DW's "I'm actually gunna make progress this time" challenge

[dustinwh]

I am going to make some progress this challenge. I need to make some headway to get from my current ~160 lbs, 12% body fat at 6' 1" to 175 lbs and <10% body fat (probably still at 6' 1") goal by Christmas day. Kinda arbitrarily chose Christmas because I am going on a ski trip then.

Diet/Fitness

-Stick with a 100% paleo diet; I started a whole30 Sunday 28 AUG 2011 and I am going to blow past the 30 days a stick with it till at least October 18. I was already mostly primal- about 90/10- but I wanted to cut out dairy and a few other things to be a little more aggressive towards my health.

-Eat a minimum of 3300 calories a day.

-Strength train 4 times a week.

-Sprint minimum twice a week.

-Get from 4 sets of 12 pushups to 4+ sets of 20.

-Advance from 8 consecutive dead hang pullups and chinups to at least 14.

Life Leveling

-Actually read my textbooks (and maybe get ahead)

-Do suggested readings for classes also.

-Start talking to people about letters of recommendation for the officer selection board for the US Army. I graduate in May 2012 and need to get on this pretty soon.

SIDE NOTE: I decided the on the day that I started the whole30 that I'm going not going to cut my hair or be clean shaven till I either A) meet my body composition goal or have to go to MEPS or before the officer selection board. Kinda stupid I know, but I prefer being clean cut and clean shaven. So it will be a constant reminder that I need to do work on leveling up.

EDIT 6 SEPT 2011:

I'm not going to reward myself for this challenge specifically, but when I have a visible six pack I am getting my second tattoo. (or as soon after it as I can afford it)

[dustinwh]

Oh yeah. And I want to jump out of an airplane. Don't think I'll have time this semester, so I'll start saving up to pay for a jump.

[Shortkaik]

SIDE NOTE: I decided the on the day that I started the whole30 that I'm going not going to cut my hair or be clean shaven till I either A) meet my body composition goal or have to go to MEPS or before the officer selection board. Kinda stupid I know, but I prefer being clean cut and clean shaven. So it will be a constant reminder that I need to do work on leveling up.

I think this is a good way to motivate. Having a constant nagging thing like that would totally get me to focus and push harder! Good idea.

[Loren Wade]

Loving the goals. I am gonna start sprints for this challenge too. I would love to see what kind of food you'll be eating to hit 3300 calories on Paleo. My next goal is to gain some muscle mass.

[dustinwh]

My favorite meal that is pretty calorie dense and 100% paleo is a pound of ground beef (browned) drain some fat off, add peppers, onions, spices, etc. After a couple minutes add a can of coconut milk and let it simmer for 10 minutes. It is my favorite meal. And its round about 1400 calories. I'm also pretty close to a dozen eggs a day at 100(ish cals) each (6-14 a day for the last week).

I was doing a fruit smoothie at least once a day, but I am going to cut back on that and eat more veggies drenched in EVOO; this is because I noticed since I increased my fruit intake, my visible BF rose a bit.

I tried getting into distance running a while back. It sucked and was boring. So lately I have been doing some interval sprints up the side of a ravine at a park close to my house. Up and back down twice is one sprint. I'm dead to the world after about 6 or 8 sprints.

[dustinwh]

Alright, to keep me accountable, here are some way before and current pics:

May 2011 after three months of being primal

July 2011

Yesterday (5 September 2011)

[nightlight]

love the follow up. "oh yeah, i want to jump out of an airplane."

[dustinwh]

haha yeah it was kind of inspired by steve and joel runyon. i really want to skydive, but haven't talked myself into it yet.

[dustinwh]

Today's workout:

All out sprint for 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds x 4.

Rest two minutes.

Sprint for 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds x 3.

Climbed up a 10 feet tall concrete pillar to an observation deck (for fun and testing functional strength) x 3

The sprints were pretty tough towards the end. I now realize that my hill running routine, that takes just under 30 seconds, was significantly less intense than sprinting all out on flat terrain. I found a sweet hill that is about 75 yards worth of running and goes up about 60+ feet after my flat ground sprinting. This new hill should make for some interesting sprints in the near future. Thursday I will probably try sprinting all the way up, walking down, repeating till I can do no more, recover, and do more.

Tomorrow through Saturday I will have to strength train to meet that quota.

Food is easy. Since I did GOMAD (with terrible gut issues resulting) for a few weeks a while back, eating A LOT hasn't been an issue; I am always hungry now.

[Aejaxe]

Hey man, nice goals, one of mine has always been to jump out of an airplane too lol

Just a thought, and maybe you've already ran into this or have a reason for doing it, but if you're trying to put on weight, you might want to move away from the sprints and running. If you're wanting to make sure you get in cardio, circuit training is a great option. Just my two cents. I saw you mentioned being in the military, or something along those lines, and I know they're big on running. So perhaps that's why you included that in your program.

Either way, cheers, good luck with your progress man.

[thescrawnycaveman]

I love the fact that you climbed a pillar for a workout. That sounds like a great way to test just how useful your fitness regiment is. I personaly like to climb trees from time to time and it gets easier and easier as I progress in my training (one of these days I am going to try and do a tree transfer and go from one tree to the other). Good luck and keep on pushin the limits

[dustinwh]

AJ: joining the military is one of my biggest motivators for achieving a higher overall level of fitness. I have several friends who have already served and the common theme amongst their advice is to start running.

SC: I want to start going out to a park just out side of town that is 400ish acres and climb some of the gigantic oak trees out there too. I think it is a good idea to use strength practically. Climbing things is indeed a lot of fun.

[Kishi]

Well, it sounds like you're on the right track. A lot of strength training that isn't bodybuilding is more about finding practical ways to move and to use the body - hence the whole compound lifts movement. You're doing it with bodyweight, which makes it awesomely functional.

[dustinwh]

DAY 2

Food:

ate about 3400 calories of 100% paleo food

Exercise:

Pushups (sets of 15, 12, 10, 10)

Pullups (sets of 8, 6, 5, 4)

Push Press (5x5)

Dips (4x15)

Pushups with hands on bench ( 3x18)

Planks (:55, :48, :44)

Academics:

Read everything I was supposed to read for class for today and tomorrow

[Seabright]

Great Day 2, team mate! Wunderbar!

[dustinwh]

Day 3

Yesterday (day 3) was bad. Class all day, then had to go help catch something up at work and ended up staying till 8:30 or so. By the time I got home, I was exceptionally tired, I felt like crap, and my lymph nodes in my neck were starting to swell up. I made myself eat a good dinner and went to sleep early.

Woke up this morning at my usual time of 5:30 to my lymph nodes actually hurting (that's a new one for me) and I am kinda achey- not like being sore, kind of like the flu without the fever and congestion. It's probably just the "crud" that you get when you're around a lot of new people- 50,000 students is a lot of people. After work today, I will make up the lower body workout, and also do the upper body stuff that I am supposed to do today (assuming I don't get any worse).

Eating: Passed

Life/Academics: Passed

Strength Training: Failed

[Kishi]

Aw, suck. Hopefully that's all it is. The workout will hopefully help you feel better, though.

[dustinwh]

Feeling 100% better this evening. Especially after knocking out today's and yesterday's workouts tonight.

In this order:

Pullups: 7/5/5

Push Press: @ 40lbs x2 5x5

Dumbbell Press: @ 40lbs x2 5x5

Knees to elbows (had to try it after hearing about it): 8/6/4

Dumbbell deadlift: @ 50lbs x2 (max at apartment gym) 5 sets of 8

Bulgarian Split squat: @ 35lbs x2 3 sets of 5

Side Planks: :45 each side/:50 each side

Regular Planks: 1:00 x2

Now to go eat 1500 calories to make up for a small lunch and forgetting to bring snacks to class and work (I decided when I started the whole30 that I wouldn't buy food on campus or at a restaurant more than once a week).

[dustinwh]

I woke up starting to feel kinda sore this morning so I just did pushups, pullups, bodyweight squats, and lunges to help work out the stiffness/soreness. Continued my two week 100% compliance streak with the whole 30 also and consumed about 100 calories shy of my goal. I definitely drank too much coffee/tea today- I am normally passed out after being up 17 hours (I wake up every day at 5am whether or not I set an alarm and go to sleep between 10 and 11pm).

I did make some headway with one of my life goals today: I met with a Sergeant First Class who is an All Source Intel Analyst and a Captain who is in the Intel field also. Sat down with them for three hours and talked about my options, what they think best suits my goals, and how to get where I wanna be. They gave me more information than I had imagined I would get. So all in all, good day. And they said that if I have any problems in the application process or when talking to the recruiters, don't hesitate to give either of them a call and they will help sort it out. Hopefully I can keep meeting with them and get a little more insight into the field (and it wouldn't hurt knowing a couple guys in the field that I want to go in to also).

[dustinwh]

totally rocked this rest day. did a lot of eating. we cooked the best dinner i've had in a while with a good friend (that i converted to paleo a few months back).

food porn? almond crusted chicken thigh and leg, lots of asparagus, and lots of mustard greens.

[dustinwh]

SWEET!!!! Finally got a friend to commit to going to a real gym on campus with me!! No more dumbbells at the apartment gym. Whoop for lifting heavy!

[nightlight]

totally rocked this rest day. did a lot of eating. we cooked the best dinner i've had in a while with a good friend (that i converted to paleo a few months back).

food porn? almond crusted chicken thigh and leg, lots of asparagus, and lots of mustard greens.

that looks AMAZING. WANT.

[dustinwh]

that looks AMAZING. WANT.

It's ok to be jealous of my mad cooking skills!

Actually it wasn't that hard. Chicken put in an egg bath with cinnamon and cayenne and whatever else, roll in crushed almonds, pan fry. Greens in a stew pot with olive oil (not water) and asparagus (covered in olive oil) in the oven. I ate that entire plate full, plus another serving of the mustard greens and asparagus. I wanted to stop eating, but I couldn't... So. Good.

[dustinwh]

Update:

New plan. Supplement workouts with BARBELLS!!! Went to the school gym and fought the crowds to work out with my friend.

This was the first time I've done barbells in years. I had no idea what to expect:

-Push Press @40lbs dumbbellsx2: 5x5

-Chinups: 10/7/5

-Bench Press @ 115: barely finished a 5x5

-Dips: 15/12/8/6

-Knees to elbows: 10/8/5

-Planks x2: 55 seconds each

Overall I'm pretty satisfied with my first go at barbell training for while. Wednesday is squats, deadlift, etc. GET PUMPED!! I outgrew my apartment's gym so leg day should be interesting at the gym on campus.

Diet:

Including the dinner I am about to eat, 3300ish calories for the day.

[Kishi]

You outgrew a gym? Wow, that has got to be an awesome feeling.