[B]To Strive, to seek, to find...[/B]

[Croman Red]

Goals: Just the rough outline for now. Details will follow as I dig in and see what's working and how.

1. Establish the habit of exercising. Every day I will do some kind of calisthenic exercise and/or stretch. In principle these can be done anywhere as they require no equipment. I reserve the right to add or substitute equipment based exercises. Jumping rope is just fun, OK?

2. Trade my pony keg in for a six pack. Today I'm 38.5 inches around the belly. 30 days from now I will be less. And so on until my belly is hard and flat. A Paleo diet will aid this.

3. Get beast-strong. I have a bit of work to do with the upper body strength and with the core strength. I figure I can be doing 100 push ups in a row by Christmas. Additionally I'm aiming at 20 pull ups in a row by that time as well. Both of these in support of at least one hand stand push up at that time. Never done a hand stand before, I figure the balance will be the tricky part in the long run. Once I've got that one down it's on to additional beast skills, one at a time, until I've got more than I know what to do with.

4. Get flexible. As I close in on 50 I've found I've lost a lot. So it's back to the basic stretches daily. Waah.

5. Get agile. Regain that springy step. The jump rope will help with this. So will the more ballistic calisthenics. All towards Parkour though. Those guys define agile. I've got a set of stairs for precision jumping so thats where it will start.

So here's what the emphasis through Christmas looks like:

Push ups, Pull Ups, Jump Rope, Precision Jumping, Stretching, and eating Paleo.

Yesterdays' workout:

Jump Rope: 100 reps X 5; 25 Push Ups X 5 (form was sketchy on the last set); 60 sec Plank X 5 (those hurt-in a good way); 5 minutes basic stretches. Oh, and a 3.4 mile walk for the daily mile challenge (I had to make up for 1 and 2 Nov).

Today's work out:

Jump Rope: 100 reps X 10. 5 minutes basic stretches. Walked for an hour for the daily mile. It was a beautiful morning and I didn't want to stop.

[nemo]

Welcome! And good luck with all your goals, I'm sure by Christmas you'll be back on the beast track again!

[Croman Red]

Thanks Brother (?). Surprising how motivational a response like yours is (I'm new to this). Dublin? I hear that's God's country.

[Croman Red]

Started today with another daily mile installment. Fun to see what's out and about in your neighborhood at zero-dark thirty hours.

Warm up: Jump Rope 100 reps. Kind of a cheat since I like them, but it got the heart going anyway. Also joint rotations.

Today's Routine: 55 minutes-I took a 2 minute break between each set.

Jump Rope (I'm seeing a pattern here): 100 X 5

Push Ups: 30 X 5

Planks: 70 sec X 5

Squats: 25 X 5

Lunges: 25 X 5

Pull Ups: 9/8/7/6/6 (Each pull up was from a standing start. I don't have the stamina/strength for continuous reps yet. Also, I'm doing them on the underside of my stairs by gripping the step, an awkward hold. I need to invest in a pull up bar, but something is better than nothing.)

Jumping Jacks: 25/35/100/115/125 (Got lost in the background music and realized I sold myself short in the first couple of sets. Also making myself feel better for being so weak in the pull ups.)

Precision Jumps: I marked out a spot on the floor with masking tape. Did a handful. Kind of weird. Need to get an elevated target. It's like I don't take the taped spot seriously enough to really aim myself.

Light Stretch. Really gotta spend more time with this area of my fitness. Time to start sacrificing sleep and getting up earlier. Yay.

Historical Workouts: To maintain my perspective.

31 Oct 12:

Warm Up: Jump Rope 100 reps

Workout:

20 Body Weight Squats X 3

10 Push Ups X 3

20 Lunges X 3

Pull Ups X 6/7/4 with stops in between each rep to reset.

Planks X 30/45/60 sec

Jumping Jacks 30 reps X 2

Right inside elbow really sore. Hamstrings and upper back stiff.

1 Nov 12:

Work Out: Jump Rope 100 reps X 10

2 Nov 12:

Warm Up: Jump Rope X 100 reps.

Workout:

20 body Weight Squats x 3.

25 Push ups X 3

20 lunges X 3

Pull Ups X 10/8/4 with stops in between each rep to reset.

Plank X 60/60/60 sec

Jumping Jacks X 100 reps

3 Nov 12:

Warm Up: 3.4 mile walk for daily mile challenge. Had to make up for 1-2 Nov's missed walks.

Work Out:

Jumping Jacks X 100 reps X 5

Push Ups X 25 reps X 5

Plank X 60 sec X 5

4 Nov 12:

Warm Up: 60 min walk for daily mile challenge.

Work out: Jump Rope X 100 Reps X 10

Notes:

This first week of working out I'm pretty much just figuring out where I am with the various exercises. I can see already that if I'm going to do a day of nothing but Jump Rope I need to increase the numbers significantly since this exercise is coming easy to me. (Actually, I do these in front of a mirror and every time I see the flab jiggle it makes me angry and I do another rep. Same with the Jumping Jacks.)

The Push Ups are coming along nicely. Still working on keeping in the elbows, but having fewer flare-outs.

The Pull Ups are my nemesis. Choking down massive quantities of humble pie with this exercise. That's OK. This will make it all the sweeter when I can do 20 in a row. If it were easy I'd be doing something else instead. Well no, I'd be doing something else in addition.

The big win so far is that I'm doing something every day. I almost went back to bed this morning. Major effort of will to flip back the covers.

The cool part is that the stiffness from the initial workouts has passed and isn't coming back. It's tempting to go nuts and really destroy myself with the reps, but I'm being cautious and aiming for any increase each time I come back to a workout.

[Croman Red]

Started today with the morning mile challenge. I'm pretty happy that the rain has been holding off in the mornings around here.

Work Out: 0600 - 0637

Warm Up: 7 minutes joint rotations.

Jump Rope: 100 reps X 20 (27 min)

Stretch: 3 min

Notes:

Broke a nice sweat and got the heart rate up. I'm trying to replicate the training effect that you get with Fartlecs without the running. In between sets I take a swig of water and mark my last set. About 20 seconds and start again.

Also did another handful of Precision Jumps. Took the tape mark more seriously today.

[Croman Red]

Began with the Daily Mile.

Work Out: 1900 hrs-2015 hrs

Warm Up: Joint Rotations

Exercises:

Jump Rope X 100 reps X 5

Push Ups X 35 reps X 5

Plank X 80 sec X 5 (to "ouch" and beyond!)

Squats X 35 res X 5

Lunges X 35 reps X 5

Pull Ups X 10 with stops / 10 with stops / 7 + 3 partials with stops / 6 + 4 partials with stops / 6 + 4 partials with stops

Jumping Jacks X 100 reps X 5

Precision Jumps X 5 (distance is decent without much effort, but I overbalance on the far side)

Stretch X 5 minutes

Notes:

Broke a rolling sweat. Heart rate elevated the entire time. Took a 3 minute rest between sets 3 and 4. Pull Ups a little better, but still my weak point.

[Croman Red]

Daily mile, check.

Work Out: 1905 hrs - 1945 hrs.

Warm Up: Joint Rotations. Short 2-3 minutes maybe.

Exercises: Jump Rope X 1000 reps X 3...Good sweat on that last set. Feeling kind of tingly from the knees down. Felt good to do some stupidly high reps.

Did another handful of precision jumps. Still overbalancing to the front on the landing. Maybe if I did them before the rest of the workout?

Much longer stretch: 10 minutes

[Croman Red]

9 Nov '12

2005 hrs - 2055 hrs

Warm Up: Joint Rotations X 5 min

Exercise: Body Weight Squats X 1000 reps continuous. Good rolling sweat on that one. Thought about going on but I'd hit my outside target. Didn't want to get greedy and wind up injured. Endorphins can do that sometimes. Ending heart rate 130 BPM.

Stretch X 5 min

Notes: Weird progress. Didn't expect these kind of reps for several months if not longer. Also expected a lot more soreness, but it's like this is loosening me up instead. It wasn't like this in the past. Not sure what to think. Pleased though.