Insanity Workout Fitness Test

What's up everybody? For some reason I'm extra tired tonight. Not really sure why. Took another day off minus taking the fitness test from that Insanity workout video that I got recently. Was feeling a little fatigued but the batteries are recharged and should be good to go tomorrow.

Well I took the fitness test to the Insanity Workout. Here are the stats.

Fit test
Switch kicks 71
Power jacks 20
Power knees 50
Power jumps 10
Globe jumps 4
Suicide jumps 5
Push up jacks 10
Low plank oblique 20

Basically each movement was supposed to be a maximum effort for 1 minute and then rest for 1 minute. After the first two movements I was only about to last about the first 30 seconds of each of the subsequent movements.

The switch kicks are look like they sound. You alternate kicks making sure to kick on each foot and landing softly on each foot. Power jacks look like someone put a squat and a jumping Jack together. The minor difference is your feet come together when you hands are above your head instead of when they're by your side like on normal jumping jacks. Power knee are done in a somewhat a side lunge position. You bring the back leg up making short of a chopping motion with your hands touching your knee each time. Power jumps are deep squat jumps also while bring your knees up as high as you can in mid-air. So it's a deep squat jump combined with a modified tuck jump. Globe jumps are squat jumps done in a square pattern. Four jumps equal one rotation. Suicide jumps start in push up position and you quickly bring both feet to close to where your hands are. And then you jump up from there, land and then pop back to push up position. Push up jacks combine push ups and jumping jacks. On the downward movement of the push up pop your feet stance wide like a jumping jack and them when pushing back up pop your feet back together. Low plank obliques are done in the plank position and then you alternate bring your knees up one at a time towards your knees.

It was a pretty tough workout. Had I been in better shape I would have been able to do much better. Also because I'm heavier than I would like, my joints got sore from the ballistic type movements. I feel like these workout videos are very cross fit type. It should be interesting to see how my body reacts to the full workouts.

TIP OF THE DAY:


Listen to your body, don't overwork your body because that can be counter-productive to your goal.

Everyone knows how their own body reacts to exercise. If it feels fatigued, give it some rest and a chance to recover. If you over work your body, it is possible to injury yourself and then you could be out longer than if you had just rested for one day. Not saying that you will always hurt yourself if you workout too much, but it sometimes may be necessary to take short breaks to allow your body to recharge and regenerate new muscle tissue that you have developed over the workouts that you have been consistently doing.

Well that's all for tonight. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

My Girlfriend Has Skills

Hi everyone, it was a very nice and relaxing Saturday. So today my girlfriend got a new cast iron pot today. It was on sale and we just had to get it. So this is our first dish that was made with it. Check out the delicious brazed short ribs that she made. We had baked potatoes season with salt, garlic, fresh thyme and olive oil. We also had a little bit of sauteed mushrooms on the side. Don't know how many calories it was but we altered the recipe so it was the right size for two people. I was just the right amount of full. Not super stuffed but definitely won't be hungry tonight. Thanks a bunch babe, very delicious.

I took the day off from the gym today. I found a copy of the Insanity Workout video. I watched the first video which consists of a 20 minute fitness test. Will be taking the fitness test tomorrow and will share more about the actual fitness video. So far from what I've seen it uses all exercises that use your own body weight. It seems to be very challenging at first glance and I think would be good for any fitness level as the video is always encouraging you to push yourself.

No tip of the day today. Hope everyone is having a fun and safe weekend. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

Interval Training

What's up everybody? Today was fun. Got my cardio in and tried to eat fairly clean. So I did my push up challenge today and I got to the 8th set. Not as good as I would have liked. But it's a start. Tomorrow is another official weigh in. And Monday will be a big day because I have to take full measurements to see where I've changed the most. My best guess is I probably have lost inches around the waist, butt and chest. We'll see what happens on Monday.

My tip of the day will be very general today.

TIP OF THE DAY:


Adding interval training can be a good way to change up your cardio.

Interval training consists of lower range intensity bouts of cardio mixed in with small bouts of high intensity of cardio. Generally the lower intensity bouts are longer than the high intensity ones.

I saw this info-mercial about this workout video called Insanity. It was developed by this guy named Shaun T. It's concept is reverse interval training. It includes high interval training as the long bouts while the low intensity bouts are the short ones. I'm going to try to see if I can get my hands on these workout videos and let you know how they are. It sounds like something I would enjoy because I really enjoy challenging myself. Plus it will give me something new to workout. And then once I've mastered it I can learn to adapt it to my own personal training style.

Well that's all for tonight. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

Nutrition Stats:

Push Up Challenge

Hi everyone, today was nice day. It's almost warm enough to get back in the pool. I did my workout in the gym today. I've pretty much incorporated push ups into my daily routine. 4-6 sets of push ups depending on how I'm feeling. Today I bumped up my reps to 30 push ups per set.

My food was on the low side today. My schedule today had me only eating 1200 calories today by dinner time. Right now, since I'm not taking any classes this month my day isn't very active besides the times when I go to the gym. So since I was only at 1200 calories after I finished my dinner, I ate a Lunchables that was in the fridge. My macro nutrients would have been really well balanced today but I didn't eat enough so I had to eat another snack to make sure my body doesn't start to think it's in starvation mode.

Nutrition Stats:

TIP OF THE DAY:

Today's tip of the day is more of a challenge then a tip. Here is the challenge and its about strength and endurance. The challenge is to do sequential sets of push ups, increasing by 1 push up each set. So its going to be a pyramid. After each set, stand up completely straight and then get back down to push up stance and continue the next set without rest. If possible, get up to a total of 15 reps. So it will look like this 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10+11+12+13+14+15 for a total of 120 push ups. Try to do this challenge as fast as you can while maintaining good form. If your form is horrible, then just consider that the end of the challenge.

As you guys know I'm a very big fan of doing push ups. My personal best was when I made it to the 12 or 13th set. Can't remember which one it was. I did that when I was in much better shape. If you try this challenge and you have no problem finishing it, do it for time. I guarantee it will get your heart rate up. Its a good way to challenge your strength and your cardio. I'm going to try to do the challenge tomorrow when I'm fresh. I'll let you guys know how far I get. Post your times or what round you get to in the comments section. Let the competition begin.

Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

-Joel

I Want a Cheeseburger!!

Hey everyone, it's getting rough. I'm getting tired of being hungry all the time. And I really want a cheeseburger with fries. In and Out sounds really good right now. They say it takes about two weeks to adjust to eating clean. I started counting calories at the beginning of the month but it's only been about the past week and a half that I've really cut out a large majority of the bad food that I like to eat. I can tell the difference now. The energy level is substantially lower in the evenings. It's okay though, got to stay motivated.

On a side note, everyone seems to be taking about the iPad. It seems like an iPhone/itouch and a MacBook got together and had a baby. It has some cool features but the price is just too steep. Don't think I'll be getting one anytime soon.

TIP OF THE DAY:

If you're doing cardio and weights on the same day, you should always do your cardio first before you lift.

The reason you want to do this is you don't want to be fatigued when you lift. Fatigue can compromise form and posture. It's just a general rule to follow but it makes sense. You can warm up before your lifting session but it's better to do your heavy cardio sessions after you lift.

That's all for tonight. Good night. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

When will it be warm again?

I'm feeling very swimming pool deprived right now. I'm still making it happen by going to the gym and burning the calories on the elliptical. I thought that the pool made my whole body tired compared to just my legs on the elliptical. Oh a side note though, I think I should be out of the 200s by the first week of March.

I've noticed a trend with my food lately. The days that I seem to have the most weight-loss are when I eat my largest meal at lunch the day before. So today's tip of the day does not have any scientific evidence backing it up but it seems to be working for me.

TIP OF THE DAY:

Eat your largest meal of the day at lunch with lots of small meals through out the day for an effective weight loss plan. Small meals should range from about 250-400 calories depending on how many calories you are allowed per day.

Okay so my explanation for today's tip of the day is purely my own logic so if anyone else has other ideas I'd like to hear them. So this is my reasoning why eating your largest meal of the day at lunch is effective. So you eat your largest meal of the day at lunch because the average person has their most metabolically active time through out the bulk of their day from late morning to early evening. Most people go to the gym or do their recreational activities in the afternoon or after work. If you eat your largest meal at breakfast you'll feel hungry even with all your smaller meals through out your day. If you eat your largest meal at dinner, depending on when you eat dinner you may not have time to fully digest your large meal before going to bed. Having your largest meal be lunch seems to be the best middle ground. You only feel slightly hungry a few hours after dinner. And you definitely have enough energy to get you through your day after lunch. This tip seems to make the most sense for weight loss and probably wouldn't be as effective for muscle gain if that's your goal.

Try it out and let me know if it works for you. Time to sign off. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

Nutrition Stats:

Movie night

Hi everyone, today has been pretty fun. On a gamer nerd note, I had the my best game on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.. Got 35 kills with only 7 deaths in Derail while playing team deathmatch. My previous best 24 kills and 12 deaths. The girlfriend took her math midterm today so we get to relax tonight and watch a movie. It's going to be a great night.

TIP OF THE DAY:

To help take the edge off of hunger in between meals, grab a piece of sugar-free gum. It helps curb your hunger and they say it's good for your teeth.

Well just a short post tonight. Good night all. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

Nutrition Stats:

Better Weigh In

Hello everyone, got a chance to burn off some of those calories from restaurant week. Weighed in better today. 205.0 I still have a long way to go but I'm on my way now. My short term goal for January was to be down to 200. It's a little bit of an ambitious goal but it is possible for the average person to lose 2.5 lbs in a week. Most people aim for 1 - 2 lbs in a week. I've lost 10 lbs in one month before but that month I was training for a half marathon and was in much better shape. That month all I did was workout. I would jog about 2 miles in the morning. Then I would lift around lunch time. Play basketball in the mid-afternoon. And then I would go for a long jog in the evening when the sun was setting. That was a very intense month.

TIP OF THE DAY:

While trying to reach your long term fitness, it's important to set short term goals also.

When it comes to long term fitness goals, it can seem like the finish line is very far away. But by having multiple short term goals you can evaluate your progress, evaluate your methods as well as provide motivation for yourself.

If you have a weight loss goal, break down your overall goal into intervals so you have several weigh in check points. If you're trying go gain muscle, you can have either strength tests at different intervals or you can check measurements to see if you've gained size.

Well that's all for tonight. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

Nutrition Stats:

This Weeks Progress

Just a quick update tonight. Lost 0.6 lbs this week. Last nights dinner was definitely very high in calories. But it's okay, just have to make up for it this coming week. Not a lot to update today since I kind of slept in and just enjoyed the Saturday.

Will have a better update tomorrow. Good night, get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

San Diego Restaurant Week

So who has been to restaurant week for their city? San Diego's restaurant week wrapped up this week. For those who don't know what it's about, lots of restaurants participate by putting out a pre-determined menu that you can order from for a discounted price. This makes it possible for poor college students to eat at the fancy high end restaurants.

I know I'm supposed to be on a diet but I couldn't pass up restaurant week. Big thanks to the girlfriend for taking me!! It was part of my late Christmas present.

We went to Ruth's Chris steak house. I started with a house salad but couldn't get a good picture to come out with my iPhone.


The girlfriend started off with the stuffed crab cake mushrooms. These were quite delicious. Last year the crab cakes seemed like they had more crab in them but they were still delicious. The lump crab meat to breading ratio was not as good this year. They blended in Parmesan and Ramano cheese with lump crab meat. Girlfriend thinks she can make better ones.  






This was my 16 oz. Ribeye. Perfectly prepared at a nice medium rare. The plate came out nice and hot and the butter sauce on the steak was crackling nicely. I think out of the entire 16 oz. of steak, I had maybe two small bites that were fat. When I upgraded to the bigger steak at Island Prime, the upgrade in weight was actually all fat that wasn't trimmed off. I was not pumped. This upgrade was well worth it. I finished every bite.





We got sauteed mashrooms and mashed potatoes as our sides. Both dishes had their fair share of butter. Foods prepared with high amounts of butter always seem to taste very good. The mushrooms were cooked in a butter and herb sauce. The mashed potatoes had roasted garlic added into it as well as cream or milk to help smooth it out. Both were excellent.






I got the bread pudding that was included in the meal for my dessert. We decided to save it and bring it home. We had the bread pudding there last year during restaurant week and it was so good that we had to order it again this year. The bread pudding had raisins and a whiskey sauce. The sauce made it very moist and was very yummy.






The girlfriend got the chocolate mousse and carrot cake duo. We decided to eat those while we were at the restaurant. The carrot cake only gets an average review. The carrots were pre-soaked in a weird sauce so it was only just average. The chocolate mousse was good. Kind of hard to mess up a moose. All in all it was a fun date night. Thanks again babe :)

I'm sure this giant meal is going to set me back on this week's weight loss. I'll officially update my weight tomorrow when I weigh in. I knew I was going to be having a high calorie intake today so I tried to keep my breakfast and lunch rather small. I also got my cardio in today for an hour. Tomorrow I'm going to try to get in a double workout tomorrow. Got to get in the pool at some point when there isn't any rain tomorrow. Just checked the weather report and it's not supposed to rain tomorrow so it shouldn't be a problem to get a pool and gym workouts in.

TIP OF THE DAY:

Increasing lean muscle mass ultimately increases the body's resting metabolic rate. A good place to start improving lean muscle mass are your legs.

If you think about it, your legs are your largest and strongest muscles in your body. You can move the most weight with your leg muscles. Plus not only are you boosting your metabolism, you're tightening up and firming up your legs. Who wouldn't like having a tighter butt anyway, right?

Well time to sign off. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

Making Good Progress

So this rain storm has been a mixed blessing in disguise. It's forced me to change up my workout. It feels good to mix it up and get a good sweat on from doing cardio in the gym again. It's nice because I'm a different kind of tired compared to the kind of tired I get from doing laps in the pool. I'm interested to see what kind of weight loss I'll be showing on Saturday morning.

TIP OF THE DAY:

Adding functional training to your routine, (especially core work) will not only make you stronger but it can help you get through daily activities better.

Functional training are exercises that incorporate multiple muscle groups as well as incorporating your own body weight. Good examples of functional training are push ups, dips, pull ups, chin ups, squats and lunges. These are just some of the very good functional exercises that use ones own body weight. Functional training isn't limited to only body weight exercises but these are a good place to start.

The reason I recommend functional exercises because I feel like they are very valuable for everyday life. For example, being able to do pull ups or chin ups mean you can pull your whole body up out of a dangerous situation. Doing push ups is a way to work our your chest, triceps and shoulders anywhere in the world. Squats and lunges improve leg strength and greatly helps you when going up stairs and even picking up heavy objects for lifting and carrying them places.

One functional muscle group that I that I want to emphasize is actually most important which is working out your abs or your core. Your core is one of the muscle groups you can workout everyday. All movements in some way originate from the core. Whether it is a twisting motion or you use your abs to stabilize yourself to perform a movement you incorporate your core. A lot of people that have become overweight experience back pain, lower back pain especially. This is often cause by the person having weak core muscles and the lower back is being over worked trying to pick up the slack for the weak core muscles.

Sample core workout:
1. Exercise ball crunch
2. One sided bicycle crunch (finish one side before switching instead of alternating)
3. Plank

These are three simple exercises that will help you stabilize your core and firm up your midsection. Excercise one primarily targets the top of the abdominal muscles. Exercise two targets the abs at a diagonal angle and hits the oblique abs and lower abs secondarily. Exercise three helps with stabilization as well as indirectly strengthening the lower back which most people tend to neglect.

Keep in mind that no ab workout will get you the six pack abs or flys stomach that you want. You will develop very strong core muscles doing any core workout consistently. But to get the visual results that you want to see all comes down to the food that you put in your mouth. Everyone has six pack abs. Some people just have more visually showing abs. Proper number of calories and a balanced diet, as well as getting in enough cardio to burn the body fat stored on the body is the key to getting the abs that you want.

Well I hope this helps out. Time to sign off. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

Nutritional Stats:

Fun with small food :)

Today was a good day. Got my swim in before the storm came down on us by 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Today's tip of the day is going to go into portion control.


So take a look at these amazing strawberries. These master pieces are cheesecake stuffed chocolate dipped walnut covered strawberries. This was actually the first thing my girlfriend made me when we first met. I'm a very lucky boy, don't you think? Yes, I am!! I don't get to eat these on my diet but I just wanted to show off my girlfriend's skills.

Who says you can't have your cake and eat it too? Well in this case we'll be talking about dessert.

TIP OF THE DAY:

Understanding portion control allows you to still be able to eat the foods you want. But we also can't forget that there needs to be a high level of self-control.


So if you notice these tiny peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, you can have just one and you have your dessert and you don't have to completely sacrifice the foods you love. I get to eat one cookie a day as my dessert. I'm always tempted to eat more because they taste so good but I just keep them out of sight. If we left them out like in a cookie jar or tin like my mom does at home, I can't stop eating the them. Knowing I have them available is enough. But if I don't see them, they can't tempt me to eat them all at once.

This is slightly off topic but take a looks at this bread that I found at Fresh and Easy.





Look at the size of this loaf of bread. You can't over indulge with this bread because that's the total size of the bread. I found this bread in the clearance section. $0.35. You can't beat that especially in this economy.

Well that's all for now. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

Nutritional Stats:

Fun With Food

To whoever is reading this I want to show you something.. To my left, in all of its magnificence, I give you.. the perfectly peeled egg. Notice the shine and the flawlessness of the egg white, the perfect peel, only to be eaten in less than 5 seconds. The wonderful thing about egg whites is that they can take on any flavor that you put on them. If you like hot sauce, its tastes great with hot sauce. If you like to keep things simple, maybe a little salt and pepper, they taste great too. Right now for me, I like to just add a little bit of sea salt. Sea salt is great because it tastes a little saltier than your average kitchen table salt so you don't have to use as much to get the same salty flavor. The main thing you should try to avoid are sauces that are high in calories. You would be surprised how much even something as simple as ketchup can quickly add up to unwanted calories. I find having a few hard boiled eggs ready to go in the fridge make for a good clean quick snack in between meals as they are very low in calories and very little fat. Just boil up a few extra and you have a nice snack to get you through your day.


Up next, you will see my low calorie dinner. Homer is hanging out next to the chicken salad sandwich. I got my glass of water and five freshly peeled hard boiled eggs. Some people have sweet tooth's. I love salty. I don't know about the rest of you but I love having chips with my sandwiches. I know eggs are hardly the same thing as having a nice bag of chips with you but for me since I like to salt my eggs, they serve to fix my salty cravings. That meal all together was 455 calories. The eggs actually take up quite a bit of space in my stomach so it left a nice full feeling even though the calories were on the low side.

Today's Tip of the Day I wanted to share one of my girlfriend's secret weapons for getting rid of sweet food cravings.

TIP OF THE DAY:

For those who love sweets, its hard to cut them completely out of your life when you're going on a diet. Here is a great alternative for those out there who have a sweet tooth and love chocolate. Its called "No Pudge Brownie Mix."

The worst part about diets are you always feel like you don't get to eat the foods you like. Granted these aren't miracle brownies that have special vitamins or supplements that will help you lose weight but they are just about have the calories per serving size of the standard brownie. It comes pre-mixed and all you have to do is add a little bit of non-fat greek yogurt. You still have to account for the calories that you eat when you have these, but it sure makes it a lot easier to get within your target calorie goal with these bad boys.




On your left you see an average nutrition label for your standard brownie. Hopefully, somebody will find this useful.

Today was another rainy day so I didn't hop in the pool. I did however get in an hour's worth of cardio on the elliptical in my apartment complex gym. Its been a while since I've used the elliptical. I wasn't out of breath but it did get challenging at the end when I reached the top of the hill of the workout program. It felt good to use my leg muscles in a different way as well as get the heart pumping in this cold weather. I maybe try my luck at jumping in the pool again tomorrow, I might even go in while its raining but we'll see. In the words of one of my clients, "Wet is wet" so I guess there's no excuse for wimping out on not going for my morning swim. I'll see what happens tomorrow. No promises though.

Well hope everyone liked the post today. Time to sign off. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel

Nutritional Stats:

Weight Training 103

For those of you who aren't in California, its raining a good one here in what is normally sunny Southern California. I feel a little out of place since I didn't get to swim this morning. With the rain and the 20 mph winds, it did seem a bit too cold this morning to go into the pool. We definitely can't afford to get sick this year. Hopefully I'll get a break in the rain tomorrow morning so I can get my calorie burn in. If it still rains tomorrow morning, I'll just have to get my cardio done in the gym.

Have you ever felt like your workouts have peaked or plateaued? Today's tip of the day goes over how to get out the workout slump or fitness plateau.

TIP OF THE DAY:


When it comes to workout slumps or plateaus it means your body has gotten used to the workouts and adjusted to the workouts. The way to get passed these plateaus is to add variation to the workouts.

There are several ways to get passed the workout plateau. One way to change your workout is to circuit the workout. Circuits involve sequencing your exercise movements together with no rest in between. You can also do what is called super-setting. Super-setting is similar to circuits but genrally only involves only two muscle groups. These two muscle groups usually are similar muscle groups, similar muscle areas or agonist and antagonist muscle groups. If your plateau involves your cardiovascular workout, try changing the modality of the workout. You can also try interval training. Interval training requires quicker burst of exertion and then you are allowed to let the heart rate come back down while still moving to keep up the calorie burn.

Well that's all for now. Any questions, feel free to ask. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

Weight Training 102

Today was a nice relaxing day. Woke up and got my swim in. The girlfriend's parents came by for a visit today. We took them to Phil's BBQ. It's the same place that I mentioned last week. I got to have my tastey ribs again but opted for a smaller portion of ribs and substituted in some BBQ chicken breast. Still ate my fries. I really need to learn to cut them out when I go out to eat but I'm working on it. With the high caloric intake for lunch, I opted for a cleaner dinner with of hard boiled egg whites and a few pieces sourdough baguettes.

TIP OF THE DAY:

To add a slight variation to the preliminary workout that we talked about yesterday you can always do the free weight equivalent. Free weights are good ways to challenge your muscles while still focusing on the same muscle groups from the original workout.

Free weights are good because the muscle groups being activated have to control the weight through multiple planes of space compared to one plane of motion with machines. You want to make sure to keep the base that you are working out on as stable as possible when using free weights.

Free weight alternatives to the last entry's workout include:
- chest: bench press or dumb bell chest press
- back: bar bell row or dumb bell row
- shoulders: dumb bell shoulder press
- triceps: tricep kickbacks
- biceps: bar bell curl or dumb bell curls
- quads: walking or stationary lunges
- hamstrings: hard to do with free weights
- calves: use same as previous workout

Using alternatives when workouts start to feel repetitive are a good way to get through your workout. Also it helps give you alternatives when the equipment you would normally want to use is not available. This is important if you need to keep on a schedule. A lot of people only have an hour or an hour and a half to spare in their busy lives to devote to fitness. So this way you are able to still complete your workout in a timely manner.

Any questions, feel free to ask. Well that's all for tonight. Remember to get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

Weight Training 101 Continued

Stay motivated everyone!!

Down 2.4 lbs from last week. Total weight loss after two weeks adds up to 5 lbs. Maintaining diet focus and keeping up with consistent workouts will get you where you want to go. Its always important to do weekly weigh-ins. By doing this you can check to see if what you're doing for your program is working. Its a good reality check.

Got my swim in this morning and food was pretty good for calories and macro nutrients. I really like the way my swim workout is set up now. I made it as functional as possible with the available facilities. The first portion of the swim consist of lots of underwater dolphin kick laps back and forth in the pool. I like using the dolphin kick because it uses a lot of core and lower back muscles as well as getting the heart rate up so it serves as a cardiovascular workout as well. Next I switch to a regular flutter kick underwater to get the blood flowing really well as well as workout the quad and hamstring muscles in the legs. I do most of my laps with swim fins on. I do this for several reasons. One reason is to help do more laps so I can sustain the workout for a longer period of time. Secondly, the swim fins add a slightly extra resistance on my legs when I do whichever kicking style for my laps. After I finish my underwater swim laps, I switch to breast stroke when I do push ups and crunches in between laps. Breast stroke works nicely to activate the shoulders, triceps and back muscles. Push ups activate the chest, shoulder and triceps muscles very nicely. Crunches then activate the core muscles again for a second time around in the workout. One of the main muscle groups that I don't get to activate as much as I would like are the biceps but they actually get activated slightly with all the swimming strokes. So if you remember from yesterday's post, I talked about doing full body workouts for the beginning part of any program. One nice thing about a swimming is it provides enough resistance that it can still firm up the body but doesn't cause nearly as much soreness compared to lifting weights. Swimming also helps loosen the muscles back up even if there is soreness. This is why swimming is a good place to start workouts as well as a really good form of cardio to burn calories. So today's tip of the day will develop on yesterday's tip which will include a sample beginning workout.

TIP OF THE DAY:

A beginning level workout should include working out the following muscle groups: core/abdominals, chest, back, shoulders, triceps, biceps, quads, hamstrings and calves.

The first core/abdominal exercises that should be done include exercise ball crunches with feet placed against a stable object like the wall or a bench. I also recommend learning to do what is called a plank. A plank is when you balance on your forearms in a push up position while keeping your core and midsection drawn in while keeping the abdominal muscles engaged. If you have never done any type of workouts before I recommend starting out doing the plank on your knees. For the exercise ball crunch, I recommend 10-20 repetitions depending on how many you can handle. For the plank, I recommend holding that position for 30 seconds if you can. Both exercises at least 1 set but recommend 2.

Beginning chest exercise would include a seat chest press at any standard gym. If you don't have a gym membership I would recommend doing push ups. Chest press I would recommend picking a weight that causes you to get tired at around 15 repetitions, at least 1 set but preferably 2. Push ups, I recommend being able to three sets of as many push ups as possible per set.

Back exercises I recommend a seat row with either a row machine or elastic bands. 15 repetitions, 1 to 2 sets.

For shoulders, start with a standard shoulder press. Machine if available or dumb bells will work as well. Same repetitions and sets as the other muscle groups.

Triceps should include triceps extensions on a machine or dips can be done as an alternate. Same reps and sets.

Biceps should start with a preacher curl machine or dumb bells can also be used. Same reps and sets.

For quads, start out with a ball squat. Ball squats start with an exercise ball behind your lower back while leaning against the wall. Bend knees while keeping stomach sucked in to what seems like a seated position on an invisible chair. If knee pain occurs, slide feet slightly forward by a few inches. Knees should bend at a 90 degree angle when in lower position. Same reps and sets.

Hamstrings should be done on a hamstring curl machine. Activating hamstrings at home without gym access can be hard to do. I will go over a way to do so when discussing more advanced workouts. Same reps and sets.

Calves can be activated by doing using calf raise machines at the gym but can also be done by standing at the edge of any standard step and then pointing your toes so you are standing as tall as you can on your toes. Same reps and sets.

That concludes with the sample beginner workout. Time to sign off. Until next time, get your sweat on and happy dieting.

Nutritional Stats:

Weight training routine planning 101

Hi everybody, it's been a very long and productive day today. Woke up and got my morning swim in. Then took the girlfriend to school. Went to the mall and went down to the beach to see the seals at La Jolla cove. Good times.
















Do you like the views?















Here are the seals. This actually supposed to be a kiddie beach but the seals took over.














I shall call you whitey.

Today's TIP OF THE DAY has to do with planning a beginning workout routine. When starting a new routine you don't want to over commit yourself to too much activity if your body isn't used to it.

TIP OF THE DAY: 
New workout routines should start out with stationary machines to ensure proper form and foundation for more advanced future workouts.

The reason I say this is because the first workouts will cause plenty if soreness. When choosing which muscle groups to workout per workout I recommend doing full body workouts and spreading out the workouts enough to allow for proper recovery time. When becoming more advanced with the workout volume muscle group splits can then be implemented.

More in-depth workouts to come. Getting a little tired. Going to sign off. Until next time, get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

Nutritional Stats:

Diet planning.. What's too low?

Hello everybody, how is everyone doing? It was another great day in San Diego. The weather was great with plenty of sun. Definitely a wonderful day for swimming. I was able to increase the number of reps for the push up sets that I do between laps. Starting to feel the effects a little bit already. All in all it was a good workout day. I also stepped on the scale this morning and I liked the number that I saw. I'm hoping by the end of the month I'm out of the 200s.

I think we'll be rapping up the diet planning tip of the days pretty soon. There's other tips and aspects that I can explain but I'll wait til I start implementing them into my own program before I go into them. But today we'll be talking about counting calories and what is too low for calories.

TIP OF THE DAY:

For those who are very strict with themselves and try to keep a really low daily calorie intake, do not go below 1200 calories per day.

The reason I mention this is because as the body adapts to the caloric intake and the body changes it's body fat percentage, the body is going to require less calories. The human body is a very smart and adaptive machine. The human body naturally wants to store fat so when the body changes it wants to go the path of least resistance. So even if you are losing weight for a while at a certain your body will learn to adapt to it and slow the body's metabolism down. The reason I say not to go below 1200 is because anything below that the body enters starvation mode and severely slows down the metabolism which can actually cause you to gain weight. Most people when they diet and they stop losing weight, they adjust the their diet lower. And if you start your diet at 1200 calories, you have no where to go from there. If you body has adapted to an extremely low, there are ways to reset your metabolism. But we'll go into that another time.

If you have found a good amount of calories that works for you and your weight loss starts to slow, try changing up your workout routines. In that way, you can jumpstart your metabolism again and make the most of your calories. No matter what, when you lose weight your body is naturally going to not need as many calories. But by increasing your muscle mass from your workouts, hopefully the daily caloric burn is still maintained a higher level. One lb of lean muscle burns more calories than one lb of fat.

Well that's all for now. Until next time, get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

Nutritional Stats:

Dieting and Macro Nutrients

So yesterday I didn't mention why we got a new hamster addition. We got Peanut because our old hamster Remy Rainbow-Sprinkle-Pants Hwe-Li was very sick and we had to put her down. We had her for about a year and a half. She was really funny when she was a baby hamster. She used to climb to the top of her cage and run across the top like a spider-hamster. Her tumor was just too much for. We will miss her muchos.

I took a day off from the pool today due to the cold weather. It was supposed to rain today and the sun never really came out in the morning time. Tomorrow will be back in the pool.

TIP OF THE DAY:
Adjusting the balance of your macro nutrients can help you feel more full and help you get through your day without feeling like you're starving while not consuming excess calories.

For those who don't know, macro nutrients consist of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. The average person's diet generally contains too high of a fat content as well as carbohydrates. When consuming fast food diets with a much higher fat concentration the calories greatly increase. However, by adjusting the balance of the macro nutrients you can actually eat what feels like a lot more food and it will be a lot less calories.

With everyone on the Atkins bandwagon, many people ate scared of carbs because they feel they cannot lose weight if they eat any form of carbs. I prefer to recommend eating clean and simple carbs while balancing them with the right type of clean proteins and lower levels of fats. The reason I say it's okay to eat clean carbs is because the brain needs carbs to function correctly. This is why many people get moody when they try to cut carbs out of their diets. I would say it's okay to eat rice and bread as long as they are not in excess amounts. I love bread so I always try to limit my bread intake to one serving size per sitting. I also recommend lots of egg whites to get your clean protein inserted into your diet. Eggs are very affordable compared to many of the protein powders that are available on the market today. I personally like to eat my eggs hard boiled and then I take out the yokes. It's the easiest way for me to separate out the yoke but you can prepare your egg whites to your liking. Just try not to add too many toppings or sauces for flavoring but a mild flavoring is always welcomed. By balancing your macro nutrients you have more energy and you don't get as hungry or as quickly between meals. I recommend aiming for 60% carbs, 20% proteins, and 20% fat for starters. You can substitute fat for more proteins if that makes your dieting more comfortable. You figure out what works for you. Just keep adjusting your food intake until you get a winning combination that works for you.

Well until next time, get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

Nutrition Stats:

A new addition..

Hello my name is Peanut.


We just got peanut yesterday. She's a dwarf hamster so she is extra fast and tries to jump away from you. Anywho, if I could run like this hamster runs on her wheel I'd never be fat.

Swim workout hasn't changed. So I won't bore you. Its still effective so I just have to keep challenging myself while I swim. Let's just go straight to the tip of the day.

TIP OF THE DAY:
Today's tip has to do with meal replacements. A meal replacement generally consists of either some form of protein shake, smoothies or bars. You generally eat meal replacement products in place of a meal or snack during the day. Meal replacements are very easily available. The meal replacement I want to talk about specifically today are smoothies. Lots of people like to get smoothies while their dieting because they think they're making a healthier choice. And while drinking a smoothies is much better for you than eating a burger at your favorite fast food joint, some smoothies have almost as many as a cheeseburger. Ate you surprised? Many people forget that most smoothie establishments throw ice cream or sherbet. They also use juice bases to help thin out the smoothie to make it more drinkable. All this adds up to higher sugar levels which equals more calories. Granted these calories are from sugar and not from fat like the cheeseburger it still can get up there. So for example Jamba Juice's Strawberry Surf Rider is 430 calories for the original size drink. That is roughly equivalent to a McDouble at McDonalds. So if you do get smoothies, make sure you're going to get your workout in that day and don't combine a smoothies with lunch.

Hope these little tips and ideas make a difference for someone.
Signing off, get your sweat on and happy dieting

- Joel via iPhone

Today's Lunch:



Keep your eyes open for Homer. He's going to be joining us on our dieting adventures.











Nutrition Stats:

Diet Planning 102

So I recently discovered that I can link my Twitter account to my blog updates. Sure does make things convenient. I also got my new swimming trunks in the mail today. Doesn't everyone love getting things in the mail? Anyway, swimming was good as usual. No new variations on the workout plan. But will explain farther down the line. For now, we will go into the tip of the day.

TIP OF THE DAY:
Here are several ways to help count calories. When on the go and eating foods that you don't know the calories for, take a picture of the nutrition label for reference later. Just about everyone has a camera built into their cell phone now these days should it shouldn't be hard to find a camera that you have access to.  That way you don't have to save used food packaging. Also, when packing food to go, use Tupperware with known volume measurements. Use smaller Tupperware so you can fill it completely that way you know how much you're eating.

One of the most important things to dieting is portion control. Having a true grasp of how much food that you're putting in your mouth helps to understand how many calories you're eating. At some point you may feel that you're obsessive/compulsive in the beginning but the more you do it, the easier it will be to count your calories without measuring it exactly every time. I highly recommend in investing in a food scale in the beginning as well. I've been counting calories long enough that I can guess usually within 50-75 calories by how full I feel after the meal. But when I really need to keep myself accountable I go back to counting calories and logging everything that I eat. It also helps to have someone who can keep you accountable to the diet.

Well, time to sign off early. Got to wake up early tomorrow if I want to get my swim in. So I'll sign off with get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

Tonights Dinner:





















Nutritional Stats:

Stay Motivated

3 lbs down in 9 days.. Not shabby if I do say so myself.  You have to celebrate the little things when dieting otherwise at some point you'll hit a breaking point.  When serious about losing weight its important to realize that weight loss is a long term process.  A realistic goal of weight loss per week is about 1 lb.  A 2 lbs weight loss in a week is not an unreasonable amount either.  Shows like Biggest Loser have given an unrealistic view of how weight loss happens.  People forget that the contestants on that show live and breathe workouts when they live on the Biggest Loser ranch.  If they don't lose enough weight while living on the ranch, its all comes down to how much food their eating.  They don't have to worry about working or going to school or taking care of their families.  They just workout 7 days a week for the most part.  I'll include my food stats right now so we get that out of the way.

TIP OF THE DAY:  Today we're going to go over how to determine how many calories should be your target for your diet.  First thing everyone must realize is that there is no magic diet that will work for everyone.  You can follow diets that other people have created or do.  But the diet still must be tailored to you specifically.  If the diet contains foods that you won't eat, how will you ever be able to stick to it over the long haul and make it to the finish line?  Fad diets can work up to a point but at some point the diet stops being affective for the person and they go back to their old ways.

So the million dollar question, what's the magic number?  The truth is there is no magic number.  But I can help you find a number that works for you. With all the resources on the internet, there are plenty of tools that can help you calculate the proper calorie number.  A good place to start I would recommend visiting a site that i regularly use which is www.fitday.com.  This site has a tool that helps you calculate approximately how many calories your body burns on a daily basis.  If you have a gym membership to a gym, they usually will help you out if you ask to get your body fat percentage measured.  By putting in your weight, body fat percentage, height, age, and activity level it will calculate how many calories you burn on an average day.  I recommend estimating your activity one level lower than what you actually think you are.  By using a more conservative number, it makes it easier to lose weight assuming that you hit your caloric daily allotment on a regular basis.  I would recommend a caloric allotment that is 500-750 calories less than what the caloric daily burn estimates. If you are very consistent on hitting your caloric goal, you shouldn't have a problem losing at least 1 lb per week.  I'll go over nutritional specifics later on but this is a good place to start.  Changing body fat percentage and the way your body looks has other major details that I will go into further in later posts.  I'll also go over more tips for counting calories later as well.  Hopefully this helps those who are sitting on the fence and wanting to start out on their own weight loss journeys. Until next time, get your sweat on and happy dieting.