#376: You Only Get One Chance at your First Marathon

Pennsyltucky dreaming...

I now have 26.2 reasons to look forward to the new year. I sent the money in, and I’m registered to run the Pittsburgh Marathon on May 6. It is a long way, but then, so was 13.1. And 6.2. And 3.1. I thought 1.8 was going to kill me. And then there was that morning I had to stop and rest after crossing the street. A full marathon is a long way. But I know I can run one step. I’ll just keep doing that. Am I nervous? Yeah. Do I have a plan? Also, yeah.

I’m using a program from Galloway TrainingPrograms. It’s designed to prepare a first-timer to finish the race without injury and without swearing to never run another one. No speed records. No near-death experiences. No puking. After all, since it’s my first, no matter what time I get is going to be a personal best.

I’m doing two training runs a week to build strength and maintain conditioning, with a Long Slow Run (LSR) on the weekends. That will give my old joints plenty of time to recover between workouts. On Monday and Wednesday, I’ll be cross-training (XT). XT is the work you do because you’re too crazy to take a day off, but you don’t want to kill yourself. At least that’s how I understand it.

I have a lot of options for XT: weight lifting, circuit training, swimming, spinning, body-weight training, Pilates, TRX. I intend to mix them up to keep things interesting. I have three goals in cross-training.

1.      Continue building my endurance. Nothing matters more in long distance running. It doesn’t matter how fast you can run if you can’t keep going all the way to the end.

2.      Build core strength. Not just my abs. The skin around my belly is so stretched out, I don’t ever expect to see a six-pack, but I do need a strong center. That includes the whole abdominal girdle, stomach, sides, butt, and lower back. It’s important to give the running muscles a recovery day, so I won’t be doing so much leg work while I’m training for the race.

3.      Dump some ballast. I want to get my weight down about 15 pounds. When I’m climbing up that hill to Oakland, I don’t want to carry more than I have to.

4.      Get pretty. This is my vanity goal. I want to look better in a tee-shirt. I tend to overlook bench presses and curls and such movements because they’re so isolated. I’m going to take the opportunity to focus more on my upper body: arms, shoulders, chest, and back. I confess, there is a macho man hiding inside me, longing to come out and kick sand in cancer’s face.

I also have the Run the BluegrassHalf-Marathon tucked into my calendar on March 31. That fits nicely into my schedule as a tune-up for the big one. There’s also something poetic about running races in Kentucky and Pennsylvania this spring that warms my Pennsyltucky heart.

I’m planning a major fundraiser to go along with this race. I’ll have more to tell you about that later. I’ll only get one chance to run my first marathon, and I want to make the most of it. As always, FMR will be a big part of that journey.

I look forward to traveling with you.

Peace,

Pennsy

Pennsy's Bookshelf: The New Rules of Lifting

I read too much. Too many books and not enough doing. At this moment, when I ought to be at the gym for my Saturday morning sweat-fest, I am instead writing about reading.

My brain has always been my favorite muscle and it shows, but it is always easier for my body to follow when I understand what I am asking it to do. So here's a book I got myself as a birthday present, and the authors are teaching me a lot.

The New Rules of Lifting is organized around two lists. One is the list of twenty rules based on common sense and a good humor. The last is "If it's not fun, you're doing something wrong." The narrative voice of New Rules... belongs to Lou Schuler who has a rare combination of expertise, humility, and humor about himself that keeps the text light and effective.

The other important list - the one that provides the spine for the functional part of the book is this one:

• Squat
• Bend
• Lunge
• Twist
• Push
• Pull

These are the basis for all human movement. They are also the basis of  the programs designed by Alwyn Cosgrove. They are simple routines, designed to be achievable in an hour. The way they are designed applies several principles.

• Periodization - stick with a good program for an extended time, then switch when your body starts to adapt to it.
• Variety - don't repeat a workout. Try to lift a little heavier, a little faster, a little more powerfully each time you go to the gym.
• Compound movement - do a full body workout every time. 
• Using muscles the way they were designed to be used - There aren't a lot of situations where you will be required to stand still and bend your elbow under a heavy load the way you do with arm curls. On the other hand, bending over and picking up heavy stuff is a daily part of life. Strengthen your arms as part of a bigger movement like a deadlift or a clean and press (honey, can you pick this up and put it on the top shelf for me?)
• Intensity - Work hard and fast. Because the workouts are so simple and so short, loafing through them is a waste of time. Rest between sets is built in, but as Schuler points out, Work = Strength + Speed. I've been watching olympic lifters lately and they exemplify this principle as much as anyone. It isn't just that they move amazing amounts of iron off the floor - it's that they move it so fast that they can hop underneath and push it up over their heads. 

I am going to try the Fat Loss program. There's also one for strength and one for hypertrophy (that's muscle growth.) It looks hard, which I like. It also lasts a long time, also a plus. I have been experimenting and learning, but now I want to get a little more focus into my training. There's a whole year's worth of workouts. I don't know if my attention span can handle that kind of discipline, but if it makes me pretty, that may be motivation enough.

There's also a version for women whose subtitle is Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess. I have not read that one, since that isn't really the look I'm after, but I would be surprised if it doesn't share many of the qualities of the one I have. 

The authors don't speak very highly of running. I find this to be pretty common among resistance advocates. Runners tend to speak ill of the weight room too. Typically, I have managed to delight in two antagonistic activities. Since I haven't really found a guru who says much about combining them - except for old Arnold Schwarzenegger who used to run a lot while competing - I'm going to have to find my own way to reconcile them.

And now, off to the gym. Seriously.

Peace,
Pennsy

Working Out for the Long Haul

I've been taking a break. The race on Saturday was a real high for me. It also left my legs and butt pretty sore and tired. Yesterday was my first trip back to the gym after four days off and I felt it. I did Pullups, Woodchoppers, Lunges, Bench Press, and Deadlifts, but when I tried to run, my legs were so wobbley that it felt like the treadmill was turning over. Not hurting, just absolutely out of gas. They wouldn't hold me up or move me forward.

Good time to call it a night.

So here's what I mean about the long haul. I have this long-range goal. I want to be a personal trainer some day. If I can get there, I think I could put together a very persuasive sales pitch - starting with before and after pictures.

The reason I've been thinking about during this break is that I have started to feel a little distracted. I change workouts every two weeks. I finish a 5K and start thinking about the next 10K. I read about this or that exercise, and immediately throw it into the mix to try it out. Those are all good things for a beginner to do, I think - and I am aware that I'm still very much a beginner at all this - but looking back over the past few weeks/months I think I've started to lose focus a little. I want to be a body builder. I want to be a runner. I want to be a powerlifter. I'm like a kid who can't decide between being a cowboy or an astronaut.

Fact is, if I want to be any of those things, everything I do for the next couple of years needs to be focused on transforming my body. I'll do that by running and lifting and yoga-ing and whatever else comes my way, but that new body is the city at the end of my yellow brick road. I need to build a new body. Along that road, I'll learn the things I need to know in order to help other people turn their lives around.

So I've decided not to fret about the 10K on Labor Day weekend. Especially since I still have jelly legs 5 days after a 5K. I am working on a simplified program that I can stick with for the long haul. I've been laying a foundation - turning myself into a fat burning engine. Now it's time to learn how to operate the machine.

Peace,
Pennsy


The beautiful photo of an Arizona highway is by Stefano Roddaro and is available on stock.exchg

Post #100, Training to Run

Trust me, I am as surprised as you are. Other than my marriage with Mrs P, I have never been this faithful to anything. Six months of exercise. 100 posts. Amazing what the fear of death can make a man do, huh?

New Chapter. Pennsy's second race. In two weeks I am running in the 5K Midsummer Night's Run benefiting Lexington's Central Baptist Hospital. The race is run at 8:30 at night on August 9th, hence the catchy name.

Since my last race, my regimen has focused on strength and building muscles. I have been very successful in moving toward that goal. Now I am shifting gears. My goal for the next 12 weeks is to drop 5 points of my Body Fat Percentage. My lifting will be targeted toward maintaining cardio intensity and muscle mass. And I intend to run and run and run.

I have done well with two-week plans. Now, I'm building an ambitious five-week plan with two milestones. A 5K in two weeks and a 10K on August 31. I will make a decision about that second race after the one on the 9th.

My intention is to work at maximum intensity in three day cycles - two on, one off. Lift Heavy, Run Hard, Rest Well, and Repeat. I'll be lifting to set a new PR every time. I'll be running to build and maintain endurance toward running those 6.2 miles by Labor Day. And everything I do will be done with fat burning in mind.

One reason for a simple exercise plan is that I want to spend a lot of time learning and practicing better nutrition, not fidgeting with workout plans. I have done a fairly good job at getting rid of the things I shouldn't eat. Now I intend to learn more about the things I should.

August around the corner makes me feel a little melancholy. It always has. As a child, I knew that there was still plenty of summer left, but school was coming just the same. The other side of that coin was that while I loved baseball on the brick streets and camping in the Pennsylvania woods, I also really liked school. So along with the sadness there was anticipation. My yearly calender has always been tied to that academic year. Ninteen Septembers of shiny shoes and new pencils can do that to a man. It feels right to make this a time for new beginning. More precisely, a time to continue the good work God has begun.

And a moment for a prayer tonight. An artist I love and admire is giving birth to twins tomorrow. They are going to have a great life, but first their Mom is going to have quite a day. God bless you Gennet. You're going to be a great American mom. Go down that road.

Ok everybody. On your mark...get set...

Peace,
Pennsy

Groovy Century-mark road sign is from FreeFoto.com

Sometimes Working Out isn't the Most Important Thing

Woke up Wednesday morning with that most absurd of ailments, the summer cold. Consequently, I have backed off my program this week to let my body do its thing. I even missed two days of work. I was a little depressed this week, but nothing dramatic. I think it was probably an organic thing - wacked out body chemistry caused by fatigue and being sick.

Wednesday afternoon, Mother P arrived from PA for a week long visit in KY. We spent some pleasant time together while I lounged around trying to stay awake. At one point eating a sandwich left me so exhausted I had to nap. And the whole time I'm telling Mom how much better I feel because I'm exercising.

God's sense of humor, at work again.

Today I feel a lot better. I'm going out for a run/walk, then hitting the gym for some fun lifting, just some play time to get the blood flowing again. Won't be setting any records today.

I don't take time off lightly, but sometimes there are important things (like getting well or a visit from Mommy) that deserve some space in my life. It's kind of reassuring that I can take time off without going insane, being racked with guilt, or putting on 5 lb.

Peace,
Pennsy

The Pennsy Workout

This is the training program I'm working right now. I've fine tuned it a little based on what I learned in the first go-round. The goal here is general fitness, endurance, and muscle mass.

POWER LIFT/ASSIST ROUTINE

Each day focuses on one power lift. I start the lift of the day with an empty bar and slowly build up to the day's weight for working sets, usually with three or four reps at each weight. Then I do 5 sets of 5 reps at the heaviest weight I can lift. There are long breaks, two or three minutes between each of these sets.

The exercises that accompany the power lifts are meant to support muscle groups critical to the day's lift. So Clean & Press is followed by arm and shoulder work. Squats go with legs and lower back. Bench Press day is chest and lats. Deadlift day hits upper back, glutes and wrist grip.

These "assist" exercises are done at max weight with very short breaks, just long enough to catch my breath. 3 sets of 10 reps each.

CLEAN & PRESS
DB Curls & Arnold Press Combo
DB Lat Raise, Ben Lat Raise Supersets

SQUAT
Hip Abduction/Adduction Supersets
Straight Leg Deadlift
Front Squat

BENCH PRESS
DB Incline Press
DB Decline Press
Pullover
Close Grip Bench Press

DEADLIFT
DB Incline Bench Pull
Good Morning
Barbell Shrug
Low Pulley Cable Row
DB Wrist Curls

DAILY WARMUP (on lifting days)

These daily exercises are all bodyweight movements. I vary the sets and reps depending on what hurts, what feels great, and what I don't want to wear out. For example, I don't do the lunges on Squat day or if my ankles are hurting.

Assisted Dips
Lunge
Calf Raise
Pushups
Assisted Pullups
Crunch
Superman
Plank

RECOVERY DAYS

Ideally, I would like to do four days with two days rest. That rhythm gets broken up by soreness, schedules, and the calender. The reason for the long rest is to make room for a long running day. I also work in a sabbath day when I don't run or lift at all. Since my running program is a seven day cycle and my lifting is a four day one, variety is sort of built in.

CARDIO

This is pretty straight forward.

Monday - training run
Tuesday - cross train, bike or elliptical
Wednesday - training run
Thursday - Yoga, no running or weights
Friday - day off
Saturday - long run
Sunday - day off

The long run is designed to stretch my endurance. Everything else is about maintaining conditioning and fat burning.

STRETCHING

I work stretching in between reps so I have something to do besides pant and pose. I always stretch after a workout or run. I never stretch without warming up the muscles involved. I take a good, indulgent long time to stretch as gently and thoroughly as I can. Then I sauna, shower, and go home to eat protein and complex carbs. (meat and plants)

The whole deal takes about two hours. By spreading the work over several days, I'm getting more recovery time, increasing strength growth, and spending less time in the gym each night. Things are working well right now as I prepare for a 5K on August 9th. If nothing breaks, I'll be ready.

That's actually a good goal. I want to finish my next 5K without breaking anything. Unlike my first one where I knocked myself off the road for two months.

Maybe I'll take a skateboard along, just in case.

Peace,

Pennsy

Good advice from Brad at Promatx - Your body is telling you something. Listen to your body, and you won't go wrong.

Evaluating My Workout Design - Oh, and RUNNING!

Four days straight, now time for a day off.

Yesterday's workout was kind of mixed.

LIFTING - this workout needs some tweaking

I increased my number of assisted chinups - came within one of finishing 3 x 5. I also was able to do Calf Raises for the second day in a row. I'm not using any plates at all yet, so there's only the 20 lb weight of the machine on my shoulders, but it still feels good to be able to do them again. Assisted dips went fine. I will decrease the counterweight once I can finish three sets of chins. It's just easier than jumping down and moving the pin six times.

Deadlifts. Here's 'Becka Swanson schooling the boys at the gym.


World Strongest Woman - "becca Swanson" Deadlift - More amazing videos are a click away

My own efforts went ok but I need to warm up more gradually. I only did two warmup sets at 95 and 135 before starting my 5 x 5 @ 185 and the increase in weight was too fast. I need to get the blood flowing into that lower back before pulling the heavy weight. I'll put at least two more sets of two or three at maybe 145 and 165 before starting the working sets.

I don't think I wrote this workout very well. It just didn't make kinetic sense to me - it didn't feel right. Doing Deadlifts and Bent Over Rows and Good Morning's together set off warning bells in my lower back. No harm, but too close to the red line for my taste.

Three of the exercises in my plan were just odd. I tried doing Forearm Curls with a barbell, but just could not find a way to stabilize my arms to isolate the forearms, so I switched to Dumbell Wrist Curls with my elbows on the bench instead.

Doing Pullovers with two dumbells was hard work, but strangely, I could not feel which muscles were working. I concentrate on keeping my elbows at a fixed 90º angle so my triceps do not get involved in the movement, but couldn't really feel which muscles were actually rotating my shoulders. I need to do some research on this one.

Friday I forgot to do pullovers. Yesterday I forgot to do barbell curls. It was an oversight, not a deliberate cut. The only reason I can think of is that they don't make any sense to me in a workout designed to increase my performance in the Deadlift. I do not remember what the rationale was in putting them in in the first place, but I think I'll move them or lose them.

I'm going to make some minor changes to this day's plan. The order is very important here because the lower back is so involved and I have a history of bulging disks and Sciatica down there. I also want to take a good look at the actually exercises I'm using. I would like to be more focused on muscle groups that 1) are critical to performing the Deadlift and 2) are not hit very hard on any of the other three days. Since today is a rest day, I'll take some time to work on this and try putting the changes into next week's routine.

RUNNING!!! -Listening to my heart.

I planned to ride the recumbent bike yesterday. I just couldn't do it. I didn't want to sit down. I went for a walk on the treadmill instead. To my left, an athletic young woman was running intervals. To my right, a handsome young dude was running at a pretty impressive pace for someone as muscular as he. I reached out my hand and touched the speed button on the console. 3.2. 3.5. 4.0. 4.8. I was running again.

At first I ran carefully, taking inventory of all the parts that had ached and torn and screamed over the past two months. No alarms. No twinges. I glanced up at the television where someone was talking about something. I don't remember what. I looked out at the mirrors, all the way across the gym, but I don't remember looking at anything in particular. Mostly I was just hearing the footsteps of the people around me.

I forgot I was hurt.

I forgot I was running.

It was the greatest feeling! I don't know how else to describe it. I just sort of went somewhere else. From time to time I would start to feel winded, and I slowed down to an easy walk for a while. When I felt better, I would speed back up. I ran intervals like that for half an hour, setting an easy 15 minute pace. Just about what I ran in the 5K when I got hurt. Only this time I was run/walking without looking at the time or the distance. When my body said slow down I slowed down. When my heart said go, I went. Thank you Jeff Gallaway. I have been waiting for this run since I tore my calf on May 17th.

Oh happy day. Pennsy's running again.

THE NUMBERS

The weekly check in was encouraging. My weight has been up and down this week, but yesterday was resting nicely at 352, as low as it's been since I started working out. My body fat percentage is also at its lowest, 31.1%. My lean mass is up slightly to 243. Next week I'll get out the tape measure and update all the my body composition numbers. I expect that I'll see some big changes there. Base on the fit of my clothes and the comments of folks at work and the gym, I look a lot different than I did a few months ago.

Peace,
Pennsy

More Power!

Paul Anderson was one bad dude. That's him over there, lifting enough iron to build a DeSoto. In the 'fifties, he was the strongest man in the world, and it made him a star.

I've become fascinated by the sport of powerlifting. I am no more likely to compete in that world than in the world of bodybuilding, but the idea of testing the physical limits intrigues me. I want to learn more about it.

I did some research and put together the following plan for my next two week period. It's a four day split

DAY ONE - Clean & Press (Mrs.P says it sounds like I'm doing laundry on this day)

Clean & Press, 5 sets of 5
Dumbell Curls & Press, 3 x 10
Lat Raise (Standing & Bent over), 3 x 10

DAY TWO - Squat

Squats, 5 x 5
Hip Abductors 3 x 10
Hip Adductors 3 x 10
Straight Leg Deadlift 3 x 10
Front Squat 3 x 10

DAY THREE - Bench

Bench 5 x 5
Decline Bench,, Dumbells 3 x 10
Incline Bench, Dumbells 3 x 10
Pullovers 3 x 10
Close Grip Press 3 x 10

DAY FOUR - Deadlift

Deadlift 5 x 5
Bent over Rows 3 x 10
Forearm Curls, Barbell 3 x 10
Good Mornings 3 x 10
Barbell Curls 3 x 10

The idea is to do these lifts as heavy as possible (once I've learned the new ones.) Each power lift is supported by the others - theoretically, they should increase my performance in the big lifts.

I have also put a warmup together based on bodyweight exercises. I'll talk more about that tomorrow, once I've tried it out.

Finally, I'm adding 30 min of cardio back into my daily routine. I've missed it, and it is time to get back up on those nasty machines at the other end of the room.

Peace,
Pennsy

What to Choose, What to Let Go

Therefore the sage is guided by what he feels and not by what he sees.
He lets go of that and chooses this. (Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu)

Pennsy's great experiment has concluded. First I confess to the failures. I didn't do nearly as much cardio as I planned. I rode the bike to work a couple of times, and spent some time walking on the treadmill, but the running, climbing, spinning stuff was pretty much not part of my routine. And I hit the wall like my feathered friend here at the two hour mark of today's work out. Every part of me was either shaking, screaming, or wanting to puke. It was time to stop, so I stopped without doing any of the arm isolation lifts I had planned.

What to Choose

Now for the successes. (Comparing June 21 to July 6)

Weight decreased from 357 - 354
Body Fat % decreased from 32.1 - 31.9
Lean Body mass stayed at 241 lb - three pounds of fat up in smoke

And the personal best lifts.

Bench Press 155 - 175
Lat Pulldowns 160 - 180
Deadlift 145 - 195
Squat 105 - 225
Pushups 0 - 28 (4 x 7 in between 4 x 30 Crunches)

I also found, by checking my heart rate during these workouts, that because I tried to keep up a good pace, my heart was beating between 120 and 140 BPM - not exactly running, but not exactly watching summer re-runs either.

I gained a lot of strength in the big exercises where I wanted to see growth. More strength = more weight = more muscle mass to gobble up fat. I have been getting on the treadmill without pain for several days now, and those bigger muscles will start paying dividends when I can get my heart rate up to a training level and keep it there for a while.

The long two day rest periods worked well. I did get tired by the end of these long sessions, but I never started out that way. And I found myself anticipating getting back to the gym all day when the recovery days were finally over. When I lift heavy weight, my long-neglected muscles are going to require greater rest periods - more time to run!

What to Let Go

There are some things I would change if I were to undertake this kind of intense muscle building course again. First, I would make the work-outs shorter. Too many exercises, especially arms and shoulders. I wanted to work Biceps and Triceps and all three Deltoid directions, but wound up burning too much fuel (and time) on these toning exercises. I would probably include leg curls in that bunch too. My focus needs to be on whole body conditioning, not isolated muscle sculpting. If I keep doing push ups and pulling heavy deadlifts and squats then my legs and arms are going to look just fine. I'll do body building later. Right now, I'm still in the demolition phase - making muscle to burn fat.

And too many reps, I think. My 20, 12, & 8 plan was not a random choice. I wanted to start with light weight and high reps to be sure my form was solid before testing my limits. That was wise, I think, and something I'll probably continue as I add new movements into a routine. But after a while, I found I used up a lot of gas grinding out those 45 lb bench presses. I would like to have been able to test that 200 lb barrier, but not yet.

Bench pressing without a spotter is holding me back. Now that I have had the experience of straining to lift a 175 lb barbell back into the hooks, it's time for me to bury my pride or shyness or insecurity or whatever it is and ask someone for help. I think I don't want to ask because I'm still lifting so much less than most of the guys back on the wieght floor. If I want to get over the hump, I'm going to have to get over my reluctance to ask for a spotter's assistance.

Pride, pride, pride: the single greatest cause of injury in the gym. I need to remember that I am a beginner, and will be for many years. I will work hard and grow and learn, but it will take time before other lifters are watching me the way I watch the guys with ths skinny legs squatting 285 in the power cage. I may be much stronger than that one day, but for now I need to remember where I am - at the beginning of a journey.

What I Take With Me on the Journey

Making a plan like this, and sticking to it was a very good thing. It created a goal and a time-table - a finish line to press toward. It turned my routine into an event with a beginning, middle, and an end. At times I was tempted to improvise - to change up the plan - and while I did substitute lifts a couple of times (ex. standing barbell curls for preacher curls) I did not yield to that temptation. I stuck with the discipline of the program. I hope I'll learn to design better plans, but working from a plan based on weeks and not days felt really good to me.

I have been thinking about Personal Trainers. I think I might like to be one some day. This is very early to contemplate such a thing - like wanting to be a doctor because you liked you first two months of high-school biology, but it is something that's on my mind. I need a lot more experience, and I need to build a body that elicits confidence, and I need to know a lot of stuff, but still I keep thinking that I might end up being a 55 year old personal trainer somehow. I guess I'll mention these dreams to Brad at my quarterly review in two weeks and get his thoughts. Soon as I feel comfortable about paying for it, I should probably start working with a personal trainer myself. And of course, I'll do what I always do when I start a new obsession - I'll read books and blogs about it. I will test it out and see if this is just a late-midlife thing, or a real vocation I want to pursue.

For now, that will do. And for now, it's pretty good being Pennsy.

Peace, y'all.
Pennsy

An Experiment in Intensity

"LIFE! GIVE THE FAT MAN LIFE!!!!" I have devised an experiment.

You get stronger by making the work harder. "Progressive Resistance" is one of the core doctrines of weight training. There are two ways to do this: lift heavier or lift more intensely. I've just started a two-week experiment in intensity.

One of the problems I have encountered recently is fatigue at the end of my workouts. I get through the first few sets under a full head of steam, but eventually start wearing down and am unable to complete my planned routine. I wind up doing lighter weight or fewer reps than I had planned. This slows my progress and leaves me exhausted, not energized like the guru's promised I would be when I started this fat man's journey. So I have a hypothesis...

One major cause of my fatigue is insufficient recovery time between workouts.

I ran a little test this week. My workout on Tuesday was more of a wash out. I couldn't lift nearly as long or as hard as I wanted to. My muscles just wouldn't respond. So I rested. I read. I napped. I cleaned up the old bike, changed all the cables, and tuned up the brakes and dérailleurs. I took short walks. I read some blogs. Yesterday I wrote a program.

Lift heavy, move quickly, rest completely.

DISCLAIMER
THE FAT MAN IS NOT AN EXPERT. THAT'S WHY HE GOT FAT IN THE FIRST PLACE! What follows is a description of an experiment. Don't take it as a prescription.

OVERVIEW
I'll be doing very heavy compound movements (ones that involve multiple muscle groups), chosen to work my whole body, then taking two days off from lifting. Because
this involves so many different exercises, I'm doing fewer sets and reps, starting with a very light warmup of twenty reps, then twelve reps of heavy weight and eight reps as heavy as I can possibly complete with good form. I'm minimizing rest between sets and moving as quickly as I can from apparatus to apparatus. Here's my program.

WARMUP & STRETCH
Light Resistance Bands, Crunches, Medicine Ball Woodchoppers, Pushups (this classic is going to take a lot of work for me. I'm still a pretty heavy load to heave. )

Once my heart rate is up and I have a good sweat going, I do a complete stretch from ankles to neck.

CHEST
Bench Press, 20/12/8
Dumbell Pullovers 20/12/8

UPPER BACK
Lat Pulldowns, Close, Reverse Grip 20/10
Lat Pulldowns, Medium, 20/10
Lat Pulldowns, Wide, 20/10
The pulldowns are a training regimen until I am strong enough to do chin ups. Arnold S says to do 50. Riiiiight.
Deadlift 20/12/8

SHOULDERS
Arnold Press 20/12/8
Lateral Dumbell Raise 20/12/8

ARMS
Preacher Curls, Reverse Grip, 20/12/8
Triceps Rope Pulldown, 20/12/8

BREAK
Yesterday I was pretty wrung out at this point. I had drunk a half gallon of water and was feeling like having something to eat. I'll probably throw something in my bag to nosh on and take a little walk outside to let the lactic acid clear out a little. Then back in for the really big muscle groups.

LEGS AND LOWER BACK
Squats, 20/12/8
Leg Curls, 20/12/8
Good Mornings, 20/12/8

STRETCH, SAUNA, SHOWER

That's the plan: repeat every three days. (It took me three hours yesterday to get through the whole thing.) Walk or bike on the off days. Stick to this for two weeks, and see what the results look like. Change weights on the heavy sets, but not the number of sets or reps. The first set will always be very light to warm up the specific muscle group and to set my form. In the next few days I'll write about each group of exercises and update my progress.

This is one of those deals where I use my blog to hold myself accountable. I'll report in every day on how the experiment is going with subjective observations and as much data as I can stand.

Let evil experiment begin! Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!



Peace,
Pennsy

Time for a Day Off

I’m taking tomorrow off, but first, I have some business to attend to.

Shameless Plug

Hey, please check out the link to Step Out, the American Diabetes Association walk here in Lexington. I will walk it, may even run some of it. Diabetes has come to the house of Pennsy and I would like to see a stop put to all this nonsense. So cough up a pledge, pardner. Do it and the Fat Man will hoot your name during his historic first public walk. Maybe Mrs P can video the moment and we can figure out how to post it.

Weight Report

My weight did not change last week, still 366, but my body fat percentage is down from 33.1 to 32.8. Not much of a change, but the readings are consistent, and I am still building muscle, especially in my upper body. I hope I reach the tipping point soon and start another big fat burn. The plateau is not a fun place to hang out.

Injury Report

The ankles are improving a little after my big run on Sunday. I’ve learned that Achilles' Tendon pain is pretty common when treadmill runners go out into the real world. I have not run or trod the mill since then, but have been doing bike, steps, and elliptical to keep up my cardio conditioning. I wore elastic compression braces on my ankles today and was pain free. I am doing calf presses every time I encounter a staircase to strengthen the muscles around the Achilles. I really don’t want to see this turn into a chronic thing.

The shoulder (left) just plain hurts. I jerked it somehow during an errant Ball Slam yesterday and the Gremlin is having a field day in there. Other than rest, there’s not much for me to do with it at this point. I’m hoping a couple days off from upper body resistance training will give it a chance to heal.

Fashion Report

I bought some pants that fit yesterday! They are actually a little tighter than I would prefer, but they won’t be for long. They’re pretty ugly, but again, I won’t be this size for very long either. Just passing through the neighborhood of fat-guy pants, on my way to those groovy styles with waists below the half-century mark.

Best Laid Plans

I was going to try to repeat Sunday’s run this weekend, but I may go for something less ambitious. A mile at a reasonable pace will probably do me more good than another pokey 5K that leaves me lame for a week.

I’m also going to start moving from machines to free-weights. There are few movements the machines allow that can’t be done more effectively with dumbbells or barbells. Free weights have the added advantage of working more than one muscle group at a time. While your arms are working to execute a shoulder press, the rest of you is working to keep from tipping over. Having to control the weight with 360º of possible directions is more work than controlling weight that can only move in two. so I’ll start translating some exercises from the machine floor to the free weight floor.

I’m going to try the following program.

• Day one (Monday) - upper body, and moderate cardio (run or cross train)
• Day two - bands, and moderate cardio
• Day three - lower body, and moderate cardio
• Day four - rest.
• Day five - Bands and a long, easy run,
• Day six - long, heavy lifting, and
• Day seven - intense run (pace or endurance)

I’m going to avoid the treadmill for a while. My ankles need to learn how to cope with Mother Earth again, so I’ll try to do the bulk of my running outside.

I’m also realizing that my reluctance to track food is probably more denial than avoidance. Sooner or later, I’m going to have to get more serious about nutrition if I want to replace those last pounds of fat with muscle. If I find myself stuck in a plateau that just won’t give, I’m going to have to break down and do it. For now, I’m just trying to avoid junk and binges. “Those last few pounds” are still buried a long way down.

Peace,
Pennsy

PS>>Hey, don't forget Mother's day! (The cats want me to take them shopping tomorrow night.) Maybe we'll just pile Molly the Dog, Mo, Buddy, Kizmet, Maggie, Sniffy, and Dennis the Nervous Fish into the Honda and go out to IHoP on Sunday. Kizzie loves international cuisine. (Molly just loves farting in the car.)

Pax,
p