The Chances

How a 250+ Pound Couch Potato Got Healthy

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Halloween! That means, difficult day!

First there was the work potluck, and of course the candy throughout the office. Then after work, a party with bad food & candy, topped with the kids trick-or-treating.

HOWEVER, I did very well. Not only did I manage to eat properly at the potluck, but the only candy I ate all day was a bite of my daughter's "fun size" Hershey bar.

Finally, in the midst of all that, I managed to work out.

Warmup, 3 sets of 30 seconds each
Jumping Jack
Split Jack
Prisoner Squat
Alternating Lunge
Mountain Climber

Workout, sequential circuit
Multidirectional Lunge, 65 lbs, 2 sets of 20
Underhand-grip Dumbbell Row, 25lbs, 2 sets of 20
Single-leg Bridge, 2 sets of 10
Serratus Dip, 2 sets of 20
Plank, 2 sets of 10
Hanging Scapular Retraction, 2 sets of 10

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Cardio day! I jogged 30 minutes today at lunch, and for the first time, I fell. This is the first time it's happened, so that's good. I caught my foot on the upturned concrete.

You watch, Jenny will ask, "Daddy 'urt?" when she sees my knee. You watch.

Monday, October 29, 2007

"YAAAAAAAAAAA!, he said, as he took two ibuprofen.

Today's workout:

Warmup, using a 45lb weight bar
Overhead Squat
Squat
Good Morning
Barbell Lunges
Romanian Deadlift
Bent-over Row

Workout
Drop Squat, 2 sets of 20
Underhand Dumbbell Row, 25lb dumbbells, 2 sets of 20
Reverse Hyperextension, 2 sets of 20
Elbows-in Elevated Pushup, 2 sets of 20
Side Bridge, 2 sets of 10
Side Lateral Raise & Rotation, 1 set of 20 @ 15lbs, 1 set of 20 @ 10lbs

I can't wait until my body stops screaming at me... amazing how out of shape two months will get you.
Why is getting back into the "swing" of working out again so hard?

I lost my workout bag. Now, I can work out without the bag, or the contents, I just have to carry the clothes in a plastic bag or something. What I can't do, though, is follow the workout plan, because the BOOK IS IN THE BAG.

I ran on the treadmill and used the stairmaster a few times, but not having the bag gave me a mental block. So instead of working out 5 days last week, it ended up being two days.

That said, I found the bag; my wife had washed an afghan and put it on top of my bag. Then some other things got put on top of the afghan. That always seems to happen at our house.

At any rate, I have the bag today. Let's do this thing.

Monday, October 22, 2007

I have a confession to make.

I haven't worked out in a month and a half.

I'm sure you've noticed. Blog entries haven't been here either, and while I was at the height of my workouts I made sure to post about them every day. I think that's why I stopped making entries, is I didn't want to post without having a workout. So then Jim died, then my uncle/stepdad died, I moved my mom out of her house and into ours. All that, combined with no workouts added up to something bad.

I got into a first class funk. I've been depressed over the world lately, it seems, so I've been trying to get out. Part of it has been stepping up the exercise a bit, and in the past week I managed to run on three separate occasions. I even have a treadmill in the house to supplement the stairmaster, although it hasn't been getting much use either.

So here we go. After running three times last week, I've decided there's no excuse for excuses anymore. I've started back at square 1 with the weight training program. This week I'm doing two sets, next week will start three. Away we go with today's workout:

Warmup, using a 45lb weight bar
Overhead Squat
Squat
Good Morning
Romanian Deadlift
Bent-over Row

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. I forgot to do Barbell Lunges. Next time.

Workout
Drop Squat, 2 sets of 20
Underhand Dumbbell Row, 25lb dumbbells, 2 sets of 20
Reverse Hyperextension, 2 sets of 20
Elbows-in Elevated Pushup, 2 sets of 20
Side Bridge, 2 sets of 10
Side Lateral Raise & Rotation, 2 sets of 20

That was about a half-hour. I'm going to jog on the treadmill tonight for cardio.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Oh man, what a month. I'll detail it later, but I just had to share this one...

Leo Laporte mentioned Jim Vestal in a blog entry! Jim would be so amazingly pleased. It's a shame it took this to get mentioned.

Still missing you, Jim.