Day 1: Sunday Workout

Not much to say now after all the introductory posts of the day.

Had an evening workout today, started with a quick warm-up on the treadmill, 5 minutes at 1 minute intervals, starting at 10 kph and finishing at 14kph. You can use any speeds it, is not designed so that you are exhausted by the end, merely to increase the heart rate and warm the muscles through ready for a weights session.

Weights were simple today, I am using heavier weights at the moment with lower reps:

• 12 x 4 Bicep curls
• 12 x 4 Lying-Supine Two-Arm Dumbbell Triceps Extension
• 12 x 4 dumbbell flys
• 12 x 2 barbell bench press

I try not to rest between sets, if I need to give my muscles a break then I do squats or calf raises and then continue with the weights.

I have not quoted any kgs for the weights as this is purely dependent on the individual. However this as low as I go with regards to sets so I try to pick a weight that I can just manage 12 reps with.

With little time between exercises you cannot lift weights that you could if maybe you took 2 - 3 minutes between sets. I am trying to lose fat and retain the muscle I have not to put on any significant amounts of muscle so I have found that this works well.

I finished with a light 1000 metre row, just to stretch out and some ab work on the mats. Again nothing strenuous today on the abs just 10 x 3 fit ball raises really works the lower abs.

Last Week

New 10 Week Session of Personal Training Starts (26-Sep-2007)

So the next cycle begins with starting stats of: 17.9% BF & 81Kgs (19-Sep-2007)

The Goal to lose 6% BF over the next 10 Weeks

So looks simple enough but this is 2 % more than I lost in the previous 10 weeks. So where did I pluck this figure from? Well ages ago I downloaded Tom Venuto's Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle eBook and so I started reading this. He recommends that 5% in 10 weeks is good. So I thought I would up the ante slightly and go for 6% so it is great. Also this would bring me to within 2% of my ultimate goal. I will log my daily routines for accountability and to show progress. My BF and weight are measured each Wednesday by my personal trainer, I am using weekly checks so that I can amend my nutrition and workouts if things are not working. I am using 2 methods for BF calculation, the Omron HBF-306 electronic body fat analyzer and also Accu-Measure BF calipers, mainly to see if there is a difference.

At this stage I would also like to give much credit and kudos to Adam Waters whose very own blog inspired me to get on and write my own.

So the Stats at last weeks weigh in were: 80kgs & 17.2%BF (26-Sep-2007)

1kg weight lost and 0.7% BF lost

Recent History...

2007 commences...

2007 commenced but motivation was at an all time low. Work was really busy and it was easy to find excuses for not running or going to the gym. I did a few trip to the gym over the course of a month and a few 5 mile runs outside but not a great deal. This was pretty much it for the first part of 2007, I started to put weight on, clothes became tighter...you know the story.

Wake up call....

10 Weeks of Personal Training Sessions

I was given personal training voucher for my birthday which I still had not redeemed so I thought that I would undertake an overhaul to re-motivate myself and start re-building from where I had left off.

So I booked the first session and the motivation that came from just booking the session was immense. I had almost a week until the first session and I had some great workouts leading up to the first consultation.

My goal was to reach 10% bodyfat not over this 10 week period but ultimately. I started the session at 84 kgs and 21.9% bodyfat. The initial sessions taught me new exercises and variety. I ended the 10 weeks at 81 kgs and 17.9% bodyfat, a loss of 4% bodyfat and 3 kgs.

What's this all about then...

I started going to the gym about 2 years ago which was about 6 months after successfully stopping smoking, which was a big achievement for me! At that stage the aim was merely to improve fitness and lose a bit of weight as a I had put on some since stopping smoking. At this stage I weighed about 15 stone and I think my body fat was in the region of 28%.

My choice of exercise was the treadmill. I used to run when I was younger as part of a club so for me it was the natural choice. Each day was the same, 2 miles on the treadmill as fast as possible. The goal was to improve each day which at first was quite easy, 30 seconds, 20 seconds 10 seconds etc etc. As the weeks moved on though and my fitness started to improve the gains as you would expect got lower but I was losing weight.

I don't know what the exact period of time was but I lost around 1 1/2 stone. This was great but, during this time I started to read many articles on the Internet about weight loss and fat loss and ways to improve your fitness...

I will post daily blogs which will detail the workouts that I am using and the types of food that I am eating, relevant interesting information that I have found that I think may be useful. I must stress though, this is what has worked for me and it may work for you but in life there are no guarantees. Also the workouts I do now are the culmination of over a year of cardio work so should be entered into with care initially.

Any questions are welcome and advice even more so....