"It is, really.
What other species even questions what to eat or how much?
Where are our instincts? Killed by civilization, or just "in a coma"?"
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Countdown to Ultimate Goals
Day 1
Waist 43 7/8" - 7 3/8" to go. 36 1/2 is ultimate goal.
Body Fat 21.97% - 9.91% to go. 12% is ultimate goal
Weight 128.5kg - 15.5kg to go. 113kg is ultimate goal.
Workout
BER Strength (Cycle 1 Moderate Intensity)
Trinity Squats
Basic Spinal Rock (pretty well a straight leg sit up)
Screwing Arm Press-up (kind of pushup)
All 3 exercises done as giant superset for 1 round. Do 5 rounds.
TS - 15/30 reps all 5 rounds - goal 17/30 all rounds on Monday.
BSR - 10/10, 10/10, 5/10, 4/10, 4/10 - goal 1 more rep for each of last 3 rounds on Monday.
SAP - 5/10, 5/10, 5/10, 3/10, 3/10 - goal 5/10 for last two rounds on Monday.
*Since you use only body weight, strict form is extremely important in the BER workouts. You are required to stop as soon as you feel you are starting to lose perfect technique. Continuing with bad technique for the sake of more reps is detrimental to progress. On the other hand, I find that gains come much faster with bodyweight than using weights.
Nutrition will be posted later as I haven't started to eat yet today other than 2C water.
Breakfast - 1C oatmeal + apple jam and cinnamon, 2C NF milk
Lunch - 12" Subway roast chicken on whole wheat + Coke (not a single store in the area sold milk of any description.)
Snack - Smoothie + PB sandwich (this was post-ride)
Dinner - Spinach & mandarin orange salad + raw salmon.
* Didn't intend on the Coke, but was kinda stuck for choices. Met Soon-Jin for lunch at the War Museum b/c across from here office. Turns out not one store in the area sells any milk at all. Go figure.We did share the Coke.*
Between the snack and dinner went for a bike ride. Was gone about 90 minutes. Had to check out the new clothes:) It was 6 degrees. I ride near the river and there was a wind coming off it yesterday. so colder than 6. The new shoes/sneakers (what do you call those things anyway? Those hybrids of shoe/sneaker/boot.) were great. Vibram sole gave tons of support and the Gore-Tex uppers really helped keep my feet warm longer. Still need a good pair of socks for the cold weather though. Wore the shorts under sweat pants. Stayed nice and toasty. Love the chamois - my first pain/discomfort-free ride. The jacket was good, but I was a bit cold - I only wore a summer weight mountain hiking t-shirt underneath it. Wasn't enough to be uncomfortable, but definitely need a long-sleeve thermal undershirt for the cold weather. The gloves proved themselves more than equal to the cold.
Need to find or buy a couple of more things before I'm complete. My earmuffs for one.They wrap around the back of your head below the helmet. Found that a headband that covers the ears doesn't work very well when riding. The neck angle to see forward pushes it up exposing the ears. A face mask too. The local bike shop sells one that covers your nose, most of the ear (and hooks over the ears to keep it in place), and extends down under the shirt a bit to cover your neck. It's designed so no breathe comes out of the top - fogs your glasses. The breathe is directed sideways instead.
Comment
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Comment by John Mulcahy on December 30, 2010 at 3:15am -
Dec. 30
Cardio
Okay, stuck with the 10/20 timing and pushed for more reps. Here are the results:
Mountain Climbers: 12/12/12/12/12/12/12/12 = 96 - got my 1 more/set :)
Reactive Jumps: 9/8/7/6/4/5/4/6 = 49 - beat last total by 5 reps!
Leg Swoop: 2/2/2/2/2/2/2/2 = 16 - it's just not possible to get in even 1/2 swoop more. I only have 2 sec left after I stand up from the second swoop.
Quad Squats: 11/11/12/12/12/11/11/10 = 90 - beat last total by 8 reps!
Pushed much harder than last time and feel MUCH better for it - despite that I'm still wheezing and coughing. Nothin' like the sense of accomplishment from your own hard work.
Going to stay with 10/20 for at least 1 more workout. I think I've reached the realistic limit for mountain climbers, but will try to squeeze out a few more next time anyway. I can definitely get more reps out of the reactive jumps and the quad squats. The leg swoops just are not gonna move above 2 with only 10 seconds.
Fantastic workout!
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Comment by John Mulcahy on December 29, 2010 at 2:53am
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Dec. 29
After yesterday's bad stomach, I'm finally back at it.
Strength
Trinity Squats 30 / 30 / 30 / 30 / 30 - 150 total. Beat previous total by 25 reps.
Basic Spinal Rock 10 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10 - 50 total. Tbh I forgot I was going to do these with the pike, but it's still a bit of work to get the reps in the last 2 sets, so maybe it's better to stay here for now.
Screwing Arm Press 7 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 - 29 total. Less than previous total by 1 rep, but that's okay considering those extra 25 squats took a toll. I also was able to do 7 reps for the first 2 sets, so I feel good about that too.
Total Reps = 229.
Nutrition
Perfect. No cravings. Did consider momentarily getting something bad when I went out to take pictures of my outdoor gym - check the album once it's approved - but quickly dismissed the notion. And it was easy to "just say no." Feel good about that too.
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Comment by John Mulcahy on December 28, 2010 at 3:51pm
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Great book, isn't it,Tom?
No doubts you'll have it gone in time to celebrate!
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Comment by JBF Mentor Tom Mortensen on December 28, 2010 at 8:33am -
Couldn't agree more. Funnily enough I also bought Dave's Anabolic Cooking about a month ago, and I use it all the time.
Plenty of exercise today! I couldn't use my stomach as an excuse, except that it has grown a little out of proportion :-) Did 50 min. HIIT spinning and 40 min. kettle bells. Those kettle bells are really good for my lower back, except they do require strict adherence to form.
Only three days left to shed those seasonal pounds, but it looks like I will make it!
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Comment by John Mulcahy on December 28, 2010 at 5:20am
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No exercise today - bad stomach.
Nutrition perfect. Dinner was Italian Chicken Parmesan from Dave Ruel's Anabolic Cooking which you can buy at:
http://www.anaboliccooking.com/
I made a broccoli and bell pepper salad with 1T coarse ground Dijon and 2T Wishbone Italian dressing to have with it. 10 min to prep the chicken and 30 min to bake. Made the salad while the chicken was cooking. Everything was ready 5 minutes after Soon-Jin got home. Actually made 3 pieces and will have 1 for lunch tomorrow.
This is my second recipe from the book. The first was more a suggestion - tuna and salsa. You just drain a can of water packed tuna, dump in a bowl and add as much salsa as you like. I used 5 or 7 tablespoons of Pace medium salsa - didn't measure. Bought some nice whole grain crackers from Costco and nice lunch with 2C no-fat milk. When the family was here Christmas Day I made 2 lots of this with both cut up cheddar cheese and Parmesan cheese (powdered form) on the side. Pretty well everyone loved it - that's why I had to make a second batch :)
This book is what I've been looking for - simple, healthy recipes. Calorie, protein, carb, and fat amounts all given since Dave is a competitive bodybuilder out of New Brunswick. If cooking isn't your strength or if you're just looking to add to the list of good dishes to make, this book is one you should get.
Hopefully my stomach will be better tomorrow so I can get back to my workouts.
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Comment by JBF Mentor Tom Mortensen on December 27, 2010 at 2:48pm
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Let me join you in this humble request for a return to "normal" eating and exercise habits, whatever they might be! I managed to survive the holidays with a 2lbs fat gain, but I expect to have them off again, come new years eve!
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Comment by John Mulcahy on December 26, 2010 at 4:21pm
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After 2 days of eating whatever crap I want and my exercise consisting of.....nothing.....it's time to get back on track. Christmas was nice, but the party's over!
Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with family, friends and all the "bad" food you could mange :)
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Comment by John Mulcahy on December 22, 2010 at 2:56am
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10 am: went for a bike ride for about 1hr.
5:30 pm: Cardio
First day using the 10/20 timing and just going for aggregate reps for each exercise.
Mountain climbers - 11 reps/set = 88 reps. I believe I can squeeze out 1 more/set.
Reactive Jumps - this one was weird. Reps went like this: 8/6/4/4/5/6/6/5 = 44 reps. Definite room for improvement here.
Leg swoops - 2 reps/set = 16 reps. Remember that 1 rep is to squat from standing, do a leg swoop in both directions and then stand up again - so 1 rep takes 4 - 5 seconds. I'll push for an extra half rep/set and try to remember to alternate which side I start with for each set.
Quad squats - also a bit odd, but not so bad as the jumps. Reps were: 9/10/10/10/11/10/11/11 = 82 reps. Can definitely push for 11 reps/set here.
Total aggregate reps for the workout = 230. Not bad. Going to keep the 10/20 timing for the next workout and see how much I can improve over today. Will keep the 10/20 timing until I'm sure I've maxed out the total number of reps I can do.
Took 10 or 15 minutes to recover from this, so I count that as a good workout.
Nutrition was perfect today. No cravings. Tomorrow is recovery day, so planning a fast. Also will be tracking around the city a bit checking ingredients at the foreign supermarkets.
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Comment by John Mulcahy on December 21, 2010 at 3:25pm
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Being on vacation and stress free has gone a long way to getting myself re-established in both my workouts and nutrition - especially eating well.
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Comment by JBF Mentor Tom Mortensen on December 21, 2010 at 2:54pm
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John, it looks like you're on a roll! Just "cruising" along following your game plan.
7MM's way of counting aggregated reps is a simple yet effective way of ensuring progress. What I find is that ever so often I will stay on a certain number of reps and weight for a certain exercise over 2-3 weeks, trying to either improve form, speed or any other variable. This means I will progress more slowly, but my aging body will have time to adapt and repair.
Way to go, keep it up!
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