Blood, Sweat (buckets!) and Tears (nearly)

Day 217: End of Week 3

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 18:55:00 +0000

Christmas Challenge Day 21

Wow 3 weeks gone already. So in 3 weeks I have a glass and a half of wine and that was because it was a special occasion. I have still not had any crisps however which is great.

The end of this week has not seen perfect nutrition by any means so I will need to be extra good next week prior to my Christmas party especially as due to a combination of the weather and having loads of things to do today I was unable to go for a run.

Stat again tomorrow so we will see what has happened this past week with only 1 week to the halfway point.

Until tomorrow...

Day 216: Nice Night

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 18:37:00 +0000

Christmas Challenge Day 20

Last night we had a lovely meal at the hotel, I did have a glass and a half of wine but I think I was sensible and did not go overboard. I shall not drink tonight so everything remains in moderation. I think I have walked a lot of miles today as well so I am sure that I burnt the extra calories off even though it was my cheat meal.

Until tomorrow...

Day 215: Good Weights Session

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:57:00 +0000

Christmas Challenge Day 19

Quick post today as I am off for the night to a hotel with my wife the Christmas shopping tomorrow. Had a great weights session today and Abs session. Still adding a bit of extra weight to the exercises which is great.

Until tomorrow...

Day 214: Changes

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Christmas Challenge Day 18

I am starting to seeing almost daily changes now in my body as the training and nutrition are starting to take full effect. Still no alcohol or crisps which I am so pleased about. I am going way for part of the weekend with my wife and without the kids!! I still plan to stay true to my no alcohol however the nutrition my drop off slightly. I don't plan on going overboard by any means but I will use this as my cheat meal for the week.

Had a great sprint HIIT session today with the usual change in speeds. I once again left the 21st minute out but I swear that that machine is not calibrated and is faster than it says!!!

I then went on for 10 minutes on the bike, 10 minutes on the hand bike and 5 mins on the cross trainer with a total calorie burn of around 600 which is awesome.

Until tomorrow...

Day 213: SUN

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:51:00 +0000

Christmas Challenge Day 17

Yesterday was not a good day for me personally hence a missed day for blogging. Also due to a trip to the office I did not manage to get in a workout what with the travelling and the kids after school clubs and also being absolutely exhausted. However I had a great day with regards to nutrition which was spot on.

Today I had a great 8k run in a pretty good time as it was a really nice day here. Will fit a HIIT session in tomorrow at the gym and then finish the week off with another weights session.

Until tomorrow...

Day 211: The Start of Week 3 and New Body Stats

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:53:00 +0000

Christmas Challenge Day 15

Another week starts and I feel fitter, healthier and more full of energy. No alcohol, crisps, snacks or sweets for 2 weeks. I have had 2 cheat meals, one each week. No major cravings which is great news too.

Took my body stats again today and was pleased by the results.

This is a complete list of stats since I started measuring them but this last week has seen a very small drop in weight only 0.2 kgs but a huge drop in BF, I think 1.7%. So I have lost a lot of fat and put on a lot of muscle. As I said last week though these results can fluctuate a lot so I am still not reading too much into the weekly results but just pleased to see a continued decrease of the figures.

I hurt my neck and shoulder at the weekend but am pleased to say that it feels fine today even after a heavy weights session today. Still managed to lift some heavier weights. All 4 sets of 10 barbell curls were at 16kg per arm today.

Office tomorrow so very early start, not sure when I will fit in a workout but I will try my hardest.

Until tomorrow...

Day 210: End of Week 2

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:51:00 +0000

Christmas Challenge Day 14

2 weeks under my belt now and still no alcohol which is great. Had a nice cheat meal today, Chinese takeaway but did not go too overboard. Had a great 5k run and went swimming with the kids too. Off to bed now.

Until tomorrow...

Day 209: Exhausting Rest Day

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 20:22:00 +0000

Christmas Challenge Day 13

Indeed it was, first of all I had to shift 5 17 inch monitors, 4 of which were in the loft so I had to pull them out the loft and carry them down a ladder into the house. Then I had to take all five down the stairs and out the house to the car and then take them all out at the recycling centre!!

Next it was mowing the lawn and weeding the path, not too bad.

Then swimming with my youngest and for the first time ever he actually swam properly and even managed a whole width of the big pool without touching the bottom or drowning. I was so pleased and so was he.

Until tomorrow...

Day 208: Danny's Goal

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:48:00 +0000

Christmas Challenge Day 12

Couldn't decide what to do today so thought I'd borrow someone else's goal to start with, hope you don't mind Danny!

So one of Danny's many goals is to run 1.5 miles (2.4 kms) in 8m 55s. Now that is very tough, sub 6 minute miles. I knew there was no way I was going to get that time so the goal was to see how close I could get. Also please note this is on a running machine so outdoor times would certainly differ.

I thought I would do a few minutes light running to warm up for this one as it was basically going to be a sprint. Took a short breather and then set-up up the treadmill and pushed the speed up to 14.5 kph, IPOD on teeth gritted, this was gonna be a hard one especially after that incline work yesterday.

Once I hit the 1 mile (1.6km) mark I knew I was going to make it so as soon as I hit 2km I pushed the speed to 15kph and then again when I hit 2.2km I pushed it up to 16kph for the last 200 metres. I missed out on 10 minutes by 1 second, I was gutted, I really wanted to bring it in under 10 minutes, but with that said 10m 01s for my first attempt I was pretty pleased.

Just as a comparison, in order to get inside Danny's goal time I would need to run at about 16.1 kph for the whole 8m 55s, 16kph would bring a 6 minute mile.

I really enjoyed it so I will definitely try that one again in the future. I then went on and did a 2000m row but it was slow compared to my normal ones but my legs from the incline yesterday then the 1.5 miler were getting pretty shot by now. I followed that with 10 minutes on the cross trainer just to completely destroy my legs and finished with a gruelling abs routine.

I have to admit I am wiped out from this weeks training now. So that completes my first 2 weeks and true to my words not one of the workouts has been a complete duplication of another. They have all been tweaked so that they are unique and hence hopefully my body does not get used to any one particular thing.

Rest day tomorrow and boy do I need it.

Until tomorrow...

Day 207: HIIT with a Difference

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:00:00 +0000

Christmas Challenge Day 11

Back to an old routine for me but possibly a new one if you are reading this. I call this one my HIIT incline session.

20 minutes on the treadmill all run at 10kph.

Minute 1 at 1% incline
Minute 2 at 3% incline
Minute 3 at 6% incline
Minute 4 at 9% incline

You then repeat this cycle another 4 times. As usual that killer 21st minute is added on the end and today I managed that final minute at 10% incline for the whole minute.

All in all I was pretty pleased with that as it is a long time since I have run this. It is a real killer on the quads and calf muscles.

Then I did 10 minutes on the bike, 10 minutes on the handbike and 5 minutes on the cross trainer, the same details as for last weeks session. The incline HIIT is a huge calorie burner, 350+ calories in 21 minutes.

Until tomorrow...

Day 206: Keeping That Motivation

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:06:00 +0000

Christmas Challenge Day 10

I foolishly stepped on the scales today only 2 days after doing my stats and have put on weight since Monday. Or I should say I weighed more than I did Monday. I haven't started eating differently and I am still training hard. I should know better as I know your body fluctuates during the week and I also don't know whether this was fat or muscle as I did no BF measurement. Regardless I should have known better.

That said though it can still knock the confidence by not keeping on that downward trend. How do you stay motivated? It would have been really easy to say today well all this effort I am putting in isn't working so why bother? Needless to say I didn't I had a great weights session and added in an extra ab exercise today also. There are always going to be ups and downs and I know that in the long run or in this case over the 8 weeks that week on week I will see the results, just not continually during the week.

Until tomorrow...

Day 205: Great Run

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:45:00 +0000

Christmas Challenge Day 9

The weather today was great, a fairly stiff breeze but blue sky and sun and surprisingly warm for this time of year. For this reason I opted out of the cardio session in the gym to go for an outdoor 8k run. I did say that I would try not to duplicate an exercise workout over a 2 week period and this far no 2 sessions have been identical.

Admittedly some of the weight exercises have been the same but the overall session has been different in some way. For example I used the fit ball yesterday for the dumbbell flys which by the way I can really feel working today especially as I dropped the weight so that I could keep balance. What a difference a very small change made!!

Again a solid day nutrition wise which is good.

Until tomorrow...

Day 204: Results are in for Start of Week 2

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:41:00 +0000

Christmas Challenge Day 8

Firstly congratulations to all the shredders who completed the 14 day group shred. I participated in the first one and I know what a difference they can make. Also to Adam who without him many of us would not be on this journey, congratulations on completing M5, your great 6 pack, your 2 years of blogging, your upcoming life story documentary (the list will stop soon) and the upcoming release of your RTP Workout System.

Congratulation's to you all...

So the start of a new week and with a new week comes the stats from the previous week. No based on previous experience I was expecting this week to be pretty good stats wise so I will hold out on the excitement until next weeks come in. I should imagine that a fair proportion of the weight from the past week was excess fluids.

Anyhow weight it weight but fat is fat and I am measuring that too. So here goes:

86kgs to 84.2kgs
21.5% BF to 20.6% BF

So that's a loss of 1.8kgs and 0.9% BF. For those doing the calcs it is around 1.1 kgs of fat but also around 0.7kgs of muscle. That said I know it can vary immensely when doing BF as to the time of day your hydration levels etc so I am not going to get too wrapped up in the figure each week. I am more concerned in keeping a relatively good downwards line as it were so that I reach my goal in 7 weeks.

So in relation to my goals, the standard goal is 82kgs and 17.5% BF so I have another 2.2kgs and another 3.1% BF.

The stretch is 80kgs and 16% BF which is another 4.2 kgs and 4.6% BF in 7 weeks. So the standard goal now looks very achievable but I know from the past that body will try it's best to maintain equilibrium so a good loss one week may mean little or none the next so as I said I am not celebrating just yet.

I plan to continue with the hard training and more importantly be consistent with my nutrition.

Had a great weights session today. Took the dumbbell flys down onto the fit ball today to mix it up today just to keep it a bit different. A great bas session also.

Until tomorrow...

Day 203: Christmas Challenge Week 1

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 18:49:00 +0000

Christmas Challenge Day 7

The end of the first week and a pretty good week too. Nutrition has been great. Not a single crisp has passed my lips not even over the weekend. For lunch today I had my cheat meal which for the most part was not too unhealthy. A traditional English roast, however it was pork and there was crackling!! I did ask for a smaller slice of chocolate torte for pudding though, and had a small bit of ice cream with it. It was my cheat meal and no snaks nor cakes have been touched this week. I did not really want any but decided to have it so as to keep my wife happy. If I get too dedicated she starts getting on her high horse about how unhealthy I am being eating all this healthy food!!!!!

Went swimming with the boys after my brother and his wife left and managed to get in a few lengths when they were playing with there friends. As soon as I got back I got changed and went out for a run. It was already almost dark by that stage and very windy.

Wanted to get halfway round quickly as there are no street lights on the beach or the mud track that takes me back up to the main road. My trainers are now quite black from the mud as I could not really see the puddles or mud!!! It was a really strange run though, haven't run in the dark for ages and it has been chilly and very windy all day but it was actually quite warm.

It was dark by the time that I got home. Reasonable time just over 27 mins. It was really windy on the home stretch and I have to admit my quads are suffering a bit from the leg raises and squats I did on Friday.

Only this evening to go and I have made it 7 days without a drink. Now don't get me wrong I am not a heavy drinker even when I drink and I never drink in the week but I do love a couple of pints at the weekend so not drinking anything over the weekend is a big thing for me. I have no concerns about tonight though and feel fitter and healthier for a clean week.

Although I do not want to get too hung up on the stats I am hoping for some great results tomorrow when I weigh myself and do my BF% but I am not going to get too overjoyed if it's great or too down if it's not. I will keep going no matter what for the next 7 weeks.

Until tomorrow...

Day 202: Rest Day

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 09:25:00 +0000

Christmas challenge Day 6

A rest day today but was still spot on nutrition wise. Great swim with the boys and my brother. Challenge for Sunday is when to get a workout in!!

Until tomorrow...

Day 201: Weekend Looming

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 08:38:00 +0000

Christmas Challenge Day 5

A great day training and nutrition again, boy I feel strong both mentally and physically this week. I sat through yesterday evening with my wife and brother both drinking beer and wine and was absolutely fine. My mind is focused and in the right place so it was easy.

Until tomorrow...

Day 200: The BIG 200 Days of Blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:03:00 +0000

Christmas Challenge Day 4

Wow this time round I have made it to 200 days straight of blogging (well I have missed one day!) and now I have re-motivated myself also with this new personal challenge so things are getting much better.

Today was another great day both for training and nutrition. I did have quite a large tea tonight but it was all healthy, packed with lean meat and I had it quite early too so I will have plenty of time to digest before going to bed. I also don't to limit my calorie intake everyday as I think this is where I have gone wrong in the past, creating too large of a calorie deficit.

No rubbish has been consumed so far which is great, but the weekend is looming and my brother is here so can I stay true to myself and off the booze at the weekend. Stay tuned to find out!

As I said a great training session today although I just could not push the final minute today in my HIIT session. It was the same as the last session except for that final minute. I guess it's the lack of exercise from last week. I didn't stop there today though, next was 10 minutes on the bike at an effort lvl of 6 for 5 mins and then 10 for 5 mins, then the hand bike for 10 minutes at effort 6 and final the elliptical for 5 minutes at about 140 rpm at level 12.

My gym clothes were absolutely dripping by the end of it but I felt great. I am feeling really good about this challenge 4 days in. Only another 51 days or so to go!!

Until tomorrow...

Day 199: Great Weights

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 23:10:00 +0000

Christmas Challenge Day 3

A great heavy weights session today, abs are feeling it a bit from last night which is great. After posting my stats today I looked back at some older ones from July which was interesting.

Even though I have put on 4kg since then almost 2kg of that would seem to be muscle which is great. So all I have to do is try to keep all that and drop the fat!!

Until tomorrow...

Day 198: Whoaaa there Billy

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:49:00 +0000

Christmas Challenge Day 2

Well I was going for basic boot camp tonight but decided against it due to doing weights tomorrow in the gym and only having my tea 90 minutes before my workout.

I did however tackle Ab Bootcamp instead. For those of you not familiar these are 1 of series of DVDs by Billy Blanks, his bootcamp series. He has many out and apparently they are very popular in North America. They are combination of body weight exercises and also using the "Billy Bands". You may laugh as I first did when I bought the series over a year ago. I thought hey I am pretty fit now, I do a fair amount of weights this is gonna be a bit easy!!

Trust me it's far from easy. The snag behind all these workouts is almost no rest for the entire workout. I will explain the others as i do them but basically the Ab Bootcamp as a simply exercise that you always return to in between each one that you do, so your rests are always doing what they call slimming.

So it's a 30 minute ab workout and also a cardio workout, believe I was sweating big time when I finished a few minutes ago and I know my abs are going to be sore tomorrow. Again if you don't believe me go out and buy it and vie it a try you can get them on Amazon pretty cheap now and they are great if you can't get to the gym or out of the house one day.

Nutrition was good today especially as I was in the office, Banana and apple for breakfast when I got to the office as I leave at 5.30am then another banana mid morning, a chicken salad baguette for lunch on granary and another apple and then 2 chicken burgers, 2 tomatoes, cucumber and about 250g of mixed rice (cooked weight). I know I have not had enough fluids today but they always suffer when I go to the office as I am constantly in and out of meetings, still the nutrition was great today.

Until tomorrow...

Day 197: Christmas Challenge Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:54:00 +0000

Well today marks the first day of my new challenge. I have eaten and drunk way too much over the past couple of months, especially over the past week so it's time to get back into it big time.

By my calculations there are just under 8 weeks (my god only 8 weeks to Christmas, yippee!!!) to Christmas so lets call it a round 8 weeks.

I am 6ft 1in and today weigh in at 86kgs (I have put 3 of those on in the past week!!), my BF % clocked in at 21.5%. My goal in the next 8 weeks is to lose 4kg (1/2 kg per week) and to reduce my BF% to 17.5%. Based on my past training this will still be tough, admittedly you could do this much faster if you went to extremes but I don't plan on that.

With that said I am also implementing a stretch goal of 80kgs and 16%BF by Christmas. I will eat healthy every day until Christmas except for one cheat meal per week and I will avoid alcohol except for maybe my Christmas party in a month or so. I plan on getting back to training 6 days per week to achieve this. I also vow to try not to repeat a workout within a 2 week period so as to keep things fresh.

I had a great start today with a sort of steady state / HIIT cardio session. 40 minutes on the treadmill, first 5 minutes at 10kph, 2nd at 11 kph, 3rd at 12kph and the 4th at 13 kph, I then reset back down to 10 kph and repeated all over again. Although that averages out at around 11.5 kph for each minute which is not that fast that 5 minute run at 13 kph for minutes 35 - 40 is a tough one especially off the back of a week off.

Still it was a great workout. Tomorrow, it is an early start as I have to travel to the office but I plan on getting the DVDs out when the kids are in bed and a return to Boot Camp so that I get a workout in tomorrow.

Until tomorrow...

Day 196: Back in Action

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 18:32:00 +0000

After a mammoth pile of ironing created by 2 kids on half term I managed to sneak out for a 5k run and start my training a day early which is great. I am going to take some stats tomorrow when I go to the gym as my starting point, and then it will be hard training through till Christmas.

It was a good run today despite not having done much for a week. Weather was surprisingly compared to the very cold weather of the past few days.

Had an energetic time in the pool in the afternoon with the kids, almost empty today so perfect for throwing and chasing the 2 of them without worrying about annoying anyone.

Until tomorrow...

Day 195: Almost There

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 23:38:00 +0000

Vacation is almost over, it has been great but cannot wait to get back to some hard training...

Until tomorrow...

Day 194: Another Late One

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 23:49:00 +0000

It's really late again and little to say, swimming with the kids and not much else, can't wait to get back to the gym next week!!!

Until tomorrow...

Day 193: Another Busy Day

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 23:04:00 +0000

More Birthday Celebrations with bowling and a lovely lunch!!!

Until tomorrow...

Day 192: Birthday Bash

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 23:24:00 +0000

Not mine my mother-in-laws. Great day but it's late and I'm knackered!!!

Until tomorrow...