Saturday, September 20, 2008

Saturday 6:00AM

Sunrise is definitely at a later time by now. It was dark at 6:00AM this morning. The sun has risen by now and I'm sitting on my park bench in my front yard at this moment. There is a cool breeze coming or going South West as I perceive it. There is nothing spectacular about this Sunrise, but it really depends on how you look at it. It's another glorious day.

I can hear the birds chirping, slowly the sounds of the city begin to take over. The light gets stronger and my energy levels rise as well. Now a few dogs are barking in the distance. Crows are moving about and our local wild parrots are approaching. Coming in the same direction of the wind. The music they make is now at its peak as they fly over me. It's hundreds it seems. My neighbors have a fig tree and they usually come to feast on it. Some fly in pairs other in larger groups. As they call out to each other the morning is in full swing.

While for many one more day is another day of suffering, mixed feelings overwhelm me. I count my blessings. I have beautiful friends, a wonderful family and much to live for.

My dogs are now barking as the Yellow Pages are delivered by a group of workers. I greet him and smile. The Sun is now more apparent behind the neighborhood trees. The parrots are mostly gone and I can hear their faint calls in the distance. The normal chirping of regular birds returns and everything is a little quieter for a few seconds.

It is another day in Whittier, Ca. The various hues of green are more apparent now. As the strong light from the Sun goes over the crest of the trees in the distance I see the humming bird activity rising as well.

Well I'm about to get hit with 10,000 light luxe. It's good to be alive. The difference of where I sit and other parts of the world is amazing. Time and unforeseen occurrences befall us all.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Fat Loss Part Deux

Today I end the high rep phase of the program. I'll be doing Squats followed by bent rows. Lunges, Presses, abs and Hip Extensions. My reps today will be in the 20s instead of 15s. Just cause I like to experiment. Inches have been lost but weight fluctuates a lot. I'm still happy with the results.

Monday, September 08, 2008

Tracking (again).

My progress has been up and down (mostly flat). I was reviewing my old training logs and it dawned on me that I could not review what I have done in the last nine months.

Simply I have not been using my workout log. So who knows what's going on! How many servings of Ice Cream have derailed my progress? Don't know! How many days have I worked out? Don't know! Has my weight improved (muscle vs fat)? I don't know!

I have the darn logs sitting there and have not used them. I log things on my fitday account and at PrecisionNutrition but it sure is handy to have a book that does not require batteries or the like.

So back to tracking it is. It will allow me to use my time wisely and record electronically in more detail.

Now all I have to do is find those water proof ink pens (sweat tends to make regular ink smear).

Friday, September 05, 2008

Wave Workout

The object of this workout called a "Wave", is to do sets at higher weights progressively. You do a one repetition set at a higher weight. Then you do your regular set at a lower weight. The idea is to overload on the one rep set and make the subsequent set easier.

Hard work as you'll see on the last one set rep.

The "Wave" then goes something like this (I'm doing deadlifts, you can apply it to other safe workouts).

135lbs deadlifts set of 5+ reps
225lbs deadlift set of 1 rep
205lbs deadlift set of 5+ reps
275lbs deadlift set of 1 rep
215lbs deadlift set of 5+ reps
305lbs deadlift set of 1 rep
225lbs deadlift set of 6 reps
375lbs deadlift set of 1 reps (this is where it gets difficult)
Succeeded at 325lbs for set of 1 rep

Checking Dead Lift Form



I shot this video of myself because I always wanted to see if I'm doing the lift correctly. Comments are welcomed. Videos are great for use as mirrors when other eyes are not available to help you out.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

The weekend -- Labor Day

I had another chance to barbecue this weekend. There was some dancing as on my last episode but I was tired.

The day begun with real world dead lifts. I had agreed to re-arrange our pond's design and that involved moving all the pebbles and rock arrangements.

I had forgotten how heavy some of these rocks were. It's one thing to pick up a barbell with let's say 200lbs. There is the bar and the weight is balanced. A rock weighting 150lbs is much more of a challenge because there are no handles. I picked up alright, then I realized.. now what? That was just one rock. I needed to move various rocks around the yard over the deck and into the waterfall area of the pond.

A real world dead lift workout. The whole affair took three to four hours. Moving it here, move it there under the watchful eye of my gorgeous wife.

Once done came time for the grill. I setup my laptop as before, my speakers and tuned into Pandora.com for uninterrupted music listening. It was great but I was still a bit tired and dancing was not as energetic.

All in all it was an excellent weekend. My workout today will not involve lifting of anything!

That was my feeling until I went to the gym. I talked myself into doing front squats and as soon as that was done I did four twenty second sprints with full rest in between. So much for taking it easy.