CaffiNation’s Exercise Log

Own It

Its a new week, time to own it. I threw my iPod at my self angain today so not the best start i could have hoped for. BTW i was 243 lbs on Saturday i just kept forgetting to post it. Next week we'll see where i end up, i have a block party to run next sat. Beer, food and mayhem, should be awesome. however i need to get lean and mean before then, beer aside. Trying to cut back the later night binging after a workout. I get so hungry i just know this is killing my progress.

10 minute walk to the gym
20 minutes on treadmill. 5 min @ 3.5 mph 5 min @ 6 mph then increasing incline to 10 percent gradually while at 3.5 mph. hard stuff towards the end. 2 minute cool down
10 minutes of stretching
3 sets of 20 crunches, with arms straight overhead
3 sets of 12 back extensions
stretching & 10 minute walk back to work.

I am exhausted. Need to bring the good gym shoes tomorrow, these suck.i proably need to eat different food to fill me up better but man alive i'm hungry enough to eat almost anything right about now

~ Paul

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Effort

One of the biggest assets my wife has attributed to weight watchers and her astounding success, she lost over 70 lbs... twice. Once for our wedding and secondly after giving birth to Paul. He was a big kid but DAMN, was the embarrassment factor. She was embarrassed to show a gain in front of all those people. Last september when i was attending odcamp i was embaressed by the pictures that people took. i was a hefty geek. No mo excuses i cried and started on weight watchers. i dropped over 40 lbs but it really isn't enough i hit a plateau in January and haven't moved much since. i'm trying to get healthy so i need to drop weight and work out hence this started.

September 07 i was 6'2" 280 Lbs
As of January i was same height but 240 lbs
Right now i'm roughly the same but in better shape, if that makes sense.

I am going to be embarrassing myself by posting my wii fit weight on Saturdays from now on. I don't have time to do the wii fit normally and they don't let you edit past days so i can't add my stuff in if i don't turn it on that day. i could just make time but eh who wants to do that. So as of tommorow you'll see that post

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~ Paul Rj Muller ~
The CaffiNation PodCast
Caffeine Culture & Technology News
www.caffination.com

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Now for today

After the pain of yesterday and general body weariness after all the walking i did yesterday i wasn't in a good place for a workout.
10 minute walk over
20 minute warm up hill climb. on treadmill. started out at 3.5 for 5 mins at 2 percent grade worked up to 6 percent grade at 3.2 mph Worked two sprints into the routine 6.5 pmh for 1 mint @ 3 percent grade and 7.5 mph @ 6 percent grade for 1 minute. Hard stuff.
I wore the wrong shoes for running again today so i didn't try to do more than a brisk walk

• 10 minutes extended stretching. Trying to loosen shoulders and neck from tension.
• 3 sets of 15 reps crunches
• 3 sets of 12 reps back extensions
• another 5 minutes of stretching

10 minute walk back across campus

all in all a great week of working out  made it all five days, hurt myself a little bit and  still managed to work through the soreness. here's to a good weekend

 

I also saw this article don't know if its something i should take into consideration when working out.

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~ Paul Rj Muller ~
The CaffiNation PodCast
Caffeine Culture & Technology News
www.caffination.com

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a day messed up

Oh i went to the gym yesterday but the rest of the day precluded me from writing an email...

I got off the a horrible late start. i was working in the computer moving furniture. 8 ft long bitcher block table tops, out of solid maple. heavy son of a guns to be sure!

So i was an hour late to the gym.

Normal 10 minute walk, forgot my lovely blue cross notebook, so no gym credit for yesterday either. only my sweat to show for it

• 15 minute bike ride to warm up
• 3 sets of 12 reps @ 40 lbs bicep curls
• 3 sets of 12 reps @ 40 lbs tricep press
• 3 sets of 12 reps @ 50 lbs Galileo Fly
• 3 sets of 12 reps @ 40 lbs lat pulldown

Stretching out
on the lat pulldowns my already sore right shoulder started to scream a bit. i need to man up and get a doctor appointment with Temple Ortho soon. sigh

Also for some reason when i get stressed out my neck tenses up and i get neck aches. have had one for the past couple of days

--
~ Paul Rj Muller ~
The CaffiNation PodCast
Caffeine Culture & Technology News
www.caffination.com

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Spun

The dreaded day has come. My gym crazy wife had convinced me into trying spinning. I don't like to run, its just not fun. But i love to bike. Both on the road and on the exercise bike. the more difficult the better usually. So i thought this was going to be hard, but i didn't think it was going to hurt this much.

So i Had a 10 minute walk over to the gym, a 45 minutes spinning session and a 10 minute walk back. but that doesn't begin to explain the experiance.

First off i was late, so i WAS "that guy" walking in late. I should have been early as this was my first time. Secondly it was not held in the usual room but rather a racquetball court... think of the echo. turn up the volume, and add more echo with someone attempting to give instructions over it. I chose a poor bike, which wobbled so the instructor got off her bike came back and told me to move. sigh so much for sitting in the back of the class. I did however get to watch one of my friends have an awesome racquetball match across the hallway... longingly.

I didn't have a water bottle, big mistake. easily fixed when i try again. Secondly my wife told me after the class that i had chosen a poor bike, mainly because the handlebars didn't come up high enough for me. Would have been nice to know. There was a student from my department in the class as well. My air of invincible fear is gone in a puff of sweaty smoke.

My knees didn't appreciate the standing, sitting and general un bike like motion, but i'll try again on monday. Getting there early and picking a good bike.

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Never sent

Apparently firefox crashed before the email was sent... not after. So here in a nutshell is what happened today. The facility threw off my game by  having the bikes out of commission. I don't like to run two days in a row because i have had problems with shin splints and have two surgically repaired knees as it is. When i build up to it maybe but I think i'm pushing my luck.

This was the first day with my Independence Blue Cross book, so as more incentive if i go 120 days over the next year i get 150 dollars refunded for wellness credits or something... 10 days a month min to make this work out. Here's hoping.

Warm up 10 minute walk across campus.

• 15 minutes on the treadmill. 5 min warm up @ 3.5 mph. 1 minute jog at 6 mph to get things going then 9 minutes at 5 % incline 3.8 mph power walk to stress calves and work on cardio in general
• 3 sets of 15 @ 100 lbs on leg press.
  
• 3 sets of 12 @ 70 lbs on leg extension
• 3 sets of 12 @ 70 lbs on leg curl: felt better on the machine this week but still not good form
• 3 sets of 12 with my whole fat ass as weight on Calf raises
• 10 minutes of leg stretches 
  

10 minute warm down walk back to office. to hot out for this type of walk. might need to slow down. I'm still sweating by the time i get back to the office. the cool down is supposed to do just that cool me down... sheesh

No funny stories, no quips, just a simple man a iPod full of podcasts and an hour lunch.

--
~ Paul Rj Muller ~
The CaffiNation PodCast
Caffeine Culture & Technology News
www.caffination.com

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Yet another Gaff

If you follow my twitter stream you would know i was going to try to attend a spinning class today. I got to the gym a bit late, the door was closed and a sign in front. So i didn't want to be "That guy" and walk in late so i did other things. Seeing more work people there of late, not a bad thing but its funny how maybe i just didn't notice them before.

One more in the litany of silly things i have done. Walking on the treadmill while warming up i didn't have my iPod with me because i was supposed to be in the class. I zoned out while warming up and actually lengthened my stride to stretch my legs out, and walked right off the back of the treadmill... I recovered  before i actually fell off but i looked a might bit silly again. And this time the gym was full so i had more witnesses.

Warm up 10 minute walk, giving the humidity and the heat today it was more like a swim.

• 15 minutes on treadmill. 4 min @ 3.5 mph warm up. 2 min at 6 mph 2 min @ 3.5, 2 min @ 7.5 6 min at 3.5
• 10 minutes of Stretching quads, hamstrings, arms, groin, achilies & back
• 3 sets of 15 crunches, done slower than before. 3 count
• 3 sets of 12 hanging back extensions *

10 Minute "cool down" walk back to office. Cool being a relative term there.

I noticed my form was pretty sloppy in the back extensions this time i actually ended up pulling a muscle in the small of my back just a little. Need to pay more attention to form and doing the exercises slowly. I speed things up and get hurt too much.

I also woke up this mornings with a really tight right shoulder, started hurting while i was running? So i slowed down. I think i either slept on it funny or i was painting too much yesterday. Tell my wife that :-D

And the great thing. After talking to my wife who was in the spinning class i need to read the directions more often. I wasn't late they moved the room the session was in. I complain all the time about people not reading posters, and now i'm guilty. Until next time


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~ Paul Rj Muller ~

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How to occupy oneself

Day 4 in a row at the gym this week, last week I had a break on Wednesday but who knows what tomorrow will bring when I'm home and the boy needs to go down for a nap in the middle of the day. I have free weights so that might work out, but I also have a ton of things to do around the house. Sweating is sweating right?

The problem with the stationary bikes is that they are right in front of the TV's i don't want to watch TV but i have no choice. So todays as always we had a judge show, Mad TV, sports, politics, soap opera ect. Its pretty enjoyable to time lyrics in the songs on my ipod to the inane dialog on the tv. Rammstien makes the soap opera's awesome. Its like Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon and Oz some days. An Argument on a Soap opera and heavy German music FTW

Today 10 Minute walk o're the Gym.
30 Minutes on Exercise Bike Hill Course Difficulty 10. I think the machine said I did either 10.58 Miles or km, that part was broken. I averaged 98 rpm so I think it meant to say miles but i have been wrong before. At least this machine was speaking english unlike two days ago.
3 sets of 15 crunches
3 sets of 12 back extensions.
slow stretching.  Legs a little sore from yesterday's leg workout but nothing major, just ached around 10 minutes into the ride.

I really do prefer riding my bike to riding a stationary replacement, better AC on the road model. You stew in your own air on the  stationary bike.  Overall I'd say it was a good week, still standing, only a bit stiff the next day no pain this time in any of the problem areas. Surgically repaired knees, fine. un repaired torn rotator cuff, doing dandy. No shin splints from the treadmill. And plantar faciatis is actually getting better!

~Paul

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Almost Died a very funny death

Yeah so this is going to end up being a recurringtheme I can tell. Ways in which i mess up whilst working out. Otherwise normal workout. I find thaty by writing my progress down i'm less tempted to cheat and less tempted to bump the weight / reps more than needed. SO far nothing more then minimal soreness the day after every once in a while. Which i can usuaully trace to bad form on the machine or doing something stupid the day before. Which is a very good sign I'm starting just slow enough, but I'm tired afterwards which means i'm doing it right i guess.

Today as always started with the 10 minute walk to the Gym

• 15 minutes on the treadmill, 5min warm up at 3.5mph, 3 min at 6 mph, 2 min at 3.5 mph, 1.5 min at 7.5 mph 5.5 min cooldown
• Leg Press 3 sets of 12 reps @ 100 lbs
• Leg Extension 3 sets of 12 reps @ 70 lbs
• Leg Curls 3 sets of 12 @ 70 lbs
• Calf raises 3 sets of 12 hoisting my fat ass

Leg curl has the added bonus of being one of those machines which seems to catch my heel as i perform the exercise, need to find a different placement or thats gonna get old.

Cooldown back to office

How did i almost kill myself? Well after i started the first run on the treadmill my wildly swinging arm clipped my headphones, which pulled my ipod off the console onto the treadmill, i then hopped skipped and jumped around until i was thrown off the back. Very close to landing in an MXC style face-plant at least once. Much to the enjoyment of the two ladies running next to me. i then put my tail between my legs and the ipod back on the console and resumed running controlling my otherwise wildly swinging arms...

~ Paul

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Happy New Year... Fiscally Speaking

Today's adventures in sweat were delayed due to a managers meeting this AM which ran a bit over. The gym was a lot more crowded today i guess since i went later than usual. Part of the good thing about having a gym at work is that I get to go over lunch, you get to see your coworkers at times in a different light, which may help relating to them later. How can you be mean to the pudgy guy riding the bike? That guy is me...

Today started off as always with a brisk ten minute walk over to the gym, eventually i plan to jog there for a warm up but baby steps here. When i got to the gym i had to move what I was doing from legs to Arms and Chest, two very enthusiastic gentlemen were seeing who could grunt louder were using the leg equipment. I know who i would vote for, but i thought that stuff was reserved to the weight room not the machine area. Guess I'm wrong.

• 20 Minutes on the Stationary Bike at level 12, Hill course. In spanish...
  
• the bike was set to Spanish and i couldn't find the button to switch it back.  time to expand my horizons i guess. Thank god for pictographs and rudimentary high school Spanish
  
• Tricep Press @ 50 lbs: 3 sets of 12 reps, 30 second break
• Arm Curl  @ 40 lbs: 3 sets of 12 reps, 30 second break
  
• up form 30 last week, had some issues on third set
• Galileo Fly @ 50 lbs: 3 sets of 12 reps, 30 second break
  
• up from 40lb last week, staying here for a bit, last week was easy this week not so much
• Inclined chest press @ 30 lbs: 3 sets of 8
• felt i needed a bit more of a chest / shoulder workout, rough going the whole way.

All in all good workout, the other fun thing about working out at work is every once in a while i see my wife at the gym. She is fit like you wouldn't believe. She went to the gym up until she was 8 months pregnant and is a beast on the elliptical machine. Good thing she doesn't judge.

~Paul

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