Random Musings: Health and wellness

Is this all worth it?

Fri, 17 Dec 2004 05:29:57 GMT

I think I've hit some sort of wall -- I am starting to question the value of the exercise I have been doing for the past 4 months. I haven't lost what I consider to be a ton of weight. I'm sore all of the time now. I'm tired. I walk around like someone beat me up, and I sleep in odd positions because of legs that are too sore, or a back that hurts.

To what end is all this effort and pain? Has my body really slowed down to the point that it's going to take me a year to lose a few pounds no matter how hard I work at it? Is there a point at which my workouts won't make me wince in pain when I do normal things like walk up a staircase?

Maybe I'm just grumpy tonight...the thought of getting up tomorrow again at 5 AM to take this sore body and pound on it again...ugh...

Soreness and Yoga

Fri, 10 Dec 2004 16:38:20 GMT

Well, as you might imagine, the past two days have been very sore ones, but not where I was expecting it. I was expecting to have sore quads from all of the leg work, but as it turns out, it's my calves that are screaming and have been since yesterday.

As such, Debbie was kind to me today and just made me do Yoga. And let me tell you -- Yoga is not an easy thing when you're a huge inflexible mass of flesh. But I made it through and am cruising along quite nicely. I will fit in my cardio sometime this morning and hope for the best.

Remember, kids, take care of your body in your 20's. Trust me.

Leg Day

Wed, 08 Dec 2004 16:30:23 GMT

After the first three months of laying the foundation, my trainer has now upped the workouts a notch. This is the hardest I have ever worked out, and certainly the most dedicated I have ever been to it. Not sure what really made me focus, but you know I'm focused when I get up at 5:30 AM to get a workout in.

In high school, I was a skinny kid with broad shoulders. Not particularly tall, but I always had this huge set of shoulders with skin and bones attached to them. The men on my mom's side of the family are giants. Every one of them over 6 feet tall, big big guys. So I ended up getting pieces of the framing, but the height of my short Irish side of the family. Good stuff.

Then my 20's hit, and I grew in both muscle and tons of fat, topping out about 7 years ago at 265 pounds. I may have even been more. My badge picture shows the horror, and it's why that badge is in my wallet in spite of security's request that I wear it "at all times." And now I have to undo the damage I did to myself in my 20's. I turn 38 this coming May, and I will reach 40 in the best shape of my life.

So today was an upping the notch day. We started out with four sets of leg extentions and "pikes" for my abs. No rest between sets. Rest for about a minute, then we moved to 4 sets of a squat/oblique combo, starting out with 20 reps of deep squats with a relatively light weight, then he upped the weight to 225 and I had to do superslow reps of 6 to 8. Again, no rest between sets.

Then the big one came. The leg press. Again, 4 sets, but this time he pushed me, eventually ending with this insane set of 6 with 555 lbs, dropping 90 lbs, 6 more, again dropping 90, and so on until we were done and I wanted my mommy. Now, if you're Steve or Jay, 555 pounds is probably nothing, but for me, that was a lot of frickin' weight.

We finished with calves and then I came home and made the pancakes I have every morning:

1 cup of uncooked oatmeal
1 cup of cottage cheese (fat free)
6 egg whites
a touch of vanilla and a sweetner

Blend in a blender and that is your pancake mix. I make double batches now because the entire family eats them.