I have wanted to post this for a while, not to brag, but to remind me in the future what I am currently doing and to have something to compare it with when I go over this blog and hopefully I will have improved or at least maintained.
Pauline and I have been going to the gym Monday to Friday for over 19 months now and for the most part we have been very dedicated in doing this, we have skipped a few days here and there and we both skipped most of December 2008 due to travel and burn out but overall we have gone 5 days a week.
Our travels have been the #1 reason why we didn’t go for 90% of the time so I am very pleased with that. There has been many days I just wanted to sleep in but went and there has been days we went and just did the minimum (treadmill) but at least we still went.
My normal routine is started with the treadmill and I always approach them with hesitation due to the fact out of 6 TVs there has been times all 6 have been on FOX and at 9am when we arrive that means “The 700 Club” which causes HUGE frustrations with us and the other members, usually it’s a race to change them, but when there is more then the “usual group” its not always easy to change them. (Side note, the TV boxes are set to come on that channel, and I as well as other members have complained many times to have the cable company change the default and that has gone nowhere) So usually ESPN, CNN, NBC is on/changed to depending on who else is using the treadmills or bikes.
I start by walking .25 miles at 4.0 and than I run nonstop 2 miles on 6.2 – 6.6 depending on the treadmill I get, this takes me 20-22 minutes and I normally walk until I get 25 full minutes on the treadmill as my cool down, sometimes I walk to the 30 minutes, but it gets pretty boring so lately it has been just 25.
I than head back downstairs and HOPEFULLY no one is using the one and only crunch bench, which more times than not, it is unused.
I grab a 25# free weight and I do 25 sit-ups, 25 crunches, 25 side to side sit-ups and 25 sit-ups where I raise the 25# weight above my head. I started doing these 25 at a time, than 50 and now I can do all 100 at once non stop and I do 4 sets of these for a total of 400 a day which I need to increase it by another 100 for 500 total. (which I have done a few times, but honestly it gets boring)
Today the crunch bench was being used so I went and did my arms first and FRACK that about killed me when I finally got back to the sit-ups, that needs to be my first thing done, other wise I struggle. And its pretty weird to see a circle of sweat on the floor around me when I am done, hopefully the cool weather will help with that since I am leaving literally pools of sweat on the floor and yes I always whip down the bench, I have too, it looks like someone poured water on it when I am done.
Normally I do squats after that, but the squat areas are pretty popular with the bigger guys so a few days a week they are using them and doing 600#+ so I wait or skip the squats that day since I max myself at 225# and if I can’t do my 3 sets of 10 I move on to the inclined bench where I have been doing 135# 10 times for 3 sets and I move to the bench and either do #135, #185 or at times 225#, it all depends on which bench I get and how I feel. And I have tried to add shoulder/arm exercises and curls into my normal routine but for whatever reason I haven’t, I blame burnout/boredom.
So there it is, I went from 236# down to 193# back to 215# which appears to be my weight now since I have not gone up or down more than 2#’s in months and I don’t see that changing until I change my eating habits which doesn’t seem likely. We are eating much better now than we have, but I am too set in my ways when it comes to food. Toni is on a strict calories count diet and she has lost so much weight, and I am considering to go on it myself, but I just HATE being hungry and I enjoy eating good food, so I am not ready to count my calories just yet… but my jeans are tight… frack…
calm