Day 1, I was twitchy and nerveous and had a headache...
Day 2, I was sore and my body hurt. Felt like I hit a brick wall.
Day 3.... I am groggy and grumpy and tired. Did not want to get out of bed today. My disgestive system is attacking me today. I spent quite a bit of time in the bathroom this morning. The last three days have been tough... I hope that this goes away after week 1.
I digress
Today's menu is as follows:
Breakfast- cereal (All bran or equiv)
- soy milk
- breakfast sausage
SnackLunch
- Lean Cuisine Dinner
- cantloupe, cubed
- deli turkey breast
Snack
Dinner
- sirloin steak, broiled/grilled
- shrimp, broiled/grilled
- green beans
- strawberries
Snack
I missed breakfast, so I had an extra protien bar for breakfast. Bad, couldn't get up well this morning.
Today we discuss the Workout Routine and my current Physical Fitness
First, let's talk about Concepts:
1) Aerobics is any cardiovascular activity that involves large muscle groups (namely your legs), and can be sustained continuously for long periods of time. Walking, jogging, bicycling, rowing, skiing. Some people prefer to call aerobic exercise 'cardio'.
2) At lower intensities, you burn a greater percentage of calories from fat, and at higher intensities you burn a greater percentage of calories from carbohydrates.
I am using a combination of Walking and Elliptical machine to get to my first goal. Walking is a good low intensity warm-up that will burn calories from fat, and the Elliptical machine will (in time) get me to a higher intensity level.
Elliptical machines give you a fat-burning, aerobic conditioning, muscle-developing workout that’s easy to learn, fun and entertaining. The no-impact elliptical striding motion removes stress on the knees and lower extremities, making it ideal for and safer for larger folk, like me.
On an elliptical machine you stride smoothly in a forward or reverse motion while holding the handrails or swinging your arms at your sides. As the stride changes, the motion targets different lower body muscles. Depending on the angle of the cross ramp and the direction of the striding motion, you can put slightly greater emphasis on your quadriceps, hamstrings, calves or glutes.
The fat burning potential of the elliptical machine is high to very high, but because it’s self-paced, you must make a constant effort to maintain your speed (rpm's).
3) Knowing this, how do I keep the intensity high on the elliptical machine?
MP3! I wouldn't be able to workout without my MP3 player set at the highest volume. It does three things:
It shuts off the rest of the world from my brain and focuses me.
It is a meditative time for me to listen and think of other things rather than working out.
It keeps a high intensity tempo going so that I can try to follow the beat of the music. This works well on the elliptical.
4) Enough about Cardio - What about Strength Training?
Good question. I am plannning on incorporating Strength Training in the routine. Weight training increases your lean body mass. Increasing your lean body mass speeds up your metabolic rate so you burn more calories at rest – and the number of calories you burn at rest (your basal metabolic rate) is directly proportional to the amount of muscle you carry.
This being true, I like to focus on larger muscle groups that deal with posture, as these larger muscles have a greater ability to account for lean body mass... For example, the larger the muscle group, the more volume it can handle. The back and legs, being large, complex muscle groups, would get the most bang for the buck in a workout. The bicep, on the other hand, is a very small muscle for most people, and should not be the focus for a Strength Trainin Workout.
On Workout Days - Here is what will happen:
-Warm-up: 5 min cardio
-Stretching:
toe touch
arm pullover
seated back twist
seated touch shoulder-blade
-Exercise:
Body-Weight Squats - 2sets x 20reps
Shoulder Press - 2sets x 20reps x 25lbs
Torso Twist (pulling hand underneath) - 2sets x 20reps x 20lbs
Standing Rows (pull straight into shoulder blades) - 2sets x 20reps x 40lbs
Biceps (pullup) - 2sets x 20reps x 20lbs
Triceps (pulldown) - 2sets x 20reps x 25lbs
Good Mornings - 2sets x 20reps x 20lbs
-High Intensity Aerobic:
on Lift days - 15min
on Cardio only days - 30 - 45 min
-Cool Down: 5 min cardio
Blah blah blah, enough about concepts and theories. Here is the nuts and bolts of it.
Todays Workout:
- 15 minute walking -
- 13 minute elliptical = went 1 mile and burned 220 calories+ (the machine reads up to 350lbs, so my burn might be bigger.)
- 5 minute cooldown (walking)
- 5 minutes in dry sauna.
A 13 minute mile? That sucks, but it will get better. I will update my Workout and Fitness level on a regular basis.
Tommorow - lets discuss Motivation, Goals and Rewards. That would be a good next step to talk about.
