Mediaguy99 sneaks back into shape

[mediaguy99]

Since I last posted an Assassins challenge, I spent a brief stint as a ranger, and also went whole-hog off the paleo diet.  That wasn't such a great idea, as my reflux disease has been completely out of control for several months now.  I've gained weight (though not a whole lot), and it's mostly of the non-muscle variety.  SO, this challenge I want to focus on my diet, as my workouts are still pretty strong, and got stronger over winter break.  As is often the case, Garret (from the Thief franchise) will be my inspiration!

 

 

Goal One:  Clean up the diet, and mindful eating.  I've gotten heavy!  Time to get ghostlike.  During week one, I will eat only one serving of sweets.  This is going to be a tough one as I've eaten a LOT of sweet baked goods over the break.  During the second week, I'll cut out the grains and dairy (at least 90% no dairy or grains), and during the third week, I'll expect to be at least 90% paleo.  Assuming I'm eating 21 meals/week, that means I get to "cheat" twice per week during the last two weeks.  I'm still going to eat potatoes, but not french fries or chips.  Furthermore, most of the time when I'm eating, I'm looking at some kind of screen.  As much as it pains me to do so, I need to keep my mind on what I'm eating, and the people I'm eating with (OK, nobody's eating with me at 5:45 AM).  So, no screens during breakfast and dinner.  Lunch is pretty much required since I eat lunch at my desk during work hours.  +3 WIS for keeping off screens while eating breakfast and dinner; +3 CHR for sticking to the meal plan.

 

 

Goal Two:  Pull Ups.  Right now, my recent AMRAP record for pull ups is 7.  I'd like to get to 10.  I'll be doing pull ups at least three times per week.  +1 STR, and +1 STR for every additional chin-up I can do beyond my PR, for a possible total of +3 STR.

 

 

Goal Three:  Make a plan, and stick to the plan.  Improvise when necessary.  It's a real bummer when work gets in the way of my workouts.  So, I'm going to make a plan on Monday mornings, put it on the calendar, and stick to the plan.  I've got a world-class gym 400 yards from my office and there's no reason I shouldn't take advantage of it.  Generally speaking, my weekly plan should include two yoga classes, three weights workouts, three endurance sessions, and one day skiing.  I'll post my plan here in the forums too, for accountability's sake.  +3 CON for making a plan and sticking to it.  

 

 

Goal Four:  Flexibility!  I'm the least flexible person I know.  All those years of distance running have made my hamstrings the most unhappy hamstrings in Boulder.  So, I'm going to stretch them.  At least once a day for five minutes.  Follow youtube videos, use the foam roller, go to a dance class, or just lie on the floor with a strap and a dog licking my face... every day, I'll stretch.  +3 DEX

 

 

I'll also compare my weight and body fat % from this morning every Monday morning until the challenge ends.  Today I was 169.8 pounds and 15.1% BF.  

[Priscillia]

Stretching hamstrings!  The bane of everyone trying to get more flexible.

 

Subbing for the awesome

[mediaguy99]

Reserved for workout plans

 

Workout plan for week of Jan 4-10

 

Monday:  Run 3+ miles, upper body lift session

Tuesday:  Indoor cycle, 60+ min

Wednesday:  Run 3+ miles, upper body lift session with deadlifts

Thursday:  Indoor elliptical, 60+ min

Friday:  Run 3+ miles, upper body lift session WITH SQUATS

Saturday:  Racquetball with wife, deadlifts, indoor cycle 30+ min

Sunday:  Ski day with wife (kiddo is in ski school!  Ski date!!!)

 

Workout plan for week of Jan 11-17

Monday:  Yoga, then upper body lift session

Tuesday:  Indoor cycle, 60+ min

Wednesday:  AM Yoga, and TRX bootcamp (time permitting)

Thursday:  Indoor cycle, 60+ min

Friday:  Run, upper body lift session

Saturday:  Potential rest day cycling session

Sunday:  Ski day!

 

Workout plan for week of Jan 18-24

Monday:  Run with Roo (4+ miles)

Tuesday:  Indoor cycle, 30+ min; upper and lower body lift session

Wednesday:  Sunrise yoga, run with Roo at lunchtime (4+ miles) TRX bootcamp!

Thursday:  Indoor cycle, 30+ min; upper and lower body lift session

Friday:  60 min cardio session (run, indoor cycle, tbd), upper body lift session 

Saturday: Racquetball and upper body workout

Sunday:  Ski day!

 

Workout plan for week of Jan 25-31

Monday:  Yoga and upper body

Tuesday:  Cardio 60+ min

Wednesday:  Sunrise yoga and TRX class at lunchtime

Thursday:  Cardio 60+ min, D&D at night

Friday:  Flying to Phoenix.  Rest day.

Saturday:  Packing boxes, bonus if I make it to the gym in my mom's neighborhood.

Sunday:  See Saturday

[mediaguy99]

Reserved for weekly tallies

 

Week One

No Sweets:  Ok, so I ate probably four servings of sweets over the week. That earns me a solid C.  

Pull Ups:  Sweet!  I bested my current record.  I'm up to 8 now  I also did 9 "natural grip" pull ups but those aren't the benchmark.  A.

Planning:  Stuck to the plan.  Minor alterations to accomodate weather and a moving party my friend asked me to help with.  A.

Flexibility:  6/7 days.  Pretty good.  B+

Weight:  168.6 (-1.5 pounds)

Body Fat:  14.8% (-.3%)

 

Week Two

Paleo week:  Stayed below 90% paleo.  Success!  A

Pull ups:  Bested my current record.  I'm up to 9 pull ups.  I did 10 "natural grip" pull ups too.  A

Planning:   Stuck to the plan, although I had to cancel my TRX class on Wednesday, and therefore I didn't rest on Saturday.  B+

Flexibility:  LAME!  4/7 days.  C

Weight:  166.0 (-5.1 pounds)

Body Fat:  14.1% (-1%)

 

Week Three

Paleo week:  Stayed below 90% paleo.  Success!  A

Pull ups:  Did NINE standard pull ups.  No increase but still did them.  Managed 10 natural grip pull ups.  A

Planning:  Didn't exactly stick to the plan, but it was because I had the chance to do a HARDER workout than anticipated Wednesday and had to adjust.  I'm going to say that's a B+.

Flexibility:  6/7 days.  A.

Weight:  165.6 (-5.4 lbs)

Body Fat:  14.0%

 

Week Four

Paleo week:  Pretty good, except it was hard to stay paleo at my mom's house.  C

Pull ups:  TEN!  Did it!  A

Planning:  Stuck to the plan.  A

Flexibility:  5/7.  B.

Final weight:  165.8 (-5.2 lbs)

Body Fat:  14.1%  (-1%)

[mediaguy99]

Today's workout:  

 

Ran for 35 min (3.6 mi), then hit the weights for an upper body day.

 

Pull ups (med) 7,5,4c

OHP 1x8x70, 2x4x70

Delt flys 3x10x7.5(ea side)

Narrow rows 3x10x90

Tricep pull downs 3x10x25(downstairs)

L sit leg lifts 18,15,13

 

Lunch was leftovers from the weekend, plus a salad (no dressing... I hate dressing) and a banana.  Unfortunately the leftovers constituted a slice of pizza.  Otherwise it's been a good food day so far.  I was able to walk past the open box of donuts the boss brought in this morning at least five times so far.  Also gave away the remaining dark chocolate peanut butter cups I found in my desk drawer from the week before Christmas.  And, gave away all the cookies left in the house.

 

[Sea Level]

Nice challenge! Do you plan on doing your work at the gym after work? Before? It's nice to have that many options/classes!

 

 

Stretching hamstrings!  The bane of everyone trying to get more flexible.

 

 

True that.

 

 

Lunch was leftovers from the weekend, plus a salad (no dressing... I hate dressing) 

 

Nice. Most dressing is the worst thing to happen to a salad, health-wise.

[sylph]

Welcome back!

[mediaguy99]

Welcome back!

 

Thanks, good to be back!

 

 

Nice challenge! Do you plan on doing your work at the gym after work? Before? It's nice to have that many options/classes!

 

Nice. Most dressing is the worst thing to happen to a salad, health-wise.

 

Generally, I go work out over the lunch hour.  We have a flexible schedule here, so I work out around 11 or 11:30, and then come back and eat lunch at my desk.  Unfortunately sometimes work derails that, and then I'll try to motivate to go after work.  I have a hard time working out with any food in my stomach (GERD) so that's often the deciding factor when it comes to post-work workouts...  And yes, putting dressing on a salad seems like sabotage.

 

So, last night I stretched for a bit between Transparent and going to bed.  Also, saw that the Assassin Mini-Challenge was up, so I did a bunch of push-up variations, starting with standard push ups and working through the easier ones.  It's rough doing AMRAP pushups right before bed on an upper body day... Even table push-ups seemed hard by the time I got to those!

[Alexandrite]

Life is good, people coming back to challenges/Assassins makes me happy!

Subbing for the fun, of course! Our little guy (4.5) asked to go skiing this year and I've been thinking about it!

Also, you said pull-ups in the original post, but then mention chin ups as well. Which variation are you going for?

Sent by my Navi-powered device!

[mediaguy99]

Life is good, people coming back to challenges/Assassins makes me happy!

Subbing for the fun, of course! Our little guy (4.5) asked to go skiing this year and I've been thinking about it!

Also, you said pull-ups in the original post, but then mention chin ups as well. Which variation are you going for?

 

Hah, thanks for catching that.  I'm doing hands-forward pull ups from dead hang.  I'm glad to see you're back, and with another baby too!  That's great, good for you and the rest of your family.  We've been taking Taos skiing since he was about 3.  He got a little down that year, then last year we gave him a seven week series of lessons, and we're doing the same this year.  He's really doing well now--we skied four plus hours three days so far this season, and it's just getting started

 

Today's workout was a simple 60 min on a stationary bike, followed by a hamstring session. They're killing me here at work--two dozen donuts yesterday, mini bundt cakes today... I've been drinking decaf green tea (aka hot water with something green in it) instead.  Can't wait for school to start next week and everything to get crazy busy around here for a little while!

[Sea Level]

They're killing me here at work--two dozen donuts yesterday, mini bundt cakes today... I've been drinking decaf green tea (aka hot water with something green in it) instead.  Can't wait for school to start next week and everything to get crazy busy around here for a little while!

 

I would think that post-holidays would mean fewer cakes and sweets. I know at my office, they came in abundance in December. I'm hoping when I get back to work in a couple of weeks it'll all be gone.

[mediaguy99]

Lunchtime run was a 38 min, 3.45 hill run with lots and lots of ice and mud.  Made things a little slow.

 

Headed to the gym after that:

 

Chin ups 9,5,4

Standard push ups 26,15,15 (wanted to try and beat my AMRAP from Monday but failed)

Diamond push ups:  1 (HAHAHA!  Could only do ONE after doing the regular ones!)

Assisted dips 3x8x46 (CURC)

Bicep curls 3x8x50

Rear deltoid flys 3x8x7.5

Deadlifts 3x10x140 

Leg stretching throughout

 

I really enjoyed sticking in hamstring stretches between my sets.  I like how that filled the time!

 

Lunch was leftover chicken, salad, sauteed veggies, and a protein shake.  Earlier there was a pre-run banana... but I was still pretty much wiped out after the workout.  Might need to add something more substantial to the pre-workout fueling.

[mediaguy99]

Wow, yesterday was crammed full at work.  I didn't get to the gym until afterwards, and then I was so late that I had to slightly abbreviate my workout.  Did 50 min on a cardio machine, which felt good since I've been feeling a little bit like I've got a cold coming on.  Cleared out my respiratory system a bit.  

 

Today I'm on track to hit the gym at lunch as planned, though I might not run outside what with all the new snow we got today.  Probably run on a treadmill and then hit the weights.  I'm going to try the hardest push up variations for the mini-challenge, just to see what I'm capable of.  Though I don't think I'll do very well!

 

Have stayed pretty close to the diet plan, and I've seen some good results in my GI system.  I haven't really had any serious acid reflux to speak of, and I have only had to take antacids twice this week.  Considering how often I was chomping those things through the holidays, I feel pretty good about that.  Though I had one piece of french toast for breakfast yesterday (staff appreciation breakfast and nothing else was appealing) and a couple of small, homemade multigrain pancakes today (made them this past weekend and I hate to throw food out).  Anyway, next week I'm going to try and shift to fully paleo, which means cutting out the rest of the grains from my life.  

[Alexandrite]

It's so great to get good results out of the diet changes, glad you were able to do that!

Everyone's been having crazy weather and here our snow melted off and it's sunny. Hoping you have a great weekend anyway!

Sent by my Navi-powered device!

[RogueLibrarian]

Subbing out of respect for Garrett, who is The Man. Go go go, dude.

[mediaguy99]

It's so great to get good results out of the diet changes, glad you were able to do that!

Everyone's been having crazy weather and here our snow melted off and it's sunny. Hoping you have a great weekend anyway!

Sent by my Navi-powered device!

 

Thanks so much for noticing.  For some reason I thought you were in LA--but I guess you've moved somewhere where they get snow now, yes?

 

Subbing out of respect for Garrett, who is The Man. Go go go, dude.

 

Awesome!  Thief 1 was a real breakthrough game, I thought.  I've played all but the newest one... and I'll play that next month I hope

 

Today's workout was much needed.  Work is so out of hand right now, but I just headed over to the gym, ran 3 miles on a treadmill (it's freezing and snowing now), and then did an abbreviated upper body workout, and squats.  Good times.  

 

Uneven push-ups 21

Pull ups narrow natural 8,5,3

Tricep pulls 3x8x32.5 (downstairs)

Squats 3x7x135

Bench press 3x6x95 

 

Tomorrow I'm helping a friend move, and my archery club has it's annual meeting.  So, I might not have time to do anything tomorrow.  I will try and get the bike set up on the trainer down in the basement though, so I can pump out a few "miles" before the meeting.  But I'm not going to be able to play racquetball with Mrs. MG...

 

[RogueLibrarian]

Awesome!  Thief 1 was a real breakthrough game, I thought.  I've played all but the newest one... and I'll play that next month I hope

 

It wasn't a heartbreaking work of genius, but it was Thief and it was good. I won't be the first to tell you this, but you need to play Dishonored if you haven't yet.

 

Good job on the workout! You're several levels ahead of where I want to be.

[Alexandrite]

We made the move to Eastern Oregon at the end of last year, one of the reasons I took a break from challenges. Now we're all settled in and house acquired, time to get back to business! Have a great weekend!

Sent by my Navi-powered device!

[mediaguy99]

It's time to go paleo now.  Started this morning with the usual spinach/raspberry concoction, and threw in three turkey sausages.  Managed to walk out of the coffee shop without a croissant.  Win!

 

I need to look at the classes schedule at the rec center for the week before I post my plans for the week.  But I do know, today is a REST DAY.  I really need it!  Yesterday's tele skiing at Mary Jane was brutal!  I'm not prepped well enough for this year's season...

[mediaguy99]

OK, I lied.  I'm going to yoga today for some serious stretching.  And then tonight while my son is at swimming lessons I'll do a quick upper body blast in the gym:  Pull ups, bicep curls, lunges (as if yesterday wasn't enough!), wall-sits, and overhead press.  My lower abs/hip flexors are really giving me some pain so I'm going to stay away from the ab work today.  I also might need to update this list based on the Mini-Challenge... but it seems a shame to waste a half an hour watching swim lessons...

 

Just had an apple with some nut butter... mmmm.... the perks of paleo (ish)!

[Priscillia]

Nice to know the diet is helping big time

 

Speaking of stretching, have you tried doing splits (front mostly) against the wall? You're mostly letting gravity do the work but they seem to help go deeper once you relax and let go.

[Sea Level]

Looks like you're rockin' it!

[Alexandrite]

Look at you rocking the exercise while parenting! Love it. Glad you had a good weekend!

Sent by my Navi-powered device!

[mediaguy99]

Nice to know the diet is helping big time

 

Speaking of stretching, have you tried doing splits (front mostly) against the wall? You're mostly letting gravity do the work but they seem to help go deeper once you relax and let go.

 

 It really is.  It's just hard to stick with.  I love eating paleo, but I love baking and corn meal mush and oatmeal, and yummy bread and cheese, so it's hard to stay 100% off.  My hope this time around is that after I'm clear of all the things that trigger GERD, I can slowly re-introduce things to see if they trigger me.  So I know for sure what it is that gets my stomach all riled up.

 

As for splits vs. wall, I haven't tried that.  I'm not even sure I understand--would one go into splits sitting on the floor with their feet against the wall, and then lean into the wall?  That might work though I don't actually get much past vertical spine in that position.  I'd want to install a handle on the wall to pull forward against!  If I'm not getting the right idea with that, maybe there's an explanatory video out there you could share with all of us?

[mediaguy99]

Looks like you're rockin' it!

 

Look at you rocking the exercise while parenting! Love it. Glad you had a good weekend!

Sent by my Navi-powered device!

 

Thanks, both of you!  The apprentice turned FIVE over the break there, so he's actually able to self monitor and self-entertain for upwards of a half hour now.  Makes it a lot easier to work out when he's around