Sheep turned Rebel-Time to break away from the flock

[VTSPE772]

Fellow Nerds,

 

I have been excited about this challenge for weeks now!  It is finally time to put up or shut up!  My name is Chris, and I am FINALLY not scared anymore! Not scared of the gym, not scared of failure, not scared of my abilities!  I have been lurking for the past few weeks, getting ideas for the goals of my first challenge.  What amazed me the most, was how much support everyone received...so I am here to support and be supported.  Let's make some habits!

 

Main Goal: (Reward Driven...)

• Get down to 220 lbs.  I haven't weighed 220 lbs. since 2000, when I got out of US Army Bootcamp.

Mission Goals:  (I have a partner...)

• Weight train 3x per week, plus at least 1 full Cardio ONLY session per week
  • M-W-F: These are the exercises I have been/will continue to do.  I have them broken up into push-pull partners for Super-sets, and typically do 4-5 exercises per session.  Although I am a big framed guy (6'4", 259 lbs.) I keep the weight low, I need to keep the form perfect to avoid re-injury.
    • Deadlift, Squat, Overhead Press, Incline Dumbbell Press, Uni-lateral Dumbbell Press, Bent-over Barbell Rows, Hip Thrusters, Push-ups, Inverted Rows, and Calves (Calfs ?)
  • Cardio: Minimum of 60 minutes on any/all of the following: Elliptical, treadmill, bike, hand-bike, stair-stepper, etc.
• Complete a modified version of PLP-60 program
  • I started on March 27th so that the PLP end will coincide with the challenge end date of 5/25
  • Why it's Modified: Well the only "P" I can't do is the pull-up.  So I bought a dip bar, and am doing inverted rows with the hope of being able to do pull-ups by the end of the program.  Once finished, I hope to start over and do the program with pull-ups (maybe next challenge)!
• By May 25th, I will only drink one mug of coffee per day (not the triple venti, candy coffee type, BUT BLACK COFFEE)
  • Typically I stop at Starbucks and get a Venti coffee (black), and then have at least 2 more mugs at work before 11 a.m. I am drinking a venti right now!

Motivation:

• Wife & Kids:  I want to be around for my wife and kids (I have 2 boys, 6 years and 10 months).  And I NEED my kids to know the value of exercise, and the benefits it brings!  My 6 year old is my partner...he is doing the modified PLP with me (because he wants to and he is COMPETITIVE), and he likes going to the "Kid's Club" at the gym, so we go on the weekends (sometimes both days) and I do my cardio!
• Pills:  For the past year and a half, I have been on high blood pressure medication, high cholesterol medication, and am considered a pre-diabetic.  I want off those pills!  I go for my physical on April 24th, and will use the blood test results as a point of departure.
• Seersucker Suit:  MY REWARD...I don't know what it is about a seersucker suit, but I have to have one.  White w/ Navy Stripes...bow-tie...suede shoes...That just screams cool to me!

I have already started on my goals.  I joined the gym in January, I began eating Paleo in February, I started PLP in March, so I am on my way to building good habits.  Before I started eating Paleo in Feb. I weighed 280 lbs.  Now I am 259 and primed to continue!  I do, and will continue to, keep spreadsheets with my bodyweight stats, PLP progress, and will probably make more...Nerds like graphs, right?  I have those!

[calypsofalls]

First off: I love your signature and want to do it (time to go fiddle around the settings wasting time).

 

Second: Your goals are really intense and it's awesome you're doing it with your sun. My dad and I started running last summer (I may be a little older than your kids...) and it was a great bonding experience. From a child's perspective, this is the best thing you can be doing. You're winning so many awesome dad points. 

 

Third: Spread sheets for the win! There's nothing better than a nice, crisp excel page.

 

Keep up the amazing work, you can do it!

[Lincarte]

Awesome start and a great challenge!

 

I will follow you and see you rock it!

[Chris56Ryan]

OH MY GOD YOUR NAME'S CHRIS!!! well I'm subbed. You have some great goals and motivation best of luck and you gotta beat the young lad he can't be able to beat his dad until he's in his late 20's its just not right 

[fiOWNya]

You've made so much progress this year! I'm looking forward to seeing how you do this challenge, good luck!

[xanjra]

Good luck!

 

Children are the best motivators; I gave up smoking for my little cheerleader, I know there is no way I would've done it without her nagging supporting me!

 

M x

 

PS  Graphs are awesome!

[VTSPE772]

Thanks all.  One thing I have learned from your responses...Kids and graphs are awesome!  True Story!!!

[Nirvi]

Your son is going to learn so much from you this challenge!  Great stats for only starting Paleo in February  Good luck on getting that seersucker suit (and you're right - that does scream pretty cool)

[Sea Level]

I have been excited about this challenge for weeks now!  It is finally time to put up or shut up!  My name is Chris, and I am FINALLY not scared anymore! 

• Seersucker Suit:  MY REWARD...I don't know what it is about a seersucker suit, but I have to have one.  White w/ Navy Stripes...bow-tie...suede shoes...That just screams cool to me!

 

Hey Chris, I'm also Chris!

 

And (!!!!!) SEERSUCKER SUIT!. Dang. That's an amazing reward. I stand in awe.

 

I was able to find a seersucker suit at a consignment shop a couple of years ago, but the trousers are a bit short for me.... so it's not perfect..

Where will you find your seersucker suit? I know Indochino makes them tailored to your measurements.... 

 

What kind of hat do you have selected? I'm partial to the boater. Third picture at this post, while not seersucker, is pretty epic.

 

Again, I'm a bit speechless with this goal. o.O Amazing. Best of luck!

[alienjenn]

welcome to the rebellion

 

 

just one question... I saw in another thread that you live in the DC area... why limit your cardio to the machines?? ( Elliptical, treadmill, bike, hand-bike, stair-stepper, etc.) you live in some pretty mountains you should get out and cardio!!

[VTSPE772]

Your son is going to learn so much from you this challenge! Great stats for only starting Paleo in February Good luck on getting that seersucker suit (and you're right - that does scream pretty cool)

Thanks Nirvi! Gotta get that suit before the end of summer... I can't be wearing a summer weight suit in the fall. Sort of like the whole "no white before memorial day, or after labor day".

Expect funny words/spelling due to big fingers on a little phone.

[VTSPE772]

Hey Chris, I'm also Chris!

And (!!!!!) SEERSUCKER SUIT!. Dang. That's an amazing reward. I stand in awe.

What kind of hat do you have selected?

Chris, I am partial to the Panama hat myself.

Expect funny words/spelling due to big fingers on a little phone.

[VTSPE772]

welcome to the rebellion

just one question... I saw in another thread that you live in the DC area... why limit your cardio to the machines?? ( Elliptical, treadmill, bike, hand-bike, stair-stepper, etc.) you live in some pretty mountains you should get out and cardio!!

Totally agree. Gotta get the Mrs. On board to either come with our watch the young boy at home for the day. That's the hard sell either way. I do play tennis with my 6 year old, and we do a lot of "races" when we are out walking the neighborhoods.

Expect funny words/spelling due to big fingers on a little phone.

[alienjenn]

Hey... I make it up to dc to hike a couple times during the summer... sub to that post I linked and we can get the Mrs on board... my kids love love hiking!

(sent by the phone. .. all mistakes are the phones fault)

[VTSPE772]

So I am going to be using this thread as my Daily/Almost Daily log tool as well. I weigh myself on Sundays, so I will be updating my stats then.  Like most nerds, data is my friend...I have spreadsheets, graphs, and thinking about making a database to track all this.  I am an Operations Research Analyst by day, so the tools of the trade are at my disposal (as long as I get my 8.5 hours of work in).

 

Anyway, MWF I get up at 4:45 a.m. in order to be at the gym when they open, so I don't have to fight the "Lunks" to get on certain racks in the gym. Like I said up top, I am not afraid anymore, but who wants to wait 45 minutes for a foursome of "Lunks" to pile through sets of squats on one of two racks. And their form is terrible so it pains me to watch!

 

Here is what I did this a.m.:

• Deadlift (3x5x135)
• Incline Dumbbell Press (3x8x55)
• Squats (3x5x185)
• Inverted Rows (25) in two sets (15 and 10)
• Uni-Lateral Dumbbell Press (2x10x40)
• Hammer curls (2x10x30)

All the above were preceded by two warm-up sets of similar reps, but with much lower weight (Bar or 20lb DB's accordingly).  Immediately after, I stretched and did the foam roller (this can hurt, but in a good way)!

 

PLP-60 (modified) To be completed in the evenings, before dinner. My son enjoys doing these together.

• 25 Reps of each exercise today broken down to complete in 2 sets (15 reps and 10 reps).

 

Alright, back to work! 

[Chris56Ryan]

Strong start there man keep it going

[Mr Blint]

Great goals and motivation !!

[Elder]

I am up at 4:45am on on week days too!  Although I take my dog for a quick 20 minute walk first and then head to the gym for 6:00am.  It's pretty much empty in there first thing, or there are just the regular gang of 6-8 people.  There's only 2 or 3 other people who use the weights section in the morning so I don't usually have to wait for the squat rack or the pull up bar.  I tried to go after work one day so I could workout a little longer but that lasted all of 3 seconds.....waaaay to many "lunks".  

 

I use a band for assisted pull ups, wrapped around the bar so I can step in the end.  Although since you are so tall it may not work the same....

 

Awesome job getting all this planned out!

[VTSPE772]

What's on your Cardio Menu:

 

Burke Lake Park, Parcourse Fitness Trail with the Family!  It's set up like a golf course with 18 fitness stations on a 1.5 mile cinder trail.  Stations include stretching, balance, and body weight type stations.  We walked, ran, jogged, raced, and did all 18 fitness stations (or obstacles as my son calls them).  But the biggest news of the day, I WAS FINALLY ABLE TO PULL-UPS (2.5 of them), and Chin-ups (2.75 of them)...They weren't the prettiest, but I was able to get my chin above the bar for each of the WHOLE part of the counts above.

 

This takes the place of my 60 minutes of cardio outside the normal strength training. Below are some of the pics of the day!

My son is a ham, and CANNOT make a nice face for most pictures!

[VTSPE772]

So it's the day before the challenge officially begins...I track my numbers on Sundays, so here's the run-down (all weights in lbs. and measurements in inches):

 

EDITED: The tables didn't translate to the post...trying to line up manually

 

Today's Date 4/13/2014

Today's Weight 256.8

Starting Weight 279.6

Total Weight Loss -21.60

% of Goal 38.3%

% of Body Weight 7.7%

Goal Weight 220.00

Distance from Goal 38.0

BMI 31.82

 

 

Body measurements (this will be monthly, I originally took these #'s on 4/1/14)

Waist     Waist @ Naval     Hips @ Widest     Neck @ Narrowest     Wrist     Forearm @ Widest

   42                 40                       39                            17                      8                    14

 

The above measurements result in a wide range of values (a spread of ~6.5%)

Body Fat Percentage

Method         %

YMCA         21.21%

US Army     27.79%

US Navy      25.16%

US Marines  25.54%    

 

Average 24.93%

[VTSPE772]

Quick note on the day ahead, traveling to Fredrick, MD (about hour north) to visit the Brother-in-law + family and the Father-in-Law is in town from Texas.  We got ahold of the menu plan yesterday which did not have any side items I could eat. So we went to the grocery store in order to bring Paleo friendly side items to the gathering.  Roasted Cauliflower-mash and an awesome Kale Salad with Balsamic, avocado, and sunflower seeds.

 

Enjoy the last day before the challenge!

[Teros]

 

• • Why it's Modified: Well the only "P" I can't do is the pull-up.  So I bought a dip bar, and am doing inverted rows with the hope of being able to do pull-ups by the end of the program.  Once finished, I hope to start over and do the program with pull-ups (maybe next challenge)!

I'm in the same boat. Took me months to finally be able to do pushups, and now I want to try a plp setup.  I have some 45 lb kettelbells and some 80 lb sandbags so I'm hoping doing bent over rows for that will build up some more strength, and then start doing incline pullups.  Good luck

[Cardinal_22]

If you are in the Rockville area, Rock Creek Park has a climbing and zip-line course called "Going Ape" that you and your son might enjoy.

Good luck with your challenge!

 

--Card

[Cardinal_22]

Ugh, double post.   =(

[Istrix]

Awesome goals, great motivations.  On victory if you ever find yourself in the hampton roads area suit up and wingman for me.