This is your body on Bootcamps!

 

Well another week has ended and I'm down.....

2.5lbs!

The boot camps are sure taking their toll on my body. I feel very run down and I have been short on patience. Not good! I am going to drop down to just 4 boot camps per week.

I had a buddy the other day ask me if I'm going to golf at all this year....all I could muster was a shoulder shrug. Not sure why....it's funny when you lose passion for something. I have been working hard at trying to find my passion again. I need to figure out what direction I need to take this life of mine.

I attended a play the other day that really affected me. It was the story of a young man who after becoming a paraplegic went on to become a national Canadian hero (Rick Hansen). When I was 20yrs old I had a very serious accident, I broke my back jumping off a cliff into very shallow water. The details are not important other than it was a very, very stupid decision I made. It was a split moment in time that could have put me in a wheel chair for life....I was extremely lucky. It has really hit me lately that I have been given a few "second chances" in life and what have I done with them?

We had an Olympic torch bearer in our school the other day. He passed the torch around to all the kids and asked them what their dream goal was. After all the kids passed the torch they wanted the teachers to have a turn. When it arrived in my hand I was stunned....I didn't have a dream goal anymore. I wanted to be a golf pro....done. I wanted to run a marathon....done. I wanted to become a triathlete.....done. I want to complete an Ironman....in the process of doing that. But what is next? I really need to figure that out, soon. I wish there was a book showing you how to "re-brand" yourself!

I suppose we all aspire to greatness. That's a concept that torments me. Is it enough to be a great husband and father? Is it enough to help motivate people to greater heights? Does the size of your pay stub determine how important a person you are? All these questions....where's YODA when you need him!

Well that was my week....very introspective.

Oye, I need some protein!

Weigh in day today!

Down .5 lbs!!!

Well, OK not my best week....but I have seen a huge change in my body composition and my muscle development. I am chalking this week up to a plateau. I have done everything right from a nutritional standpoint. Given that I'm very happy with myself. On the whole everyone on our "Biggest loser" team had a marginal week. Each member was either even or down a small amount.

We had one of our harder workouts today. Many people have asked what do you do...well here's what we did today!

Warm up:
on the airdyne bikes doing 20/40 sprints (sprint hard for 20 seconds, easy for 40 seconds) for 10 minutes.

Circuit #1: (Each activity is done for 90 seconds) Run through it 4 times.
1. elbow plank
2. sprints on an elliptical
3. punching bag squats (constantly punching a heavy bag while doing squats, very hard after a while!)
4. beat up a Basa system (it's a mixed martial arts training bag that has a head, chest and hands...nice to just wail on!)

Break - 1 minute

Circuit #2: (each activity is done for 90 seconds) Run through it 4 times.
1. Mountain climbers
2. skipping rope
3. seated rows on weight machine
4. seated pushing on weight machine

Break - 1 minute

Circuit #3: Same as circuit #1 - each activity for 60 seconds

Break - 1 minute

Circuit #4: Same as circuit #2 - each activity for 60 seconds

Break 1 minute

Team "game" #1 - Laying on your back on a mat with a 35 lb plate on your chest:
"bench press" 40 times - get up,
bent row same plate 40 times - lay down on back,
"bench press" plate 40 times again - get up,
bent row same plate 40 times....DONE!

1 minute break

Team "game" #2 - Circle push up/planks....this is a killer!
1. lay in a circle so that your heads are in the middle of circle - up into a plank.
2. while everyone's in the plank position first person does one push up.
3. first person tags person to the right....he does a push up and tags the person to the right.
4. continue around the circle until the tag gets back to the first person who started...they do 2 push ups.
5. continue until you hit 10 push ups.
6. once everyone has done 10 pushups...you count back down to 0
7. when you are not doing push ups you are trying to hold your plank. (FYI - it's impossible...to hold a plank that long...for us anyways!!!!)
(you've just done - 100 push ups!)

1 minute break


THEN....

We did circuits #1 & 2 once more for 30 seconds each activity with no breaks...just 4 minutes of hard core work.


All this while wearing a hoodie!!!
Total workout time 1hour 45 minutes.

It's all about the caloric deficit!

Down 3.5lbs! (total: 10lbs over the last 2 weeks) Hard work and effort really pays off. I have been very conscience of proper nutrition and water intake. I have also made it my mission to drink at least 3 cups of green tea a day and one grapefruit. (more on that later!)

I have learned a TON of things that you should do and many things you should not do when it comes to feeding the animal! There are many people who will start up an exercise program and give up after a few weeks....because it's not "working"! What many people forget to address is the nutritional component of exercise.

I feel that it is imperative to create a caloric deficit in order to lose weight. It's not enough to just go to the gym, go for a run or push some weights....you must be mindful of what you put in your mouth. I remember many years ago I was on a weight loss program and found it to be very good...but it allowed you "bonus" food if you worked out. To me (knowing what I now know) this is absolutely counter productive if your goal is to become more fit. Everyone needs to know what their basil metabolic rate is and eat accordingly based upon their activity levels and their fitness goals. This is the key to fueling your body properly!

SPEAKING of properly fueling your body....this is an interesting read about grapefruit and green tea!

One last note....there is no easy way to lose weight. It takes planning, hard work and commitment.

I wonder if the guy doing the kicking feels like puking after?

Week one in the Biggest Loser - Winnipeg has come to an end! I have felt pain, sickness, joy, euphoria, hunger, humility and a size 11 Under Armour shoe square up my ass!

I was very active this week: Swam 3x's, Ran 3x's, Boot Camp 2x's....it all adds up to a total weight lose for the week of:

6.5lbs!

I am very pleased to say the least.

I have been very strict with my nutrition - I had let it slack off a little before and over Christmas. I can truly say that the eating part of my weight loss journey is the least of my worries. I am able to control what and when I eat. I have very good habits in this area. I just need to work harder at pushing myself past my mental comfort level. My first boot camp was a killer and if it were me on my own I would have given up after about 10 minutes (essentially the "warm up"!) I think that the boys over at the Brick House Gym can see that I can dig deeper and are up to the challenge of pushing me beyond my perceived limits.

I will be trying hard this week to ignore the pain and push as hard as I can when at the gym. I will strive to feed the animal with the best possible food. I will keep my mantra in mind: "I don't give up, ever!"

One last thought: "Grapefruit, Juicy Fruit!" - Jimmy Buffet (I'll explain next blog!)

Well it is coming to the end of another week. I managed to swim a little, run a little and start a biggest loser contest at my place of employment! I am a little surprised at the reaction from my co-workers though. Some, who I thought would sign up wanted no part of it...others who I assumed would not be interested signed up right away! Funny.

As for my training...I managed to avoid a table full of donuts and muffins today! That in itself was a pure miracle. I had a couple of good runs. But I am concerned that I had a particularly difficult run yesterday afternoon. It was not a long run just about 4.5 km....but my legs felt sluggish and heavy. I think it was due to the fact that I had missed my afternoon snack. The importance of nutrition cannot be discounted.

I think my experience with the "crappy" run this week scares me a little. I am involved with the "biggest loser - Winnipeg" this will require me to cut back a little on my daily caloric intake....but what will my balance be? What if I cut back too much and it affects my marathon training? It could make me sick....I don't want that! I have been considering upping my activity level and keeping my eating static...the down side I don't lose weight fast enough. (of course the goal of the contest is to lose as much weight in 3 months as possible) I would also risk overall fatigue and possible injury if I try to up my activity to rapidly. My body needs time to adjust. They say you should only increase your workout time by 10% each week....if you wish to stay injury free!

So, I think after much consideration I have decided to keep my daily intake at 2100 kcal and I will up my activity to create at least a 500 kcal deficit. This should be a nice manageable balance. Once I lose more weight I will up my activity to create a greater daily deficit.

As of Christmas I am down 8 pounds! That's 6 weeks = 1.3 pounds a week. Nice and healthy , but more important - it's maintainable!