, one frozen banana and tons of cinnamon all blended up with a cup of almond milk and a big scoop of plain whey protein isolate powder. Oh. My. Goodness.
Right after dinner, we split and headed across town for a surprise birthday party. I challenged my body with several different appetizers (including, but not limited to, calzones, chips with salsa, chips with cheese dip, crackers with pulled chicken spread, and some Chex Mix "kibbles and bits"), two beers, a couple splashes of wine and two shots of Three Olives "Bubble" vodka. This stuff tastes just like bubble gum. Unbelievable.
A game of "beer pong" was gathering in the backyard so we hit the road before things got really ugly. Once home, I took a couple of digestive enzymes and then headed for bed around 11:30. Thankfully, tomorrow's workout is scheduled for the afternoon. :~)
Friday, August 28, 2009
Optimum Anabolics - Day 28/Week 4 Wrap
Today marked the end of Week 4. Sorry, what? Where in the world is time going? That's for another post, I suppose.
Anyway, the end of the week means measurement time! Below are my stats and any changes in the tape and/or scales.
Overall, I'm not too happy with my results...thus far. No worries, I'll be sticking to the program for two big reasons. First, the individuals providing testimonials on Jeff's site all went through a minimum of 9 weeks, which is one macro cycle. I'm not even half way through yet. Second, my body (and this is probably true for a lot of people) seems to accelerate it's response to a training routine in the 4-6 week range...which is where I'm at now.
So....ONWARD to Week 5!!
MEASUREMENTS:
Weight: 178.0 LBS (NO change for week, DOWN 1.5 LBS total)
BF: 8.1% (according to the calipers I have) (NO change)
Neck: 15-1/2" (NO change)
Chest: 39" (UP 1/4" for week, DOWN 1/2" total)
Shoulders: 46-3/4" (DOWN 1/4", DOWN 3/4" total)
Biceps: 13-1/4" (DOWN 1/4" for week, DOWN 1/4" total)
Waist: 32-3/4" (DOWN 1/4" for week, NO CHANGE total)
Thighs: 19-3/4" (NO change for week, NO change total)
Calves: 14-3/4" (DOWN 1/4" for week, DOWN 1/4" total)
Adonis Effect: 1.403 (UP 0.024 for the week, DOWN 0.002 total)
A few photos for future reference...
WORKOUT - CARDIO (HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING)
Despite rising a little earlier than normal (4:20 A.M) thanks to a cold-nosed pooch, I had a really good workout today. A brief light shower and the occasional cloud-to-cloud lightening in the distance tried to drive me back inside but things never got serious enough to cause me any alarm.
My lungs and breathing were quite good today so I jogged and rode the bike a touch faster today. Also, I upped my flying Romans to 15 per side. These were quite the find!
Jumping rope is still out, though, until my left heel completely heals (that's a lot of heel/heal...haha).
Here is today's intervals:
Comments:
Only my back muscles were feeling a little tight today.
Core feeling tight and strong.
I changed the bike route up today which threw my timing off somewhat. No biggie!
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast was a beast of an omelet consisting of one egg, two egg whites, leftover grilled chicken (about 2 oz), green and red peppers, red onions and raw milk cheddar cheese. I topped it with a few shakes of the Louisiana hot sauce, too, of course.
Mid-morning snack was a 1/2 cup of yogurt, 4 tsp of ground flax seeds, and 1/3 scoop plain whey protein isolate powder.
Lunch was a tuna salad stuffed pepper. Who needs bread?! This idea was so good I repeated it! On the side, I had a "Hugh Jass" blended zucchini salad. The recipe is here.
Mid-afternoon snack was two hard-boiled egg whites and one yolk along with my raw nut cocktail of cashews, almonds, walnuts and Brazil nuts.
Dinner tonight was a repeat of Day 25. I had a grass-fed beef burger from the grill wrapped up in a turnip green "bun" with big slices of tomato and a slathering of zucchini relish from the farmers market we visited while on vacation. Of course, I had to polish off the grilled eggplant slices as well.
Pre-bed snack was a 1/2 scoop of whey protein isolate....blah....blah....
Back to the weights tomorrow. Til then...
Anyway, the end of the week means measurement time! Below are my stats and any changes in the tape and/or scales.
Overall, I'm not too happy with my results...thus far. No worries, I'll be sticking to the program for two big reasons. First, the individuals providing testimonials on Jeff's site all went through a minimum of 9 weeks, which is one macro cycle. I'm not even half way through yet. Second, my body (and this is probably true for a lot of people) seems to accelerate it's response to a training routine in the 4-6 week range...which is where I'm at now.
So....ONWARD to Week 5!!
MEASUREMENTS:
Weight: 178.0 LBS (NO change for week, DOWN 1.5 LBS total)
BF: 8.1% (according to the calipers I have) (NO change)
Neck: 15-1/2" (NO change)
Chest: 39" (UP 1/4" for week, DOWN 1/2" total)
Shoulders: 46-3/4" (DOWN 1/4", DOWN 3/4" total)
Biceps: 13-1/4" (DOWN 1/4" for week, DOWN 1/4" total)
Waist: 32-3/4" (DOWN 1/4" for week, NO CHANGE total)
Thighs: 19-3/4" (NO change for week, NO change total)
Calves: 14-3/4" (DOWN 1/4" for week, DOWN 1/4" total)
Adonis Effect: 1.403 (UP 0.024 for the week, DOWN 0.002 total)
A few photos for future reference...
WORKOUT - CARDIO (HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING)
Despite rising a little earlier than normal (4:20 A.M) thanks to a cold-nosed pooch, I had a really good workout today. A brief light shower and the occasional cloud-to-cloud lightening in the distance tried to drive me back inside but things never got serious enough to cause me any alarm.
My lungs and breathing were quite good today so I jogged and rode the bike a touch faster today. Also, I upped my flying Romans to 15 per side. These were quite the find!
Jumping rope is still out, though, until my left heel completely heals (that's a lot of heel/heal...haha).
Here is today's intervals:
- Bike, Intensity 1 (warm up), 5:45
- Jumping Jacks, Intensity 2, 3:00 ± (about 150 jumps)
- Jog, Intensity 2, 5:00 ±
- Flying Romans, Intensity 3, 45 seconds? (10 each leg)
- Jog, Intensity 2, 5:00 ±
- Bike, Intensity 2, 5:00 ±
- Jumping Jacks, Intensity 2, 3:00 ± (about 175 jumps)
- Flying Romans, Intensity 3, 45 seconds? (10 each leg)
- Jog/Walk (cool down), Intensity 1, 5:45 (jogged 3:30, walked 1:45)
Comments:
Only my back muscles were feeling a little tight today.
Core feeling tight and strong.
I changed the bike route up today which threw my timing off somewhat. No biggie!
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast was a beast of an omelet consisting of one egg, two egg whites, leftover grilled chicken (about 2 oz), green and red peppers, red onions and raw milk cheddar cheese. I topped it with a few shakes of the Louisiana hot sauce, too, of course.
Mid-morning snack was a 1/2 cup of yogurt, 4 tsp of ground flax seeds, and 1/3 scoop plain whey protein isolate powder.
Lunch was a tuna salad stuffed pepper. Who needs bread?! This idea was so good I repeated it! On the side, I had a "Hugh Jass" blended zucchini salad. The recipe is here.
Mid-afternoon snack was two hard-boiled egg whites and one yolk along with my raw nut cocktail of cashews, almonds, walnuts and Brazil nuts.
Dinner tonight was a repeat of Day 25. I had a grass-fed beef burger from the grill wrapped up in a turnip green "bun" with big slices of tomato and a slathering of zucchini relish from the farmers market we visited while on vacation. Of course, I had to polish off the grilled eggplant slices as well.
Pre-bed snack was a 1/2 scoop of whey protein isolate....blah....blah....
Back to the weights tomorrow. Til then...
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Optimum Anabolics - Day 27/The Memories
Last night, Christina helped me go through some boxes of stuff that had been cluttering up our basement for the last several years. Most of the boxes were full of college text books, class notes, work books, and other academic paraphernalia. It's basically all worthless now but it did start a flood of memories for me.
The memory flood continued as I got notice from a high school buddy that he had posted our basketball team photo on Facebook. That site is seriously dangerous! (~:
As I did my workout this morning (see below), I couldn't help remember the senior high school days of lacing them up after school for basketball practice and running what seemed like endless drills and sprints. I was in great shape then and couldn't help but think to myself how good those workouts really were.
I don't need to be in that kind of "performance" shape anymore by working out for 2 to 3 hours per day (thankfully). However, it made me think that working out in that style could accomplish quite a bit even in a short period of time. For those folks who have little time to workout, this could be a good thing.
Maybe I should put together a "Hoops" workout plan. Things that make you go "hmmmm...."
WORKOUT - CARDIO (HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING)
My lungs and breathing were good today despite not doing any true cardio in the past 7 days.
Jumping rope was helping to aggravate my calf and feet muscles so I switched to jumping jacks today. Perhaps it's the side-to-side rather than straight up-and-down movement, but these old-fashioned gems didn't seem to be a problem.
Sprinting, on the other hand, was seemingly creating some serious structural issues (meaning it caused injury!) for my lower legs. I tried these bad boys out today...plyometric flying Romans. Wow!
Here is today's intervals:
Comments:
Shoulders and back feeling a little tight today.
Core feeling tight and strong.
Good timing on the intervals this week.
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast was a beast of an omelet consisting of one egg, two egg whites, leftover grilled chicken (about 2 oz), green and red peppers, red onions and raw milk cheddar cheese. I topped it with a few shakes of the Louisiana hot sauce, too, of course.
Mid-morning snack was a 1/2 cup of yogurt, 4 tsp of ground flax seeds, and 1/3 scoop plain whey protein isolate powder.
We had a lunch meeting today at the office. This created a similar situation to the birthday party on Day 25. Should I eat the pizza provided as a lunch meal? Did I? No. I opted instead for this salad from Chipotle...
Chipotle's salad's are actually fairly healthy "as is" in my opinion. I added a few items from home just to put some icing on the cake (haha). The peppers, cucumbers, carrots and salsa were added on. No dressing necessary! In fact, I told the clerk at the restaurant to leave the container on the shelf. A much better choice than factory pizza. No?
Mid-afternoon snack was 1/2 cup of cottage cheese and the raw nut mix of almonds, walnuts, cashews, and Brazil nuts.
For dinner, I used the leftover apple-soy salmon from the other night for fish tacos in a turnip green "tortilla". On the side, I sauteed up some fresh green beans and mushrooms in coconut oil and Bragg's liquid aminos.
Can you see how vibrantly green those veggies are?! I pretty much licked the plate clean!
Pre-bed snack was a 1/2 scoop of whey protein isolate powder mixed up with a little water. Yawn. (`:
The memory flood continued as I got notice from a high school buddy that he had posted our basketball team photo on Facebook. That site is seriously dangerous! (~:
As I did my workout this morning (see below), I couldn't help remember the senior high school days of lacing them up after school for basketball practice and running what seemed like endless drills and sprints. I was in great shape then and couldn't help but think to myself how good those workouts really were.
I don't need to be in that kind of "performance" shape anymore by working out for 2 to 3 hours per day (thankfully). However, it made me think that working out in that style could accomplish quite a bit even in a short period of time. For those folks who have little time to workout, this could be a good thing.
Maybe I should put together a "Hoops" workout plan. Things that make you go "hmmmm...."
WORKOUT - CARDIO (HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING)
My lungs and breathing were good today despite not doing any true cardio in the past 7 days.
Jumping rope was helping to aggravate my calf and feet muscles so I switched to jumping jacks today. Perhaps it's the side-to-side rather than straight up-and-down movement, but these old-fashioned gems didn't seem to be a problem.
Sprinting, on the other hand, was seemingly creating some serious structural issues (meaning it caused injury!) for my lower legs. I tried these bad boys out today...plyometric flying Romans. Wow!
Here is today's intervals:
- Bike, Intensity 1 (warm up), 5:00
- Jumping Jacks, Intensity 2, 3:00 ± (about 150 jumps)
- Jog, Intensity 2, 5:45 ±
- Flying Romans, Intensity 3, 45 seconds? (10 each leg)
- Jog, Intensity 2, 5:00 ±
- Bike, Intensity 2, 4:00 ±
- Jumping Jacks, Intensity 2, 3:00 ± (about 150 jumps)
- Flying Romans, Intensity 3, 45 seconds? (10 each leg)
- Jog/Walk (cool down), Intensity 1, 5:40 (jogged 4:00, walked 1:54)
Comments:
Shoulders and back feeling a little tight today.
Core feeling tight and strong.
Good timing on the intervals this week.
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast was a beast of an omelet consisting of one egg, two egg whites, leftover grilled chicken (about 2 oz), green and red peppers, red onions and raw milk cheddar cheese. I topped it with a few shakes of the Louisiana hot sauce, too, of course.
Mid-morning snack was a 1/2 cup of yogurt, 4 tsp of ground flax seeds, and 1/3 scoop plain whey protein isolate powder.
We had a lunch meeting today at the office. This created a similar situation to the birthday party on Day 25. Should I eat the pizza provided as a lunch meal? Did I? No. I opted instead for this salad from Chipotle...
Chipotle's salad's are actually fairly healthy "as is" in my opinion. I added a few items from home just to put some icing on the cake (haha). The peppers, cucumbers, carrots and salsa were added on. No dressing necessary! In fact, I told the clerk at the restaurant to leave the container on the shelf. A much better choice than factory pizza. No?
Mid-afternoon snack was 1/2 cup of cottage cheese and the raw nut mix of almonds, walnuts, cashews, and Brazil nuts.
For dinner, I used the leftover apple-soy salmon from the other night for fish tacos in a turnip green "tortilla". On the side, I sauteed up some fresh green beans and mushrooms in coconut oil and Bragg's liquid aminos.
Can you see how vibrantly green those veggies are?! I pretty much licked the plate clean!
Pre-bed snack was a 1/2 scoop of whey protein isolate powder mixed up with a little water. Yawn. (`:
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Optimum Anabolics - Day 26/It CAN Kill You! (A follow up)
Yesterday I expressed my opinion on how I felt in general about eating chemical laden, highly processed meals, snacks, desserts, etc. As it turns out, I underestimated the effects even just one meal can have on your system.
Check this out ==> The Effects of One High Calorie Meal
Can you believe that?!?
One thing that was mentioned near the end is that the effects of that meal can disappear in about 6 hours. I think this is VERY important. If you eat meals similar to the one shown in the video more than once per day, you most likely feel those effects on a continual basis. Not good! Chronic disease, illness, and obesity here we come.
On a positive note, this gives you a little breathing room (no pun intended). If you go overboard at a meal (holidays, parties, vacation, etc.) it's not the end of the world. Pick yourself up and eat well following your indiscretions and your body will forgive you and recover. Remember, it's what we expose ourselves to through our actions AND thoughts 90-95% of the time that determines our physical and mental state.
WORKOUT - CHEST/ABS
2 supersets of the Day 5 workout were chest related, followed by a superset of abs work.
Superset 1: DB Pullover, Incline DB Press
Superset 2: Flat DB Flye, Incline DB Press
Superset 3: Weighted Ball Roll-Outs, Knee-Ins On Bench (with weight)
Total Time => 41:26
Comments:
Back and shoulders were a little sore today but not like after a very heavy workout.
This week of Hyper-Adaptive Cylce was quite a change from last week's routine of heavy lifting and very short rest periods. It was a nice break.
I put a lot of focus into keeping strict form this week.
My weight choices were a little off from time to time this week due the introduction of new exercises.
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast started off with a one egg, two egg white omelette with peppers and onions for mix-ins. I topped that off with about 1/4 cup of tomato sauce from Saturday's dinner. On the side, I had a homemade Italian sausage patty with a few spoonfuls of sauce (because it was so good!). Carbs were a piece of raw corn bread, a big handful of red grapes, a wilting peach, and an oaty cake (with butter, of course).
Mid-morning snack was a 1/2 cup of yogurt, 1 T of ground white chia seeds, and 1/3 scoop plain whey protein isolate powder.
Lunch was a tuna salad stuffed pepper. Who needs bread?! This was a genius idea! On the side, I had a blended zucchini salad. It's "hump day" and this was the first one I had all week! The recipe is here.
Pretty? Eh. Delicious? You bet!
Mid-afternoon snack was 2 hard boiled egg whites and one yolk along with a handful of raw nut mix (cashews, almonds, walnuts, and Brazil nuts).
On my way home, I stopped at the farmer's market and picked up some (is 3 LBS still considered "some"?) green beans. These went immediately into the oven with some EVOO and salt and roasted for about 25 minutes at 450*. The beans served as a side to some leftover grilled ginger chicken from Day 24. I also had a cucumber-tomato salad with a dressing of almond butter, coconut milk, chili powder, and lime juice. This was loosely based on a recipe from The Ultra Simple Diet book by Dr. Mark Hyman.
As a snack before bed it was a 1/2 scoop of protein powder mixed with a little water.
Check this out ==> The Effects of One High Calorie Meal
Can you believe that?!?
One thing that was mentioned near the end is that the effects of that meal can disappear in about 6 hours. I think this is VERY important. If you eat meals similar to the one shown in the video more than once per day, you most likely feel those effects on a continual basis. Not good! Chronic disease, illness, and obesity here we come.
On a positive note, this gives you a little breathing room (no pun intended). If you go overboard at a meal (holidays, parties, vacation, etc.) it's not the end of the world. Pick yourself up and eat well following your indiscretions and your body will forgive you and recover. Remember, it's what we expose ourselves to through our actions AND thoughts 90-95% of the time that determines our physical and mental state.
WORKOUT - CHEST/ABS
2 supersets of the Day 5 workout were chest related, followed by a superset of abs work.
Superset 1: DB Pullover, Incline DB Press
Superset 2: Flat DB Flye, Incline DB Press
Superset 3: Weighted Ball Roll-Outs, Knee-Ins On Bench (with weight)
Total Time => 41:26
Comments:
Back and shoulders were a little sore today but not like after a very heavy workout.
This week of Hyper-Adaptive Cylce was quite a change from last week's routine of heavy lifting and very short rest periods. It was a nice break.
I put a lot of focus into keeping strict form this week.
My weight choices were a little off from time to time this week due the introduction of new exercises.
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast started off with a one egg, two egg white omelette with peppers and onions for mix-ins. I topped that off with about 1/4 cup of tomato sauce from Saturday's dinner. On the side, I had a homemade Italian sausage patty with a few spoonfuls of sauce (because it was so good!). Carbs were a piece of raw corn bread, a big handful of red grapes, a wilting peach, and an oaty cake (with butter, of course).
Mid-morning snack was a 1/2 cup of yogurt, 1 T of ground white chia seeds, and 1/3 scoop plain whey protein isolate powder.
Lunch was a tuna salad stuffed pepper. Who needs bread?! This was a genius idea! On the side, I had a blended zucchini salad. It's "hump day" and this was the first one I had all week! The recipe is here.
Pretty? Eh. Delicious? You bet!
Mid-afternoon snack was 2 hard boiled egg whites and one yolk along with a handful of raw nut mix (cashews, almonds, walnuts, and Brazil nuts).
On my way home, I stopped at the farmer's market and picked up some (is 3 LBS still considered "some"?) green beans. These went immediately into the oven with some EVOO and salt and roasted for about 25 minutes at 450*. The beans served as a side to some leftover grilled ginger chicken from Day 24. I also had a cucumber-tomato salad with a dressing of almond butter, coconut milk, chili powder, and lime juice. This was loosely based on a recipe from The Ultra Simple Diet book by Dr. Mark Hyman.
As a snack before bed it was a 1/2 scoop of protein powder mixed with a little water.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Optimum Anabolics - Day 25/Go Ahead...It Won't Kill You!
Before I list the days workout and food details, I thought I'd mention something briefly that I think plays a big part in our society's disease epidemic.
Today was a milestone birthday for one of my co-workers (Happy Birthday Terri!). About 9:00, the office staff gathered in the conference room, sang the HB song (poorly...think Office Space here people!), and had cake.
As the cake pieces were getting passed (again, picture Office Space) I was, of course, offered a piece. I declined but got a rather typical response from some folks of "go ahead! It won't kill you!". This happens a lot since I often take a pass on things like this.
I'm the first to admit that I have my days or periods of indiscretion (please see Day 22 post) when it comes to food choices but I try to limit my intake of straight up, no doubt about it "Franken-foods". In my opinion, there's a big difference between eating a baked good made from scratch with whole food ingredients in someone's home versus eating a factory-made cake.
Still, would that piece of cake kill me? If I ate it and other similar chemical concoctions on a regular basis, my answer would be yes. Since I really prefer to not eat these sort of things AND I had just had a "screw it" meal a few days ago, I chose to abstain. This works for me. For others, it may be different. However, I believe that until we get back to eating "the old fashioned way" (whole, fresh, simple ingredient foods) on a consistent basis, our health as a species will continue to suffer.
Perhaps, too, it comes down to your goals and your values. Is that piece of cake moving you closer or further away from that goal or that value? Additionally, no matter which choice you make, you must accept responsibility for it. Own what you choose.
What would you do?
WORKOUT - BACK
All 3 supersets of the Day 4, Week 4 workout were focused on the back.
Superset 1: Straight Arm Pull Down, Pull Ups (Assisted)
Superset 2: Wide Arm Cable Row, Close Grip Lat Pull Down
Superset 3: Close Grip Cable Row, Wide Arm Lat PD
Total Time => 40:15
Comments:
I did well at pre-setting the weights today and meeting the prescribed rest periods. Felt good!
Weights used were a little light which is probably ok during this phase of the program.
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast was a tropical paradise today. Hehe. I started with a bowl of oatgurt mixed up with a mango, some cinnamon, and a solid spoonful of almond butter. Who needs packaged, processed cereal?? Next I blended up another "toffee" smoothie with almond milk, chilled coffee, espresso flavored whey protein isolate, a frozen banana, cocoa powder, and about 2 TBS of coconut milk.
Here's the smoothie before shot...
Hey! Our favorite cookbook made the photo! (~:
Mid-morning snack was 1/2 cup of yogurt, 4 tsp ground flax seed, and 1/3 scoop of plain whey protein isolate powder.
Lunch was a repeat of yesterday...wasabi salmon from this book and a salad of raw broccoli slaw, with cucumber, peppers, celery, and scallions. As a dressing for the salad, I made the ginger, sesame oil dressing from our favorite book.
As a mid-afternoon snack I had a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese along with my raw nut mix of walnuts, cashews, almonds, and Brazil nuts.
Dinner tonight was a fabulous summer time meal of grass-fed beef burgers on the grill wrapped up in a turnip green "bun" with big slices of tomato. There also may have been some salsa involved. Since the grill was all fired up for the burgers, I threw on some eggplant burgers, too. Maybe I could be a vegetarian, huh? (~:
As a quick snack before bed, I had a half scoop of plain whey protein isolate mixed with a little water.
Today was a milestone birthday for one of my co-workers (Happy Birthday Terri!). About 9:00, the office staff gathered in the conference room, sang the HB song (poorly...think Office Space here people!), and had cake.
As the cake pieces were getting passed (again, picture Office Space) I was, of course, offered a piece. I declined but got a rather typical response from some folks of "go ahead! It won't kill you!". This happens a lot since I often take a pass on things like this.
I'm the first to admit that I have my days or periods of indiscretion (please see Day 22 post) when it comes to food choices but I try to limit my intake of straight up, no doubt about it "Franken-foods". In my opinion, there's a big difference between eating a baked good made from scratch with whole food ingredients in someone's home versus eating a factory-made cake.
Still, would that piece of cake kill me? If I ate it and other similar chemical concoctions on a regular basis, my answer would be yes. Since I really prefer to not eat these sort of things AND I had just had a "screw it" meal a few days ago, I chose to abstain. This works for me. For others, it may be different. However, I believe that until we get back to eating "the old fashioned way" (whole, fresh, simple ingredient foods) on a consistent basis, our health as a species will continue to suffer.
Perhaps, too, it comes down to your goals and your values. Is that piece of cake moving you closer or further away from that goal or that value? Additionally, no matter which choice you make, you must accept responsibility for it. Own what you choose.
What would you do?
WORKOUT - BACK
All 3 supersets of the Day 4, Week 4 workout were focused on the back.
Superset 1: Straight Arm Pull Down, Pull Ups (Assisted)
Superset 2: Wide Arm Cable Row, Close Grip Lat Pull Down
Superset 3: Close Grip Cable Row, Wide Arm Lat PD
Total Time => 40:15
Comments:
I did well at pre-setting the weights today and meeting the prescribed rest periods. Felt good!
Weights used were a little light which is probably ok during this phase of the program.
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast was a tropical paradise today. Hehe. I started with a bowl of oatgurt mixed up with a mango, some cinnamon, and a solid spoonful of almond butter. Who needs packaged, processed cereal?? Next I blended up another "toffee" smoothie with almond milk, chilled coffee, espresso flavored whey protein isolate, a frozen banana, cocoa powder, and about 2 TBS of coconut milk.
Here's the smoothie before shot...
Hey! Our favorite cookbook made the photo! (~:
Mid-morning snack was 1/2 cup of yogurt, 4 tsp ground flax seed, and 1/3 scoop of plain whey protein isolate powder.
Lunch was a repeat of yesterday...wasabi salmon from this book and a salad of raw broccoli slaw, with cucumber, peppers, celery, and scallions. As a dressing for the salad, I made the ginger, sesame oil dressing from our favorite book.
As a mid-afternoon snack I had a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese along with my raw nut mix of walnuts, cashews, almonds, and Brazil nuts.
Dinner tonight was a fabulous summer time meal of grass-fed beef burgers on the grill wrapped up in a turnip green "bun" with big slices of tomato. There also may have been some salsa involved. Since the grill was all fired up for the burgers, I threw on some eggplant burgers, too. Maybe I could be a vegetarian, huh? (~:
As a quick snack before bed, I had a half scoop of plain whey protein isolate mixed with a little water.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Optimum Anabolics - Day 24/Bearing Weight
It was back to work today but not before getting in the Day 3, Week 4 workout. This was a leg workout so the question was, would my calf muscles be able to do any work?
Amazingly, the answer was "yes"! Timing is everything and the fact that this week's workouts are lighter than previous ones helped tremendously. Based on today's performance, I am hoping to be able to test out doing some cardio (at a slower pace than usual) on Thursday to keep the lungs in shape.
WORKOUT - LEGS
All 3 supersets of the Day 3, Week 4 workout were leg related. This wasn't too bad today since the number of sets and reps are scaled back during this week. I still managed to work up a good sweat, though!
Superset 1: Leg Extensions, Leg Curls
Superset 2: Donkey Calf Raises, Dead Lifts
Superset 3: Seated Calf Negatives, Barbell Squats
Total Time => 46:15
Comments:
Did not plan ahead very well today. Took too much time between sets adjusting weights, moving equipment, etc. Workout would've been shorter otherwise.
Side planks did their job yesterday! I noticed the core muscles at elbow height are somewhat sore today.
Abs were feeling that "pump" set today for sure. They didn't appreciate having to provide support for my back while doing squats. My core is really solid right now.
Should not need the seat warmers tomorrow! :~)
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast started off with a one egg, two egg white omelette with peppers and onions for mix-ins. I topped that off with about 1/4 cup of tomato sauce from Saturday's dinner and about 1 oz of raw milk cheddar cheese. On the side, I had a homemade Italian sausage patty with a few spoonfuls of sauce (because it was so good!). Carbs were a piece of raw corn bread, a big handful of white grapes, and an oaty cake (with butter, of course).
Mid-morning snack was my usual 1/2 cup of yogurt with 1/3 scoop of whey protein isolate powder and 4 tsp of white chia seeds (change of pace from my typical ground flax seed. Mr. Excitement, I tell ya!).
Lunch was wasabi salmon from this book and a salad of raw broccoli slaw, with tomato, peppers, celery, and scallions. As a dressing for the salad, I made the ginger, sesame oil dressing from our favorite book. Here's the wasabi salmon before assembly:
Salad ingredients:
And the dressing:
And finally all together...
Ah lunch at the desk cafeteria...how interesting, right?
Mid-afternoon snack was 2 hard boiled egg whites and one yolk with the typical raw nut combination of almonds, cashews, walnuts, and Brazil nuts. In case I haven't mentioned why the Brazil nut consumption has increased, allow me to tell you. I found out recently through this fabulous resource that Brazil nuts contain a fair amount of selenium. Why is that important? If you have the old fashioned cavity fillings in your mouth, you likely have a mouth full of mercury. I fit the bill on this one. Thankfully I don't have a whole bunch but one is more than I'd like to have. Eventually I'll have these removed and replaced with something more benign. Until then, rather than potentially have the mercury wreak havoc on my system, I'm going to try and ingest a proper amount of selenium which helps, in a sense, neutralize the effects of mercury. It's not the ideal fix, but it's the best practice for now.
Dinner was Apple-Soy Salmon and Pan-Roasted Green Beans (and mixed veggies) from our favorite cookbook. The recipes in this book are so incredibly good! They're also fairly simple and not too terribly time consuming either. Check this book out immediately if you're looking for healthy dishes that you and/or your family will love! The copy we're using right now is from our library so there's no excuse!
This photo doesn't do the flavor justice... :~)
Pre-bed snack was a 1/2 scoop of whey protein isolate powder mixed with a few ounces of water.
Time for a nap!
Amazingly, the answer was "yes"! Timing is everything and the fact that this week's workouts are lighter than previous ones helped tremendously. Based on today's performance, I am hoping to be able to test out doing some cardio (at a slower pace than usual) on Thursday to keep the lungs in shape.
WORKOUT - LEGS
All 3 supersets of the Day 3, Week 4 workout were leg related. This wasn't too bad today since the number of sets and reps are scaled back during this week. I still managed to work up a good sweat, though!
Superset 1: Leg Extensions, Leg Curls
Superset 2: Donkey Calf Raises, Dead Lifts
Superset 3: Seated Calf Negatives, Barbell Squats
Total Time => 46:15
Comments:
Did not plan ahead very well today. Took too much time between sets adjusting weights, moving equipment, etc. Workout would've been shorter otherwise.
Side planks did their job yesterday! I noticed the core muscles at elbow height are somewhat sore today.
Abs were feeling that "pump" set today for sure. They didn't appreciate having to provide support for my back while doing squats. My core is really solid right now.
Should not need the seat warmers tomorrow! :~)
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast started off with a one egg, two egg white omelette with peppers and onions for mix-ins. I topped that off with about 1/4 cup of tomato sauce from Saturday's dinner and about 1 oz of raw milk cheddar cheese. On the side, I had a homemade Italian sausage patty with a few spoonfuls of sauce (because it was so good!). Carbs were a piece of raw corn bread, a big handful of white grapes, and an oaty cake (with butter, of course).
Mid-morning snack was my usual 1/2 cup of yogurt with 1/3 scoop of whey protein isolate powder and 4 tsp of white chia seeds (change of pace from my typical ground flax seed. Mr. Excitement, I tell ya!).
Lunch was wasabi salmon from this book and a salad of raw broccoli slaw, with tomato, peppers, celery, and scallions. As a dressing for the salad, I made the ginger, sesame oil dressing from our favorite book. Here's the wasabi salmon before assembly:
Salad ingredients:
And the dressing:
And finally all together...
Ah lunch at the desk cafeteria...how interesting, right?
Mid-afternoon snack was 2 hard boiled egg whites and one yolk with the typical raw nut combination of almonds, cashews, walnuts, and Brazil nuts. In case I haven't mentioned why the Brazil nut consumption has increased, allow me to tell you. I found out recently through this fabulous resource that Brazil nuts contain a fair amount of selenium. Why is that important? If you have the old fashioned cavity fillings in your mouth, you likely have a mouth full of mercury. I fit the bill on this one. Thankfully I don't have a whole bunch but one is more than I'd like to have. Eventually I'll have these removed and replaced with something more benign. Until then, rather than potentially have the mercury wreak havoc on my system, I'm going to try and ingest a proper amount of selenium which helps, in a sense, neutralize the effects of mercury. It's not the ideal fix, but it's the best practice for now.
Dinner was Apple-Soy Salmon and Pan-Roasted Green Beans (and mixed veggies) from our favorite cookbook. The recipes in this book are so incredibly good! They're also fairly simple and not too terribly time consuming either. Check this book out immediately if you're looking for healthy dishes that you and/or your family will love! The copy we're using right now is from our library so there's no excuse!
This photo doesn't do the flavor justice... :~)
Pre-bed snack was a 1/2 scoop of whey protein isolate powder mixed with a few ounces of water.
Time for a nap!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Optimum Anabolics - Day 23/The Ego Gets A Workout
Today was an interesting day for me. To start off, this week, Week 4, it's back to just 3 sets of each exercise (down from 5 sets last week). Each set stops 2-3 reps from failure. For a guy that's used to pushing things to the max, racking the weight before pushing out one last rep was hard to do!
We also had a scheduled 5K race this morning at 8:10 A.M. My original plan was to workout before the race and use the run as my post-workout cardio. It was tough to get out of bed this morning, though, after such a long day yesterday and a few drinks (whoops!) with dinner. I did manage to get a good workout in (see below) however, to add to my discomfort, my calves and feet still needed some rest time.
Typically on race day, I'm up near the front of the pack at the starting line all fired up and ready to go with my music thumping. Once the race starts, I bolt out to avoid the pack, settle in, and try to beat as a minimum, my previous time. In other words, pushing things to my max. Not so much today. I set my ego aside and walked. It was tough to see some of the familiar faces running by and not be able to be right there with them grinding out the last stretch of the race.
Why did I even bother going you ask? As it turns out, first, it was a fine day for a walk. Second, my ego needs to know it's ok to "take a knee". Third, I got to spend the beautiful morning walking with my wife and sister-in law on a gorgeous trail through the woods. Not a bad way to spend a morning, right?
WORKOUT - ARMS/ABS
The Day 23 workout was a repeat of Day 2 and included 2 supersets of arms followed by a superset of ab work.
Superset 1: DB Preacher Curls, Overhead Cable Extensions
Superset 2: Twisting DB Curl (arms braced against wall), Close Grip Push Ups
Superset 3: Side Planks (30 second hold per side with 15 LB weight raised), Ball Roll Outs
Total Time => 41:10
Comments:
Not much in the way of soreness at all today.
New exercises meant some experimenting with weights again.
Side planks reminded me of doing Yoga. I've been missing it! Love those static holds!
Once out of the gym, I put on a sweatshirt and we headed out to the 5K race. This was my post-workout cardio today. We finished walking in just around 50:00.
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast came today after returning from the 5K race. I had a bowl full of oatgurt, peaches (yes, two), and almond butter sprinkled (ok, loaded) with cinnamon. Out came the blender at that point for a protein smoothie of almond milk, chilled coffee, whey protein isolate powder (plain), a heaping TBS of unsweetened cocoa powder, a frozen banana, and a few peanuts for some crunch. This cleared out any remaining cob webs from the previous night's indiscretions. ;~)
We had some cleanup and prep work to do at one of our rentals so we spent the afternoon getting ready for a tenant to move in next week. I readjusted my meal schedule and just had a snack of 1/2 cup yogurt, 4 tsp ground flax seed, and 1/3 scoop of whey protein isolate powder around 3:30. While snacking, I mixed up the marinade for the chicken we were having for dinner.
Dinner was grilled ginger-herbed chicken from our favorite cook book. Before chowing on the bird, I cut up some tomato and cucumber and had that with some sea salt and Italian spices. Along side the chicken, we roasted up a bunch of fresh green beans with some EVOO and salt. Green bean fries! Awesome!
My pre-bed snack was an exciting 1/2 scoop of whey protein isolate powder mixed with a little water.
We also had a scheduled 5K race this morning at 8:10 A.M. My original plan was to workout before the race and use the run as my post-workout cardio. It was tough to get out of bed this morning, though, after such a long day yesterday and a few drinks (whoops!) with dinner. I did manage to get a good workout in (see below) however, to add to my discomfort, my calves and feet still needed some rest time.
Typically on race day, I'm up near the front of the pack at the starting line all fired up and ready to go with my music thumping. Once the race starts, I bolt out to avoid the pack, settle in, and try to beat as a minimum, my previous time. In other words, pushing things to my max. Not so much today. I set my ego aside and walked. It was tough to see some of the familiar faces running by and not be able to be right there with them grinding out the last stretch of the race.
Why did I even bother going you ask? As it turns out, first, it was a fine day for a walk. Second, my ego needs to know it's ok to "take a knee". Third, I got to spend the beautiful morning walking with my wife and sister-in law on a gorgeous trail through the woods. Not a bad way to spend a morning, right?
WORKOUT - ARMS/ABS
The Day 23 workout was a repeat of Day 2 and included 2 supersets of arms followed by a superset of ab work.
Superset 1: DB Preacher Curls, Overhead Cable Extensions
Superset 2: Twisting DB Curl (arms braced against wall), Close Grip Push Ups
Superset 3: Side Planks (30 second hold per side with 15 LB weight raised), Ball Roll Outs
Total Time => 41:10
Comments:
Not much in the way of soreness at all today.
New exercises meant some experimenting with weights again.
Side planks reminded me of doing Yoga. I've been missing it! Love those static holds!
Once out of the gym, I put on a sweatshirt and we headed out to the 5K race. This was my post-workout cardio today. We finished walking in just around 50:00.
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast came today after returning from the 5K race. I had a bowl full of oatgurt, peaches (yes, two), and almond butter sprinkled (ok, loaded) with cinnamon. Out came the blender at that point for a protein smoothie of almond milk, chilled coffee, whey protein isolate powder (plain), a heaping TBS of unsweetened cocoa powder, a frozen banana, and a few peanuts for some crunch. This cleared out any remaining cob webs from the previous night's indiscretions. ;~)
We had some cleanup and prep work to do at one of our rentals so we spent the afternoon getting ready for a tenant to move in next week. I readjusted my meal schedule and just had a snack of 1/2 cup yogurt, 4 tsp ground flax seed, and 1/3 scoop of whey protein isolate powder around 3:30. While snacking, I mixed up the marinade for the chicken we were having for dinner.
Dinner was grilled ginger-herbed chicken from our favorite cook book. Before chowing on the bird, I cut up some tomato and cucumber and had that with some sea salt and Italian spices. Along side the chicken, we roasted up a bunch of fresh green beans with some EVOO and salt. Green bean fries! Awesome!
My pre-bed snack was an exciting 1/2 scoop of whey protein isolate powder mixed with a little water.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Optimum Anabolics - Day 22/Company Comes Calling
At times it seems that our weekends are busier than our weekdays. This is something I suppose we should work on. Today was no exception.
I slept in (this is a relative term) a bit this morning and then headed right to the home gym for Day 1 of the Week 4 workouts. From the home gym, we immediately headed to one of our favorite places, First Watch, for some breakfast. What a breakfast it was (see below)!
We sipped a few cups of coffee and then headed to the farmer's market to see what produce we could get that would not have to come from the grocery. We did pretty well picking up several colors of peppers, some green onions, and an eggplant. A few of those items went into dinner later.
From the market, we ran a few other errands and shopped the grocery for the balance of our weekly meals. I swear, planning is what keeps me somewhat sane during the week. Not stressing over "what are we going to have tonight?" helps me tremendously. I believe it's also great for keeping your nutrient and portion sizes under control. All around, it's a good practice to get into.
Once we got back from the morning errand loop, I started prepping for dinner by mixing up the meatball recipe we have from Christina's grandmother. Into the fridge that went to allow the spices and herbs to blend for a few hours and then off I went to mow the grass and weed eat.
I got back inside from mowing and needed a break before resuming dinner preparations. It was a perfect time to do some therapy on my calves and feet. Ice, ice, baby! This was followed by the heating pad and the vibrating hand-held massager. I finished up my break with some email reading and then headed up for a shower.
Dinner prep continued around 5:00 and then something weird happened...a martini showed up in my hand! Huh! Boy did that hit the spot! The familia showed up around 6:30 for dinner, dessert, belated birthday wishes for my sister, and some chatting.
Everybody left around 10:30 so Christina and I slammed the kitchen cleanup in about 45 minutes before passing out. It was a long day, kids!
WORKOUT - SHOULDERS
Superset 1: Lying Cable Pullover, Twisting DB Military
Superset 2: Dip Bar Shrugs, Side DB Lateral Raises
Superset 3: DB Shrugs, Barbell Military
Total Time => 38:57
Comments:
You may have noticed these were different exercises this week. Week 4 starts a 3 week break of sorts from the beating the first three weeks puts on you. It's a welcome break, believe me!
I had to experiment some with weight ranges on the new exercises. Next week should be better.
No "extra credit" cardio this week since the calves and feet are still in healing mode.
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Post-workout breakfast this morning was at First Watch. This was good for my tummy! I had the Acapulco Express omelette (eggs, chorizo sausage, avocado, green chillies, onion, cheese and sour cream with salsa on the side) but skipped the side of potatoes and toast. No, no, that wasn't all I had...it was pancake time! Two banana crunch cakes the size of a car tire went down the hatch.
At this point, I'll mention that I am a total freak and brought my own organic butter from home. I try not to wear the waitress out since I put more butter on my pancakes than most restaurants have available at any given time. :-) Delicious!
Since breakfast was rather large (putting it modestly), lunch was just a smoothie of chilled coffee, whey protein isolate powder, 1/2 cup or so of homemade plain yogurt, stevia, cinnamon, and nutmeg. To thicken things up a bit, I tried a trick first brought to my attention by a good blogger friend of mine, Heather. If you like your smoothies so thick that the blender starts smoking trying to mix it, then add some xanthum gum...just about a 1/4 teaspoon is all you need. No way you could've got this smootie through a straw!
Dinner was a belated celebration of my sister's 29th (no, seriously) birthday. She had requested spaghetti, meatballs, and garlic bread. Christina and I put on a spread of just that and also added a salad of mixed greens with toppings that included carrot, scallions, black olives, cukes, and peppers from the farmer's market. To go on top of the spaghetti (along with sauce from TJ's), I sauteed up some garlic, onion, peppers, and mushrooms. In my not so humble opinion, this took a ho-hum spaghetti dinner to a new level! YUM!
To keep things gluten and dairy free for my lovely wife, we substituted quinoa flour in the meatballs and left out the cheese and made up some brown rice pasta. Very good! If you've never tried this stuff, it's worth picking up next time your looking for cure a noodle fix. Dessert was this ice cream. I thought it was just "eh", but it did the trick for Christina.
My sister's birthday cake was a mom-made fruit tart that involved oat cookies, nectarines, red raspberries, and plenty of REAL whipped cream. None of that imposter chemical stuff in this house! This was an excellent, excellent dessert! Great job mom!
No snack needed tonight!
It was time for bed since the morning was coming early to get to a 5k race.
I slept in (this is a relative term) a bit this morning and then headed right to the home gym for Day 1 of the Week 4 workouts. From the home gym, we immediately headed to one of our favorite places, First Watch, for some breakfast. What a breakfast it was (see below)!
We sipped a few cups of coffee and then headed to the farmer's market to see what produce we could get that would not have to come from the grocery. We did pretty well picking up several colors of peppers, some green onions, and an eggplant. A few of those items went into dinner later.
From the market, we ran a few other errands and shopped the grocery for the balance of our weekly meals. I swear, planning is what keeps me somewhat sane during the week. Not stressing over "what are we going to have tonight?" helps me tremendously. I believe it's also great for keeping your nutrient and portion sizes under control. All around, it's a good practice to get into.
Once we got back from the morning errand loop, I started prepping for dinner by mixing up the meatball recipe we have from Christina's grandmother. Into the fridge that went to allow the spices and herbs to blend for a few hours and then off I went to mow the grass and weed eat.
I got back inside from mowing and needed a break before resuming dinner preparations. It was a perfect time to do some therapy on my calves and feet. Ice, ice, baby! This was followed by the heating pad and the vibrating hand-held massager. I finished up my break with some email reading and then headed up for a shower.
Dinner prep continued around 5:00 and then something weird happened...a martini showed up in my hand! Huh! Boy did that hit the spot! The familia showed up around 6:30 for dinner, dessert, belated birthday wishes for my sister, and some chatting.
Everybody left around 10:30 so Christina and I slammed the kitchen cleanup in about 45 minutes before passing out. It was a long day, kids!
WORKOUT - SHOULDERS
Superset 1: Lying Cable Pullover, Twisting DB Military
Superset 2: Dip Bar Shrugs, Side DB Lateral Raises
Superset 3: DB Shrugs, Barbell Military
Total Time => 38:57
Comments:
You may have noticed these were different exercises this week. Week 4 starts a 3 week break of sorts from the beating the first three weeks puts on you. It's a welcome break, believe me!
I had to experiment some with weight ranges on the new exercises. Next week should be better.
No "extra credit" cardio this week since the calves and feet are still in healing mode.
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Post-workout breakfast this morning was at First Watch. This was good for my tummy! I had the Acapulco Express omelette (eggs, chorizo sausage, avocado, green chillies, onion, cheese and sour cream with salsa on the side) but skipped the side of potatoes and toast. No, no, that wasn't all I had...it was pancake time! Two banana crunch cakes the size of a car tire went down the hatch.
At this point, I'll mention that I am a total freak and brought my own organic butter from home. I try not to wear the waitress out since I put more butter on my pancakes than most restaurants have available at any given time. :-) Delicious!
Since breakfast was rather large (putting it modestly), lunch was just a smoothie of chilled coffee, whey protein isolate powder, 1/2 cup or so of homemade plain yogurt, stevia, cinnamon, and nutmeg. To thicken things up a bit, I tried a trick first brought to my attention by a good blogger friend of mine, Heather. If you like your smoothies so thick that the blender starts smoking trying to mix it, then add some xanthum gum...just about a 1/4 teaspoon is all you need. No way you could've got this smootie through a straw!
Dinner was a belated celebration of my sister's 29th (no, seriously) birthday. She had requested spaghetti, meatballs, and garlic bread. Christina and I put on a spread of just that and also added a salad of mixed greens with toppings that included carrot, scallions, black olives, cukes, and peppers from the farmer's market. To go on top of the spaghetti (along with sauce from TJ's), I sauteed up some garlic, onion, peppers, and mushrooms. In my not so humble opinion, this took a ho-hum spaghetti dinner to a new level! YUM!
To keep things gluten and dairy free for my lovely wife, we substituted quinoa flour in the meatballs and left out the cheese and made up some brown rice pasta. Very good! If you've never tried this stuff, it's worth picking up next time your looking for cure a noodle fix. Dessert was this ice cream. I thought it was just "eh", but it did the trick for Christina.
My sister's birthday cake was a mom-made fruit tart that involved oat cookies, nectarines, red raspberries, and plenty of REAL whipped cream. None of that imposter chemical stuff in this house! This was an excellent, excellent dessert! Great job mom!
No snack needed tonight!
It was time for bed since the morning was coming early to get to a 5k race.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Optimum Anabolics - Day 21/Take A Load Off
This morning I got up at the usual time but did somethings that weren't the usual for me. For the past few weeks, this day on the Optimum Anabolics program would've meant that I'd be out doing a high intensity interval workout. Not today. Not with my calves and/or feet in shambles.
Instead, I headed downstairs with the borrowed hand-held massager and newly purchased heating pad and grabbed some ice packs out of the freezer. It was therapy time. Over the next 45 minutes, I applied ice, heat, and massage to my calves and feet. Not a bad way to wake up!
Overall, I was much more mobile today though every once in a while my right calf would "catch" and let me know it was still there. "Hey! I'm trying to heal down here!"
Tomorrow it's back to the weights with a shoulder workout. This should allow for continued lower body rest and healing. There will be more ice and heat applied and, of course, more massaging. ;-)
WORKOUT - CARDIO (HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING)
Uh....no! Today was a rest day.
Comments:
With all the focus on my calves and/or feet, I didn't really pay much attention to much else today.
That being said, we'll get right to my measurements for the week. Drum roll please....
MEASUREMENTS:
Weight: 178.0 LBS (Down 1.0 LBS for week, 1.5 LBS total)
BF: 8.1% (according to the calipers I have) (NO change)
Neck: 15-1/2" (NO change)
Chest: 38-3/4" (DOWN 1/4" for week, 3/4" total)
Shoulders: 47" (No change for week, DOWN 1/2" total)
Biceps: 13-1/2" (NO change for week, NO change total)
Waist: 33" (NO change for week, UP 1/4" total)
Thighs: 19-3/4" (NO change for week, NO change total)
Calves: 15" (NO change for week, NO change total)
Adonis Effect: 1.403 (DOWN 0.026 total)
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast was a beast of an omelet consisting of one egg, two egg whites, fresh salsa, green and red peppers, and raw milk cheddar cheese. I topped it with a few shakes of the Louisiana hot sauce, too, of course. Today I cooked up the homemade Italian sausage (recipe here) into patties and had one along side of the eggs. Very good!
Mid-morning snack was a 1/2 cup of yogurt, 1 T of ground flax seeds, and 1/3 scoop plain whey protein isolate powder.
Lunch was a grass-fed beef burger wrapped in romain leaves along with some fresh salsa that was made Sunday from lots of fresh veggies. On the side, I had yet another blended zucchini salad. Not sure if I'm going to get tired of these! The recipe is here.
Mid-afternoon snack was 2 hard boiled egg whites and one yolk along with a handful of raw nut mix (cashews, almonds, walnuts, and Brazil nuts).
For dinner, Christina and I made up Asian Spice-Rubbed Shrimp with Sesame Dressing from this book. This was a repeat of Day 16's meal. We couldn't resist!
Pre-bed snack was a half scoop of whey protein isolate powder mixed up in a little water.
Tomorrow the weights await (haha). Week 4 begins!
Instead, I headed downstairs with the borrowed hand-held massager and newly purchased heating pad and grabbed some ice packs out of the freezer. It was therapy time. Over the next 45 minutes, I applied ice, heat, and massage to my calves and feet. Not a bad way to wake up!
Overall, I was much more mobile today though every once in a while my right calf would "catch" and let me know it was still there. "Hey! I'm trying to heal down here!"
Tomorrow it's back to the weights with a shoulder workout. This should allow for continued lower body rest and healing. There will be more ice and heat applied and, of course, more massaging. ;-)
WORKOUT - CARDIO (HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING)
Uh....no! Today was a rest day.
Comments:
With all the focus on my calves and/or feet, I didn't really pay much attention to much else today.
That being said, we'll get right to my measurements for the week. Drum roll please....
MEASUREMENTS:
Weight: 178.0 LBS (Down 1.0 LBS for week, 1.5 LBS total)
BF: 8.1% (according to the calipers I have) (NO change)
Neck: 15-1/2" (NO change)
Chest: 38-3/4" (DOWN 1/4" for week, 3/4" total)
Shoulders: 47" (No change for week, DOWN 1/2" total)
Biceps: 13-1/2" (NO change for week, NO change total)
Waist: 33" (NO change for week, UP 1/4" total)
Thighs: 19-3/4" (NO change for week, NO change total)
Calves: 15" (NO change for week, NO change total)
Adonis Effect: 1.403 (DOWN 0.026 total)
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast was a beast of an omelet consisting of one egg, two egg whites, fresh salsa, green and red peppers, and raw milk cheddar cheese. I topped it with a few shakes of the Louisiana hot sauce, too, of course. Today I cooked up the homemade Italian sausage (recipe here) into patties and had one along side of the eggs. Very good!
Mid-morning snack was a 1/2 cup of yogurt, 1 T of ground flax seeds, and 1/3 scoop plain whey protein isolate powder.
Lunch was a grass-fed beef burger wrapped in romain leaves along with some fresh salsa that was made Sunday from lots of fresh veggies. On the side, I had yet another blended zucchini salad. Not sure if I'm going to get tired of these! The recipe is here.
Mid-afternoon snack was 2 hard boiled egg whites and one yolk along with a handful of raw nut mix (cashews, almonds, walnuts, and Brazil nuts).
For dinner, Christina and I made up Asian Spice-Rubbed Shrimp with Sesame Dressing from this book. This was a repeat of Day 16's meal. We couldn't resist!
Pre-bed snack was a half scoop of whey protein isolate powder mixed up in a little water.
Tomorrow the weights await (haha). Week 4 begins!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Optimum Anabolics - Day 20/Listen To Me!
Do you all ever have those moments when it occurs to you that it would be in your best interest to do one thing or another? Or do you have the voice in your head whispering to you that you just might want to do this or that or things could get ugly?
Well, yesterday I had one of those moments with the voice in my head. You see, after my interval cardio workout last Friday, I was having some pain in my left heel. It was not debilitating but it was noticeable when I walked and got worse throughout the day. As the week went on, my heel got better but during my massage therapy appointment on Tuesday with Maggie, she hit upon the fact that my calf muscles were very tight and "stringy". It hit me that the reason my heel might be hurting is because that whole flexible system that surrounds and supports my foot was probably too tight.
Back to the voice in my head yesterday...it was telling me I might want to consider doing some sort of alternate cardio method today or, as I mentioned, it might get ugly. I chose to ignore it and proceed per the schedule. Bad idea! I told myself that it was plenty warm and humid outside and all I needed was a little extra warmup time (which I took, but it didn't help). My left heel is in some pain but worse, I totally pulled something in my *right* calf muscle and had to cut the workout a little short. How do you limp on both legs?? (haha!) Needless to say, if I would've just listened to my body and that voice, I might not be in this situation.
Tomorrow will be a complete rest day.
Here are the details of the day:
WORKOUT - CARDIO (HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING)
My lungs were in very good shape this week since the weight workouts were so fast-paced. Too bad there was that minor calf issue (see above) that brought an otherwise good workout to a screeching halt.
Here was today's intervals:
Comments:
Shoulders and chest feeling it today.
Not too much in the way of soreness left in my legs by late in the day.
Abs were well worked but no problems.
Good timing on the intervals this week until, well, you know.
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast was a beast of an omelet consisting of one egg, two egg whites, fresh salsa, green and red peppers, and raw milk cheddar cheese. I topped it with a few shakes of the Louisiana hot sauce, too, of course. Today I cooked up the homemade Italian sausage (recipe here) into patties and had one along side of the eggs. Very good!
Mid-morning snack was a 1/2 cup of yogurt, 1 T of ground flax seeds, and 1/3 scoop plain whey protein isolate powder.
Lunch was out today at Montgomery Inn! This place has phenomenal BBQ! I had the roasted half chicken with a side of steamed broccoli and a second side of steamed sugar snap peas and carrots. I was full but content so for a restaurant meal, it was pretty darn good.
Mid-afternoon snack was 1/2 cup of cottage cheese and a mix of raw nuts (cashews, almonds, walnuts, Brazil nuts).
For dinner, I stir-fried up some chicken, broccoli, peas, and mixed veggies in a sauce of coconut oil, garlic, and Bragg's liquid aminos. Nothing too exciting but I didn't need a whole lot after the solid lunch I had.
Pre-bed snack was a half scoop of whey protein isolate powder mixed up in a little water.
Tomorrow should be interesting. I'm hoping the heating pad I purchased will provide some relief and quick healing!
Well, yesterday I had one of those moments with the voice in my head. You see, after my interval cardio workout last Friday, I was having some pain in my left heel. It was not debilitating but it was noticeable when I walked and got worse throughout the day. As the week went on, my heel got better but during my massage therapy appointment on Tuesday with Maggie, she hit upon the fact that my calf muscles were very tight and "stringy". It hit me that the reason my heel might be hurting is because that whole flexible system that surrounds and supports my foot was probably too tight.
Back to the voice in my head yesterday...it was telling me I might want to consider doing some sort of alternate cardio method today or, as I mentioned, it might get ugly. I chose to ignore it and proceed per the schedule. Bad idea! I told myself that it was plenty warm and humid outside and all I needed was a little extra warmup time (which I took, but it didn't help). My left heel is in some pain but worse, I totally pulled something in my *right* calf muscle and had to cut the workout a little short. How do you limp on both legs?? (haha!) Needless to say, if I would've just listened to my body and that voice, I might not be in this situation.
Tomorrow will be a complete rest day.
Here are the details of the day:
WORKOUT - CARDIO (HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING)
My lungs were in very good shape this week since the weight workouts were so fast-paced. Too bad there was that minor calf issue (see above) that brought an otherwise good workout to a screeching halt.
Here was today's intervals:
- Bike, Intensity 1 (warm up), 5:00
- Jump Rope, Intensity 2, 3:00 ± (about 300 revolutions)
- Jog, Intensity 2, 5:00 ±
- Sprint, Intensity 3, 30 seconds (calf blowout!!)
- Jog, Intensity 2, 3:30
- Bike, Intensity 2, 4:00 ±
- Jump Rope, Intensity 2, 3:00 ± (300 revolutions...faster this time!)
- Sprint, Intensity 3 scheduled but had to pull up lame at this point.
- Jog/Walk (cool down), Intensity 1, just long enough to get back to the house
Comments:
Shoulders and chest feeling it today.
Not too much in the way of soreness left in my legs by late in the day.
Abs were well worked but no problems.
Good timing on the intervals this week until, well, you know.
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast was a beast of an omelet consisting of one egg, two egg whites, fresh salsa, green and red peppers, and raw milk cheddar cheese. I topped it with a few shakes of the Louisiana hot sauce, too, of course. Today I cooked up the homemade Italian sausage (recipe here) into patties and had one along side of the eggs. Very good!
Mid-morning snack was a 1/2 cup of yogurt, 1 T of ground flax seeds, and 1/3 scoop plain whey protein isolate powder.
Lunch was out today at Montgomery Inn! This place has phenomenal BBQ! I had the roasted half chicken with a side of steamed broccoli and a second side of steamed sugar snap peas and carrots. I was full but content so for a restaurant meal, it was pretty darn good.
Mid-afternoon snack was 1/2 cup of cottage cheese and a mix of raw nuts (cashews, almonds, walnuts, Brazil nuts).
For dinner, I stir-fried up some chicken, broccoli, peas, and mixed veggies in a sauce of coconut oil, garlic, and Bragg's liquid aminos. Nothing too exciting but I didn't need a whole lot after the solid lunch I had.
Pre-bed snack was a half scoop of whey protein isolate powder mixed up in a little water.
Tomorrow should be interesting. I'm hoping the heating pad I purchased will provide some relief and quick healing!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Optimum Anabolics - Day 19/Loaded (Progressively)
I'm not sure if it was my massage or the intense workouts this week, but I slept like a rock last night. This resulted in a really productive Day 5 workout. Thankfully, again, my legs were not really needed today as they are still sore from Day 17.
WORKOUT - CHEST/ABS
2 supersets of the Day 5 workout were chest related, followed by a superset of abs work
Superset 1: Incline DB Flye, Incline Push Ups (used 2 chairs and ladder)
Superset 2: DB Pullovers, Dips - Chest version (I had to do some assisted reps here...phew!)
Superset 3: Mountain Climbers w/ ankle weights, Hanging knee raises
Total Time => 39:33
Comments:
Legs and booty were still feeling the pain! More therapeutic seat warmers required! :) Also, that vibrating massage unit got a workout, too!
This week of Progressive Loading was the most challenging thus far with an added "pump" set per exercise and very short rest periods.
I felt like I did a good job of keeping strict form, even on the last set when my muscles were pretty well exhausted and I was often winded to boot.
My weight choices were a little off from time to time this week due to the short recovery times. The bodyweight exercise were particularly difficult to navigate when it came time for the extra set. As an example, I ended up doing push ups today from a kneeling position because my arms and chest were exhausted!
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast (post-workout) kicked off with about 1 cup of oatgurt. Into the oatgurt base went a peeled and chopped mango and a big spoonful of TJ's raw almond butter. To finish things off, I blended up a toffee protein smoothie of almond milk, some chilled coffee, a frozen banana, espresso flavored whey protein isolate, cocoa powder and some peanuts. Once again, I out did myself! The added cocoa powder took an already fantastic smoothie to the next level of incredible!
Mid-morning snack was a 1/2 cup of yogurt, 1 T of ground white chia seeds, and 1/3 scoop plain whey protein isolate powder.
Lunch was a grass-fed beef burger wrapped in romain leaves along with some fresh salsa that was made Sunday from lots of fresh veggies. On the side, I had yet another blended zucchini salad. Not sure if I'm going to get tired of these! The recipe is here.
Mid-afternoon snack was 2 hard boiled egg whites and one yolk along with a handful of raw nut mix (cashews, almonds, walnuts, and Brazil nuts).
For dinner Christina whipped up quite the feast! The main dish consisted of sauteed shrimp that had been marinading in EVOO, crushed red pepper, garlic, parsley and some other herbs with a splash of lemon juice. On the side, she had sauteed some red onion in EVOO, salt, garlic, and pepper. Into this mix went some green beans fresh from yesterdays farmers market. Fantastic and an absolute make again meal!
As a snack before bed it's going to be a 1/2 scoop of protein powder mixed with a little water. Just a little fuel for the interval cardio workout in the morning!
WORKOUT - CHEST/ABS
2 supersets of the Day 5 workout were chest related, followed by a superset of abs work
Superset 1: Incline DB Flye, Incline Push Ups (used 2 chairs and ladder)
Superset 2: DB Pullovers, Dips - Chest version (I had to do some assisted reps here...phew!)
Superset 3: Mountain Climbers w/ ankle weights, Hanging knee raises
Total Time => 39:33
Comments:
Legs and booty were still feeling the pain! More therapeutic seat warmers required! :) Also, that vibrating massage unit got a workout, too!
This week of Progressive Loading was the most challenging thus far with an added "pump" set per exercise and very short rest periods.
I felt like I did a good job of keeping strict form, even on the last set when my muscles were pretty well exhausted and I was often winded to boot.
My weight choices were a little off from time to time this week due to the short recovery times. The bodyweight exercise were particularly difficult to navigate when it came time for the extra set. As an example, I ended up doing push ups today from a kneeling position because my arms and chest were exhausted!
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast (post-workout) kicked off with about 1 cup of oatgurt. Into the oatgurt base went a peeled and chopped mango and a big spoonful of TJ's raw almond butter. To finish things off, I blended up a toffee protein smoothie of almond milk, some chilled coffee, a frozen banana, espresso flavored whey protein isolate, cocoa powder and some peanuts. Once again, I out did myself! The added cocoa powder took an already fantastic smoothie to the next level of incredible!
Mid-morning snack was a 1/2 cup of yogurt, 1 T of ground white chia seeds, and 1/3 scoop plain whey protein isolate powder.
Lunch was a grass-fed beef burger wrapped in romain leaves along with some fresh salsa that was made Sunday from lots of fresh veggies. On the side, I had yet another blended zucchini salad. Not sure if I'm going to get tired of these! The recipe is here.
Mid-afternoon snack was 2 hard boiled egg whites and one yolk along with a handful of raw nut mix (cashews, almonds, walnuts, and Brazil nuts).
For dinner Christina whipped up quite the feast! The main dish consisted of sauteed shrimp that had been marinading in EVOO, crushed red pepper, garlic, parsley and some other herbs with a splash of lemon juice. On the side, she had sauteed some red onion in EVOO, salt, garlic, and pepper. Into this mix went some green beans fresh from yesterdays farmers market. Fantastic and an absolute make again meal!
As a snack before bed it's going to be a 1/2 scoop of protein powder mixed with a little water. Just a little fuel for the interval cardio workout in the morning!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Optimum Anabolics - Day 18/Reiki For The Body
Getting out of the rack this morning wasn't too bad even after yesterday's leg thrashing. Thankfully today's workout, Day 4 of Week 3, involved zero leg participation. My back was next in line for punishment.
After another good, sweaty workout in the home gym, it was upstairs for breakfast and a shower then off to work.
Things at the office have calmed down considerably. Another round of stimulus projects awaits, however, so things will be picking back up come Fall. In the meantime, I'm thankful for the break to catch up on some stuff for work that we bid on successfully.
This evening brought one of my favorite things... an appointment with my massage therapist and Reiki master, Maggie. This combination of healing modalities is beyond phenomenal. Imagine having all the negative energy and blocks rubbed out of you by massage and then being re-energized and re-balanced through Reiki. If you have the chance to have this work done you will NOT be disappointed!
During my appointment, Maggie found many spots in my musculature that were tight, tight, tight. So much so that she sent me home with a hand held electric massage unit! Jeff should take that as a compliment as to how intense the Optimum Anabolics workouts are!
Back to our regularly scheduled program...
WORKOUT - BACK
All 3 supersets of the Day 4, Week 3 workout were focused on the back. Good thing because my legs needed the rest!
Superset 1: Hanging Row, Pull Ups (Assisted)
Superset 2: Twisting DB Row, Wide Arm Lat Pull Down
Superset 3: Wide Arm Cable Row, Close Grip Lat Pull Down
Total Time => 47:50
Comments:
I did well at pre-setting the weights but still exceeded the rest times on Superset 3. The only way around this would be to choose different exercises. That'll probably happen when things get switched up later in the program.
Weights used were just about right this week.
I was really feeling it in a good way in the thighs and glutes today! Seat warmers were employed again! :~)
As previously mentioned, Maggie found several tight areas on my bod during our session. One of those areas that she mentioned specifically were my calves. I had been stretching them for about a minute after my workouts. She said to give it 3 or 4 minutes! Got some work to do there!
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast (post-workout) started with one egg and two egg whites scrambled up with more of that homemade salsa goodness, green and red peppers, and my homemade Italian sausage. My fruit course today (haha) was an apple and about a cup of red grapes. Dessert featured 2 oaty cakes with some honey and butter. So very, very, good!
Mid-morning snack was a 1/2 cup of yogurt, 1 T of ground flax seeds, and 1/3 scoop plain whey protein isolate powder.
For lunch I had wasabi salmon salad after making a trip to the downtown farmer's market. While there, I picked up some green beans for tonight's dinner, a couple of multi-colored peppers and two pickling cucumbers to go along with my salmon. I cut up one of the peppers and one of the cukes back at the office and had those topped with some of Annies Organic Oil and Vinegar salad dressing. Good stuff!
For dinner after my rub down we grilled up some chicken that Christina had marinaded in some EVOO and some other herbs. On the side we had some steamed green beans purchased from the farmer's market today. There is *nothing* like fresh from the field produce! Tasty, crisp, and bursting with flavor.
No snack before bed tonight since dinner was fairly late in the evening.
Tomorrow is the final day of the Progressive Loading phase of the program. Thank God (The Universe, Buddha, All There Is, what or whoever you call it/her/him)! This has been a tough 5 days of lifting!
After another good, sweaty workout in the home gym, it was upstairs for breakfast and a shower then off to work.
Things at the office have calmed down considerably. Another round of stimulus projects awaits, however, so things will be picking back up come Fall. In the meantime, I'm thankful for the break to catch up on some stuff for work that we bid on successfully.
This evening brought one of my favorite things... an appointment with my massage therapist and Reiki master, Maggie. This combination of healing modalities is beyond phenomenal. Imagine having all the negative energy and blocks rubbed out of you by massage and then being re-energized and re-balanced through Reiki. If you have the chance to have this work done you will NOT be disappointed!
During my appointment, Maggie found many spots in my musculature that were tight, tight, tight. So much so that she sent me home with a hand held electric massage unit! Jeff should take that as a compliment as to how intense the Optimum Anabolics workouts are!
Back to our regularly scheduled program...
WORKOUT - BACK
All 3 supersets of the Day 4, Week 3 workout were focused on the back. Good thing because my legs needed the rest!
Superset 1: Hanging Row, Pull Ups (Assisted)
Superset 2: Twisting DB Row, Wide Arm Lat Pull Down
Superset 3: Wide Arm Cable Row, Close Grip Lat Pull Down
Total Time => 47:50
Comments:
I did well at pre-setting the weights but still exceeded the rest times on Superset 3. The only way around this would be to choose different exercises. That'll probably happen when things get switched up later in the program.
Weights used were just about right this week.
I was really feeling it in a good way in the thighs and glutes today! Seat warmers were employed again! :~)
As previously mentioned, Maggie found several tight areas on my bod during our session. One of those areas that she mentioned specifically were my calves. I had been stretching them for about a minute after my workouts. She said to give it 3 or 4 minutes! Got some work to do there!
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast (post-workout) started with one egg and two egg whites scrambled up with more of that homemade salsa goodness, green and red peppers, and my homemade Italian sausage. My fruit course today (haha) was an apple and about a cup of red grapes. Dessert featured 2 oaty cakes with some honey and butter. So very, very, good!
Mid-morning snack was a 1/2 cup of yogurt, 1 T of ground flax seeds, and 1/3 scoop plain whey protein isolate powder.
For lunch I had wasabi salmon salad after making a trip to the downtown farmer's market. While there, I picked up some green beans for tonight's dinner, a couple of multi-colored peppers and two pickling cucumbers to go along with my salmon. I cut up one of the peppers and one of the cukes back at the office and had those topped with some of Annies Organic Oil and Vinegar salad dressing. Good stuff!
For dinner after my rub down we grilled up some chicken that Christina had marinaded in some EVOO and some other herbs. On the side we had some steamed green beans purchased from the farmer's market today. There is *nothing* like fresh from the field produce! Tasty, crisp, and bursting with flavor.
No snack before bed tonight since dinner was fairly late in the evening.
Tomorrow is the final day of the Progressive Loading phase of the program. Thank God (The Universe, Buddha, All There Is, what or whoever you call it/her/him)! This has been a tough 5 days of lifting!
Monday, August 17, 2009
Optimum Anabolics - Day 17/Dogs Are Barkin'
Here we are in mid-August in Central Ohio and The Dog Days of summer are in full effect. A little bit of heat and a humidity percentage to match. This equates to some serious sweating even for a guy who isn't really prone to that sort of thing.
After waking up a touch before the alarm today (about 4:25 a.m.), I put on a "dry fit" shirt in the hopes of just keeping things under control. The relentless leg workout today did not disappoint, however, and it left me soaked to the bone. I know time helps you forget how severe pain was, but I seriously do not *ever* recall going through a leg workout as tough as this one during Week 3 of Optimum Anabolics! It made my high school basketball workouts seem like a warmup!
Needless to say, my dogs are barkin' loud!
Here are the details of the day...
WORKOUT - LEGS
All 3 supersets of the Day 3, Week 3 workout were leg related. Killer!
Superset 1: Forward DB Lunge , Backward DB Lunge
Superset 2: Standing Calf Negatives, Barbell Squats
Superset 3: Donkey Calf Raises, Dead Lifts
Total Time => 48:30
Comments:
Shoulders still sore today from Sunday. Good workout!
Arms were booming today so I must've got 'em pretty good yesterday. Nice!
Abs were feeling that "pump" set today for sure. They didn't appreciate having to provide support for my back while doing squats. My core is really solid right now.
Thighs and glutes started to tighten up later in the day. Seat warmers tomorrow?? We shall see!
As spent as I was after this workout, I gotta say it was a great one. My whole body felt energized the entire day!
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast (post-workout) kicked off with about 1 cup of oatgurt. Into the oatgurt base went a peeled and chopped mango and a big spoonful of TJ's raw almond butter. Outstanding combination! The mango was very sweet and juicy, too. To finish things off, I blended up a toffee protein smoothie of almond milk, some chilled coffee, a frozen banana, espresso flavored whey protein isolate, and some coconut milk. Good thing I had to go to work or there might've been a second round. (~;
Mid-morning snack was a 1/2 cup of yogurt, 1 T of ground flax seeds, and 1/3 scoop plain whey protein isolate powder.
Lunch was a grass-fed beef burger wrapped in romain leaves along with some salsa that was made yesterday from lots of fresh veggies. On the side, I had yet another blended zucchini salad. Unbelievably good on a hot summer's day! The recipe is here
Mid-afternoon snack was 2 hard boiled egg whites and one yolk along with a handful of raw nut mix (cashews, almonds, walnuts, Brazil nuts). Brazil nuts will now be making a regular appearance in my diet as they are high in selenium. Selenium is mercury's nemesis. Got mercury in your fillings? Yeah, you need selenium to help nutralize your toxic teeth. Sign me up!
Dinner was ANOTHER winner from The Ultra-Metabolism Cookbook by Dr. Mark Hyman. Tonight's feature was garlicky (why does that word have a "k" in it??) lemon Spanish shrimp. Wow! It had a little kick to it but generally it was just good, good, good! The sauce for 1 pound of shrimp was garlic sauteed in EVOO, red pepper flakes, paprika, a bay leaf, and some lemon juice. Simple, right?! Yes! The wife had hers with some brown rice. I had mine with a tomato basil salad along with a little raw milk cheddar. Restaurant quality ferreelz!
Pre-bed snack was a half scoop of whey protein isolate mixed up with some water. Bland, I know, but it does the trick!
See you tomorrow if my legs will lift me out of the bed!
After waking up a touch before the alarm today (about 4:25 a.m.), I put on a "dry fit" shirt in the hopes of just keeping things under control. The relentless leg workout today did not disappoint, however, and it left me soaked to the bone. I know time helps you forget how severe pain was, but I seriously do not *ever* recall going through a leg workout as tough as this one during Week 3 of Optimum Anabolics! It made my high school basketball workouts seem like a warmup!
Needless to say, my dogs are barkin' loud!
Here are the details of the day...
WORKOUT - LEGS
All 3 supersets of the Day 3, Week 3 workout were leg related. Killer!
Superset 1: Forward DB Lunge , Backward DB Lunge
Superset 2: Standing Calf Negatives, Barbell Squats
Superset 3: Donkey Calf Raises, Dead Lifts
Total Time => 48:30
Comments:
Shoulders still sore today from Sunday. Good workout!
Arms were booming today so I must've got 'em pretty good yesterday. Nice!
Abs were feeling that "pump" set today for sure. They didn't appreciate having to provide support for my back while doing squats. My core is really solid right now.
Thighs and glutes started to tighten up later in the day. Seat warmers tomorrow?? We shall see!
As spent as I was after this workout, I gotta say it was a great one. My whole body felt energized the entire day!
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast (post-workout) kicked off with about 1 cup of oatgurt. Into the oatgurt base went a peeled and chopped mango and a big spoonful of TJ's raw almond butter. Outstanding combination! The mango was very sweet and juicy, too. To finish things off, I blended up a toffee protein smoothie of almond milk, some chilled coffee, a frozen banana, espresso flavored whey protein isolate, and some coconut milk. Good thing I had to go to work or there might've been a second round. (~;
Mid-morning snack was a 1/2 cup of yogurt, 1 T of ground flax seeds, and 1/3 scoop plain whey protein isolate powder.
Lunch was a grass-fed beef burger wrapped in romain leaves along with some salsa that was made yesterday from lots of fresh veggies. On the side, I had yet another blended zucchini salad. Unbelievably good on a hot summer's day! The recipe is here
Mid-afternoon snack was 2 hard boiled egg whites and one yolk along with a handful of raw nut mix (cashews, almonds, walnuts, Brazil nuts). Brazil nuts will now be making a regular appearance in my diet as they are high in selenium. Selenium is mercury's nemesis. Got mercury in your fillings? Yeah, you need selenium to help nutralize your toxic teeth. Sign me up!
Dinner was ANOTHER winner from The Ultra-Metabolism Cookbook by Dr. Mark Hyman. Tonight's feature was garlicky (why does that word have a "k" in it??) lemon Spanish shrimp. Wow! It had a little kick to it but generally it was just good, good, good! The sauce for 1 pound of shrimp was garlic sauteed in EVOO, red pepper flakes, paprika, a bay leaf, and some lemon juice. Simple, right?! Yes! The wife had hers with some brown rice. I had mine with a tomato basil salad along with a little raw milk cheddar. Restaurant quality ferreelz!
Pre-bed snack was a half scoop of whey protein isolate mixed up with some water. Bland, I know, but it does the trick!
See you tomorrow if my legs will lift me out of the bed!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Optimum Anabolics - Day 16/Here, There, and Everywhere
Today was fairly busy for a Sunday. I got up later than my weekday alarm time but was still out of bed early.
After finishing putting the final touches on our meal plan for the week, I reviewed and checked my workout plan for the day, then hit the weights.
I put myself through Day 2 of Week 3 and then struggled upstairs for breakfast and followed that up with a nice shower. Felt so good!
The wife headed out to a wedding shower shortly after noon and I decided to make up another batch of raw corn bread for the week.
I had some lunch before heading off to post a notice at one of our rental properties (grrrr....) and hitting up the grocery for the weeks goodies.
By then, it was just about dinner time so Christina and I hit the kitchen and watched Tiger get beat in the PGA Championship while we ate.
Post dinner, we discussed our rental business, the upcoming week, and then chatted with my mom on the phone for a while. Once off the phone, I made up some of my Monday snacks and lunch stuff. Time to head back to work already!
WORKOUT - ARMS/ABS
The Day 16 workout was a repeat of Day 2 and included 2 supersets of arms followed by a superset of ab work. One set was added (2 sets since Week 1) to each superset exercise as a "pump" set.
Superset 1: DB Concentration Curl, Twisting DB Kickbacks
Superset 2: Close Grip Chin Up (assisted), Dips (tricep version)
Superset 3: Bent Leg Crunch (with towel roll under back), Ball Roll Outs
Total Time => 50:08
Comments:
Shoulders sore but not killing me today.
My arms were hit hard today. I upped the weight and was pretty well dead after the "pump" set.
Doing crunches with the towel and correct form continues to burn my abs out! That slow negative is a killer on both exercises.
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
My post-workout meal today was most excellent! I mixed up some scrambled eggs with a touch of buttermilk and half a boat-load of fresh salsa with some Italian sausage, veggies, and cheese. To cool the eggs down (haha), I sprinkled some Louisiana Hot Sauce over the top. Before knocking back a couple of the oaty cakes, I munched on an apple and some grapes.
Lunch was a beast of a salad with spinach, mixed greens, celery, carrot, green onion, avocado, tomato, peppers, and some scallions
Dinner was Mahi Mahi sauteed up in all the fixins you see below in the picture. Holy cow! This meal was restaurant good! Actually, it was better than a lot of restaurants! :~)
Tomorrow is Monday so that means leg day! Yikers! See you then!
After finishing putting the final touches on our meal plan for the week, I reviewed and checked my workout plan for the day, then hit the weights.
I put myself through Day 2 of Week 3 and then struggled upstairs for breakfast and followed that up with a nice shower. Felt so good!
The wife headed out to a wedding shower shortly after noon and I decided to make up another batch of raw corn bread for the week.
I had some lunch before heading off to post a notice at one of our rental properties (grrrr....) and hitting up the grocery for the weeks goodies.
By then, it was just about dinner time so Christina and I hit the kitchen and watched Tiger get beat in the PGA Championship while we ate.
Post dinner, we discussed our rental business, the upcoming week, and then chatted with my mom on the phone for a while. Once off the phone, I made up some of my Monday snacks and lunch stuff. Time to head back to work already!
WORKOUT - ARMS/ABS
The Day 16 workout was a repeat of Day 2 and included 2 supersets of arms followed by a superset of ab work. One set was added (2 sets since Week 1) to each superset exercise as a "pump" set.
Superset 1: DB Concentration Curl, Twisting DB Kickbacks
Superset 2: Close Grip Chin Up (assisted), Dips (tricep version)
Superset 3: Bent Leg Crunch (with towel roll under back), Ball Roll Outs
Total Time => 50:08
Comments:
Shoulders sore but not killing me today.
My arms were hit hard today. I upped the weight and was pretty well dead after the "pump" set.
Doing crunches with the towel and correct form continues to burn my abs out! That slow negative is a killer on both exercises.
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
My post-workout meal today was most excellent! I mixed up some scrambled eggs with a touch of buttermilk and half a boat-load of fresh salsa with some Italian sausage, veggies, and cheese. To cool the eggs down (haha), I sprinkled some Louisiana Hot Sauce over the top. Before knocking back a couple of the oaty cakes, I munched on an apple and some grapes.
Lunch was a beast of a salad with spinach, mixed greens, celery, carrot, green onion, avocado, tomato, peppers, and some scallions
Dinner was Mahi Mahi sauteed up in all the fixins you see below in the picture. Holy cow! This meal was restaurant good! Actually, it was better than a lot of restaurants! :~)
Tomorrow is Monday so that means leg day! Yikers! See you then!
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Optimum Anabolics - Day 15/Learning To Be Free
This was a weekend day but Christina and I had scheduled some training on the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) for today from 10:00 to 6:00. That meant the Day 1 workout of Week 3 needed to be accomplished first thing so we could get out the door.
Week 3 adds a "pump" set of high reps at the end of heavy lifting for each exercise. To really keep things interesting, the rest periods between exercises are cut to 30 seconds. Ouch! Believe me, this seemed like basically zero rest! What a workout, though!
WORKOUT - SHOULDERS
Superset 1: DB Front Lateral Raises, Standing Arnold Presses
Superset 2: DB Rear Raises, Side DB Raises
Superset 3: Dip Bar Shrugs (awesome!), Twisting DB Presses
Total Time => 48:30
Comments:
Used just about the perfect amount of weight today for each exercise. Very pleased!
To top things off, I did 9 quick minutes of some light cardio...3 minutes of jogging, 3 minutes of jumping rope, and 3 minutes on the bike.
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
For breakfast this morning (post workout), I made up an omelet of one egg, two egg whites, peppers, onions, Italian sausage, an ounce or so of raw milk cheddar cheese and some tomato sauce. Pizza omelet! To get the carb load up, I had a handful of grapes and a cup or so of oatgurt with almond butter. I was definitely satisfied and good to go for our meeting!
On our lunch break, we came home and I fired up the blender for a Green Monster! Suh-weet!
After our meeting was over it was dinner time I had another big salad with all the usual trimings of peppers, scallions, carrots, tomato, celery, parsley and cilantro. Tonight I added half an avocado, squeezed on some lime juice and was good to go! For dessert I had a coconut milk protein smoothie with vanilla, almonds, and a little stevia mixed it. Perfectly refreshing!
It was a full day so I hit the rack without snacking and passed out!
Week 3 adds a "pump" set of high reps at the end of heavy lifting for each exercise. To really keep things interesting, the rest periods between exercises are cut to 30 seconds. Ouch! Believe me, this seemed like basically zero rest! What a workout, though!
WORKOUT - SHOULDERS
Superset 1: DB Front Lateral Raises, Standing Arnold Presses
Superset 2: DB Rear Raises, Side DB Raises
Superset 3: Dip Bar Shrugs (awesome!), Twisting DB Presses
Total Time => 48:30
Comments:
Used just about the perfect amount of weight today for each exercise. Very pleased!
To top things off, I did 9 quick minutes of some light cardio...3 minutes of jogging, 3 minutes of jumping rope, and 3 minutes on the bike.
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
For breakfast this morning (post workout), I made up an omelet of one egg, two egg whites, peppers, onions, Italian sausage, an ounce or so of raw milk cheddar cheese and some tomato sauce. Pizza omelet! To get the carb load up, I had a handful of grapes and a cup or so of oatgurt with almond butter. I was definitely satisfied and good to go for our meeting!
On our lunch break, we came home and I fired up the blender for a Green Monster! Suh-weet!
- 1/2 frozen banna
- 1 C frozen strawberries
- 1 C water
- 1T coconut milk (full fat!)
- 2 handfuls of spinach
- dash of stevia
After our meeting was over it was dinner time I had another big salad with all the usual trimings of peppers, scallions, carrots, tomato, celery, parsley and cilantro. Tonight I added half an avocado, squeezed on some lime juice and was good to go! For dessert I had a coconut milk protein smoothie with vanilla, almonds, and a little stevia mixed it. Perfectly refreshing!
It was a full day so I hit the rack without snacking and passed out!
Friday, August 14, 2009
Optimum Anabolics - Day 14/Finally Friday
It was the second "off day" with no weights today. I was up at 4:30 and ready to hit the cardio again to stretch the legs and lungs.
WORKOUT - CARDIO (HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING)
Here was today's intervals:
Comments:
Shoulders and chest feeling a little tight today.
Legs and booty still a little sore.
Abs were finally calmed down.
Much more comfortable on the interval times today.
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast was a beast of an omelet consisting of one egg, two egg whites, fresh salsa, homemade Italian sausage (recipe here), green and red peppers, and raw milk cheddar cheese. I topped it with a few shakes of the Louisiana hot sauce, too, of course. Sound familiar? It should since this was yesterday's breakfast of choice, too. What can I say? I'm a creature of habit. Hence my staple morning snack of...
Mid-morning snack was a 1/2 cup of yogurt, 1 T of ground flax seeds, and 1/3 scoop plain whey protein isolate powder.
Lunch was homemade tuna salad wrapped in a collard green leaf "bread". Along side the tuna was another blended zuke salad. Yes...same as yesterday. Remember what I said about being a creature of habit??
My afternoon snack consisted of 2 hardboiled egg whites and one yolk along with my usual raw nut combination of walnuts, cashews, and almonds.
For dinner, I had a big 'ol salad with spinach and lots of veggies including carrots, tomato, celery, peppers and scallions all topped off with the last of some leftover chicken. I used some of Drew's All Natural Romano Caesar as a dressing.
As a snack before bed, I had a 1/2 cup of lowfat cottage cheese.
Tomorrow it's back to the weights!
WORKOUT - CARDIO (HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING)
Here was today's intervals:
- Bike, Intensity 1 (warm up), 5:00
- Jump Rope, Intensity 2, 3:00
- Jog, Intensity 2, 5:00
- Sprint (all out!), Intensity 3, 30 seconds
- Jog, Intensity 2, 4:00
- Bike, Intensity 2, 2:00 ±
- Jump Rope, Intensity 2, 3:00
- Sprint, Intensity 3, 30 seconds
- Jog/Walk (cool down), Intensity 1, 5:00
Comments:
Shoulders and chest feeling a little tight today.
Legs and booty still a little sore.
Abs were finally calmed down.
Much more comfortable on the interval times today.
DIET - HIGH PROTEIN
Breakfast was a beast of an omelet consisting of one egg, two egg whites, fresh salsa, homemade Italian sausage (recipe here), green and red peppers, and raw milk cheddar cheese. I topped it with a few shakes of the Louisiana hot sauce, too, of course. Sound familiar? It should since this was yesterday's breakfast of choice, too. What can I say? I'm a creature of habit. Hence my staple morning snack of...
Mid-morning snack was a 1/2 cup of yogurt, 1 T of ground flax seeds, and 1/3 scoop plain whey protein isolate powder.
Lunch was homemade tuna salad wrapped in a collard green leaf "bread". Along side the tuna was another blended zuke salad. Yes...same as yesterday. Remember what I said about being a creature of habit??
My afternoon snack consisted of 2 hardboiled egg whites and one yolk along with my usual raw nut combination of walnuts, cashews, and almonds.
For dinner, I had a big 'ol salad with spinach and lots of veggies including carrots, tomato, celery, peppers and scallions all topped off with the last of some leftover chicken. I used some of Drew's All Natural Romano Caesar as a dressing.
As a snack before bed, I had a 1/2 cup of lowfat cottage cheese.
Tomorrow it's back to the weights!
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