100 Push-Ups: Day 1 Monday, Jun 30 2008

Push-ups are pretty easy (so far).

I might sing a different tune when I try to crank out 100 of them six weeks from now.

With 30 push-ups done in my push-up test, hundredpushups.com said my first day’s workout would include four sets of push-ups: 10, 10, 8, 6 and a maximum set of at least 7. I wound up doing 10, 10, 8, 6, 20. This was Sunday night.

Danny told me to pay close attention to the rest times between sets, as that will have a lot to do with progressing toward  the eventual 100-push-up goal.

In other news, I did both cardio and upper body on Sunday morning. I have a lot more energy now than I used to, and I’ve noticed I can stack cardio and resistance workouts with no more exhaustion than I used to get from doing one or the other.

Danny says I can stack push-up workouts on upper-body weight training days — but not the day before or the day after, as that will mess up my recovery period. In this way, we’re adding the 100-push-up goal on top of the 4.5% body fat loss goal. I’m sure I can do them on lower-body training days too, as the exercises are completely unrelated.

According to Danny, push-ups will not help my weight training as much as my weight training will allow me to do more push-ups.

If you’re doing the challenge at http://www.onehundredpushups.com, don’t forget to drop a comment here to let us know how it’s going for you.

Bryan

Leave a Response »

 

The Push-Up Test Friday, Jun 27 2008

We’re starting at 30.

According to the program at www.hundredpushups.com, the first step to the program is to determine how many push-ups you can do at once. I did 30, which puts me at Rank 4 on their chart.

Tomorrow I’ll do day one of the first week’s prescribed workout.

In other news, my knee quit hurting.  And we’re at the halfway point in my program with Danny, the goal of which is to become 4.5% leaner in 90 days. I’m not sure how much body fat I’ve lost, but I know I’ve lost eight pounds. If every bit of my weight loss has been fat and not muscle, that means I’ve lost a little more than three percent so far. Of course, there’s no way to know for sure until I’m measured again.

Lastly, my iPod workout selection is getting a little worn out, though I recently added Smashing Pumpkins’ “Siamese Dream.” I’m on the hunt for something energized, so if you have any ideas, please leave a comment and let me know.

Bryan

One Response »

 

Do 100 Push-ups With Me! Thursday, Jun 26 2008

Danny says: Sure you can do 100 push-ups.

Well, sorta. He thinks the program at http://www.hundredpushups.com might work, given its incremental nature. He also said the three weekly push-up workouts will stack just fine with the work he has given me.

So, we’re going to do it, starting tonight when I’ll do the test. Play along at home and let me know what kind of progress you make. Post comments to let us know how you progress over the next six weeks and we’ll compare our results.

I gotta admit, 100 push-ups seems like a tall order. the most I’ve ever done in my life is about 45. But we’ll see!

Meanwhile, my knee is feeling much better and the pain is almost completely gone, so I guess I dodged the bullet on that count. We had a great upper body workout today, and in good time — leaving us enough to add dips and barbell curls to the routine. Danny says my strength progress is satisfactory.

Let us know if you take the 100-push-up challenge and post your results here as comments.

Bryan

Leave a Response »

 

Don’t Overdo It Wednesday, Jun 25 2008

My knee: It’s hurting. But I’ve only got 15 minutes left to go — so I keep going.

This is a stupid thing to do. I know, because by Wednesday there’s pain boiling through the side of my knee when I stand up.

I was doing my cardio workout on the eliptical machine, having fun, pumping a heavy dose of metal through my iPod and barely winded when I hit the 30-minute mark.

So I thought… I could go another 30. Mind you, I started out doing 20 minutes at level three, six weeks ago. Last night, I was on level 5, and going for an hour.

So at 45 minutes, I get this pain in the side of my knee.

And I think “I’ll tough it out for 15 more minutes.” This is the stuff tough guys are made of, right? Be a man — walk it off.

Well, it slowly got worse until, by the end, I was pushing more with my arms and my left leg to keep the load off of the painful joint.

This is one of the main reasons people quit working out: They over-extend themselves and get hurt.

Today, there’s pain boiling through the side of my knee when I stand up from a seated position. It’s not cool. And the hour I bought by overextending myself might shake out to hours of missed cardio time if this turns out to be serious.

The moral of the story: Don’t overdo it.

Bryan

One Response »

 

Do 100 Push-Ups Tuesday, Jun 24 2008

Don’t think you can do 100 push-ups?

Well, you’re probably right. But that doesn’t mean you’ll never be able to.

There’s this system…

http://www.hundredpushups.com/

Our IT guy at WDSU, John Kosta, found that site and forwarded it on to me and I’m offering it up to you.

If you decide to take on the 100-push-up challenge, let us know how you do by posting a comment here.

Bryan

Leave a Response »

 

Weakness Leaving The Body Thursday, Jun 19 2008

“Pain is weakness leaving the body.”

That’s an old boot camp saying that is being harshly repeated right now into the ears of sweating, grunting, collapsing U.S. Marine Corps recruits by their drill instructors.

Urban Dictionary, by the way, has a very humorous entry on this particular saying:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pain+is+weakness+leaving+the+body

I evidently have a lot of weakness leaving my body. It was lower-body resistance day with Danny. This is the same workout that almost made me hurl the first time we tried it. But now I’m getting more weight lifted — more work done.

And today I went hypoglycemic again. After the squats and deadlifts, my stomach roiled. My eyes glazed. I turned lightheaded. I owe Danny $2 once again for the Gatorade it took to bring me back from the verge of spitting up Clif Bar onto the gym floor.

There at the end, we do V-ups and planks. Danny says “We’re building muscular endurance.” Building muscular endurance feels a lot like hurting and sweating.

The first set goes pretty gwell. But then I can’t get my legs up. I try it again. Nothing. The brain is sending the signal — lift the legs. The legs aren’t moving. I stop, refocus – the legs rise, the abs contract. Progress continues.

It costs a little to find out what you’re made of and make yourself into more. It’s not pretty or nice — it’s taxing. It’s harsh. It’s painful. And now this throbbing in my legs tells me that I am a fortunate person, because a little more weakness is leaving my body.

Bryan

Leave a Response »

 

Cardio, Chicken And Vikings Wednesday, Jun 18 2008

Cardio, chicken and vikings are working out nicely.

I started doing cardio at level three on an elipse machine for 20 minutes. Today I knocked out 30 minutes at level five and it didn’t get very challenging until the end. Before this is over, I’ll need tougher cardio — I’ve been eyeballing the StairMaster Stepmill.

What’s driving progress? Danny might say my cardiovascular system is improving and I’m becoming better conditioned. Personally, I think it’s the discovery of Viking Metal that I’ve loaded into my iPod (Amon Amarth albums: “With Oden On Our Side” and “Fate of Norns”). Who knew that listening to some bearded guy shriek about ancient battles and piles of bodies could get me that pumped and take my mind off a slow burn? It’s sort of like watching Gladiator at the gym, but slightly less violent.

Meanwhile, on the diet front, I’ve been counting calories and I took Danny’s advice. I’m now simmering up a sort of chicken stew in a crock pot. I toss in one bag of chicken breasts, a couple bags of frozen vegetables, and I know that the finished product has a total of 1,400 calories and 210 grams of protein. I’m eating a pot’s worth in quarters — so I know each serving has about 350 calories and a little over 50 grams of protein.

What’s more, this stuff is pretty good for me. We’re talking about a steaming pile of chicken and veggies — it has a lot more vitamins and good stuff than most processed foods. And since all I did was dump it in a pot and leave it over night, it took about 45 seconds to cook. It’s very easy to cook, even if you don’t have any time.

Bryan

Leave a Response »

 

Diet Struggles Thursday, Jun 12 2008

My diet still doesn’t seem right.

Almost everything I eat is good for me. And I’ve cut out almost all empty calories. I eat enough fiber in a day to build a scarecrow.

But I’m bored stiff with whey protein, soy protein, and all this other protein that comes in bar form. Eat enough of it and you don’t taste the chocolate, peanut butter, caramel, yogurt or whatever else it’s coated, drizzled or flavored with. It just tastes like a block of protein: 30 grams of it, if you get a good one.

So that leaves me with real food.

Most of my recent trips to the grocery have been disasterous. I dig through grocery shelves finding the same stuff over and over: Clif Bars, MyoPlex bars, whole wheat pitas, egg white/ham breakfast sandwiches, hummus and as much caffeinated beverage as I can carry. 

I’ve unpublished my food log because it’s boring. I know exactly what I’m going to eat tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after: Some kind of nutrition bars, some kind of lean meat and starch for lunch, and either a big portion of meat or some kind of organic food for dinner. Maybe, maybe I’ll eat an egg white sandwich for dinner. Then bed.

I can probably sustain this pattern indefinitely for a long time, but I really don’t want to. The alternative seems like cooking — and I’m grudgingly accepting that.

Danny’s encouraging me to cook up a bunch of healthy grub on Sundays and portion it out for myself throughout the week. I think I’ll try that and see how it works out. He says it will also save me money. That’s never a bad thing. We’ll see…

I’ll see what I can cook up and get back to you.

Bryan

Leave a Response »

 

Four Weeks In Wednesday, Jun 11 2008

The goal is to reduce my body fat from 23.5 to 19 percent in 90 days and I’m four weeks in. Thursday will be my fourth weekly workout with Danny.

Here’s the progress we’ve made so far:

1. We’ve basically doubled up my leg workout, and I don’t feel like I’m going to hurl anymore when I do it.

2. As of today, I weigh about 210 lbs. I say about because it’s sort of moving around on me day to day by a couple of pounds. My low so far has been 208. At 210, I’ve lost 6 lbs in four weeks.

3. I started at level three for 20 minutes on the elipse machine and this was moderately challenging. Today I did level six on the elipse for 20 minutes and this is moderately challenging.

4. My music collection is improving. For Wednesday’s cardio, I downloaded Daft Punk’s “Discovery,” and I nabbed “Around The World” as a single. This marks the first time I’ve worked up a sweat to Daft Punk while not standing under a strobe light. I kind of want to throw some Outkast or David Banner in there, but most of it’s not quite as energized as electronica and I really need to stay pumped up to get this cardio done.

I’m now pretty much addicted to Clif Bars and caffeine. I don’t think the caffeine is holding back the progress, but I’m probably overdoing it on the Clif Bars, which are far richer in carbs than they are in protein. That being said, they’re a lot healthier than what I used to snack on. And man, they’re tasty. And organic. I love my Clif Bars… But maybe I don’t need three or four of them per day.

Danny says the goal here is to build “muscular endurance” in order to make me strong enough to get stronger (meaning — get me enough muscles to endure real workouts with bigger weights). I haven’t been looking at the meticulous notes he keeps of what I’m lifting, but he tells me all will be revealed when I’m proficient with all the exercises we do.

Bryan Harris

Leave a Response »

 

My iPod Upped My Cardio Monday, Jun 9 2008

Cardio, I hate it.

I hate it because it generally involves some repetitive action that hurts and is boring. Running is great if you’re chasing a bus, or somebody is chasing you, or you’re outrunning bulls in Spain. Running laps? Not my thing. Same with cardio machines — ugh.

But last month I turned 31 and a friend sent me an iPod. I spent weeks mulling over what type of music to put on it (I hear you laughing, but hey, I’m picky). And I came up with this:

Electric Wizard, “Dopethrone” – A modern band that plays ’70s-style metal, much resembling Ozzy-era Black Sabbath.

Justice, “Cross” – A couple French guys who make edgy electronica. It’s sort of halfway between Fatboy Slim and Prodigy. You might have heard their Internet classic D.A.N.C.E.

The Black Keys, various singles – A couple kids from Akron, Ohio who play punk-tinged southern rock-n-roll.

And I thought: I should take my iPod to the gym.

It was a huge help for the boredom. I’d been hitting the elipse machine for 20 minutes at a stretch, on level three, and dipping into level four here and there.

Add a little heavy metal and dance music: I’m on level four after five minutes, then level five a little while later, then I just kick it for 10 extra minutes at level six. Hey, what’s a couple more songs, right? I sort of retreated in a happy daze. It was the best cardio workout I’d had in years.

Bryan Harris

Leave a Response »