4+ years later

And I'm still fat.  Fatter in fact.  Frustrating.  But only my fault.  Frustrated with myself.  I'm the only one to blame.  I have discipline issues.  I haven't prioritized things.  I've become lazy and just let myself slip.

So 2 days ago I started anew.  Starting with cleaning up my diet.  But it's hard.  And not fun.

And tonight I plan on going to the gym.  Really.  It's been like 2 years since I went.

Lost all my strength.  Gained all this weight.

While probably not the best metaphor for someone looking to lose weight, How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.  I'm starting down that path.

Decline Bench - 315x4 on 2-26-2013

These 4 went up really quite easy.  You can see/hear I hit the rack twice (on the first rep especially) and even that didn't derail my lifts.  I think I could've done another 1-2 possibly, but my goal was 4 so I stopped there.

Still grinding it, just very slowly

January has been a horrible month for working out.  A rental property we own came open this month, so every waking moment that I'm not working at church or taking care of family responsibilities has been absorbed with painting, fixing, sink installing, carpet cleaning, driving back and forth and showings at this house.  Unfortunately it is 90 miles away, so this all takes A LOT of time.  But it is now rented, and after tomorrow the family will begin to move in.  Praise Jesus!

I've been so busy that I literally haven't seen a single NFL playoff football game.  I've listened to some on the radio while working at and showing the rental, but none on TV.  And if you know me, that's really saying something.

What that has meant for my workouts is I was at the gym all of once this week thus far.  3 times last week.  Once the week before that.  Thankfully I'm working hard at the house so I haven't been gaining weight.  But I have lost strength and stamina.

I flat benched last night for the first time in a quite a while and my weights were noticeably down.  Warmed up with 135x8, then 225x8, 265x8 and then went and did decline cable presses.  The cable press amount was only down 10lbs, but I could really feel it in endurance.

I alternated the cable press with Push Press doing 135x8, 135x6, and 135x6.  I could've probably done more, but by #6 on both of the last sets my form was bordering on breaking down, and that's where I try to draw the stopping line.  Not worth pushing on and getting hurt due to bad form.  Did some other arm specific lifts, and then called it a night.

Hoping to get back to the gym again tomorrow night, and then again on Sunday.  That at least will give me 3 times for the week.

Life distractions

Life has a terrible way of thwarting my lifting plans.  Early Wednesday morning my mother had what was initially believed to be a heart attack.  Thankfully my father was home & they got her to the hospital quickly.  Turns out it was a bigger issue than the Sioux Falls hospital she was at was prepared to handle, so they flew her to St. Mary - Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.  After 8.5 hours of surgery her ascending aortic artery was replaced.  She has an artificial aortic heart valve already, so it was far more complex (as is the recovery) than it would be for most people.  The aorta had begun to split internally and was bulging causing it to be about 2.5 times the normal size.

That meant late Wednesday night I drove to Rochester to beat a blizzard to keep my dad company who had driven from Sioux Falls to Rochester like a madman to also beat that same blizzard.  We "slept" in the family waiting room Wednesday night and I returned home late Thursday.  We had family stop & visit us Friday night & were there late so I didn't get to the gym then either.  So against my norm, I went into the gym this afternoon.  I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've been in the gym on a Saturday since I started back at this.

Now off to finish up my sermons for the next two days and get some practices in.

It was Pneumonia...

Turns out not only was I sick, I was really sick.  Pneumonia in my right lung.  My lung actually hurt.  Such a strange/stupid feeling.  But thankfully I'm back at it at the gym.  I started going regularly last Monday, though went really easy on Monday and Tuesday as I was still coughing like crazy any time I strained my lungs (like walking up stairs).  This week I started hitting it hard again, and while I only lifted hard 3 times in 17 days, I didn't lose a ton of strength.  I did lose some stamina though, so I'll get to working on that.

Where I've noticed it most is in the deadlift.  I was significantly sore late last week after doing a leg workout, and my pull totals we weak.  I was supposed to have a heavy day yesterday, but my back was feeling a bit off, so I took the night off and feel good today so I'll hit it tonight with legs & lower back work.

On decline bench on Monday I was able to push 315lbs x7 reps for my final set which is very fine at this point if you ask me.  I'll keep at it.  Time to get strong & lose flab.

Run down, sick, tired

It has been a long November.  Just this week on Tuesday my wife fell and hurt her knee so we spent all day in the ER in a neighboring community.  The following day my son woke up puking so I spent the day catching barf from a 3-year old.  And then today I'm sick.  Miserable.

But I've been keeping at it at the gym.  I traveled last week to Nashville to CPLF which screwed up my workouts a bit.  We've also brought on staff at church a worship intern.  The distractions have been many, and my motivation has been few.

But I keep at it.  I'm at one year of working out next week I think.  I've lost a bit of weight (not what I was hoping to lose) and gained a LOT of muscle (more than I might have expected.  So I'll call that a wash.  But this next 365 days is going to require me to drop the weight.

Life is good though, and I am thankful.

Slow week at the gym last week, but back at it now

I was suffering from a combination of things last week that kept me out of the gym for a few days.  I was a bit burned out personally, fighting through a cold, working on some things with the family, I went to the Minnesota Vikings game (terrible loss), and then on Saturday I helped move wheel barrows filled with cement to pour a friend's new basement floor.  So I took Thursday-Saturday off at the gym (2 workouts, & went easy on Wednesday night).

The good news is I didn't gain any weight.  That's actually amazing news when you consider I tried to eat my body weight in delicious meats at Fogo de Chao in Minneapolis for lunch on Friday.  It was a delayed birthday gift from my wife.

So Sunday night I did some light cardio on the recumbent bike at the gym, and then hit it full force last night with my chest/arms/shoulders/upper back workout.

I took some Star Six N.O. Fury (pills) about 40 minutes before my workout.  First time trying this product.  I took 3 of the pills to see how it might affect me.  While it may be a placebo effect, I do think it helped in my workout.  I felt like I had a lot of energy throughout the workout, especially toward the end where I start to flame out.  I added some narrow grip bench presses at the end of my workout because I felt so good, and I was able to hammer them out better than I've ever done them before.  I did 12x135, 12x155, 12x175 and only on the last two reps was I feeling gassed.  So I'm impressed to say the least at this point.  I'll try them again tonight for my leg workout and see what I think from there.

I had the gym all to myself last night, so I didn't get to go quite as heavy as I had hoped to on my decline bench.  I did 10x135, 8x225, 8x275, 6x295.  I was hoping to push for 8x295, but I was breaking down a bit on #6 and didn't want to risk injury or getting stuck under the bar with nobody to help lift it off.