Last night’s workout. January 18, 2008
Posted by Jeff in Cardio, Extra-Curricular, Fitness.Tags: active, Cardio, driveway, Exercise, frustrated, shovel, snow, what did you do?, workout
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Wasn’t at the gym.
It was in my driveway, shoveling snow. We’ve just recently got a dump of snow about 4 inches, and I hadn’t shovelled the previous few times, so we’ve got some good buildup on the driveway.
The snowbanks are now over 3, someplaces 5, feet on my driveway. My driveway is probably about 375 sq. feet or so. It’s not huge, but it’s a good 30-40 minutes of shovelling on a good day. Yesterday wasn’t so.
First of all, I had to shovel the paths as well, to the door, barbecue (yes, it gets used in winter…) and blaze a trail to the shed. The shed has the crib and stuff in it, and we’ll need to unpack some of that this weekend as we’re setting up the nursery.
Then, I had to clean the drive entrance. When it snows and I shovel, I usually have to do this area twice, so sometimes it gets forgotten the second time. What happens is that the city comes by and plows the road into the sidewalk, creating a berm. I have to shovel that out when I do the driveway, otherwise cars can’t get into my driveway – our pilot can, but it’s an SUV.
Then, the city comes by two days later with the bobcat plowing the sidewalk. This creates a second berm – the one that sometimes doesn’t get shovelled.
Long story short, as of yesterday there was an 8 inch step up onto my driveway, so I had to get out some tools (that weren’t meant for the job, or nice to my back) and chip away at it to create a slope that a car can traverse.
An hour later, and with my heartrate a lot higher than when it started, a car can get into my driveway.
I didn’t quite even make it to they Rec Center to use the steam sauna, though it would have been nice. But I did get a solid cardio workout, even if it was outside rather than in. Sort of better in a way.
That was my workout. What did you do yesterday to be physically active? No, for real – not snarky at all. Feel free to post in the comments about what you did yesterday, or even this week, to stay active.
Keep on swimming… January 15, 2008
Posted by Jeff in Cardio, Diet, Fitness.Tags: Cardio, sauna, steam, swimming, update
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Gym last night was good, except I didn’t go. I decided to do my cardio in the water instead and did 6 laps. that only works out to three lengths, and I’m sore today.
Also hit the new steam sauna we have for about 40 minutes – heavenly. I have yet another reason to get my but to the gym, just to sit in that awesome steam sauna.
Sam mentioned that she’d read that cardio swimming isn’t as efficient as running etc, because either your temperature doesn’t rise or because you don’t sweat. I’d heard it was good cardio, because your whole body was involved and your heartrate tended to stay higher – anyone reading this have any input on this?
My diet yesterday was bad. No breaky, chinese for lunch (lots of veggies, but lots of crap too) and salad (good) with caeser dressing (bad) and wings (bad). Also a bowl of ice cream (bad) and berries (good). Didn’t drink enough water, but did manage a few glasses.
Super-Mega-Ultra-Cardiovascular-Fat-Burning-Update of Doom November 7, 2007
Posted by Jeff in Boxing, Cardio, Exercise Program, Fitness.Tags: Boxing, Cardio, Fatty McGee, gym, heavy bag, pop, soda, target pads, Weights
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I made it to the gym last night, after missing both times last week, making me feel a bit like Fatty McGee again. I’m getting a cold, so I didn’t swim and I was a bit “woozy”. However, I managed to get a decent workout in, even if it was off track for my circuit training.
I started out with 10 minutes light cardio on a bike, then did some Iron Crosses with Scott and Ken. 10lbs is about my limit, my right arm could do more but my left shoulder is still weak from last winters spectacular skiing crash. The Crash of 2006 you could call it.
I did military presses (20lbs) and incline presses (20) and seated rows (45).
I then took a break and did a couple minutes of target pads with Ken. I’m really loving the target pads, havn’t had them since boxing so long ago – great cardio workout. The everlast gloves I bought that work like handwraps are stellar – they are quick to put on, quick to take off, and have nice foamy-gelly-paddy stuff over your knuckles – allowing you to do pads and bag work and stuff without a dire need for bag gloves – which I’m still going to buy a pair next spending money time.
I’m already thinking about where I can put a speed bag and heavy bag in my house – no good ideas yet.
On the Soda Challenge – well, I’m covered in loser-sauce. I managed it for a couple of weeks, but now I’m back to drinking Pepsi probably once or twice a week on average. Still not bad, but not meeting the challenge requirements.
[[With all this talk of boxing, I'm wondering if Mr. James-ey boy is jealous yet.!?!]]
Today I go to the gym again. September 18, 2007
Posted by Jeff in Cardio, Exercise Program, New Idea, Weights.add a comment
Last thursday was probably one of the better workouts I’ve had in a while, partly because I went alone.
I did 15 minutes on the elliptical trainer. Then I did some stretches and did about 10 rounds of jogging/skipping in one minute rounds. In between these I either stretched for 30-45 seconds or did sets of weights.
I did:
20lb bicep curls x10, 3 times.
15lb dual-bicep curls x15, 2 times.
45lb pec-deck x10, 2 times.
Assisted (-70lb) pullups/chinups x10, 2 times.
So I averaged about 25 minutes of cardio or so. It seemed to work well, energized me without tireing me out, and I didn’t swim. (/ laze in hottub.)
Scott might come tonight, and maybe Chris too. I’m going to try to stick to the same routine, because I think it’s a good start. I’m not too worried about weights right now, except that building muscle helps metabolism and it’ll help my waistline shrink.
Upcoming post on my diet changes that I’m going to try implementing.
Today when I go I’ll be checking how long until I have to pay for my locker again, putting my name on the list for a big one, and getting my yearly pass. Last time I did that I failed, but with Sam pushing me, and me pushing me, and Scott around to motivate me, this blog to motivate me, and me to try and keep Chris and Ken motivated, I should be in better shape. (round. ;)
We’ll see.
Where to start…? September 14, 2007
Posted by Jeff in Cardio, Exercise Program, Fitness, New Idea, Weights.1 comment so far
A couple of years ago I was 220 lbs. I’m about 5′7″ – so I was pretty overweight.
A combination of poor diet, stress, depression and gym trips got me down to about 175 lbs. I cruised along for a while, but then injured my shoulder in a skiing accident (jumping over a picnic table) and was out of the gym for 4 months or so. Just as I got back, I had my gall-bladder removed.
Now I’m just getting back to the gym 4 months later. I’ve been ordered by my doctor to hit the gym twice a week, doing mostly cardio. I’m to stay away from abdominal and back exercises, as my scars from my laprascopic surgery aren’t healed properly, the’ll need another 3 months or so to get to the point where they’ll be stretchy.
Everything else though is fair game.
So – I’m back to the gym. I’m currently at 186 lbs, but I look larger as I’ve lost whatever muscle tone I had built up. My fitness goals are as follows:
1) Build my muscle tone in my arms, chest, shoulders and legs.
2) Lose some weight. Rough target is 160 lbs.
3) Tighten up my abs – this is going to have to be a lower priority as I can’t just hit them with lots of work, I need to do it slowly and carefully.
4) Fix my posture.
So far my plan is thus:
Tuesdays
Cardio 10-20 minutes (about all I can do, on elliptical or stationary bike)
Stretching in 30 second rounds interspersed with skipping or jogging in place in 1 minute rounds
3 sets of weights on arms, freeweights for now. Currently at 20 lbs per arm.
3 sets of weights on one other muscle group of my choice.
Thursdays
So far same as tuesdays.
As things go along I’ll update this. I may add other authors later if friends want to get onboard.
