24 pounds - really?

I had fired the Wii up with the kids tonight. We did our usual screwing around. After the kids went to bed, I decided to screw around and see what kind of progress has been made since we bought that thing.

As it turns out, I've lost 24 pounds since we bought it and I first stepped on that funny gaming controller called the Wii Balance board. Not too shabby.

Running because I want to

Really awesomely good news last week at weigh in...I lost 2.2 pounds in that week. I was actually hoping for a little more, but I'll take it.

Working out has been happening a lot more lately, although this Halloween candy business makes it damn hard. One thing we learned in the M.A.L.E. program is that you are much less likely to snack, nibble and generally take in stray calories if you don't have the food any where near you. Damn cute pumpkins and candy dishes...they are EVERYWHERE this time of year.

Will power...damn it!

There is a part of me that really likes running again. Today at lunch, I went to the gym just to run at lunch. Granted, it's only the treadmill at this time. I wanted to break in my new shoes in a controlled environment rather then running a mile and find out there's a problem. Corn fields are surprising not a place you find many phones.

Being the gadget geek that I am, I'll be trying out the Nike+ stuff here too. I've got the shoes and the iPod so if I can just figure out how to get it all working together, I'll be all set.

Let's start hoping I can pull off the weight loss again this week. According to one of my teammates, we are the biggest losers so far.

Happy shrinking!

This weeks strength routine

Figured I'd post this while I was thinking about it. Here's this weeks strength routine. It's got some serious umf in the core...

Strength Routine – All exercises performed at 3 sets of 12 reps and do not need to be completed in this order. We are hitting all the major muscle groups during this workout so you can do which machine is open at the time it is available. Pair the abs exercises with a machine and during your rest break you will do 1 set for 30 seconds. At the end of each exercise you will have performed 3 sets.

Strength
Free Motion (FM) Chest Press
FM Shoulder Press
FM Lat
FM Row
FM Squat – Those with lower leg injuries use the Leg Extension
FM Lift – Squat and Row

Abdominals
Alternating toe touches
Bridge ups
Crunches
Planks
Reverse Crunch
Scissors

Yesterday, I skipped this and did only a 20 minute run on the treadmill (which felt awesome, thank you very much!) Not sure if the run added to this, but I'm still feeling the abs even today. Might I have a 6 pack by Vegas? Ha! Yeah, right :)

Moving past disappointment

Last Thursday, I suffered a bit of a disappointment. For the first time since I started the M.A.L.E. I didn't really lose any weight. I was officially down .2 pounds, but that's basically nothing. Bummer!

Not to make excuses but I did kind of expect this. Our workouts last week were mostly yoga. While I like yoga, it's not much of a calorie burner.

I've also been suffering a bit of knee and shin pain. Let's just say ibuprofen was a good friend of mine.

The best part of being flat weight wise though was I was sticking to my diet. I've told you about my fancy diet, right? Eat less then burn.

This last week I've started some new training. I really like this one. It uses free motion machines for doing strength training and then you do a short ab workout between each machine. I can post the workout later.

Another change comes in the form of running on the treadmill. A few of my friends have been running regularly. This has inspired me to push myself in this direction. I guess we'll see where this takes me.

That's about for now. I'm hoping to show some actual weight loss this week. Let's all cross our fingers!


-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

Downsizing

I did it! I crossed another second digit milestone. I have no idea why my weight just parks at those spots.

The MALE program is chugging along. I feel terrible that I haven't been doing the homework like I should. Work has been keeping me extremely busy so finding the time to take extra classes hasn't been easy.

On the bright side, I've lost 1.4 pounds two weeks in a row bring me to a total of 6.4 pounds over the 5 weigh ins. Sure would be nice to have pulled off the 100 pounds in 7 weeks like that dude on Biggest Loser but then again, if I lost 100 pounds the blog would be about me being hospitalized.

Hopefully I can make a yoga or cable class today. It could happen!

Oh! Before I forget...I'm wearing an old belt now that hasn't fit me in years. It's the little things :-)


-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

Circuits, running and nutrician - Oh My!

Sorry for the lack of updates, seems I was distracted by the Minnesota Twins, it happens. Win Twins! (Yeah, I know, three and out again...damn.)

Here's an update about the M.A.L.E. program I'm in.

The really good news: I've lost 1.2 pounds in each of the 3 weigh ins we've had. 3.6 pounds over 3 weeks! Go me! I'd like to hope I can keep doing that or a little better each week, but really, that's a good number.

So, what have they got us doing? Over the last week, we've been doing running and circuit training. I gotta admit to you, my legs are killing me. For most of the last week, ibuprofen has been my best friend.

It started the week before, we were doing cycling. It used to be called spinning, but seems now they just call it cycling. The first two times I did it, I got done and just couldn't walk stairs without immense pain. The last session of it, the instructor stayed with me after class and gave me a proper fitting for the stationary bikes we are using. Wouldn't you know, my seat was too low by almost 3 inches. According to her, that would probably make me knee feel like it's gonna explode. Well said, it did.

Damage was already done, no biggie. We'll just grin and work through it...running. After the first night of it, yep, shin splints. More ibuprofen. The circuit training didn't contribute any to the leg pains....thank God, that just made everything else hurt. The arms, the shoulders, the tummy. Did I mention ibuprofen was my best friend (thinking bff soon).

It's all good, I remember spending a few weeks at the start of every swim season wondering if I was ever gonna be able to lift my arms over my head. Well, I still, to this day, can do it, so I must be able to survive any of this ;-)

Our class Thursday night is actually a rest night. No workout! Yeah! Instead, we get a private session with one of the Healthy Living Center's on staff chef. He's gonna give us a cooking demonstration themed "Game Tizers". I think I've seen this one before, but if I remember, the U.S. Senate bean dip was outstanding.

Time for a little Wii Fit. Hope your jeans are getting baggy too!

PS. I wondering if I need to keep this blog going. I could just post these over at my Geek blog. Anyone else want to join me here? Should I keep this separate from my geek blog? Did anyone really read this far down?

AquaMixx

One of the goals of the M.A.L.E. class is to expose us to a variety of the workout programs available in our area in the hopes that one or more of them will become long term activities in our lives.

One of our assignments for this week was to check out one of the aqua classes offered at the Healthy Living Center. The class I found that fit my schedule was called AquaMixx. Here's the description from the website:

Teaches water fitness training through intervals (cardio/strength), drills, circuit, cardiovascular work & plyometrics.

Hm. Could be interesting...

It wasn't too bad. It was basically low impact exercising in the pool. Me and two of my M.A.L.E. colleagues were there and about two other guys. I think at 40, I was the youngest male...the rest were all women.

The class was about 45 minutes long. I didn't really mind the class. The instructor had more energy then a 5 year old, but that's how they usually are. One exercise in particular I got shivers doing...she called them something else, but anyone that swam with me back in the day will remember them as "dips" or "pool presses". Basically you push your self up on the wall of the pool over and over again. Feather, our coach, liked to answer the phone and make us stay in the up position as long as possible. I always hated that :)

It was at least fun and got me moving. I didn't find it particularly stressful or difficult but it got the old ticker ticking.

One more trip to the gym before tomorrow to find these other machines to work on. A class with homework...geez.