pedalpress

Half-ass diet day (Wednesday) Started out well with a breakfast of eggs, bacon, and coffee, a plum for snack. Lunch was a Paleo disaster. Ate a sloppy joe from the school cafeteria. Ate the bun. Boo. Dinner was a postworkout smoothie and a hard-boiled egg. Workout was great, and starting to get hard. Really felt it this morning in my back. Since StrongLifts is a linear progression workout, I've added 5 lbs. each workout to each exercise. Squats are now a pretty challenging 120 pounds, and I began with 95. Bench is 115, up from 95. Barbell rows are 95, up from 75. After lifting, played indoor soccer for some good running / cardio fun.

Missed it, due to Stronglifts strict prohibition of additional workouts.....Sorry Rangers!

Progress! Feels great, no? AK representing Rangers!!!

Following the StrongLIfts protocols, my Squat weight has gone up 15 pounds in one week. I started at a pretty easy 95lbs, 5 sets of 5 reps. I'm now at 115. Still is pretty doable, but closer to fatigue in the last set. Overhead press is at 65, deadlift at 140, barbell rows at 105, and bench at 115. Eating clean, with the exception of halloween sized candy.

Like always, staying up to date on posting is proving to be my weakness. This will be a Fri-Sat update. Friday workout was great, I've been adding 5 lbs. of weight each workout so my squat had gone up 10 pounds this week. It's still pretty easy, but figured it's better to start slow than risk injury or failure too early. So Friday was 5x5 of squats, bench, and barbell row. Ate great Friday with a smoothie in the AM, black cod collars for lunch, and a chicken sausage, sweet potato, salad dinner post workout. Saturday was an egg fritata in the morning, just a snack at lunch, and doro wat for dinner (ethiopian stew with chicken, hard boiled egg, and spices). No workout, but a day of shed demolition and construction, so pretty active work. The weather is looking good for today, so a hike in the rainforest is in order. Lucky to live here....

Posting late, but had another great workout yesterday (Weds.) Squats, overhead press and deadlift. I really like the simplicity of StrongLifts. Afterwards, played indoor soccer. Ate well, except snagged some holloween sized chocolates from the Office staff. Slap my hand somebody!

Nice progress, and thanks for the supportive comments! Keep it up.

Another solid day of eating, with a bacon, egg, and coffee breakfast, beef burrito and salad lunch, and a burger & salad dinner. Perhaps too heavy on the meat, but tomorrow is smoothie morning and fish lunch. No workout, but since starting Stronglifts, that is in keeping with the plan. I'll amend my goal to reflect the Stronglifts regimen. Mobility work was a brief mornnig warmup, foam roller session. Day 3 next!

Day 1: Ate pretty well. Smoothie in the AM with espresso and 3oz. whole milk. Venison Chili for lunch, chicken sausage with sweet potatoes & salad for dinner after workout. Workout: I started my first day of Stronglifts 5X5. 5 sets of 5 reps of squats, bench press, and barbell rows. Ended with some light stretching and mobility work via the foam roller. Short and sweet, but done!

I should totally cut and paste your food goal. If I had a dollar for every thoughtless thing I put in my mouth..... Best of luck!

Has the wind died down? You guys were getting blown around!

Likewise? Where are you at?

I came quite close to accomplishing my goals during the April-June Challenge. NF Challenges work. In the absence of a new challenge, I fell apart. I do not work so well without NF. Most of my gains have vanished. I've been depressed, noncommittal, and unmotivated. I recently read that people who make decisions by "satisficing" (good enough) experience greater well-being than those that decide through maximizing (has to be perfect). I've been a maximizer to an extent that has led me to make no decision at all. Can't find THE workout, then I won't workout at all. Can't commit 100% to eating Paleo, then I'll eat cake. To wit, this challenge I am going to solely satisfice my way to success. Goal 1: Workout 20-30 minutes minimum per day. Cardio, Strength, cardio/strength, whatever. Just move my ass without fail. Could be more specific, I know, but I think I really need to focus on good enough here. Goal 2: Work on mobility and flexibility 10-15 minutes per day. I can be rather injury prone due to tight hamstrings and hip flexors. I'll follow mobilityWOD examples here. Goal 3: Follow the Primal Blueprint diet plan 80%+. Six weeks of no grain, beer, limited dairy & sugars. Goal 4: (Level up goal) Journal the process daily and complete the entire 6 weeks. Finish what I start. Fellow Rebels: Help me with this last one!!!!! troll/flame the hell out of me if I skip a day of posting.

Who better to support than my wife! After missing a couple of weeks of regular fitness due to a cold, she wanted to mix up her workouts a bit...I brought her out on one of my sprint workouts. After a 10 minute jog on a local trail, we did hill sprints for 8 reps of 30 second sprint at max effort, followed by 1:30 of rest. She dug it, and is returning the favor by dragging me off to one of her spinning classes.

Updated blog with week 2 challenge info!