workouts

3-15-09 Workout

/ Varza / Leave a comment

Just a quick post on my workout for today. It was nice cause the gym was really empty and quiet so I was able to not worry about other people being around me and could really focus on getting thru the workout quickly and efficently.

Yesturday, I was going to try and make it to the gym but didn’t. Got there but realized when I was dressing that I forgot my shirt to workout in. Instead I went home and worked on my paper for school. But I made it to the gym today and when I was getting ready I had not just one but TWO shirts with me today.

Todays workout is brought to you by my trainer – he put it together for me over breakfast. Basically one movie per body part.

Warm Up
15mins – Treadmill, Incline Intervals, 3.5mph
Stretching

Workout: basically the workout goes as one of each of the toning, then abs then the cardio… rest then start again at the beginning. Took about 10minutes per round.

5 sets of 10 for each of the following –
(legs) 40# – Squat on Smith Machine
(back) 70# – Hammer Strength ISO-Frontal Pull down
(chest) 40# – Hammer Strength ISO-Decline Press
(arms) 20# – Triceps Extension

5 sets of ab workout – 25 each set
3 sets of bicycles
1 set of double crunches
1 set of jack knifes w/ 5# medicine ball

5 of the following – 1 done at the end of each round
3m – Row Machine

Cool Down
10m – Random Inclines, Treadmill, 3.5mph

I am sore all over and tired but I feel great! Even better… during my cool down I was watching ESB on the tv and it was my fav scene and personally what I think is the most romantic scene in the history of movies.

So, I am definatly not giving up. I am blaming my PMS… yes, my PMS for my insanity this week. I am noticing a bit of a weirdness on my hip though, I think that comes from the injury I had to my hip earlier. I’m going to show it to my trainer and see what he thinks.

More Workouts and Fears…

/ Varza / 2 Comments

Okay, so I know I didn’t post my last few workouts but things have been a bit crazy health wise. Seems like my body is wanting for me to not complete this mission and I had a horrible disappointment when we did my body fat measurements and found out I went 0.8% in the last three months. I am suppose to be going DOWN not UP! So it will soon be time for a complete overhaul of my workouts…

Its even sadder since I have increased my cardio in the past few months even though there have been struggles with side stitches, cramps, pulled muscles, etc. So, obviously I am not getting the best workout I need to. And a complete and total frustration I might add. I did spend a good portion of my Wednesday even in tears and fighting my desire to just quit. I’m not going to but its hard not to. There is a very loud voice in my head that seems to want me to find reasons to fail and screaming very very loudly for me to to do just that.

I have been posting on my 300 boards about this and one of my wonderful friends over there linked me to an article about muscle catabolism… when you have more negative than positive agents working in your system. Seeing as I haven’t been sleeping well for the last few months and my stress levels are uber high with being constantly on the go… my brain is working against me in so many ways.

I spoke with my trainer – well texted cause I was crying and couldn’t talk. We will be sitting down and making a workout program for me to follow to get the best workout possible. I am tired of failing at things in life – seriously failing. I have failed in pretty much every way you can imagine but I do not want to fail in this one.

Its hard though because there are a lot of workouts I want to do but I don’t because I either don’t want to look foolish in front of complete strangers, am afraid to do them alone because I don’t know what I am doing or am unsure of myself. Next to my sense of failure this sense of just being unsure is excruciating. I don’t like asking for help and I should, I just don’t. This is something I have had to deal with my entire life. I just need to maybe write on something “Fortune Favors the Bold” and just realize, I’m not the only one out there feeling this way. Seriously, some workout magazine needs to do an article on overcoming your fears at the gym. Its hard.

So, I will no longer be doing 15 reps but more sets at 12 reps each, and 3 or 2 sets where I need to. Here are my workouts from the last few days (please not that the use of a number w m behind it is minutes, not miles and my way of recording is 2 x 12 @ 60# – is 2 sets of 12 reps at 60 pounds. If I adjust the weight during my sets I don’t put a # there at all…)

3.10.09 Workout:
16m – intervals, 1m walk, 1m run
had to stop and stretch my hip, it killing me like crazy right now. As is my knee.
15m – walking, 3.5, incline 3

3.11.09 Workout:

Warm Up
12m – Elliptical Crossramp, Crosttrainer, Resistance 6
Stretching

Workout
20 @ 40 – ISO Lat Chest Press
10 @ 60 – ISO Lat Chest Press
12 @ 50 – ISO Lat Chest Press
15 @ 40 – ISO Lat Chest Press
20 @ 30 – ISO Lat Chest Press
2 x 12 – Kettle bell raise with dumbbell, right arm
2 x 12 – Kettle bell raise with dumbbell, left arm
15 – push ups on knees at incline
10 – push ups on knees on floor
3 x 12 @ 15 – bicep curls
3 x 12 @ 30 – tricep curls
1 x 15 @ 10 – bicep curl
1 x 15 @ 15 – bicep curl
2 x 20 – Jack knives with 5# medicine ball

that was it… my shoulder gave on me during the push ups on the floor. no cardio either because my hip, knees and calves were still hurting from yesterday.

3.12.09 Workout:

Warm Up
11m – Elliptical Crossramp, Interval, Resistance 8
lots and lots and lots and lots of stretching

Toning – each pair I went back and forth with one set with one then a set on the other, back and forth
4x 12 @ 60# – Seated Row
4 x 12 @ 35# – Chest Press

3 x 12 @ 70# – Lat Pulls
2 x 12 @ 25# – Lat Raises

25 – Stability Ball Crunches

4 x 12 @ 95/100/95/90 – Seated Leg Press, Feet placed high to get a more back of the leg workout
3 x 12 @ 75/80/75/70 – Seated Calf Press (this one hurt like the dickens but I wanted to get SOME leg work in today)

75 – Stability Ball Crunches (15 w/ 5# medicine ball)

20 – Incline Mason Twists w/ 5# Medicine Ball

That is it. It is Friday and Fridays are my days off from working out. I am going out for the evening and hope to relax some before heading into work tomorrow morning.

Run Fatgirl Run

/ Varza / 1 Comment

I want to run… seriously, I want to be able to run several miles without stopping and feel the wind in my face. Hell, I would love to run for more then 30 seconds to a minute without feeling like I am going to pass out. I can sympathize with the main character in the movie – Run Fatboy Run very easily. Except he was probably in better form then I am at the moment or was. I hope at least I can run further then a few doors down from my home. Not much further but further no the less.

I can easily say, I have never been much of a runner. I was always the kid in class getting yelled at by the coaches to step it up and quite messing around and actually run like I was ordered to. Yeah, I slacked off… A lot. When I was in middle school, there were a few times I actually was able to run a full 400 without stopping. Usually when I was running with the fastest girl in our class – fastest as in running not the other, get your mind out of the gutter! And she forced me to keep up with her. I ran during basketball and volleyball practices for the suicides. In truth, I preferred those over running on a track.

In high school I was on the track and field team for a few years. More specifically the field team. I did shot-put and discus. I was suppose to run at the beginning of our practices and I did, from time to time. Mostly goofing off and checking out the soccer players on the schools team. Hey, they were H-O-T hot! Seriously. But I wouldn’t push myself. My knees hurt me and I could barely breathe at times.

Then came the time I wanted to join the military. Hey, I tried – I went to basic and everything. Just never graduated from basic. Why? Well, we were suppose to run in basic. I ran and finally one day I made my 15 minute 2 mile during our PT one day. Unfortunately, that was the day my knees gave out on me and I couldn’t use them for the next month or so very well. I was on crutches because they would give out on me completely if I tried to walk on them more then a few feet. It sucked ass, big time. But at least now I knew why… my knees are all kinds of screwed up. I have runners knee (aka patello-femoral syndrome or something like that) and the cartilage on my knees is all wacky as well as my lower leg bones being slightly twisted/deformed.

As for the out of breath part, I found out about 3 or 4 years ago that I have excercise induced asthma and my doctor said I have probably have had it my entire life and just didn’t know it. Which would make sense since I have always had problems with catching my breathe while playing sports (except swimming) and I have never been that good at holding my breathe for a long time. But the finding out is fun when you are on a side of a mountain hiking and you can’t take a step without feeling like you were going to pass out.

So, now we come to me today. I am about 100lbs heavier then when I left the military over a decade ago and out of shape. I have been working out since May but I still get periods of time when my knees just don’t want to work right. And I am getting annoyed as hell. I want to desperatly get the stamina and the ability to run but I can do interval run-walking for about a day or two before my knees just won’t let me run anymore. The intervals being: walk for a minute, run for a minute and so on. Sometimes I do walk for 1 minute 15 seconds, run for 45 seconds. Depending on how I am breathing at the time when I start to run.

But as I said, I am getting annoyed. I want to run. Running is an amazing feat to me. People who can run amaze me. Maybe because its never been something I was good at and it hurt to do. So, how do I get there? I try and I always seem to fail at this one little thing. I tried running last night after doing several nights of intervals – and couldn’t even get in step for 5 seconds let alone a minute of running.

I do not like to fail, I hate failing and I am tired of being a failure at so many things. I am tired of my knees hurting constantly and being limited on so many exercises because of my wrist or my shoulder or my back or my knee or whatever the hell decidesto be hurting this time around. Its frustrating and painful… and I will push myself as much as I can. I will push myself to tears and to the point where I can’t move. But I don’t want to. I don’t want to have to limit myself anymore because of stupid weaknesses. I am weak in so many ways and I am tired of it. And I am tired of crying because of the frustration that I have to dig thru just to get in a decent workout.

I need to tell my trainer, he will just tell me he told me so. He was worried I pushed myself too much the other day and I did. I’m stupid but I don’t want to be fat and ugly anymore. I don’t want to be a 1 anymore, can I at least be a 5?

I want to run… I want to be healthy, I want to by pain free for a few days. I not have to take an aleve and advil to just get thru the day. I mean, I know when I go to the movies tonight with my friend that I will not be able to walk down the stairs easily afterwards. End up looking like an old woman who needs a cane. Yeah, thats attactive…

In truth, I don’t want to just run. I want to excel at running. A few years ago my brother was doing triathalons and I told him I would like to do one, one day and he laughed. I know he didn’t mean any harm, I am fat and pretty lazy. So, the idea of me doing one of the premier atheletic events is pretty funny. Who knows maybe I will be able to prove him wrong? I would like to and I would like to succeed at that. But I didn’t realize when I told myself this how hard it would be to even get started with running. I mean after several months, I haven’t gone beyond where I need to do even think about training for such an event. Maybe one day… when I loose my fat and have stronger muscles I will be able to.

And no I can’t have surgery. I can’t afford it. I can’t afford cortozone shots either. And I wish I would of known about the asthma earlier – I wouldn’t of smoked.

Dang it all!

/ Varza / 1 Comment

So, half the weight I lost after going back to the pool is pretty much back. To my utter frustration and contempt of my body. I have increased my workouts and I don’t know what else to do… I am stuck in this rut between certain weights and I am fluctuating like crazy and its pissing me off.

I am going on a cruise in just over 4 months and I want to be down 60 more pounds by then and I don’t think I can do it. I have been at this for 4 months already and I have barely lost 30lbs in all that time. I want to loose 3 – 4lbs a week… I am loosing inches – I am down another dress size but I still don’t feel like I am making any headway what so ever on this.

I don’t know what else to do… I am barely eating 1500 – 1700 cals a day and that is with working out. I guess my biggest hurdle is the carbs and cheese/fats. I love them. I can’t help it. My latest trainer has told me to not eat any complex carbs after 7:30pm and I did okay for about 2 days then last night I broke down and had a bowl of cereal and a glass of OJ about 30 minutes before bed. Not good, not good at all.

I have no idea how to get it into this stubborn, bull head brain of mine to change. The only thing I can think of is to start increasing my works ontop of the cutting of the carbs – which I will not cut out just cut back – I am just tired! Tired of being fat and not making headway. I am not used to this with my body. It used to respond quickly and I would see changes a lot faster.

My old trainer stated the other day when I was talking to him that things will start happening soon and I will start seeing more and more changes faster then I was before. But how far away is soon? I mean I am seeing changes already but not enough to not make me frustrated at myself.

Drink a little Chocolate Milk?

/ Varza / 1 Comment

This post is about my thoughts on the subject. I am not a doctor, nutrionist or any authority on the matter of food or fitness. So, please if you are reading this for expert advice I am not the person to get it from. I will have links to places to get better information on the subject I am posting on. Please make sure to do your research before trying anything new or check with your doctor before hand.

I was reading another fitness magazine last night: Oxygen when I came across this little tidbit about how to keep up your energy and one of the things in there mentioned drinking chocolate milk after a workout. Thats right chocolate milk. I did a double, triple, quadrulpe take on that. Now, it may not be new for many but as a milk fanactic I am always worried about whether or not I should keep drinking milk and ways of getting it into my diet without my midnight cereal cravings. And low and behold – here is a new way. So, this morning I did a little digging since I don’t always take things at face value and wanted to know why – out of all the drinks why chocolate milk is recommended over other sports drinks and over regular milk.

Here are some reasons: calcium, carbs and protein. All things you would get in say a smoothie from Robeks or Keva Juice or any other smoothie place but chocolate milk is about 10 times cheaper since you can make it at home or pick up a personal size drink at the grocery store for like $1.29. But back to the health benefits of chocolate milk. From fitnessmagazine.com article:

For a high-endurance athlete, Stager’s team sees it as a catch-all workout recovery drink. Compared to plain milk, water, or most sports drinks, it has double the carbohydrate and protein content, perfect for replenishing tired muscles. Its high water content replaces fluids lost as sweat, preventing dehydration. Plus it packs a nutritional bonus of calcium, and includes just a little sodium and sugar — additives that help recovering athletes retain water and regain energy. 

Sounds good to me. But I was curious on the calories and sugar content. So, I did a comparison of a single serving of three different drinks: Robeks Cardio Cooler, Dairyland 1% Chocolate Partially Skimmed Milk and Propel Sports Water.

Robek’s Cardio Cooler – 2 Servings/24 Ounces, single serving is 12 ounces but you can only buy this in a 24 ounce drink but I will post the 24 ounce then 12 ounce. This drink also includes several additonal items to increase protein and nutrients.
Calories: 430/215
Fat: 4g/2g
Cholestral: 6g/3g
Sodium: 48g/24g
Carbs: 88g/44g (Fiber: 6g/3g, Sugars: 76g/38g)
Protein: 18g/9g
Vitamn A: 104%/52% of DSV
Vitman C: 438%/219% DSV
Calcium: 12%/6% DSV
Iron: 6%/3% DSV

Dairyland 1% Chocolate Partially Skimmed Milk – 1 Serving/250g:
Calories: 168
Fat: 2.8grams
Cholestral: 10grams
Sodium: 183mg
Carbs: 29.0g (mostly sugar but there is dietary fiber in milk)
Protein: 8.4g
Calcium: 30% of DSV

Propel Sports Water – 2 Servings/16 oz once again because this is sold normally as a 16 ounce bottle and not a 8 ounce bottle, I will but the bottle amount then the true serving amount since that is normally what people drink.
Calories: 20/10
Sodium: 70mg/35mg
Carbs: 6g/3g (Sugars 4g/2g)

So what does this tell us? Well, each drink has its plus and minuses.

You get an after workout smoothie from a store and you get a ton of sugar and calories. This is more of a meal then a cool down drink. I am aware that most of the sugars are coming from fresh fruits and juice. So the sugar carbs aren’t completely empty. The calcuim is lower then the milk drink but that is to be expected. While the smoothie does have frozen yogurt in it – its benefits seem to be lowered due to the fruit sugar content. But this is definatly not something you drink after a long run or swim to just cool down and get a quick replensihment of proteins and carbs. And be aware of what you are getting. Check out their nutrional info on their drinks before ordering. There are lower carbs/calorie smoothies then this. Just watch yourself.

The Propel Fitness Water tells you basically what it is: sugar water. While the carbs/sugars are low as well as the sodium and there is no fat. There is nothing else to it. It would be better to just drink water. I am no doctor but there aren’t enough carbs I think to make a difference. And the carbs aren’t coming from fruits but a refined sugar. It would be good if you are just wanting to drink water but have flavor.

The chocolate milk – its got fat of course but it seems the portion of protein seems like a good amount. It may be worth a try but not something for everyone to do every day. It may be a better treat. And I know there may be better ways of making it healthier. I know that GNC sells a protein mix called Dessert that may make a good alternative and give you a higher precentage of proteins. But its up to you.

It seems from what I have been reading that its better for high endurance athletes such as runners, swimmers and bikers then someone who is just doing Sweatin’ to the Oldies. But maybe for those days when you push beyond your limits and go the extra distance where you feel like your body is going to drop this would be a nice treat for yourself. Especially since there is the added bonus of the chocolate being good for you in controlled portions.

Why? Antioxidents and its good for women to keep the seritonin balance going during your diet, stress and hard workouts. Which have a habit of dropping dangerously low in women due to the mass reduction of healthy carbs. Men can normally go without carbs better then women. If you are craving lots of chocolate at night or during your diet there is a reason and not just because you want chocolate. Chocolate is a good quick boost to your serotonin levels which are vital to what make us women, women. It helps balance our emotions. A little bit of chocolate isn’t bad for you. In fact it can be beneficial to loosing weight and staying healthy. As well as the other benefits including help stave off binge eating while dieting. But eat the dark chocolate since it actual is healthier for you then milk chocolate (and white chocolate isn’t really chocolate at all).

But, in conclusion – I can definatly see the benefits of drink chocolate milk after a workout even if it has fat in it. Now, if only they made a dark chocolate drink instead of always the milk chocolate milk.