MarylandBill Posted October 28, 2016 Report Share Posted October 28, 2016 Okay, will start with a short intro. A system admin from Maryland (hence the name), 46 years old, married and three young kids (as of this writing, ages 7, 5 and 2). I enjoy (or have enjoyed), pen and paper rpg, board games, playing Irish Traditional Music on the Concertina and other sundry instruments I dabble in, Amateur astronomy and hope to build my own telescope soon). About 6-7 weeks ago, I stood on the scale for the first time in months and didn't like what I saw... I can't remember if I hit 290 or not, but I was definitely in the mid to upper 280's. I had hit that weight back in my 30s and used South Beach diet and exercise to get things under control... Once the kids came a long however, it became harder and harder to get out the door early enough in the morning to hit the gym and easier and easier to reach for sugar to push me through my fatigue. Now though I realize that if I want to see my kids grow up and have kids of their own, I need to turn the tide. At first I tried diet shakes... and I lost a few pounds... emphasis on few... and I was hungry... a lot. So last week, with my wife's encouragement (She fortunately has never had my problems, even with gaining weight after the birth of our children, she could only described as thin, and is definitely fit), I ordered a rowing machine. Then realizing that I might need more, I started some basic body weight training to supplement it on Monday (it also will helped me get into the habit of getting up and working out). I am also working very hard to minimize simple sugars and starches in my diet (essentially South Beach without the induction phase). A little sugar in my morning coffee and some OJ mixed with seltzer in the evening... the rest of the time it will be water for my drinks (i.e., no soda). Right now I am concentrating my diet on lots of protein and veggies with perhaps a little brown rice or other whole grains. Now, for the workouts. Monday -- Body Weight day 15 jumping jacks to get started. Followed by the following circuit twice. 15 inclined push-ups using kitchen counter. 15 single handed rows using a gallon of water for weight... for each side. 10 bum lifts. 10 Not sure what to call them... press back and arms against a wall and then move arms up and down... harder than it sounds. Tuesday -- Cardio day Climbed the stairs in my house 15 times... Wednesday -- Body Weight day Repeat of Monday's workout. Thursday -- Got the rower 1.5 hours to assemble. Rowed 500 "meters", about 5 minutes. Fridays will be my weigh in day. Friday (Today) Weight 281 (cool, I am seeing pounds drop again). Rowed 550 meters, about 5 minutes for warm up. Twice around the body weight circuit. More coming soon. -- Bill 2 Quote Link to comment
MarylandBill Posted October 31, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2016 Saturday and Sunday were mostly rest days.... Saturday I did 5 minutes on the rower (still building up on that), and according to the Rower, about 550 meters. Also, took the two older boys the Patuxant Wildlife Refuge to see Birds of Prey and hear a falconer speak about them... Just slow moving around for about 2 hours. Nothing strenuous, but it is activity. Sunday I did 7 and a half minutes on the rower and did about 800 meters. This morning: Rowing machine for 10 minutes. 1057 meters. Two sets of: 15 pushups, 10 press back arms to wall and move them up and down 10 chair squats. After the rowing machine, the other activities in my body weight workout seemed to redundant, but they might get re added as I build up strength on the rowing machine and reach the strength limits of the machine. -- Bill Quote Link to comment
MarylandBill Posted November 2, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2016 Okay... November 1st means two things... 1. As a Catholic, it means All Saint's Day which is a Holy Day of Obligation. Since our two younger kids need to be in bed, I went to 6:30 AM mass at Church which meant no morning workout. 2. It means work has its first day of flood of Halloween Candy. So solution to number 1. I waited until the two younger kids are a sleep, and then did my best row yet. 15 minutes 1745 meters! Now... solution to number 2... none that I am aware of other than sheer will power... and at least today I did not fall off the wagon. All in all a successful day Quote Link to comment
MarylandBill Posted November 2, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2016 Okay, this morning was a duplicate of Monday. I didn't do more on the rower because I wanted something left in the tank for the body weight exercises. I made 1155 meters in the 10 minutes though... so definite progress. Quote Link to comment
MarylandBill Posted November 4, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2016 Okay, for a variety of reasons, was not able to workout until this evening... today was a cardio day, so on the rower I went.. and went and went (well, relative to what I have done before). Grand total is .... 21 minutes (6 minutes more than I have done before) and 2500 meters (755 meters more than before). Must say I am pretty pleased with my progress so far. -- Bill Quote Link to comment
MarylandBill Posted November 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2016 Okay.. I cheated, I did mostly Cardio today.. 25 minutes and 30 seconds for 3003 meters on the rower... Then two sets of 15 push ups. -- Bill Quote Link to comment
MarylandBill Posted November 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2016 Okay, Saturday and Sunday were, for the most part, rest days, although both days were filled with lots of activities with my kids that kept me from being a couch potato. This morning I hit the rower... this was the day I would do 30 minutes (for the first time, certainly not the last). Did 30 minutes, 3595 meters on the rower. I might have pulled for another several minutes to get to 3750 (I like roundish numbers), but because of a return to standard time, my last ten minutes on the rower were accompanied by an audience of my three kids, all of them wanting breakfast. Anyway, Managed to get some push ups in while I fed them breakfast. All in all, feeling good about myself. Particularly since my split time was slightly faster than before. Tomorrow, emphasis on strength training. -- Bill Quote Link to comment
MarylandBill Posted November 9, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2016 Okay, this morning the workout was shorter than intended because my 2 year old got up when my wife did (she got up early to vote before I went to work). So, this morning I did 8 minutes on the rower for a 1000 meters to warm up. And 1 and a half body weight circuits. After the kids were asleep, I did 2000 meters in 16 minutes which required me to row as hard as I could. -- Bill Quote Link to comment
MarylandBill Posted November 10, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2016 Stayed up late watching the election returns. Still not sure what happened. Anyway, hit the rower tonight. 32 minutes, 30 seconds an 4000 meters. Got off the rower really spent. But, despite the fact that I deliberately held back a bit to make 30+ minutes today, I still ended up with 500 m split times almost as quick as my one and two thousand meter sprints yesterday. Not sure how long I can keep upping the pace like this, but at the moment, I am happy Quote Link to comment
MarylandBill Posted November 11, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2016 Waited until the evening tonight. I did 35 minutes and 5 seconds and did 4300 meters on the rower. Should hit 5000 meters next week. --Bill Quote Link to comment
Sandavia Posted November 11, 2016 Report Share Posted November 11, 2016 Following! Really like the consistency and problem solving throughout! Quote Level 3 Human | Apocalypse Survivor Previous Challenges: 1, 2, 3 Challenge Spreadsheet | Meal Plan Spreadsheet | Workout Spreadsheet Link to comment
MarylandBill Posted November 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2016 Okay, Friday became an inadvertent rest day... I meant to row in the evening, but decided my wife needed me to make her brownies more (it was a rough day for her). Saturday we were really busy, but figuring something was better than nothing, I pushed out a thousand meter row in 7:48 seconds (Easily the fastest pace I have ever maintained for more than a few strokes). This evening, after a long day, I did a short 20 minute row and managed to go 2512 meters (My fastest time to 2500 meters). -- Bill Quote Link to comment
MarylandBill Posted November 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2016 On 11/11/2016 at 1:12 PM, Sandavia said: Following! Really like the consistency and problem solving throughout! Thanks. I find it is easier to be consistent than not... too easy to let a day or two of rest turn into a week. I actually plan on a weekend day off.. but only if I workout every day during the work week. Quote Link to comment
MarylandBill Posted November 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2016 Did another 2500 meters this morning. Will try for 3500 tomorrow. -- Bill Quote Link to comment
MarylandBill Posted November 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2016 Okay, today did 3211 meters in 25 minutes. Quote Link to comment
MarylandBill Posted November 17, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2016 Another 25 minutes... only 3201 meters. Quote Link to comment
MarylandBill Posted November 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2016 I had a few issues with the machine yesterday. Was able to get them resolved today did 20 minutes for 2695 meters. Bill Quote Link to comment
MarylandBill Posted December 2, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2016 Okay, been a week and a half since my last entry. Part of this was because we were out of town for Thanksgiving... Got home on Friday night and did a short row, 2000 meters in a hair under 15 minutes on Saturday... then spent most of the rest of the day on my feet since I took the boys to the Air and Space Annex in Dulles (highly worth it.. in many respects better than the original Air and Space museum because they have so many full size planes, including the Enola Gay, the Concorde and the Space Shuttle Discovery (okay, nitpick.. I know the Shuttle is not an airplane... but you know what I mean). Sunday spent the day doing house cleaning, raking leaves and other activities so no formal workout that day. Monday and Tuesday were lost because we had a barfing two year old. For anyone who has never had kids, two year olds are the worst sick kids because they are mobile, and start to run around again as soon as they vomit, and they resist every effort to put a bucket between their vomit and the floor, couch, bed, etc. Finally got back to it last night with a short row (another 2000 meters in 15 minutes). Tonight I did 3244 meters in 25 minutes. -- Bill Quote Link to comment
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