Danny's Getting Fit: Journal Entry #3

Danny's Getting Fit--Day 3

For those of you expressing concern over my health, I regret to inform you that I'm still sick.  The good news is I'm convinced it's not H1N1 (formally know as yadayadayada).  But I'm not 100% healthy either.

Today, I went to the trainer, half expecting to get a note to go see the school nurse and with any luck get my mom to pick me up so I could go home early.  Instead, he suggested I lift heavier weights for fewer reps., explaining that while I'm physically not at my peak, my strength hasn't really been affected by my cold.  What is impacted, he went on to say, is my endurance.  Now by "my" what I mean all of us, because we're all human and having a cold zaps water from muscles while our body engine heats up to fight off infection, which in turn saps our endurance, but not our strength.

Now to the workout:

For pulldowns, I did 150# for 10 reps.  Back on 9/5 most I could muster was 140# for 7 reps.  (cue Rocky theme music . . .)

Next up was the dreaded seated row.

I dread the seated row because the dang bar pulls at my hands and I have to use paper towels just to hold on to it.  But even sick, using a makeshift glove, I managed 150#/10 reps., which was 10 pound, 3 rep. improvement over the first time I did the exercise.

By now, I was really tired.  I was quite wobbly doing the bicep curls and I felt my back tweak out a bit while lifting.  I skipped the core/ab routine (which was supposed to be some sort of torture type crunch) but still did the post lifting cardio bit (burn baby burn).   Afterwards, I felt like hell.  But a good kind of hell, you know.

New fitness tips to share:

1. It's advised (not by me, mind you, but by certified folks who know this stuff) to always have a complete protein with every meal.  Complete proteins are basically anything that comes from an animal (including dairy), but you can also mix food to create a complete protein.  Don't ask me how you do that because I haven't a clue.  Today, I got a new recipe for a high protein nut mixture that I was told creates a complete protein because of the mix. Unless of course these are animal nuts, which I don't believe them to be.

Danny's High Powered/High Protein Nut Mixture

1. Soybeans (dry/unsalted)

2. Sunflower seeds

3. Almond slices

Note: You can add raisins/M&Ms or salted nuts for flavor but keep them to a minimum. 

I promised to elaborate on this salt thing as well.  Refresher from earlier posts: Salt = Bad, Potassium = Good.  Here's what I've learned on the topic: Apparently, there is the law in nature called the law of highest concentration.  I don't know if it's a real law or not, but let's assume for now that it is.  Below the skin, in the subcutaneous layer, the body stores sodium.  Below that, are cells which help to form muscle tissue.  If the body has a lot of salt (sodium/NA) I guess what happens is that you become bloated as the water moves to the area of highest concentration in the body.   In essence, you fill up the subcutaneous layer with water, thus bloating your skin.  This I'm told is bad.  By decreasing your sodium intake and increasing potassium levels, water will move to the cell layer and actually help pull your skin tighter.

So, let's say for all intents and purposes that my science here is completely flawed.  What isn't flawed, is that the less sodium you consume is probably a good thing and might make you less bloated.  Again, bloating, for the purposes of this post, we're assuming to be bad.

Some products with low sodium/high potassium are:

Mrs. Dash

Jim Beam's Marinades 

Here's a link to a table of foods that are high in potassium. 

In summary:  
Weight Loss-3 pounds (mostly because I'm sick and haven't been eating gold fish).  Strength Gain-a wee bit (despite cold)  Daniel Craigness Gain-0 (but I will shave today, so that should help some) 

Authors note:  I love tortilla chips and sea salt potato chips and there is a good chance I'm not going to follow this advice.  With that said, I'll do my best. 

Danny's Getting Fit: Journal Entry #2

Interval Training Day!

(Authors disclaimer: look, I'm a terrible proof reader.  I do my best, but as you'll soon read, it's not always good enough.  So while pursing this post, please forgive (or at least let me know) any typos, missing words, dangling participles or other failings on my part and you'll be none the worse for it.)

Day 2.  Interval Day.
Progress on achieving my Daniel Craig physique is proceeding as expected; with expected being at an imperceptible pace.  Today was an interval running day.  Unfortunately for me, I think I'm at the beginning stages of a cold, or if my hyperactive imagination has anything to say about it, the start of an H1N1 (formally known as swine flu, but thanks to the ongoing PR efforts of the people who farm pigs/swine for a living, no longer called that) illness.   Chances are, it's just a cold.

I don't know about you, but working out when I'm under the weather turns something that is already tedious into something that is all the more so.  But it's that feeling of accomplishment afterwards, when all is said and done, and I can pat myself proudly on the back for the effort, knowing that I have at least fourteen hours to go before I'm slated to do it again. That's what inspires me to push through the misery.  So push I did.

Because I'm not feeling 100% healthy, I throttled the run back a bit.  I kept it at a 20 minute run.  Normally, I do the following:

Warmup 1 minute @ 10:30 minute miles

1st Interval Set
1 min. 10 min. mile pace
1 min. 8:30 min. mile pace
1 min. 8:00 min. mile pace
1 min. 7:30 min. mile pace

Then I start another set.  For the last set (I do 4 sets) I finish with a 1 min. sprint at a 7:00 mile pace (I've been running 18 minutes after that heinousness is blessedly over), then I do 1 min. at the 10 min. mile pace and 1 min. at the warmup pace.  20 minutes and its done. It's the equivalent in cardiovascular benefit to a 50 minute run (I've been told).  At this point, I want to keel over and die.  Some benie but yeah for me anyway!

Now, you don't have to run at this pace to get the same workout.  It's all about your heart rate.  Optimal for this sort of training is an interval that takes your heart rate from 60% max to 90% max, then back to 60%.  Here's a link to a calculator that can help compute your target heart rate.

Here's another link to learn more about interval running on a treadmill.

I'm told that running after weightlifting is better for weight loss and that running intervals is best for cardiovascular health.  If you ask me, both hurt the same.  Apparently, what the intervals also do is jump start your metabolism so that you burn through calories faster.

Quiz time!  Should you run first, then lift weights?

Thinking . . . thinking . . .

The answer is, no.  I guess it's counter productive because cardio will burn through the glycogen stores first, then attack the fat, while weightlifting will burn through glycogen stores first, then cannibalize muscle.  Creepy, I know.  So running before lifting is actually counter productive to your goal, because you'll end up burning muscle lifting if you've used up all the glycogen doing cardio beforehand.  If the science is off here, I've at least got the concept right.

Now, don't get me wrong.  You want to STRETCH your muscles before you lift weights.  What your muscles want is oxygenated blood.  So instead of cardio before you lift, you could do a warmup set with weights, stretch that muscle while breathing in deeply (6-10 times, each side) to get blood with loads of oxygen flowing to the muscle.  Then do you heavier weight sets.

Last night's failing (a photo essay):
It is hard to live by the rules of Daniel Craigness, as evidenced by this picture.  In it you'll see a beer and my son's pretzel goldfish, which I consumed last night (after dinner).  So I did my run today.  The benefit of running (while sick) was that I didn't lose ground.  But because of last night's "fiesta con salty fish" I suspect I didn't gain much either.  Who cares?  I'd rather eat goldfish then look like Daniel Craig anyway.

In summary:  
Weight Loss-0.  Strength Gain-0  Physique Goal Reach Gain-0  Goldfish Consumed-Plenty

Next post I promise to talk about why potassium rocks and salt doesn't, but that's enough for now.

Danny's Getting Fit: Journal Entry #1

This will be a on-going series of journal type blog posts, interspersed with my other musings. The focus here will be on my personal mission to get fit.  With these entries, I hope others might benefit from my experience.

So with that 411, let the fitness journey begin.

Danny's Getting Fit-Day 1
Actually it's day 15, but for the purposes of theses posts, let's call it day 1.

Normally I do not go by Danny.  I go by Daniel.  It was a conscious choice I made as young man, after falling in love with Elisabeth Shue (aka Ali Mills) in the Karate Kid.  Remember-Daniel with an I, Ali with an L.  But I go by Danny whenever:

a. I'm drinking beers with my band mates (hasn't happened for about 18 years now)

b. I need the encouragement because what I'm doing really blows and I don't want to do it anymore, as in--"Go Danny!  You can do it!"

So for the purposes of getting fit, I will hereby refer to myself as Danny.  Because let's face it, working hard at getting fit requires A LOT of encouragement.

Next you should know that I have hired the services of a personal trainer.  Why did I do this?  I mean lifting weights isn't too hard to figure out.  Push down on bar.  Move heavy plates.  Repeat.  After months of working out at the gym and reading different "how to" books and blogs and such I wasn't getting any fitter or stronger.  I invested in a professional who promised to teach me:

1. How to get stronger and more conditioned
2. How to eat right to stay stronger

He went on to say that it's up to me but if I really wanted to do it, I could have washboard abs and a Daniel Craig physique, to which I naturally responded, 'Hell Yeah!' without having a clue what it would take to get washboard abs and a Daniel Craig physique.

I must confess, having a professional trainer explain to me the do's and don'ts, the why's and why nots of this and that makes a HUGE difference in the results.  Yes, it isn't cheap.  Perhaps for the cost of a personal trainer I could drive around in a much nicer leased car.  To that, my wife smartly pointed out when I brought up the subject of cost, "sure, you can drive your out of shape self around in a nicer car.  Sounds like a good plan."  If sarcasm doesn't translate well in a blog post, please note, she was being sarcastic.

For these posts I'm going communicate what work I did, what gains I made and my nutrition plan.  I'll try to keep them short and sweet so they're easily consumed.

I have three weight training days.

They are:
1. Pushing days: bench press, seated military press and triceps pulldown
2. Leg days: squats, leg lifts and hamstring curls
3. Pulling days: lat pull down, seated row and biceps curl

We do a different abs workout each day that works a different set of core muscles.

I'm told we break it up this way because it will maximize building muscle and give me a full body workout over the course of three weight training days.

I run 4x a week.  2x I run right after lifting weights because I'm told I've burned all the glycogen in my muscles and an aerobic work after weight training is automatically a fat burning workout.  So 20 minutes at a slow pace, say 10 min. miles, is the equivalent of a 40 minute run at the same pace.  More bang for my buck!  The other 2 runs are interval runs and I'll write about those on interval days.  By the way, intervals blow.  Really hard.

Today was leg day.  Leg day is my least favorite day because it hurts immensely.  By immensely I mean, I wish it would end before it began and I would denounce my love for Elisabeth Shue, God and Country if it would.  That of course is only in the heat of the moment.  The good thing about leg day is I don't have to run after.  So here's a breakdown of today's pain/gain:

Smith Squats
I keep a workout journal.  I think it's a must have so you can visualize your progress.  The first day I did Smith Squats as they're called, my max weight was 140 pounds for 12 reps on 9/2.  Today, 9/16, I did 180 for 10 reps.  That's a really substantial jump in a short amount of time.  And you know something, I felt a lot stronger today then the first time I did it.

When I lift, I try to do 15 reps. at each weight.  There is benefit to failing.  There is massive benefit to failing.  But more on later in another post.

Leg Extensions
I managed 115 for 12 reps. today (9/16).  When I started my best was 110 for 10.  YEAH FOR ME!

Leg Curls 
I got 115 for 10 today (9/16).  When I started my best was 110 for 10.  So again, YEAH FOR ME!

I'm eating six meals a day and soon will experiment with carb cycling.  More on  nutrition to come, but to keep this as compact as possible I'll tell you that today I plan on cooking chicken breast (cut up) mixed in with Jim Beam teriyaki sauce (low sodium is KEY, but more on that later) and tons of veggies.  For lunch I'll have rice with it.  For dinner, I'm just going to have the mix.  Why?  More on that later too.

This is an education for me in fitness and healthy eating.  My trainer, Jean-Paul Cafarella C.P.T. (603) 557-4767 says that I can get "ripped".  And I believe him.

That's it for today.  I hope you found this interesting and useful for you.  Leave me a comment and let me know.  I'll continue the journal so that we can motivate ourselves to a fitter us together.