well we're sort of standing still here on the homefront, and i think that's largely because i didn't work all last week, thus my training and eatin' schedules were weird. pretty sure i did not eat enough each day, and what i did eat was not ideal. too many carbs, not enough protein, and at very irregular intervals. the good thing is i go back to work tomorrow and my schedule should be more precise.
i'm gonna be running a st. patty's day 5k this saturday morning and i have also been trying to get ready for that, mostly by increasing the distance i run for cardio without the usual hi/lo intensity pattern, which means while i'm technically burning more calories because its a longer distance, its less than what it could be if i were doing that pattern, but i need to get used to that distance, so i will be running that at least 2 more times this week, and then i will take a cardio break on friday and hopefully get a decent time on saturday. i've been staying pretty conservative in my pace, getting anywhere from a 10.5 min. mile to a 12 minute mile on each run, so i'm thinking if its a real world run rather than treadmill, i will probably get anywhere between the 37 or so minutes i've been taking on the treadmill to maybe 45 minutes, considering the fact that pavement is a much different story than the silly treadmill.
hopefully this pseudo carb fast will drop about 5 pounds this week and i will be in a better position to do a full 5k. gonna keep my goals in sight and work hard to get there. there's a great way of lookin at it that i recently read from a letter my missionary cousin sent to my aunt.
"there's no growth in the comfort zone and no comfort in the growth zone." -elder austin eaquinto.
keep calm and carry on ;)
sincerely,
fat guy, little coat
Monday, March 12, 2012
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Ye Shall Obtain
very true that is ^
so it has been awhile, and this seems to be a common trend, which is not good, but i like to think that this is all due to my increased efforts in the gym making it too hard for me to get on the computer and post updates about said efforts. but of course that ain't true. i have plenty of time for it, i just haven't. go ahead and judge me, i don't care.
take, for example, the fact that i finished that paragraph last night and i started this one this morning. and now it's the next day and i am still working on this paragraph. anyway, i should really put an update here because lots of things have happened and changed. first of all, and i don't know whether i already mentioned this or not, but my trainer, thiago, quit working at gold's, and so i got a new trainer, scott. he's a big guy, and is incredibly strong. his program has definitely built my strength but it has been much slower to fire up the fat burning...well, that's not entirely true; it's been much slower to burn the fat down. i have definitely seen a lot of toning up and my legs arms and chest getting much leaner. just not so much in the gut area. which i don't necessarily care about, but what it means is that rather than losing weight, i've had a weight shift from fat being lost but the difference made up by muscle gained. that's actually a really good thing to have happen in the long term, because it makes the metabolism more steady and consistent, but it can be just a bit frustrating when the scale says there hasn't been a change.
on the bright side, the last 4 weeks have been a big change in that pattern, and i've actually gone down nearly 12 pounds in that period, with about 2 pounds that have kind of hovered back and forth. what is making the difference? certainly the increased cardio activity is taking effect. 2-2.5 miles ran in hi/lo intensity intervals really burns it down. another thing i think has made a difference is the amount of classical music i have on my ipod. it helps me to stay calm, focused and to really keep my form and intensity up, without being too intense to think through what i'm doing. i find it does a bit better than the heavy metal and such that i have historically used to keep me going strong and hard at the gym. there's something about beethoven, mozart and schubert that happens that doesn't happen when you listen to the musicians of today. it makes the pain less painful and weight less difficult.
i have a week off from work next week, so the hope is that i will be in the gym twice a day all of next week, a light session and a hard one. hopefully this will mean another 5 pounds off in the next 2 weeks.
one thing i have kept in mind as i have gone through these past few months at the gym is the lyrics of a favorite hymn:
And while I strive through grief and pain,
His voice is heard: "Ye shall obtain."
pain is temporary. spirit is forever. you can damage the body, you can kill the body, but you cannot kill the spirit. it is invincible, and by it the body will achieve glory. the only catch is that the spirit must strive. strive, folks. strive and live.
so it has been awhile, and this seems to be a common trend, which is not good, but i like to think that this is all due to my increased efforts in the gym making it too hard for me to get on the computer and post updates about said efforts. but of course that ain't true. i have plenty of time for it, i just haven't. go ahead and judge me, i don't care.
take, for example, the fact that i finished that paragraph last night and i started this one this morning. and now it's the next day and i am still working on this paragraph. anyway, i should really put an update here because lots of things have happened and changed. first of all, and i don't know whether i already mentioned this or not, but my trainer, thiago, quit working at gold's, and so i got a new trainer, scott. he's a big guy, and is incredibly strong. his program has definitely built my strength but it has been much slower to fire up the fat burning...well, that's not entirely true; it's been much slower to burn the fat down. i have definitely seen a lot of toning up and my legs arms and chest getting much leaner. just not so much in the gut area. which i don't necessarily care about, but what it means is that rather than losing weight, i've had a weight shift from fat being lost but the difference made up by muscle gained. that's actually a really good thing to have happen in the long term, because it makes the metabolism more steady and consistent, but it can be just a bit frustrating when the scale says there hasn't been a change.
on the bright side, the last 4 weeks have been a big change in that pattern, and i've actually gone down nearly 12 pounds in that period, with about 2 pounds that have kind of hovered back and forth. what is making the difference? certainly the increased cardio activity is taking effect. 2-2.5 miles ran in hi/lo intensity intervals really burns it down. another thing i think has made a difference is the amount of classical music i have on my ipod. it helps me to stay calm, focused and to really keep my form and intensity up, without being too intense to think through what i'm doing. i find it does a bit better than the heavy metal and such that i have historically used to keep me going strong and hard at the gym. there's something about beethoven, mozart and schubert that happens that doesn't happen when you listen to the musicians of today. it makes the pain less painful and weight less difficult.
i have a week off from work next week, so the hope is that i will be in the gym twice a day all of next week, a light session and a hard one. hopefully this will mean another 5 pounds off in the next 2 weeks.
one thing i have kept in mind as i have gone through these past few months at the gym is the lyrics of a favorite hymn:
And while I strive through grief and pain,
His voice is heard: "Ye shall obtain."
pain is temporary. spirit is forever. you can damage the body, you can kill the body, but you cannot kill the spirit. it is invincible, and by it the body will achieve glory. the only catch is that the spirit must strive. strive, folks. strive and live.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
new year, new y- SHUT UP!
if there is anything in this world that i really detest it is new years resolutions. it's not that i think it's a bad idea to identify one's weaknesses and try to improve upon them, but because so often in this country that weakness happens to be one's weight. and of course this means that at the first of the year, they have to make the customary visit to the gym, where they stay consistent in going for about two weeks, and then drop off as if nothing had happened. they accomplish nothing, they do nothing, they change nothing, they become nothing but a detriment to those of us who are constantly and consistently going to the gym, who are really serious about being there and actually know a thing or two about how machines run, and how a good workout is put together, rather than wandering around aimlessly, doing 2 or 3 reps on this machine, a couple more on that machine, and, as i have said, accomplishing nothing.
as for myself, i am just going to try to keep plugging along on those things i have been doing for months, but will put much more of an emphasis on my diet and do my best to keep it structured the way that it needs to be to keep burning fat and building muscle. i will set a new goal of losing twenty pounds by the twenty-second of february. pass the spinach.
as for myself, i am just going to try to keep plugging along on those things i have been doing for months, but will put much more of an emphasis on my diet and do my best to keep it structured the way that it needs to be to keep burning fat and building muscle. i will set a new goal of losing twenty pounds by the twenty-second of february. pass the spinach.
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