empeg9000

This past weekend I did tons of gardening. I am trying to rest my shoulder by there was some sledge hammering going on. Not too much though. I also hauled tons of lumber so at least I feel like I had some good upper body work and I was really active. I have decided to give my shoulder a rest this entire week. I will be heading to Maine for 4 days on Thursday am anyway so that's fine. Monday Am workout. As I decided last week I did a leg workout today. GMB Warm-Up Routine All exercises done as a circut, 3 sets, 60 seconds rest between sets. Body Weight Squats - 3X30 Pistol Squats- 3X5 - each leg Body Weight Squats - 3X10 Forward Lunges - 3X10 each leg Side Lunges - 3X10 each leg Chinese Squats - 3X10 each leg GMB Cool-Down Flow This is a really good workout and gets me sweating quite a bit. Tomorrow am I will try doing some plank work and I plan to commute to work by bike. Starting my third week on the challenge my avg weight is down to 188.7. I am down 2lbs from the last challenge. My waist has dropped an inch already and I am down to a true waist measurement of 35". I had a number of "Did you lost more weight?" comments last week. I have also lost a half inch on my upper thighs which is good. I still have some fat hanging on there. I also lost a half inch on my hips, also good. All of my other measurements have stayed the same so I am losing fat for sure. Even though I have had teh shoulder set back I do feel like I am doing pretty well on my challenge. I have been very disciplined on my diet. Oh I completed another life challenge by completing a garden tote for Mrs Empeg. I made it entirely with hand tools. It took me a couple long evenings after work. It's a nice stress relief. I had a really crappy work week last week. I just need to put the finish on it.

It's a downer for sure. My diet has been awesome though so my weight as actually dropped and I am losing fat for sure so that's good. I discovered today I can work on some core items like plank and mountain climbers so I will probably mix that in too.

Yesterday my shoulder was feeling better during the day. So I tried going to P1 last night. I made it through one set of p-bar pushups. One the next set the shoulder tweaked and I collapsed in pain. Dang it! This totally sucks. I am going to have to bite the bullet and just take probably an entire week off if not more until I am totally pain free. I can't doing anything with my arms. I can't do push ups, tucks, I might be able to do a plank but I haven't tried. I've adjusted my eating and cut my carbs down. I haven't been cycling because it's a constant monsoon in New York and I haven't been able to do P1. So I have been doing leg workouts. So today's workout: GMB Warm-Up Routine All exercises done as a circut, 3 sets, 90 seconds rest between sets. Body Weight Squats - 5X20 Body Weight Squats - 5X10 Forward Lunges - 5X10 each leg Side Lunges - 5X10 each leg Chinese Squats -5X10 each leg GMB Cool-Down Flow My legs are on fire! It's supposed to be nice on Saturday, hopefully I can get in a ride.

Thanks! That garden also makes Mrs Empeg very happy which of course makes me happy. You can see more of the garden here. I am currently working on a garden tote for her to carry her tools around in. It's a surprise for her. Yesterday Nada. Just tried resting my shoulder. Okay shoulder is still sore but today would be a legs workout or cycling day anyway so... GMB Warm-Up Routine All exercises done as a circut, 3 sets, 90 seconds rest between sets. Body Weight Squats - 3X10 Pistol Squats- 3X5 - each leg Body Weight Squats - 3X10 Forward Lunges - 3X10 each leg Side Lunges - 3X10 each leg Chinese Squats - 3X10 each leg GMB Cool-Down Flow I am hoping to keep taking some advil today and that tomorrow my shoulder will feel better enough that I can get some P1 action in. This is getting really annoying.

That's a pretty cool setup!

I've had that happen a few times already this year. Sheesh! It's getting annoying. My peppers are finally starting...

Isn't that annoying having to do your own leg work? Sheesh! While you blaze a trail for me buddy!

Not much bud. I've just watched his videos and I like what he is doing. It's similar to GMB in that it's all functional movements that would actually help you in real life. I've been doing the shoulder routine on his youtube channel for about 8 weeks a few times a week. It seems to be helping. My shoulders are always super tight.

This year we added two additional raised bed gardens and put a fence up around it with pea gravel. I also added automatic sprinklers and a water system and put the hoses under the gravel. I finally got the fence around our raised bed garden complete: We grew all of our plants from seed this year. We grew some last year. We are increasing the amount a little every year.

Saturday and Sunday: GMB Warm-Up Routine Ido Portal Shoulder Mobilty workout GMB Cool-Down Flow My shoulder is still killing me so I did not workout this morning. I did finish up the garden fence this weekend.So my life goal for this challenge is taken care of. I am already 3/4 through a small wood working project too, Another bonus is I realized I think my should is sore from swinging the sledge hammer while I was driving in posts for the fence! I realized it started right after that. So hopefully a couple days rest and I will be back at it. It's raining again here so no ready today so it will have to be more legs workout. I need to do something! Here is a picture of the garden:

Thanks Wolverine. I am hoping to lose the majority of what is left my fat-empeg stomach.

Thanks. It's something that bothers me on and off. I have arthritis in both shoulders and some small bone fragments in there floating around on the right should (which is the one bothering me). It hasn't bothered me much in a while. For some reason P1 has been aggravating it a little. I also sleep on my side which doesn't help anything. Tomorrow AM I just go out for a short bike ride rain or no as long as it's not a monsoon.

I was supposed to do P1 today but my shoulder is killing me. So much so that it kept me awake part of the night. I didn't want to miss out on a workout and since I have been rained out of cycling all week I did a legs workout. GMB Warm-Up Routine All exercises done as a circut, 3 sets, 90 seconds rest between sets. Pistol Squats- 3X3 Body Weight Squats - 3X10 Forward Lunges - 3X10 each leg Side Lunges - 3X10 each leg Chinese Squats - 3X10 each leg GMB Cool-Down Flow

It's pretty tough I have to say. My strength is lagging in the shoulder and core area so I have a strong feeling I will be on this section longer than 4 weeks. I also so not think this program will only take me 12 weeks. I know what you mean about the boring stuff in the beginning but it is there to build strength. It was fun when I was in the frist phase to see how much stronger I got at the exercises. Thursdays work: GMB Warm-Up Routine Ido Portal Shoulder Mobilty workout GMB Cool-Down Flow I'm having an excellent week diet wise so far. Hopefully this can continue. I am hoping to get out on my bike at some point but so far I haven't found the time. Lots of house projects going on and woodworking projects.

Wednesday Morning Workout • Warm-Up Routine• Jump to Bent Arm Bent Leg Shoulder Stand - 10X3 • One Leg Shoulder Stand Hold - 10X3• Tuck Swing to L-sit - 5X3 with the hold for 3-5 seconds or so. I am not doing the L-Sit. I am trying hard. It's more of a bent leg or a tuck. I am hoping this catches up.• Assisted Inverted Presses - 10X3• Dive Bombers Standard - 10X3• Cool-Down Flow This is a pretty hard routing and destroys my upper back and shoulders! I woudl put RPE and about an 8 and RPT at 5.

Mondays Workout: • Warm-Up Routine• Push Up One Arm Extension - 12X3• Tuck Swing to Dip - 10X3 - My form is still falling off at the end of these.• Battle Rams V1• Tuck Hold 3X 5 secs - Still trying to get those legs extended• Mt. Climbers - 3X20• Cool-Down Flow Tuesday:GMB Warm-Up Routine Ido Portal Shoulder Mobilty workout GMB Cool-Down Flow I am hoping to get out on the bike tonight but I have a lot of things to do so we will see. I put the last coat of clear on my newly made end tables last night so stay tuned for a picture soon.

Nice workout and good luck on your goals! Welcome back to the six week challenges.

Thanks! It's nothing super awesome but I have fun. Yeah I really want to drop the inches. That's my main thing but of course I am going to have to put in the work with the fork and the workouts. Hopefully my cycling will help too. I really dig on P1. I have the whole first level thing, P1, F1, and R1. P1 is the first one I have tried. I will probably move onto F1 once I finish and then R1. I am jsut not sure I will love F1 though. I will post the links as I complete something.

Wow dude! That is a crap load of push ups! I was internet hiatus on purpose lask week. However I did do 100 pushups in 3 sets with one minutes rest between last Wednesday in your honor. Nice work man! Just keep consistent and you will get there for the Dirty Dash. Overall fitness helps. I just finished my Tour De Cure 50 mile ride yesterday. Even though I didn't ride as much as I wanted and I was worried, I had energy to spare and the most important thing is I was crushing my friends!

All kinds of things. I've done a lot of carpentry and built a fireplace and bookcase in our livings. I redid our dining room and made raised panels and made all my own trim. I just finished two shaker end tables that I made from reclaimed lumber from my old stairs. I've recently started doing more and more by hand tools only. I think I am going to make my wife a garden tool box which really shouldn't take more than a couple days. You can check out my website at: http://www.peonywoodworks.com/ It's just a photo blog really.

It's that time of year. I will be heading for the beach in late July and for once I would like to NOT be embarrassed to take off my shirt and have my wife be really proud. I know this is really vain but it is what it is. The last challenge way okay but I can do better. I was really strict of the first one this year and had great results. I am hoping this one goes as well. GOALS 1 Lose 2" from my waist and get ready for Beach! This might not be attainable but if I keep my diet in check I might be able to do it. 2 Get Proper Nutrition Last challenge . I changed my diet around and had decent results but I wasn't strict enough with what I put in my body. - Eat 1900-2000 calories per day. Get 170-190g of protein and 100-150g of carbs. Let fat come from mostly meats eaten throughout the day. No additional fats added in.This is where the average weight and weekly measurement tracking will come in. If I lose or gain weight I will know if it's the right kind by really tracking my weight to get weekly averages, taking measurements, photos. 3 Workout 3x -5X a week and Shoulder ROM & Mobility work 7x a week I will continue on the P1 program from GMB and I will be working on getting through the next phase of level 1 during this challenge. I am very excited for this part of the challenge now that I am combining movements. Also keep working on mobilty. I will also mix in cycling when I want to. I am trying to avoid cycling burnout. 4. Get the L-Sit I need to put in the practice with the Tuck Hold and work on this. Life Goal: Finish fence around garden and complete at least one wood working project.

I am back from Vacation. I was anti-computer most of my vacation so I did not get back to this until today. Yesterday I completed my 50 Mile Tour De Cure. I raised $1305! That is the most I ever raised. Some stats: Distance:50.82 mi Time:3:15:23 Avg Speed:15.3 mph Elevation Gain:1,732 ft Calories:1,423 C Avg Temperature:79.2 °F Onto my challenge Wrap Up: Goals: GOALS 1 Get Proper Nutrition I eat healthy. I often don't eat enough and I don't get enough protein - Eat 1900-2000 calories per day. Get 170-190g of protein and 100-150g of carbs. Let fat come from mostly meats eaten throughout the day. Increasing my carbs is tough for me as I have lost so much weight by not eating them. I have finally decided that at my activity level the lack of carbs might be holding me back. This is where the average weight and weekly measurement tracking will come in. If I lose or gain weight I will know if it's the right kind. I did okay on this one. I ended up averaging 1946 calories per day. I feel a little shy on Protien at 154g per day. On Carbs I came in at 148g per day. On the surface this seems pretty good but I know in going through my journal towards the end (the last week) and the week of my anniversary there was a lot of bad foods in there so the results are skewed a bit. Overall I rate myself a B- 2 Track Really track my weight to get weekly averages. Take measurements, photos. Track avg weight and other matrices in a spreadsheet. I did do this and I stuck to it well but I slacked off the last week. I will do this again next challenge.B+ 3 Workout 3x -5X a week This is the Enter the Paralettes part of the challenge. I bought the P1 program from GMB and I will be working on getting through the first level during this challenge. I am very excited for this part of the challenge and seeing what proper nutrition and this program can do for me. I will do this workout M-W-F and do a legs workout on T-Th. I am loving this program and enjoying the workouts. It feels more like goofing around than a workout but the next day I know I did some work. A+ 4 Lose 1" from my waist The last challenge I managed to lose 2.25" from my waist. I know it's not going to be easy but I am up for it. I lost 3/4 of an inch. So I was just shy but again my weigh is in the same range so I must have lost more fat. B- 5 Shoulder ROM & Mobility work 7x a week This is a big one for me. I really need to start working on this. P1 recommends doing the warm up and cool down routines 7X a week. I will try and do this while also working in the Porto Ido shoulder ROM routine a few times a week. I didn't do so great on this. The first 4 weeks were pretty good but the last two I only did it on workout days and not at all on the weekends. C. Goal 6: Find time to train for the Tour De Cure 50 I will be riding June 2nd. I didn't try as often as I would have liked, probably only 2X a week. However I completed it yesterday with lots of strength to spare. I rode with friends and I was waiting up for them most of the time especially after big climbs. I love that my fitness is high enough that I can just go out and ride 50-60 miles and not feel like I am going to collapse. I was pretty pooped last night and went to bed at 8pm.

Nice work Kenobi! You are like a machine!

Fridays workout: • Warm-Up Routine• Push Up One Arm Extension - 12X3• Tuck Swing to Dip - 10X3 -This was harder than I thought it would be and I was puffing pretty hard by the time I finished and my form was falling off.• Battle Rams V2- In Version 2 you do a battle ram for every push up instead of a bunch of battle rams with two push ups. I figured I would alternate.• Tuck Hold 3X 5 secs • Mt. Climbers - 3X20• Cool-Down FlowThe workouts this week have been me really sore. I was surprised. Saturday:• GMB Warm-Up Routine • GMB Cool-Down Flow I would put RPT at a 6 and RPE at about an 8.

Then there is this: At 6-9 and 260 pounds, Chara is one of the most intimidating athletes in the sporting world. He is extremely durable, tough, and smart, and although he turns 36 soon, he should be able to play elite hockey well into his 40’s. At the Bruins strength testing session, he did 31 consecutive wide grip pullups. Chara is known around the league as a workout fanatic. “He is the most driven person I have ever seen to be the best,†his agent, Matt Keator, says. 31 consecutive pull-ups is an impressive feat for any human being, but it is even more impressive considering how long Chara’s arms are and how much weight he has to pull up each time. Chara also focuses a lot of his attention on a clean diet: Chara is known for his discipline, and especially when it comes to his nutritional habits. He like his meats lean (ideally, rabbit), his potato baked (without any salt, butter, or sour cream), and his veggies steamed (no dressing). He will rarely, if ever, have alcohol (when he does it’ only one glass of red wine, and will only put caffeine into his body once every three weeks with one cup of cappuccino.) Chara is a fitness freak, and he has the time to train extensively thanks to his profession. Chara puts in 6-7 hours of training a day, which consists of cardio, weight training, agility exercises, hockey techniques, speed skating drills, film work, and conditioning exercises. Even after games, Chara will work out for an extra hour or two, working until well beyond midnight and keeping his fiancee in the wives’ room waiting for him to finish. Former teammate Marian Hossa of the Ottawa Senators said this about Big Z to NHL.com, “When he arrived in Ottawa, it was work, work, work. No one worked harder than ‘Z.’ While the average Joe can’t train like Chara (nor should he ever need to), it is always inspiring to read stories about the dedication of pro athletes to their craft.