* Will's log *

[Will]

Bio: I am currently 29 years old pediatrician in Texas, 5'8 and 170+ lbs (fluctuates), making my BMI > 26. My goal before hitting 30 was to do a marathon, looks like that's not going to happen with baby on the way and working hours.

I was not always 170 lbs + I swam in high school, played tennis in college, and kept most of it up in med-school, but really gotten off track in residency and after this 2006 holidays, I can't seem to break the 170s; usually I flucuate in the 160s. I am also an avid backpacker, loving long expedition-like journies. Back in 2000 my best friend and I trekked through Latin American for 5 weeks, and I was able to loose about 15 lbs, and looked pretty great at 145 lbs, a BMI of 21. Hell, all we did was hike few miles daily with a 50+ lb backpack, eating breakfast and dinner only, mostly fried fish and alcohol when available, swimming, biking, etc. I guess after 12-14 hours of non-stop fun x 5 weeks, the amount of calories we burnt exceeded way more the one we replace and we started looking very good, like the dudes in 300... I was able to do 10+ pushups one my finger tips.... on one hand at a time!

Reality now is that these weight loosing trips are no longer possible nor do I have time for gym workouts and unfortunatley no all season pools are available where I live; can't even remember the last time I swam. Then alas, 3 years ago I think I tore my main brachial vein in my left arm which everytime I workout would cause massive swelling in my left arm. Then recently, I suffered some bad plantar facitis (pain in heels when running) after running on some cheapo Addidas shoes. Diet also has been horrible, I call it the sympathy pregnant diet to support my wife's erratic eating habits and her weight gain.

Anyways, recently I saw "300" and then on webMD news, I read "The 300 workout plan", and after googling around and few links later I found this site, and will give it a try. Last year, I used P90X extreme DVD series was for about 5 weeks and was able to drop about 10 lbs. Unfortunately, I don't think dieting would be possible.

The plan:

MWF: following the plan, will be using my old Soloflex for the pullups.
TTH: Nordic Trac MTN 740 Stair Climber (at least 30 mins)
S/Sun: Running 1-2 miles with my husky or bike riding

And use this on-line journal to document progress and keeping motivated.

wish me luck

-Will

[Admin]

Welcome!

Here is a great way to get the most out of your climber

The Routine:
Warm up for five minutes

Round: Perform 1 minute as fast as you can (a level 9 or 10 intensity – on a scale of 1-10).

Recover at a moderate pace for two minutes (a level 6-7 intensity).

That’s one “round” – and it lasts three minutes

More here
http://www.alwyncosgrove.com/Energy-Sys ... ining.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... t=Abstract

Cheers

[Will]

Started out doing level 1, at 1 pullup, 2 push ups, 3 squats, realized it was too chill after 5 rounds, so increased to level 5 at 3 pullups, 5 pushups and 8 squats x 7 rounds total of 20 mins and now I am sweating pretty hard, and heart rate stablizing.

I will also do 20 situps now.

-Will

[Admin]

Outstanding work!

Be sure to check out the nutrition section if weight loss is a goal.
http://simplefit.org/nutrition.html

Great to have you here.

[Will]

Not sure about the diet, but I generally eat pretty good, unfortunately it's whenever I have time and whatever is around.

This morning did a semi-good run for about 30 mins. I usually drink 2 cups of coffee before I start on empty stomach, this is suppose to allow increase glucogon release and insulin suppression, and increase gluconeogenesis, in otherwords, helps to loose weight.

My triceps are a bit sore this morning probably from the pullups yesterday.

ciao

-will

[Will]

Yesterday we visited Austin, and at my friend's house we played some boxing game on the Nintendo Wii system; let me tell ya' this morning my arm was about to fall off. We then finished the day swimming with my 1 year old Husky @ Barton Springs... his name is Maximus, being first time in water gave me a good work out and clawed me out of despiration during times of panic, but he proved to be an excellent swimmer on the 2nd try, like a polar bear hunting a seal.

Anyways, today workout is Day 2 / Level 5 / 5 rounds for time, on my 3rd set of pull-ups, my arms gave out and was only able to get 3 pullups, so I demoted myself to level 3, and finished 5 rounds today in 7 mins.

Well, tomorrow will be StairClimbing, and will use the Fatburning mode, which is essentially what the Admin talked about in the above post.

Time to take some Motrin and rest,

-will

[Will]

It was stair master day. 1000 feet, and about 120 calories in 30 mins. Lots of sweating. My arms are still sore, not to mention my shoulders and chest as well, probably from combination of Nintendo Wii and yesterday's workout. Looking forward to my time trial for level 3 / round 3 tomorrow... toughest is going to be the pullups.

-will

[Will]

Before I even started today, I knew I was going to be in trouble. Sure enough by the 6th pull up I had to rest and recover, took me about 4 intervals to finish 16 pulls ups, the rest was easy.

Total time: just under 3 mins.

Should I go down to level 2 or stay at level 3?

-will

[Admin]

Try breaking the pulls into smaller sets, say 2 under failure, then you will be able to do more work in less time!

[Will]

Today was stairmaster day again, did it on setting 4: Extreme Rise, which is essentially fast : slow for 30 mins from 70 steps per minute to 120+ steps per min alternating. over 1600 feet climbed, > 60 fat calories & ~ 250 calaories burnt. Felt good afterwards. My arms are not as sore today, so I guess I'll start tomorrow with L3D1


-wc

[Will]

Week 2 / L3D1

19 rounds. Must admit by 13th round, pullups were getting hard, I had to change to chin ups for the later sets. Squeezed 50 situps in between. It did not help when my left arm swelled up again.

Weekend will be a good time for rest.

-will

[Admin]

switching between pronated and supinated is encouraged as well as varying distance between hands, other cool thing to try are ring, towel pull ups, and using a thicker bar.

Another great way to hit the core is the evil wheel check out this insane video it shows the wheel and some other cool variations for pull ups and push ups.
http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/thehomegym.html
Ross has a great book called "never gymless"

On rings the same move is called a Standing Jackknife. The exercise and progression are simple:

1. Position the rings as close to the floor as you want. Bend at the waist, grab the rings, and push them away from you until you are fully laid out.
2. To make the exercise easier, raise the rings and/or start with your feet closer to them.
3. To make the exercise harder, lower the rings and/or start with your feet further away.


Keep up the great work!

[Will]

Week 2, day 2:

Today it suddenly got real cold and wet out there, so instead of running, did 30 mins of easy yoga. Flexibility is definetely not my strong suit. Maybe tomorrow will be better weather for a run or a long bike ride.

Oh, thanks for the training video link above... it'll be a while before I am at that condition.

I hit below 170 lbs last night!

-will

[Admin]

Awesome!

[Will]

Week 2 Day 3 (off days)

Ran about 2 miles today with my husky; unfortunately I replenished it with plenty of sweets and had dinner at a friend's and perhaps ate too much... back to 171 lbs

-will