anotherdemocrat has asked others to help with Monday Fitness, so I’m taking a turn today. If you’d like to be in the rotation, see info at the end of this diary.
We've all seen the recent commercials stating that you can lose 25 LBs in one week blah blah blah. I sometimes wonder if the copywriters for those ads are out of work Republican speechwriters. The ads seem chock full of empty promises. And just like the Republican programs, the incredible weight loss programs have the same record of fail. Perhaps the only weight loss in those programs are in their heads.
Follow me below the fold to see what I am doing to get back in shape and stay there....
There are plenty of workout programs that are "Guaranteed" to make you lose 25 LBs or so in one week, etc., etc., etc. I do not subscribe to those. They just do not work! Just like learning to make a great pie, getting in shape and shedding some pounds takes time. In fact, there is a great article in the 1.21.09 NYT on the fact that fitness is not an overnight accomplishment.
When I started working out way back in '05, I was a 6'1" 44 YO male who weighed in at 242Lbs. I had decided that it was time to start thinking about the future and my health. I thought that this should be easy. Start lifting weights, go for a bike ride, figure out a schedule and I'm off to a new and glorious me. Well....it took a little longer than I had originally thought it would.
While I started bicycling, walking, and lifting (which did make me feel somewhat more energetic), I still had the ole Dunlop above the waist. I had yet to change my eating habits. Beer, soda, and junk food were still in the mix. After some reading and a discussion with a college buddy who is now a personal trainer, I learned that there are multiple factors to getting back in shape and staying there. It's not just working out but also modifying the diet too.
As the Times article states, I discovered that it doesn't happen in the first week or even the first month. You have to ramp up to the point where you can start pushing yourself harder and getting your body ready for the challenge. Sort of a pre-training if you will.
This workout program is based upon a 'roll your own' approach that consists of 4 main ingredients that I will go into more detail as we go through this. The diet has no rhyme or reason as of yet, it just works for me. My diet is based upon ongoing research that I've been collecting over the years from multiple sources such as www.bodybuilding.com, my college buddy, and a book called The New Rules of Lifting by Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove. Now I'm definitely not a muscle-head but Lou and Alwyn know their stuff and know how to make it easy for anyone to understand how to create a workout program for themselves. They now have a NROL for Women too. It's on the same link.
Keep in mind that what works for one person may not work for everyone as we're all 'wired' a little differently. My program might require some personal tweaking but the basics listed work.
I've restarted by going back to my self designed program that took me from 242Lbs to 207Lbs in roughly 11 months during 2005/2006. The ultimate goal was to hit 190 Lbs. I failed but I'm back at it. I was able to keep the weight off until my workload became crazy. I bubbled up to 224Lbs in the past 12 months as I was also involved with Barack's campaign outside of work. I still have the same workload but I had no choice but to get back into shape as didn't want to be the guy who had "fallen and can't get up!"
Diet is just part of the equation. The other major part is working out in resistance, cardio, and core body strength. The last item will become more important to all of us when we're about to hit our 40's and 50's.
When I first started working out several summers ago I wasn't realizing my goals for the first couple of months. I kicked it into high gear in December '06. I reached a point where I was burning about 2-3 pounds per week. Keep in mind that I work for myself and have a home gym. Thus I can work out about any time during the day. It also helps to be able to change workout times and food selections. The body will get used to a routine and plateau at that point. You need to shake it up about every 3-4 weeks with changes. They can be subtle or they can be radical. I've had success doing both. Radical is more fun though lol!
Here's a quick synopsis (I say quick because it's not a book but there are some books that are jam-packed with info and they are not quick):
Ingredient 1. Diet - major timing and selection changes. The first and probably most challenging part is making a switch from 3 square meals a day to 5 or 6 smaller meals a day. You want to keep your digestive system going full bore. By constantly refueling with leaner choices, your metabolism will start to pick up. Space the meals by 2-3 hours apart.
Drop all 'white' processed substances for other choices. White bread is now 12 grain or multi-grain wheat or oat based bread. White rice is now long grain or wild rice. Refined sugar intake has been drastically reduced. And soft drinks have been completely eliminated! Not even diet variety pop is allowed. It's not good for the body anyway.
As for food selections, I'm reading labels and dropping a lot of the crap that I used to eat. I've also increased my intake of fresh fruits and veggies. My wife and I love to garden. We've increased the amount of veggies that we're going to plant this year. Heirlooms of course. We plan to increase the size of the garden for a higher yield and less grass to mow. My kids think that I've become a food nazi! But my oldest is all in favor of reducing the lawn as she's the mower.
So to start out the 5-6 meals, breakfast is something simple like a bowl of oatmeal and a cup of coffee. You could also do an omelette or something similar. Eventually the coffee will go as caffeine really isn't that good for us. Horrors!
2-3 hours later can be a banana or toast with butter or a bowl of grain based cereal. I like Uncle Sam cereal mixed with Wheat Chex and banana slices. Uncle Sam contains flax seed which is heavy in Omega 3 fats. The stuff is good for the system as you do need simple fats. I do most of my carbo loading in the morning.
Lunch is usually a salad. No iceberg lettuce but lots of greens! Iceberg lettuce doesn't have much value as far as nutrients, fibre, and protein go. Romaine, spinach, carrots, red lettuce, red cabbage, some shredded cheese, croutons, and dressing or oil/vinegar usually does the trick. You can drink a glass of water topped with a slice of lemon. The main thing is to think green. The darker the better. We've been buying a lot of Dole premix bags to speed things up as it's prewashed and saves me some time to get back to whatever I'm working on. Mustard greens can be a fun addition to the mix. Maybe toss in some chicken from the night before or some ham. Nothing wrong with a little added protein.
The afternoon quickie meal could be a fruit based yogurt like Dannon or Yoplait. Sometimes I just eat some fruit or veggies. Again, read the calories and protein info on the labels.
Dinner is usually whatever my wife and I make for the gang. It's the big meal of the day. Before calling it a day, I might have some fruit.
In '06, I reached the point whereby I automatically ate smaller portions than what I used to take in. I'm almost back to that point. I force the reductions through the exercise half of the project.
Think 'Clean' when selecting foods. For example, select something that you can think of the source being one process away from it's original state. A steak would be visualized as a cow in a field. A Hostess Twinkie would be visualized as something taking 4-5 processes before even getting to the raw materials. You can Google some nutrition listings that will give you the values of certain foods. These can be useful when shopping.
Also, keep in mind that the types of carbs you take in and when, can make a difference. I love pasta but also recognize that if I don't exercise after consuming pasta, it will go through a chemical alteration in the digestive tract and convert to sugar. And I was always told that pasta was good for you lol!
I started out with some major changes in a cold turkey manner.
I eliminated all soft drinks and started drinking at least 1 gallon of water per day. I'm averaging about 1.5 gallons per day now, especially on workout days. Think of it as a cleansing. The added water will help the body to flush out oxidants as your program progresses. Another benefit of the water is that most of us do not drink enough water. As such, our bodies are in a 'drought' mode. The additional water helps to keep cells replenished. It really can make a difference in how energetic you feel on some days.
Saturday and Sunday mornings are still filled with pancakes and something like bacon or sausage. I do have to maintain some standards of living lol! But it works out in the end as the exercise kicks everything into high gear.
Ingredient 2. Core body strength. A main goal is to build up core body strength first then branch out into the crazy stuff. Abs work and lower back exercises will handle most of your core work. This will give you balance for everything else.
Ole Dick Cheney "Supposedly" pulled a back muscle while lifting something. He did this because he has been sitting on his tail in some undisclosed location for too long and not moving around. Dick's not the only one who has had this problem. Many people will throw their back out while moving a simple object. This is due to not being in shape. One of the first things to go is your core body strength. Think of it as your mid-section. Your abs, obliques, and lower back. If they are weak, you're in a heap of trouble. You'll need these muscles more later in life when your knees start going. Isn't that a great thought! ;-)
Abs routine. I do all of my abs work before my resistance program. I start out by doing a bunch of warm ups listed in Villepigue's book which I reference at the bottom of this diary. Most of it is done on the floor. I have a Soloflex home gym that I use the bench and bar for some of my work such as crunches and hanging leg lifts - a real challenge to achieve but once you're there, you're golden!!!!
You can find used Soloflex systems for as little as a couple hundred bucks on ebay, Play It Again Sports, or any used sporting goods shop. You can also install a chin-up bar to do some of these exercises with.
I'm also using a Swiss Ball exercise ball. These are the inflatable balls that you see in various sporting goods or box stores. Gaiam sells them too and they're a good outfit to support. $20-30.00 should be more than enough for a good one. They are great for stability and core body strength workouts. I'll list my Swiss Ball routine in a future diary.
Ingredient 3. Resistance/weight training. There are several forms of exercise. Two of the most popular are weight training and aerobic training. Here's the real beauty of weights. If you work out lifting, you can create a calorie demand on the part of your muscles that will work for hours after you've done your workout. Aerobics is only momentary while lifting is duration based. I'm doing all total-body related resistance work. I'll list some of the routines in a future diary. For those of you who can't wait, they come right out of the books mentioned at the bottom. I usually do a M W F schedule but sometimes add a 4th session in the week. Just don't go more than two days in a row. Muscles need to rest in order to rebuild.
My goal is not to bulk up but to get back in shape and lose weight. As such, I'm not interested in benching 350 LBs. 90 is just fine for me.
I'm sometimes asked what muscles to work out in order to get the best results. If we go back to the model of creating a calorie demand, working out your largest muscle group will cause the body to start breaking down the stored energy in your fat cells. Without a doubt it's your quads. Squats and lunges are great exercises to work these muscles. Now some folks (like me) might not have the greatest knees...and squats and lunges can take a toll on knees. Also, squats can be dangerous if improperly performed. We purchased a machine called the Rockit by Soloflex on ebay a couple of years ago. It was used and only cost a couple hundred bucks. It was a great purchase as you can do light or heavy resistance squats without pain or danger.
Ingredient 4. Interval based cardio. This is totally cool! OK, there's aerobics which are usually based upon doing something like cycling, running, elliptical, or swimming at the same boring pace for 30-60 minutes. Not worth it!
Cardio is like aerobics EXCEPT you're doing intervals. You can get the benefit of a 30-60 minute aerobic workout in less the time with intervals. I ride a Schwinn Airdyne stationary bike during the off season. It uses steel fan blades to create wind resistance. You don't have to have an Airdyne, most stationary bikes will work. I just happen to like the Schwinn. You can find them new or used on ebay. I just looked at ebay and found 27 of them ranging from $19.00 (yes nineteen) to $609.00. There is not much to break on them and they are pretty heavy duty.
I start out riding at a low pace around level 2-3 for five minutes. Then I start doing intervals for anywhere from 6 to 35 minutes followed by a 5-6 minute cool down period of level 2 then level 1 then done. The intervals run anywhere from :20 high pedaling then :40 rest at level 2 done six times. I then follow this with three minutes rest at level 2 pedaling. Then 1 minute sprint, 1 minute level 2 rest for three intervals. Three minutes of rest pedaling then a three minute challenge pedaling around a level 3 and finally :20 hard push to break out. After that I'll start cooling down or add more intervals. Clear as mud right.
I used to find myself dragging for the first 15-20 minutes of my rides. Once I hit 20 minutes, I have been kicking into overdrive, I am now starting to add more intervals.
Sometimes I'll tag 15-20 minutes of cardio after weight/resistance or I'll just substitute a longer cardio session in place of weight/resistance. For example if MWF is my regular schedule, I might do weights and cardio on Monday, just cardio on Wednesday, and just weights or both on Friday. I do the core body routine each workout day. That and the diet cannot be left out.
I did a lot of long distance cycling in my teens and twenties. I was part of a group of high school and college friends who organized two transcontinental bike rides. I was in great shape for those. I hope to get back to that point. My goal is to do another transcontinental bike ride in the next couple of years.
Hey, it took us years to build these Dunlop's, it takes a little work to peel them off lol!
Resources
A great book that I've been working with is New Rules of Lifting by Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove. You can probably get it for around ten or eleven bucks through an Amazon associated dealer. Borders or Barnes n Noble will have it for around $25.00. It covers workouts and diet very well. I'm loving it because I was in search of an overall workout plan. This has worked quite well. Alwyn is sort of the personal trainer's trainer.
Another book is the Body Sculpting Bible for ABS by James Villepigue. This contains lots of great info and balances what Alwyn states in his book. Both work well together. Villepigue has a ton of abs busting exercises that really have worked well for me. He also lists several abs and lower back only exercises. You have to remember to balance abs work with lower back work. If you only do the abs work, you'll find yourself with an imbalance that could lead to injury doing something as easy as bending over to get a pencil.
Also, check out www.bodybuilding.com Lots of great articles and info there!
You might want to look at Fitness for Dummies as a basic primer on this stuff but I thing that Cosgrove and Villepigue will help a lot.
I know that there is a lot of info here. I'll be back to refine it in future diaries.
Have fun!
Max
Want to write a Fitness Monday diary? From anotherdemocrat: If this is to be a continuing series, we need hosts. Please go to the gmail account I set up at gmail.com and sign in - username is FitnessMonday, pw is exercise - and add your name to the calendar. We need you, yes, you to sign up to host if this series is to continue.