Thursday July 1st: Plycore -- All out of sorts workout

This class was a mess for me.  It started with pain in my Achilles.  Unfortunately, my foot just wasn't getting better, so I spoke with out instructor before class about doing an alternative to stairs in the workout, and we were able to figure out some exercises that would help to strengthen my Achilles.  However, I would have some other problems later in the workout that would keep me from even getting that far.  The next problem was that I could tell that I was getting sick.  I had been trying to fight off the sniffles all week, but I wasn't working.  I had been feeling rundown for a while now, but I was trying to chalk it up to depression from my wife being out of the country and fatigue from helping my cousin move and driving a lot, but as the week progressed I could tell that my body was fighting something.  But, I still  proceeded with the workout, but I misread what we were supposed to do and ended up doing a workout that was very different form the rest of the class.  It was still a good workout, but not what I was supposed to be doing.  It was just fitting when you consider how out of sorts I was feeling.

The Workout:

Run outside .6 miles
100 Crunches
5 chin ups
lap inside 1/15 of a mile
100 Crunches

100 Squats
5 chin ups
lap inside 1/15 of a mile
100 Crunches

100 Squats
50 push ups
5 chin ups
lap inside 1/15 of a mile
100 Crunches

100 Squats
50 push ups
5 chin ups
lap inside 1/15 of a mile

I messed this up because I was only supposed to do 100 Crunches, Squats, and 50 Push ups, not 400 crunches, 300 Squats, and 100 push ups!  I misread the directions and wasn't paying attention to what the rest of the class was doing because everyone was spread out and not everyone did things in the same order.

Weds. June 30th Sprots Conditioning Class -- What I needed and didn't need

I wanted to go to this class because I needed some ab work.  Also, I thought that this would be good for my Achilles because this class doesn't require that much running or a lot of stairs.  However, I forgot that sometimes we do tons of calf raises, which really work your Achilles.  Of course, that is exactly what we did . . . tons of calf raises!!!  The abs portion was fine, as were the other exercise, but the calf raises really put too much strain on my heel.  I iced both of them right after the class and did a lot of stretching, but as the day went on my heels felt like they were on fire.  I even had to get one the ice pack out of an old first aid kit in the afternoon and put it on my heels.  On my hay home from work, I stopped and got an ankle brace, which is suppose to help with the healing process.   I put it on when I got home and ice my heels some more, and they improved a lot as the night went on, but I know that I need to change what I am doing and give time for recuperation. 

July 1st -- Advice for Others and Myself

Well six months of 2010 are down!!  I can't believe how quickly the time has passed.  Truthfully I thought that the scale would read a lot lower than it does at the moment.  Currently, I a fluctuating between 270 and 275, which is between 46 to 41 pounds lost. In January, I had hoped that I would be passed the 50 pound mark by now.  However, I am currently very happy with my progress.  And I thought that this would be a good time to share my thoughts because I know some people who are fighting this fight along with me and might benefit from me sharing a bit more than the details of my workout.  Also, I know that I need to stop and listen to myself from time to time.  Today I was reading The Fat Man's 180 Day Experiment   and Scott was talking about his injury and feeling discouraged today,and even though I am sure he didn't really need my advice I decided to offer some and as I wrote I just felt like I was talking to myself as much as I was Scott, so I decided to make this post.

 Today I am Sporting the Ankle brace. My Achilles is giving me problems, and it is getting to the point where I may need to shut things down if it doesn't improve over the next week or so. I have had so many tweaks, pulls, and strains over the last 8 months -- it is all part of the journey  Just remember that it will pass and you will be mentally stronger for having gotten past it.   Here are some of the injuries I have encountered along the way:

Strained Hip Flexor

Strained Rotator Cuff

Sprained Middle Finger

Groin Pull

Wisdom Tooth Removal

Strained Neck & Shoulder Blade

Knee and Hamstring Pulls

I am making this list for two reasons.  1) I have gotten past each one of these injuries.  You have to expect injuries when you are over weight, out of shape, and begin a lifestyle change.  The injuries are going to come, but you will move past them. They are part of the process.  In fact they are a pretty good indication that you are getting your body out of it's comfort level and it is resisting.  Of course, you should do everything you can to prevent injuries, but you must push yourself and expect injuries to occur.  2) This process is more about reshaping you mind than it is about reshaping your body.  You have turned the corner when you realize that it is not the external changes that matter but the internal changes.  I had the physical strength to do 50 pushups long before I had the mental strength to do it. 

I know that it is really hard not to focus so much on the scale, but the day to day fluctuations are maddening. Honestly, the scale is a really poor indicator of your effort.  Yes, I want to see the number on the scale get smaller, but I am much more interested in being able to run 5 miles. I won't care what weight I am at when I do that for the first time. I won't care if I am 270 or 265; I'll be happy that I was able to push myself to do it.  We are so focused on the scale that we lose sight of the fact that it is only a number. It is the effort and work that matters. One person's 260 is not the same as another person's.  What is important is how you feel about yourself, and no number is really going to feel as good as the satisfaction that you get from pushing yourself farther than you thought possible.  

It is better to trust your eyes when you look in the mirror than the numbers on the scale.  Take time to stare at yourself in the mirror.  Look at your cheekbones, you shoulder blades, stare deeply into you own eyes, it is not vanity.  It is getting reacquainted with the person that you have wanted always wanted to be.  I can always tell that I am doing good work by the weight I have lost in my face. I'll often wait a few days to shave because the weight loss is really apparent when I shave. And after I have taken notice of that, that is when I will look myself in the eyes and try to assess the more important internal changes.  At the beginning of this post, I said that I thought that scale would be reading a much lower number by now.   But, I am really much more happy with where I am than I could have imagined.  I have put in a lot of hard work and my body has changed a lot, but what makes me most happy is the mental strength and inner peace that I am discovering.  I always thought that I was dissatisfied with my physical appearance and that was why I was unhappy, but I was really dissatisfied with the internal aspects of myself that let me get to where I was physically. 

Tuesday June 29th: Toning Class -- Home Alone Workout

I thought long and hard about skipping this class.  I really really wasn't sure about it, but as the day went on I changed my mind because I didn't want to go home to an empty house right after work.  My wife is out of the country, so I figured that if I went right after work it would just make the night longer, so I forced myself to suck it up and go to Toning class. 

I felt worn down from the weekend and Monday's class just didn't go that well, so I thought that I might need to take a day off.  I also knew that I planned to go to Sports Conditioning in the morning on Wednesday morning, which would mean that I would being do two workouts in around 12 hours.  In addition, my Achilles felt a lot better all day on Tuesday, and I was wondering if I should push it or give it some rest.  But the Toning class has no running and the Sports Conditioning class has very little running, so I thought that these two classes really wouldn't stress my Achilles that much.  This combined with the prospect of full night alone prompted my class attendance. 

I was glad that I went almost as soon as I got there.  The class was exactly what I needed.  Lots of abs work along with a good upper body workout.  We did lots of push ups, bicycles, and other ab exercises throughout the class.  I really like that this class is a very focused class with everyone staying together and doing the same exercises.  Most of the other classes that I go to don't keep everyone together, so it is nice to have one that does.  I don't want all of my classes to do that, but it is go for a change of pace.  Also, it allows you to work on form a lot more because you don't need to push yourself to keep up with your classmate. Focusing on form is much more important in a toning class than the number of reps you can blitz through, so keeping everyone going at the same pace appropriate for this class.  Also, it is nice to be able to check you form against your classmates because some people do different variations of the same exercise based upon their level, so it gives you someone options as to who follow.  I felt really good after the class and took some time to ice my Achilles after class, which I think helped. 

Monday Plycore June 28th

I am glad that I went to this class, but I should have taken the day off.  I didn't realize just how tired I was from the weekend until this class got started.  I had spent the day before helping my cousin move in Asheville then drove home to Raleigh.  I also didn't sleep well, but I was excited to go to class.  We started the class off with a big run, and I did well with it, but following the run I started to have some abdominal cramps and began feeling worn out.  I was able to push my way through the workout, but things got complicated because my Achilles began to flare up at the end too.  By the time the workout was over, I was feeling pretty out of sorts.  It is strange because everything just sort of hit me at once, and I wonder if I wasn't just a little dehydrated going into the run and then the humidity got the better of me. 

The workout:

2.33 mile run (warm up)

Sprint, butt kicks, and high knees (up and down the gym)

walking lunges up & down the gym

20 push ups

15 dips

5 box jumps

6 flights of stairs (up & down)

5 chin ups

X3

Achilles Worries: June 28th

I have recently been experiencing some soreness in my Achilles on both of my feet.  The left seems to be the worse of the two at this point.  I am sure that this is due to the increased amount of running and stairs that I have been doing.  And, I know that I need to rest up and treat this before it gets worse.  Achilles problems are common for people that run or have recently increased their amount of running.  Unfortunately it is really difficult to take the time to rest that I need.  Right now, I am hoping to get the situation under control with some stretching, anti inflammatory, and ice treatment.  Accordingly, I have been searching the Internet for some good stretches, and this on seems to be the best that I have found thus far:

Website for this stretch

 Right now I am hopeful that I can treat this without having to take a large amount of time off, but if I can't, I will be sure to move to the pool, bicycle, and weights.  But, I need to keep my fingers crossed that I have caught it early enough.

Saturday June 26th: Asheville Run

My wife is out of the country this week, so I went to Asheville to help my cousin move.  I didn't get to workout on Friday and knew that we would be doing the move on Sunday, so I decided to go for a run on Saturday morning.  Now, I don't know Asheville all that well and my cousin hates to run, so I was just praying that I wouldn't get lost, so I stuck to the Montford and Downtown areas, which I know a little.  However, I did still mange to get a little lost, but not too bad. 

I enjoyed the run a great deal because I was able to incorporate some hills into the run and the temperature was great. Nice little mountain breeze-- I can't tell you how good that felt consider Raleigh feels like Hell's kitchen these days.  Once I got back to Raleigh, I mapped out the run.  It was 3.04 miles, which is really good.  I ran all of it and could have done more easily, but I didn't want to wipe myself out for the move the next day.

Thursday the 24th of June: Treadmill Time

5 mins 3.6

20 mins 6.5

1 min 7.0

1 min 6.5

1 min 7,0

1 min 6.5
1 min 7.0
5 mins 3.6

Weds 23rd: AM Sports Conditioning -- The Return

I hadn't attended this class in three weeks because I needed a break from it.  This class was the class that I went to most regularly, and it is the one class that always has the same instructor, so I was getting a bit burned out on it.  But after three weeks, I thought that I need to return to the class because we do a lot of exercises in this class that I wouldn't do in other classes or on my own.  I know that I need to continue with the class because it really is good for me.  The ab and quad work are worth it alone.  Retuning after three weeks away from the class was really good because I could see which exercises I had improved on and which ones I had dropped off on.  I did really well with the bicycles and push ups, but the Mt. climbers and leg raises were not as easy as they had been.  I really think that if I keep coming to this class it will help me to become more well rounded, and not just do the exercises that I like doing, or just run all the time.  I still don't like the way the class doesn't stay together or that people cheat, but I've just decided that I am not going to let it bother me and just do my work.  We'll see how that goes!

Tuesday June 22: PM Toning Class

I like this class.  I went to it with my wife once again.  Bryan's class has a really good pace, and he keeps the class working together.  We used both the body bar and Dumbbells again, and I went with the 18lbs bar and the 8lb weights.  The class is an hour long but the time flies by rather quickly.  Today we really worked our abs and our arms, both of which I needed because I did a lot of running the week before.  I really needed a good ab workout.  Once again the bicycles were the featured exercise of this class.  Bryan really stresses that we do them slowly which makes them much more effective, and I like that he doesn't tell us how many to do or for how long.  He just say to do them until he says start, which is great because when you tell someone to do 50, they just sprint to 50, which is ineffective.  This is quickly becoming one of my favorite classes.