No Man’s Land

Over the last couple days, I’ve been contemplating on how far I have traveled through my fitness journey. From being at my heaviest 190+ pounds years ago to now at 157 pounds. I’ve read so much fitness and diet books, blogs. I’ve purchased many exercise programs and equipment. Joined gyms, hired coaches, took privates, seminars, workshops. Traveled to ride, race and run. It has been quite the ride.

I’ve reached several goals with my biggest last year of reaching 160 pounds. Even before I started working on my goal, I knew I was going to reach it. And when I successfully reached my goal, it was going to be awesome. I could already visualize it clear as day. When I woke up the day that I reached my goal of 160 pounds, it was just as any other day. Quite boring actually.

I expected the world to stop and parade around me. I wanted to be showered with rose pedals falling from the sky when I walked in public. Strangers stopping me in the food aisle at the grocery store to congratulate me, pat me on the back and tell me how great I look.

None of that happened. You reached your goals, maybe crushed them. So Fucking what. The worlds marches on. Time to set new goals. And repeat…

Sit back and enjoy the process, the journey. Who knows where it will take you. Only one way to find out.

 

Belay On?…

Over the week I rewarded myself with an indoor climbing session when I reached my lowest weight in over four years! I hit 165.6lb this week. My goal is 160lb by next month. My weight loss motivation is to come in leaner and meaner for the upcoming cyclocross season which kicked off today in Milwaukee.

I’ve never climbed before and over the last several years I developed a fear of heights. I wanted to test my new strength from doing crossfit over the year. In all honesty, it took my nearly 2 years to develop the courage to get on the wall. When Vertical Endeavors opened a new location, I volunteered at the grand opening. I’ve asked a couple friends to join me but never got any solid commitment.

So this week was now or never. I’ve seen people use the auto belays and thought that was what I was going to do. I picked up the phone to set up an orientation/beginner class on the auto belay. I arrive at the gym and join a small group of climbers. Apparently we were learning how to belay and tie knots. I didn’t think anything of it and thought that this class was part of getting to auto belay. 2 hours later, the class is done and I realized when I asked the instructor when were we going to auto belay that I signed up for the wrong class.

I didn’t expect to be responsible with a stranger’s life hanging from a wall 40 feet up in the air on my first day learning to climb!

It was all good. Once again I surprised myself by learning a new skill, meeting new people and attacking my fear of heights (I got up past half way up the wall on a 5.8 route). Can wait to go back and planning my next visit.

I’mmm Backkkkkk!!!!

Day 1 – Asylum Hybrid – Fit Test and Relief

Looks like I’m back and committed to the Asylum and will be doing workouts from both Volumes 1and 2, at least for the first 30 days. I’m currently at 170 pounds and want to drop down to 160 in 30 days. I know it’s going to be tough and I’m going to sacrifice a lot. I may have to add an extra run here and there to reach a caloric deficit but it’s not impossible. I already know how to eat clean and I’m disciplined to commit to a workout program until completion.

This time around I will be doing pull ups instead of bent over rows or lat push ups. I’ve bought and built a pull up station and parked it in the garage aka Pure Savagery. I’ve cleaned up the garage but it’s still has a low light, concrete, no frills eastern communistic vibe.

Here’s my numbers for the fit test. Looking to double my pull ups an the end of 30 days.

Agility Heisman: 13
In&Out Abs Progression: 25
Pull Ups: [b]10[/b]
Mountain Climber Switch Kicks: 90
Agility Shoulder Taps: 4.5
X Jumps: 30
Moving Push Ups: 3.5
Agility Lateral Shuffle: 13.5
Agility Bear Crawls: 8

Let’s crush em!

Asylum 2 – Day 26 – Off-Day Stretch and 5K Run

Woke up and did Off-Day Stretch. The sun finally popped out and also ran a 5k in the park. I have Championship tomorrow which is the last scheduled workout of the program then I’m finished. I don’t think is harder than Game Day so I got it in the bag. I’m happy to report that I have surpassed my weight loss goal and I officially have until Monday to keep dropping pounds which is Day 28, the last day of Asylum 2.

I’m on  Day 6 of my 7 day juice cleansing and almost gave in to popcorn, candy and a Slurpee when I went to watch that cheesy Godzilla movie. I sat there watching it while my stomach turned and grumbled probably more to the bad movie than to being hungry. I did my stretching and ran a 5K in a fasted state and I’m down 9.6 pounds since last Monday. What I lost in less than a week would take me a month to shed.  

Enter the Asylum

Hello, I’ve always wanted to try the Asylum workout ever since I finished my first round of Insanity 2 years ago. Over Thanksgiving I picked up Asylum on sale and was holding out until I got a free standing pull up station but right now it’s not in the budget. Well I can’t wait any longer and my first day is tomorrow having completed the fit test today.

The most weight I’ve lost while on Insanity was 8 pounds (I’ve done 2 rounds) because I wasn’t on top of my diet. I would do great during the week but horrible on the weekends. This time I know the deal. I’ve got a lot of winter weight to get rid of and can’t wait to see how much comes off.

Current Stats:
Age: 36
Height: 5’6″
Weight: 190.2 lb
Body Fat: 22.4%
BMI: 30.7
Chest: 42″
Navel: 43″
Waist: 40.5″

Fit Test 3/16/14

1) Agility Heisman: 8
2) In & Out Ab Progression: 23
3) Lat Push ups: 17
4) Mountain Climber Switch Kicks: 65
5) Agility Shoulder Taps: 4
6) X Jumps: 25
8) Moving Push ups: 3
9) Agility Lateral Shuffle: 12
10) Agility Bear Crawl: 6

Losing 10 Pounds In 1 Month!

With 2 weeks to spare, I reached my goal of weighing 170lb by the end of August. My body fat is at 19% and 27.4 BMI. I’ve been trying since the beginning of the year to drop my body fat into the teens and now today is that day.

How did I do it? I moved more and ate less. I worked out in a fasted state. I ate foods that my body needed – nothing more, nothing less. I cut out soft drinks and drastically cut down my use of alcohol. I mostly drank water and green tea sometimes up to 3 liters a day. My meals were centered around eating lean protein and drinking smoothies made of veggies and fruit. That’s it. Nothing to exciting. Honestly I don’t feel any different. Maybe until I try on those tight jeans.

What helped me the most is cycling 15 miles round trip to work and working at a job that requires me to always be moving and standing up to 9 hours a day. On top of this I still did my workouts at Pure Savagery HQ, whether using kettlebells, TRX, jump roping, jogging or yoga. Even if it was 15-30 minutes 4 times a week, I still did it. And yes, I am very tired and my body is out of wack but nothing comes easy if you want results.

Today I started out with yoga and wanted to incorporate a sequenced movement that flowed together after warming up with 6 cycles of Sun Salutations. I used Mark Stephens’s book, Yoga Sequencing, and one of his basic intros to yoga class sequences and practiced variations of warrior, downward dog, wheel and forward lunge. I’ll be using this book more as my practice strengthens.

I finished my day with a 5k around the park and beat my previous best by 3 minutes. I’m already thinking about my next goal and would like to see my progress continue and see where it takes me.

Stay Savaged!

Jump and Swing

After my morning fasted workouts, I’m down to 172.4 lb. Within reach of my 170 lb weight goal before August 31. I started with yoga practice and tried to challenge myself by doing a headstand. To my surprise, I was able to pick up my feet off the ground but would lose my balance when I tried to straighten my legs up. I’ve never been able to do that without using a wall for support.

Then I headed into Pure Savagery HQ and knocked out today’s 20 minute workout.

Jump rope/Burpees – 5 sets, rest as needed
100 jump ropes + 10 burpees = 1 set

Finisher
50 Kettlebells Swings – Left arm
50 Kettlebells Swings – right arm

TRX Force: Week 5 – Day 3 – Move More Eat Less

I jumped on the scale this morning to find out that I’m 5 pounds lighter than I was earlier this week on Sunday with still an extra day to the week. I finally broke the 180lb barrier and dipped under to 179.4lb. As I reflect on the past week to keep doing what’s obviously working it’s “Move More Eat Less!” But you just can’t eat anything, it has to be clean. On Tuesday I went grocery shopping to buy halibut and grass feed top sirloin along with veggies and fruits. I fired up the grill and cooked enough for 2.5 days worth of meals. I also made a green smoothie with kale, spirulina, goji berries, chia seeds, blueberry powder, banana, strawberries with filter water that I drink twice a day as a snack and for breakfast. Feeling good heading into the weekend. I need 5 more pounds to hit my birthday goal of 174 lb.

TRX Force: Week 3 Complete!

This week I’ve had a good morning workout routine. Get the workout done and move on to the rest of your day. I weighed myself and I’m still hovering over the 183 pound mark. I’ve been at this weight for most of this year. I’ve only dipped into the late 170 pound mark once this year while doing my second round of Insanity. I may have to double up my workouts to lose more weight if I haven’t made any progress in a couple of weeks. I’m still doing my 2 beer per sitting minimum. I’ve given up soda but I’m drinking at least 2 liter of water daily. I’m hoping this weight I’m carrying is water weight.

21 Day Transformation Complete

I’ve wrapped up the 21 Day Transformation Challenge today. Although I was short of my goal of losing 10 pounds, I’ve lost 5.8 lbs and an inch around my mid section. My body fat barely moved and I’m wondering if those 5.8 lbs that I lost was muscle and/or water.

 I knew going in that not much results can be had in as little as three weeks but I feel I got a good start. I got some momentum eating clean and learned some cool kb complexes along the way. I’m going to continue working out and eating clean and start a brand new 60 day challenge tomorrow.

This is just the beginning…