I apologize for being lazy in my postings, but to be honest, there really isn't any excuse - I've just been lazy in regards to updating this blog. I've been home now for almost 2 weeks and the real test has begun. Can I keep going on my weight loss journey at home?
The answer is yes, but it takes a lot more effort at home than at the resort. Life at the resort was easy. We sit down in the dining room for meals every day and the workouts are planned in advance. At home obviously I have to cook my own meals, which is no big deal because I've been doing this my entire adult life. However, the food intake now requires a lot more planning in advance.
Last week I was in the gym twice, which now seems like a really small amount of time. In my past life, twice per week at the gym would have been acceptable. I've always liked weight training and building muscle, so I will definitely continue this at home. For me, cardio in the gym is torture and I will do cardio outside of the gym any time if I have the option.
One of the cool things about losing all of this weight is that I can now fit back into my ice hockey pads, so I plan to play ice hockey as much as possible. My brother is trying to recruit me into the cycling world and I am going to check it out - it is only a matter of time. My first priority with cardio is to start ice skating again because it has been a long time, then move to full ice hockey.
So you may be wondering how well this plan was executed since I've been home. The answer is mediocre. I only made it to the gym twice, but have done well with the food. To be honest, these two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity. My friend is getting married this Sunday and I have had to get a new suit fitted. This has been a multiple stage process and it has been about a 45 minute drive to the store each way.
During my rotations for the past year I have been working on having a new home theater installed at my house. This has also been a multiple stage process and it is almost done. Besides, in my free time I have been lazy playing with my new toy and watching 3D movies and television.
The best part of being home so far has been cleaning out my closet and shopping for new smaller clothes. This has taken awhile to decide if I want to keep stuff or give it away. Shopping has not been a simple matter and has also been a multiple stage process.
Even though my priority these two weeks has been my friend's upcoming wedding and shopping for smaller clothes, I can tell already that my time at the BLR has changed my life. I went to another friend's birthday party last weekend. I didn't have any cake or margaritas because these are not in my calorie budget this week and I know what it takes to burn off these calories. To me at that time, it wasn't worth it.
This weekend I am going to take pictures of myself and post them as the official "after" pictures. Next week my plans are to continue the food plan from the BLR, get to the gym for weight training, and ice skate for cardio.
Another thing that I liked about my time at the BLR was the hikes. Even though we don't have mountains in Houston, hiking is more like walking. I am still going to find a way to get in some good hikes or long walks.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Recommendations
Well today is my first day back home and it is different waking up and not going for a hike in the morning. On the plane ride home yesterday I was thinking about some recommendations that I have for anyone that wants to spend some time at the BLR. So, in random order, here are my immediate recommendations.
1. Have extra room in your suitcase to allow room for the purchases made at the BLR or in LA. Another option when leaving the BLR is to buy a box and mail all of the extra stuff home.
2. Bring Body Glide. Notice that I capitalized the Body and Glide because it is a name brand of anti-chaff stick. When doing a lot of exercise throughout the day and sweating, some body parts will rub together. I didn't have a lot of problems with this, but I did use the Body Glide sometimes. Also, if you buy a heart rate monitor and wear it all day long, the band will rub on the skin and the Body Glide will help with this.
3. Don't rely on the store at the BLR in Malibu to provide all of your needs. This is a sore subject with some people because here is the deal. The BLR in Utah has a larger and better store. They also have a staff member in charge of the store and it is great from what I hear. The store in Malibu is smaller, so the volume of goods is less. Also, the person in Utah is responsible for ordering items for the store in Malibu and he does a horrible job. The owners will not let the people in Malibu order items for their store. We have discussed at length among the guests what a dumb business decision this is. The owners have lost a lot of revenue from the store in Malibu because of that guy in Utah. Yes, I'm on a little soapbox here and if you know the owners and it makes you upset, then good. Before I came to the BLR, I was told that I could walk off the airplane without luggage and buy everything I need at the resort store. This may be true for the location in Utah, but not for the one in Malibu. That being said, the packing list on their website is pretty good.
4. Have realistic expectations for weight loss. I feel that the show The Biggest Loser sets people up to believe they too can lose 10+ pounds per week every week. This is a false expectation. As a big guy, I was able to lose on average about one pound per day. At the end of the day, I was burning about 5,000 calories. The contestants on the show are burning at least 8,000 calories per day. Also, what they consider "weeks" is not a week in the real world. When a person arrives at the BLR, the trainers will take a measurement around the chest, belly, and hips, as well as weight and body fat percentage. The same information is taken before leaving. This information provides a quick snapshot, but doesn't tell the entire story. What is missing in this is weight of muscle mass gained, weight of fat loss, and measurements of other parts of the body like neck, arms, and legs. Please don't let this discourage you from going, but please don't have an unrealistic expectation of weight loss. I am only speaking for myself here.
5. If you decide to go, you'll need a ride between the airport and the BLR. The BLR's website endorses a company with red vans. Well, everyone that I know has had a bad experience with this company, including myself. They charged my credit card an extra time and don't answer the phone in their customer service department. When I found a back door way to talk to someone, I would have to say that this person could qualify for the dumbest person in the country who could not fix the problem. I had to resolve the issue with my bank and almost had to declare that extra charge as fraud. I've seen this company be late picking people up and one lady missed her flight because they were so late. The service is horrible and I told the BLR that as long as they endorse this company, their problems reflect badly on the BLR.
However, there is a better solution and that is TLC Limousine Service. Don't let the word "Limousine" throw you off because they are a commercial transportation company. I used them during my visits to LA on an hourly charge. They have a flat rate between the airport and the BLR. The base vehicle is a Lincoln Towncar or a Mercedes sedan for $100. If you get someone to split the cost, it will be cheaper than the red vans, the service is excellent, and they are on time. Actually, they have arrived early every time I have used them and I highly recommend them.
6. Bring proper hiking shoes. You don't have to bring full hiking boots for mountain climbing, but buy some good hiking shoes like Merrell or equivalent from REI or other outdoor stores.
7. If you like the pool, there will be times when you will be in the pool twice, so you might want to think about bringing 2 bathing suits. I went through about 3 sets of clothes per day and did laundry twice per week, so plan ahead and bring enough clothes.
That's about all of the recommendations that I have at this time. If there's any more I'll let you know.
1. Have extra room in your suitcase to allow room for the purchases made at the BLR or in LA. Another option when leaving the BLR is to buy a box and mail all of the extra stuff home.
2. Bring Body Glide. Notice that I capitalized the Body and Glide because it is a name brand of anti-chaff stick. When doing a lot of exercise throughout the day and sweating, some body parts will rub together. I didn't have a lot of problems with this, but I did use the Body Glide sometimes. Also, if you buy a heart rate monitor and wear it all day long, the band will rub on the skin and the Body Glide will help with this.
3. Don't rely on the store at the BLR in Malibu to provide all of your needs. This is a sore subject with some people because here is the deal. The BLR in Utah has a larger and better store. They also have a staff member in charge of the store and it is great from what I hear. The store in Malibu is smaller, so the volume of goods is less. Also, the person in Utah is responsible for ordering items for the store in Malibu and he does a horrible job. The owners will not let the people in Malibu order items for their store. We have discussed at length among the guests what a dumb business decision this is. The owners have lost a lot of revenue from the store in Malibu because of that guy in Utah. Yes, I'm on a little soapbox here and if you know the owners and it makes you upset, then good. Before I came to the BLR, I was told that I could walk off the airplane without luggage and buy everything I need at the resort store. This may be true for the location in Utah, but not for the one in Malibu. That being said, the packing list on their website is pretty good.
4. Have realistic expectations for weight loss. I feel that the show The Biggest Loser sets people up to believe they too can lose 10+ pounds per week every week. This is a false expectation. As a big guy, I was able to lose on average about one pound per day. At the end of the day, I was burning about 5,000 calories. The contestants on the show are burning at least 8,000 calories per day. Also, what they consider "weeks" is not a week in the real world. When a person arrives at the BLR, the trainers will take a measurement around the chest, belly, and hips, as well as weight and body fat percentage. The same information is taken before leaving. This information provides a quick snapshot, but doesn't tell the entire story. What is missing in this is weight of muscle mass gained, weight of fat loss, and measurements of other parts of the body like neck, arms, and legs. Please don't let this discourage you from going, but please don't have an unrealistic expectation of weight loss. I am only speaking for myself here.
5. If you decide to go, you'll need a ride between the airport and the BLR. The BLR's website endorses a company with red vans. Well, everyone that I know has had a bad experience with this company, including myself. They charged my credit card an extra time and don't answer the phone in their customer service department. When I found a back door way to talk to someone, I would have to say that this person could qualify for the dumbest person in the country who could not fix the problem. I had to resolve the issue with my bank and almost had to declare that extra charge as fraud. I've seen this company be late picking people up and one lady missed her flight because they were so late. The service is horrible and I told the BLR that as long as they endorse this company, their problems reflect badly on the BLR.
However, there is a better solution and that is TLC Limousine Service. Don't let the word "Limousine" throw you off because they are a commercial transportation company. I used them during my visits to LA on an hourly charge. They have a flat rate between the airport and the BLR. The base vehicle is a Lincoln Towncar or a Mercedes sedan for $100. If you get someone to split the cost, it will be cheaper than the red vans, the service is excellent, and they are on time. Actually, they have arrived early every time I have used them and I highly recommend them.
6. Bring proper hiking shoes. You don't have to bring full hiking boots for mountain climbing, but buy some good hiking shoes like Merrell or equivalent from REI or other outdoor stores.
7. If you like the pool, there will be times when you will be in the pool twice, so you might want to think about bringing 2 bathing suits. I went through about 3 sets of clothes per day and did laundry twice per week, so plan ahead and bring enough clothes.
That's about all of the recommendations that I have at this time. If there's any more I'll let you know.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Before and After
Well, the day has finally arrived where I get to go home. I remember how sore and tired I was after my first day and thought to myself that 8 weeks on this program will be a long time. Now that it is 8 weeks later, I still agree that 8 weeks on this program is a long time.
Yesterday was my final day of activity and what a day of activity it was. The morning started off with an RMR test, then the hike was at the beach. I was slightly upset because the weather was windy and cold, so I needed my jacket or coat. If it was a sunny day I would have brought my bathing suit and spent some time playing around in the ocean.
After the hike I went to stretch class and had a VO2 test before lunch. I don't think that I talked about the VO2 test earlier, but it is a good test. Have you seen anyone run or walk on a treadmill wearing a mask? If so, this is a VO2 test. The purpose is to start slow and increase the heart rate to a very high level. The computer will measure how many calories per hour the person burns at various heart rate levels. So when I an in the gym I can get a more efficient workout.
In the afternoon I went to a shoe store called Future Track. I posted about this store several weeks ago. I brought my hiking shoes to them and explained about the blister problems and they easily solved the problem. This time I wanted a good pair of shoes to take home with me for use in the gym.
When they measured my feet, it turns out that my feet are a half of a shoe size smaller than when I started. This makes total since because I have noticed that my body has burned a lot of the fat in my feet. Whenever I look down at my feet I see a lot of definition.
Every Saturday night after dinner is graduation. Yesterday's graduation was one of the best. When the microphone was passed around, almost everyone had an inspiring story or mentioned about their personal achievement for the week.
A few days ago I sent the videographer a few before and after pictures of myself and asked if she could put them in this week's video side by side to really compare the progress. She agreed and when that picture came up, everyone in the room cheered. It was great to see that on the big screen and some people commented afterwards that seeing those pictures will motivate them to keep going either here or at home. What an awesome feeling it was to hear that.
So, let's get to the before and after pictures.
Here I am in my first week. The other guy is Sam from the Biggest Loser season 9 whom I've gotten to know well and will miss him when I go home.
Here's a full body shot taken on the beach on the same day.
And now for the after picture 8 weeks later.
Here I am on the beach in my final week. If any of y'all know how to take these pictures, crop them down slightly, and put them side by side, please let me know. I'm pretty sure that I could figure out how to do it, but I'd rather spend my time packing this morning.
Even though my time at the BLR comes to an end in a few hours, please check back for future postings. I will be posting about some of my recommendations about coming here, how the transition from BLR to home is going, etc. From here on out, I will not be posting every day, but will post often, so please add this blog to your bookmarks or favorites.
Closing thought for the day: There is a saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. I believe that the pictures above speak for themselves.
Yesterday was my final day of activity and what a day of activity it was. The morning started off with an RMR test, then the hike was at the beach. I was slightly upset because the weather was windy and cold, so I needed my jacket or coat. If it was a sunny day I would have brought my bathing suit and spent some time playing around in the ocean.
After the hike I went to stretch class and had a VO2 test before lunch. I don't think that I talked about the VO2 test earlier, but it is a good test. Have you seen anyone run or walk on a treadmill wearing a mask? If so, this is a VO2 test. The purpose is to start slow and increase the heart rate to a very high level. The computer will measure how many calories per hour the person burns at various heart rate levels. So when I an in the gym I can get a more efficient workout.
In the afternoon I went to a shoe store called Future Track. I posted about this store several weeks ago. I brought my hiking shoes to them and explained about the blister problems and they easily solved the problem. This time I wanted a good pair of shoes to take home with me for use in the gym.
When they measured my feet, it turns out that my feet are a half of a shoe size smaller than when I started. This makes total since because I have noticed that my body has burned a lot of the fat in my feet. Whenever I look down at my feet I see a lot of definition.
Every Saturday night after dinner is graduation. Yesterday's graduation was one of the best. When the microphone was passed around, almost everyone had an inspiring story or mentioned about their personal achievement for the week.
A few days ago I sent the videographer a few before and after pictures of myself and asked if she could put them in this week's video side by side to really compare the progress. She agreed and when that picture came up, everyone in the room cheered. It was great to see that on the big screen and some people commented afterwards that seeing those pictures will motivate them to keep going either here or at home. What an awesome feeling it was to hear that.
So, let's get to the before and after pictures.
And now for the after picture 8 weeks later.
Even though my time at the BLR comes to an end in a few hours, please check back for future postings. I will be posting about some of my recommendations about coming here, how the transition from BLR to home is going, etc. From here on out, I will not be posting every day, but will post often, so please add this blog to your bookmarks or favorites.
Closing thought for the day: There is a saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. I believe that the pictures above speak for themselves.
Friday, March 18, 2011
The ball has been passed
The previous post from today was written in the morning before the hike. My body woke me up early this morning and I decided to write the post. Right now I would like to add an addendum to that post.
I mentioned that by going through the program here at the BLR, everyone will discover their own limits on how far they can push themselves. I have posted about my personal records and accomplishments every week, and one of the best things about being here is seeing other people discover how far they can push themselves.
There have been times when someone will run on the treadmill and say that was the first time they have ever run on a treadmill. There are countless times where someone tries the Jacobs Ladder for the first time. Every time this happens to someone in a class, the entire class is behind them and their cheerleaders.
The same thing happened with me. When I did the sprints, the entire class including the trainer was cheering me on. When someones uses the Jacobs Ladder for the first time, I am right there helping them through it as the class is cheering.
I don't like writing about other guests and I might get in trouble for this, but it is a story that needs to be told. There is a guest here that is very big. When he weighed in, he was too big for the scale, so they took him to the Biggest Loser ranch where they film the show and used the scale there.
When he came here 4 weeks ago, he could barely move. Due to his size and slow movement, he has not participated in the hikes, but would spend time in the gym in the morning. For the classes, he would always sit down and try to do the movements.
So far he has made great progress in weight loss and is moving better than when he came. By the way, he plans to be here for several months, and I can't wait to see his after pictures because it really be an awesome transformation.
Today we were in cardio disco and this guy took his seat on the bench in the back of the classroom. For the last dance, one of the guests tried to get this guy to stand up and do the moves with us. The entire class joined in. He wasn't really sure about it, so I gave him my disco ball necklace as motivation.
That sealed the deal and he stood up, entered the dance floor, and did the moves. It was a sight to see and I'm glad I was there. During the dance I was reflecting on how much this program has changed my life and I can't wait to continue the journey at home. After the dance class was over, I went over to this guy and told him to keep the necklace. I told him how being here for 8 weeks has changed my life and I can see that his life will be completely changed by being here. I requested that he pass the disco ball necklace on his last day to someone else who's life will be changed.
We'll see how long it lasts, but I hope the passing of the disco ball necklace from guest to guest will continue for a long time. I would like to return here in the future and it would be really cool to see another guest wearing the necklace.
I mentioned that by going through the program here at the BLR, everyone will discover their own limits on how far they can push themselves. I have posted about my personal records and accomplishments every week, and one of the best things about being here is seeing other people discover how far they can push themselves.
There have been times when someone will run on the treadmill and say that was the first time they have ever run on a treadmill. There are countless times where someone tries the Jacobs Ladder for the first time. Every time this happens to someone in a class, the entire class is behind them and their cheerleaders.
The same thing happened with me. When I did the sprints, the entire class including the trainer was cheering me on. When someones uses the Jacobs Ladder for the first time, I am right there helping them through it as the class is cheering.
I don't like writing about other guests and I might get in trouble for this, but it is a story that needs to be told. There is a guest here that is very big. When he weighed in, he was too big for the scale, so they took him to the Biggest Loser ranch where they film the show and used the scale there.
When he came here 4 weeks ago, he could barely move. Due to his size and slow movement, he has not participated in the hikes, but would spend time in the gym in the morning. For the classes, he would always sit down and try to do the movements.
So far he has made great progress in weight loss and is moving better than when he came. By the way, he plans to be here for several months, and I can't wait to see his after pictures because it really be an awesome transformation.
Today we were in cardio disco and this guy took his seat on the bench in the back of the classroom. For the last dance, one of the guests tried to get this guy to stand up and do the moves with us. The entire class joined in. He wasn't really sure about it, so I gave him my disco ball necklace as motivation.
That sealed the deal and he stood up, entered the dance floor, and did the moves. It was a sight to see and I'm glad I was there. During the dance I was reflecting on how much this program has changed my life and I can't wait to continue the journey at home. After the dance class was over, I went over to this guy and told him to keep the necklace. I told him how being here for 8 weeks has changed my life and I can see that his life will be completely changed by being here. I requested that he pass the disco ball necklace on his last day to someone else who's life will be changed.
We'll see how long it lasts, but I hope the passing of the disco ball necklace from guest to guest will continue for a long time. I would like to return here in the future and it would be really cool to see another guest wearing the necklace.
A time for reflection
I can't believe that today is my last full day of activity. As I woke up this morning, I was still thinking about yesterday. Every Sunday evening during orientation, one of the trainers talks about self-discovery, which means that each person will get to know their own body well and what it is capable of.
When I arrived here about 8 weeks ago, I knew what my body was capable of - at least I thought I did. Every day I tried to push myself to my limit then recover at night. I remember in my second week of classes when Sam pushed the resistance on my arc trainer to level 50. I thought he was nuts at the time. After doing that for a few minutes, this started to change my mindset and made me wonder what the maximum resistance is on the machine. I discovered that I could max it out at level 100 and keep up with it.
Halfway through my journey we did treadmill sprints in class one day. My first achievement at this was 6.0mph, then I ended the class at 6.5mph. I thought my body was pushed to the limit that day. Now at the end of my stay I ran at 10.0mph for 10 seconds!!
The Jacobs Ladder starred at me every day for several weeks before I felt ready to try it. My first time I could only stay on for about 30 seconds and now I can do 2 minutes straight.
I tried to put into words how much I struggled with the hikes at first because of blisters and problems with my feet. It took me 3 weeks before everything was corrected and this last week I hiked Castro's Crest, the beach, Solstice Canyon, Zuma straight through, and today will be Ocean View. These are the toughest hikes at the resort and I did them all in the same week. I had no idea that my body can make it through these brutal hikes in a row.
There's only one class where we lift weights, and that is in circuit training. Yes, we build muscle with resistance training in other classes, but it is different because we use the resistance of the water in the pool and body weight exercises outside of the pool. My legs take such a beating throughout the day so I stay on the upper body side of the weights during circuit training. Over the weeks my strength has improved so much and I am breaking personal records almost every circuit training class by using heavier and heavier weights.
One of the common exercises we do in the pool is treading water in the deep end. That may sound easy and regular treading water is not bad. However, we start with the regular treading water, then lift one arm out of the pool so we tread water with both legs and the other arm. Of course we have to switch and lift the other arm out of the water. Then for the killer one, both arms out of the water and tread water using just the legs. At the beginning these treading water exercises were easy, except the one with both hands out of the water. For the past two weeks I have struggled to tread water because my body's buoyancy has changed as the fat has been burned and muscle mass gained.
At the end of most days, there was some accomplishment that I achieved that day to be proud of. This resulted in keeping the motivation high throughout my time here. Yes, there were a few days where my body just didn't react or I was mentally exhausted.
The food is still a big weakness for me, but now I realize that I can eat around 1500 calories per day and feel full. I've tried new foods almost every day and still don't like them. I've discovered that my taste buds haven't changed at all since I've been here.
In the end, this place has been worth every penny, and there have been a lot of pennies involved. It has changed my life completely. I've met people that I know that I'll be friends with for the rest of my life. The staff is so awesome and I've built a good relationship with Sam. On the weekends it was great to get out of the bubble and experience real life in LA. I've seen some cars that I only dreamed of seeing someday. I have eaten the best steak in my life at Cut in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. No other steak will compare to this Australian kobe beef steak. Then of course there's the Ronald Reagan museum where the highlight is Air Force One. When I came here, my intentions was to lose weight and learn how to continue the journey at home. Everything mentioned above was a bonus and I'm very glad that I got to experience these things.
Closing thought for the day: I leave here this weekend having accomplished all of my goals and without any regrets. This experience has changed my life and I am now armed with the tools to continue the journey at home, overseas, offshore, or anywhere in the world my job will take me in the future.
When I arrived here about 8 weeks ago, I knew what my body was capable of - at least I thought I did. Every day I tried to push myself to my limit then recover at night. I remember in my second week of classes when Sam pushed the resistance on my arc trainer to level 50. I thought he was nuts at the time. After doing that for a few minutes, this started to change my mindset and made me wonder what the maximum resistance is on the machine. I discovered that I could max it out at level 100 and keep up with it.
Halfway through my journey we did treadmill sprints in class one day. My first achievement at this was 6.0mph, then I ended the class at 6.5mph. I thought my body was pushed to the limit that day. Now at the end of my stay I ran at 10.0mph for 10 seconds!!
The Jacobs Ladder starred at me every day for several weeks before I felt ready to try it. My first time I could only stay on for about 30 seconds and now I can do 2 minutes straight.
I tried to put into words how much I struggled with the hikes at first because of blisters and problems with my feet. It took me 3 weeks before everything was corrected and this last week I hiked Castro's Crest, the beach, Solstice Canyon, Zuma straight through, and today will be Ocean View. These are the toughest hikes at the resort and I did them all in the same week. I had no idea that my body can make it through these brutal hikes in a row.
There's only one class where we lift weights, and that is in circuit training. Yes, we build muscle with resistance training in other classes, but it is different because we use the resistance of the water in the pool and body weight exercises outside of the pool. My legs take such a beating throughout the day so I stay on the upper body side of the weights during circuit training. Over the weeks my strength has improved so much and I am breaking personal records almost every circuit training class by using heavier and heavier weights.
One of the common exercises we do in the pool is treading water in the deep end. That may sound easy and regular treading water is not bad. However, we start with the regular treading water, then lift one arm out of the pool so we tread water with both legs and the other arm. Of course we have to switch and lift the other arm out of the water. Then for the killer one, both arms out of the water and tread water using just the legs. At the beginning these treading water exercises were easy, except the one with both hands out of the water. For the past two weeks I have struggled to tread water because my body's buoyancy has changed as the fat has been burned and muscle mass gained.
At the end of most days, there was some accomplishment that I achieved that day to be proud of. This resulted in keeping the motivation high throughout my time here. Yes, there were a few days where my body just didn't react or I was mentally exhausted.
The food is still a big weakness for me, but now I realize that I can eat around 1500 calories per day and feel full. I've tried new foods almost every day and still don't like them. I've discovered that my taste buds haven't changed at all since I've been here.
In the end, this place has been worth every penny, and there have been a lot of pennies involved. It has changed my life completely. I've met people that I know that I'll be friends with for the rest of my life. The staff is so awesome and I've built a good relationship with Sam. On the weekends it was great to get out of the bubble and experience real life in LA. I've seen some cars that I only dreamed of seeing someday. I have eaten the best steak in my life at Cut in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. No other steak will compare to this Australian kobe beef steak. Then of course there's the Ronald Reagan museum where the highlight is Air Force One. When I came here, my intentions was to lose weight and learn how to continue the journey at home. Everything mentioned above was a bonus and I'm very glad that I got to experience these things.
Closing thought for the day: I leave here this weekend having accomplished all of my goals and without any regrets. This experience has changed my life and I am now armed with the tools to continue the journey at home, overseas, offshore, or anywhere in the world my job will take me in the future.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
10 on 10
Before I begin, I have more information on the shirt from yesterday's picture. The shirt is 100% preshrunk cotton, made in El Salvador, machine wash cold inside out with like colors. Use only non-chlorine bleach when needed, tumble dry medium, use medium iron and do not iron the decoration.
I actually have a lot of things that could be the title for today's post. I was considering "See you at the top" or "Over the top" or maybe something about St. Patrick's Day. No, I'm not trying to copy Zig Ziglar's book titles, but today my van was assigned to Zuma straight through.
In cast you can't tell, I've been building it up all week as a very difficult hike and it met my expectations. The hike was 5 miles up with an elevation gain of 2500 ft, then 2 miles down. Yes, the words brutal, tough, and calorie burn all describe it.
There is a ranch at the top of this hike called Buzzard's Roost Ranch, which by the way, is on sale for about $4 million if anyone is interested. So, let's get into the pictures.
Obviously this picture is at the entrance to Buzzard's Roost and is the highest point on the hike.
As I started the hike down I decided it was time to strike a semi-dramatic pose because I felt proud that I made it up the 5 miles and the view was totally worth it.
This is the group at the end of the hike attempting to spell out the word "victory" because it was victorious making it to the end of this hike.
Every morning we leave at 8am for the hikes, and today was no exception. However, on most days we are back at the resort around 10:45 am. The hike today lasted about 30 minutes longer and we made it back just in time for kickball.
This was my last kickball and I went out with a bang. At my last at-bat, I kicked a home run which put my team in the lead. We then took the field one last time where I made a double play by myself. I caught the ball to get the kicker out, then touched second base to get the runner out. When the ball is kicked, all runner have to tag up in case the fielder catches the ball. The runner on second base did not tag up, so it was an easy out. Also, we play with 2 outs per side because of the limited time so we can get several innings in the game.
At the end of treading class, the trainer played the song that is the theme music to the Biggest Loser show because there is a phrase that keeps repeating. It is "what have you done today to make ya feel proud?" The trainer used this as motivation and it worked. My body was warmed up and I decided to go for one last treadmill sprint session.
I stayed extra in class and worked my way up to a 10.0mph speed and held it for 10 seconds!! This crushed my previous record of 9.0mph from the previous week and is 2.4mph away from maxing out the speed on the treadmill.
Closing thought for the day: So, to answer the question "what have you done today to make ya feel proud?", I can honestly say Zuma straight through, kicking butt in kickball, and finished the day breaking a new speed record in treadmill sprints. The chocolate strawberries tonight are going to taste really good.
I actually have a lot of things that could be the title for today's post. I was considering "See you at the top" or "Over the top" or maybe something about St. Patrick's Day. No, I'm not trying to copy Zig Ziglar's book titles, but today my van was assigned to Zuma straight through.
In cast you can't tell, I've been building it up all week as a very difficult hike and it met my expectations. The hike was 5 miles up with an elevation gain of 2500 ft, then 2 miles down. Yes, the words brutal, tough, and calorie burn all describe it.
There is a ranch at the top of this hike called Buzzard's Roost Ranch, which by the way, is on sale for about $4 million if anyone is interested. So, let's get into the pictures.
Every morning we leave at 8am for the hikes, and today was no exception. However, on most days we are back at the resort around 10:45 am. The hike today lasted about 30 minutes longer and we made it back just in time for kickball.
This was my last kickball and I went out with a bang. At my last at-bat, I kicked a home run which put my team in the lead. We then took the field one last time where I made a double play by myself. I caught the ball to get the kicker out, then touched second base to get the runner out. When the ball is kicked, all runner have to tag up in case the fielder catches the ball. The runner on second base did not tag up, so it was an easy out. Also, we play with 2 outs per side because of the limited time so we can get several innings in the game.
At the end of treading class, the trainer played the song that is the theme music to the Biggest Loser show because there is a phrase that keeps repeating. It is "what have you done today to make ya feel proud?" The trainer used this as motivation and it worked. My body was warmed up and I decided to go for one last treadmill sprint session.
I stayed extra in class and worked my way up to a 10.0mph speed and held it for 10 seconds!! This crushed my previous record of 9.0mph from the previous week and is 2.4mph away from maxing out the speed on the treadmill.
Closing thought for the day: So, to answer the question "what have you done today to make ya feel proud?", I can honestly say Zuma straight through, kicking butt in kickball, and finished the day breaking a new speed record in treadmill sprints. The chocolate strawberries tonight are going to taste really good.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Awesome picture
As you can determine by the title, this post involves an awesome picture, but first it requires a story. At the end of my second week here I went to the ranch where they film the show The Biggest Loser. I posted some pictures, but there's something awesome that happened that I didn't tell you about. It was planned this way so I can tell you now.
When we arrived we told the security guard that we were guests of the BLR. As you know, at the beginning of this current season, half of the contestants worked out wit the new trainers at an unknown location. Well, the unknown location was here at the BLR, so the security guard was familiar with the place and the program here.
He said that he would open the gym for us so we could go inside. Right when this happened one of the contestants walked into the gym and the security guard said we couldn't go inside if any of the contestants are inside. However, he told us that he would get us shirts from the show as a consolation prize. I asked for a shirt size that was smaller that what I was wearing at the time so I would have room to shrink into it.
After that some of the other contestants came out for their exercise and came over to talk to us. They were great and I enjoyed the conversation. At that time, the security guard came back with the shirts and told us these were worn by the contestants during the season and the contestants name was written on the tag. It turns out that one of the shirts was worn by one of the contestants that we were talking to.
When I got home, I immediately put the shirt on and it looks like the brand of shirt runs small because it was definitely more than one shirt size down from what I was at that time.
Since this is my last week, I decided to wear the shirt today and show Sam, who was on the Biggest Loser season 9. So, here is the awesome picture of me wearing the shirt today!!
The hike today was Solstice Canyon. A common question that I get asked is do the hikes get easier. My answer is always yes because the do, but today I realized that no matter what, Solstice has always been a tough hike despite all of the progress that I've made.
Tomorrow's hike will be Zuma straight through, so condolences are welcome. This hike will be over 5 miles up then 2 miles down. The elevation change at the top is 2500 ft. I am positive that I can do it, but I will need a time extension past the two hour limit. I am anticipating this to be my toughest challenge here at the BLR. I will report tomorrow on how it was.
Closing thought for the day: I can't believe my last hump day is over. One thing I have not really struggled with is staying motivated. The shirt in the picture above has been with me since the end of week 2 and now I get to wear it. How awesome is that?
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Going out with a bang
As you know, this is my last week here at the BLR. I always enjoy reading the comments, so please let me know if you have any questions that I can answer this week. Since this is my last week I have requested to be in the highest van for the hikes. The program director was going to assign me to this van anyway because there are a lot of people here this week who are intermediate hikers.
I also was informed that our van will be assigned to Solstice, Ocean View, Zuma straight through, and of course the beach. Today's hike was the easiest of the hikes listed and was at the beach. It was great because it was the first time in my life to see a whale. Actually, we could barely see the whale, but could see the water blown from the spout really well. I tried to take pictures but the whale was out of range. Regardless, it was still pretty cool.
The afternoon classes were total toning, something in the pool, and cardio intervals. Now obviously I've done total toning for 8 weeks, but today I had another aha moment. The trainer had us using a resistance band for the moves. I've been through this before with the same trainer, but it hit me today that I can take a couple of these resistance bands in a suitcase with me and use the moves from the class when working overseas or offshore.
Some of the classes vary depending on the instructor. For example, in total toning the purpose is to use light weights to work every part of the body. One instructor will set up the stations as I have previously described, and another instructor will use the resistance bands to achieve the same goal.
Cardio intervals is a structured class and does not allow for trainer influence like total toning. During the sprint sessions, I decided to use the Jacobs Ladder because it is now part of my routine for sprints. I was on it for three sprints, which combined for a total of 4 minutes. That's right, a total of 4 minutes on the Jacobs Ladder!!
Closing thought for the day: Now that my final week is here, I have to keep focused mentally. There are three days of the hardest hikes coming up. I feel that being here for 7 weeks has prepared me for them and I'm ready. I'm going to end my day by reviewing my taxes and going to bed early. For me taxes are very boring so it should put me to sleep easily. I just hope I don't get sick looking at how much money the government gets of my hard labor.
I also was informed that our van will be assigned to Solstice, Ocean View, Zuma straight through, and of course the beach. Today's hike was the easiest of the hikes listed and was at the beach. It was great because it was the first time in my life to see a whale. Actually, we could barely see the whale, but could see the water blown from the spout really well. I tried to take pictures but the whale was out of range. Regardless, it was still pretty cool.
The afternoon classes were total toning, something in the pool, and cardio intervals. Now obviously I've done total toning for 8 weeks, but today I had another aha moment. The trainer had us using a resistance band for the moves. I've been through this before with the same trainer, but it hit me today that I can take a couple of these resistance bands in a suitcase with me and use the moves from the class when working overseas or offshore.
Some of the classes vary depending on the instructor. For example, in total toning the purpose is to use light weights to work every part of the body. One instructor will set up the stations as I have previously described, and another instructor will use the resistance bands to achieve the same goal.
Cardio intervals is a structured class and does not allow for trainer influence like total toning. During the sprint sessions, I decided to use the Jacobs Ladder because it is now part of my routine for sprints. I was on it for three sprints, which combined for a total of 4 minutes. That's right, a total of 4 minutes on the Jacobs Ladder!!
Closing thought for the day: Now that my final week is here, I have to keep focused mentally. There are three days of the hardest hikes coming up. I feel that being here for 7 weeks has prepared me for them and I'm ready. I'm going to end my day by reviewing my taxes and going to bed early. For me taxes are very boring so it should put me to sleep easily. I just hope I don't get sick looking at how much money the government gets of my hard labor.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Continued from yesterday
After yesterday's post, I really wasn't satisfied with it. I was tired and excited all at the same time when I wrote it, and realized it just wasn't good. I'm talking about the first part here, the Reagan museum part was great.
Here's some more information on what I was talking about. As you know, I like cars, especially Ferraris. There were some things said in the group that I was with regarding cars that got me very excited. If what was said turns out to be true, it will be really awesome, especially for me and my love of cars. My intention was not to leave anyone out or offend anyone, but I'm still unsure if things will come through. I need to investigate some things a little more before revealing the entire story, and I didn't want to blog about everything that will supposedly happen and then later not have it work out. Ok, now I feel better because this is probably what I should have said yesterday. Believe me, if things work out, you will know about it because there will be plenty of pictures.
Also, during the visit to the Reagan museum yesterday I took some video of the surroundings in Simi Valley. Here they are.
Here's some more information on what I was talking about. As you know, I like cars, especially Ferraris. There were some things said in the group that I was with regarding cars that got me very excited. If what was said turns out to be true, it will be really awesome, especially for me and my love of cars. My intention was not to leave anyone out or offend anyone, but I'm still unsure if things will come through. I need to investigate some things a little more before revealing the entire story, and I didn't want to blog about everything that will supposedly happen and then later not have it work out. Ok, now I feel better because this is probably what I should have said yesterday. Believe me, if things work out, you will know about it because there will be plenty of pictures.
Also, during the visit to the Reagan museum yesterday I took some video of the surroundings in Simi Valley. Here they are.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Weekend review
Alright, I was thinking about changing the title to "Best weekend ever," but I've had a lot of awesome weekends during my life. This weekend, however, will rank in the top 10 weekends I've had.
If you read my blog from Friday, you know that I rented a car for the weekend and are probably wondering what I did that made this such a great weekend. Well, it actually wasn't about what we did this weekend, but who I was with. It is hard to explain and I'll tell some of y'all in private later what is going on, but trust me, this was truly that great of a weekend.
No, I didn't spend all weekend with any celebrities or ride around in a Ferrari (yet), or fly on a private jet. I went out with a couple of people from the resort and I have a feeling that we will be friends for life. That all by itself is life changing, but it it much more than that. Like I said, I'll tell some of y'all in private because I'm not going to blog publicly about other guests of the resort.
So, for this posting, I'm going to concentrate on the activities. Saturday afternoon we started by going to a Ferrari dealership near here located on Parkway Calabasas. This is not the average Ferrari dealership because they sell other expensive brands of cars like Bentley, etc. There wasn't a lot of activity on the lot and one of the salesmen showed us around and answered all our questions. No one from the group purchased a car, but it was informative for future planning.
We spent the rest of the afternoon watching a movie and shopping at the Hard Rock Cafe. We were invited to dinner at Cut, so we went again. That kobe beef steak was still out of this world amazing. Last week someone in my van told me that I needed to do sprints on the beach to work off the steak dinner that I had 2 weeks ago. I told her it was well worth it and I'd like to report that I will be doing sprints again this week.
Today we spent the afternoon at the Ronald Reagan Museum and I have a ton of pictures, so let's get straight to them.
This is the final resting place of President Ronald Reagan.
This is a piece of the Berlin wall. The side facing us in the picture was on the West side of the wall. Notice the beautiful paint work including the butterfly and flowers. The word "freedom" is written in the middle. I wonder what the East side of the wall looks like? Hmmmmmm, let's check it out.
That's right, the East side of the wall is plain. These two pictures are pretty much all we need to know about freedom vs. socialism.
Here I am behind the podium giving Reagan's inaugural address.
In the museum, they had a full scale replica of the Oval Office during Reagan's years. The Oval Office was bigger that what I thought it would be.
Obviously you'll recognize this as Air Force One. This airplane I believe is a Boeing 707 and was used from Carter through George Bush. If you research this airplane online, it will say that this plane was used through George W. Bush. This is true, even though the current Boeing 747 Air Force One started with Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton had to use the airplane above once a a back up and George W. Bush flew on it during its last flight to the museum.
The items around Air Force One were pretty cool as well. Here they had one of Reagan's motorcades, some Secret Service vehicles, and one of the Marine One helicopters. Notice the license plate above.
Here's a couple of pictures of Marine One. In the bottom picture you can see a beam next to the helicopter and the paper under it. The paper said that this beam is from the world trade center. I don't know how this beam connects to Ronald Reagan, but it it was still humbling to see the beam.
Here I am giving my approval of one of the jet engines from Air Force One.
And now for the picture of the day. This is a picture of me standing on the steps outside the entrance to Air Force One. This was the only point where private cameras were not allowed, so they had a photographer. I decided to buy the picture anyway, because how often do you get to stand on the steps just outside Air Force One and wave to the crowd?
And one more bonus picture just for those of y'all who complain about high gas prices. This is a picture on Santa Monica on the border between West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. By the way, I didn't fill up with gas there because it was cheaper in Malibu.
Closing thought for the day: It is disappointing that this weekend is over. It was that amazing, honestly. When I came to the BLR, I knew it would be life changing in the weight loss area. I didn't realize that meeting some of the people here would change my life in other areas. Oh ya, and the Reagan museum was incredible and worth a trip out here just to see it. Tomorrow I'll post some videos.
If you read my blog from Friday, you know that I rented a car for the weekend and are probably wondering what I did that made this such a great weekend. Well, it actually wasn't about what we did this weekend, but who I was with. It is hard to explain and I'll tell some of y'all in private later what is going on, but trust me, this was truly that great of a weekend.
No, I didn't spend all weekend with any celebrities or ride around in a Ferrari (yet), or fly on a private jet. I went out with a couple of people from the resort and I have a feeling that we will be friends for life. That all by itself is life changing, but it it much more than that. Like I said, I'll tell some of y'all in private because I'm not going to blog publicly about other guests of the resort.
So, for this posting, I'm going to concentrate on the activities. Saturday afternoon we started by going to a Ferrari dealership near here located on Parkway Calabasas. This is not the average Ferrari dealership because they sell other expensive brands of cars like Bentley, etc. There wasn't a lot of activity on the lot and one of the salesmen showed us around and answered all our questions. No one from the group purchased a car, but it was informative for future planning.
We spent the rest of the afternoon watching a movie and shopping at the Hard Rock Cafe. We were invited to dinner at Cut, so we went again. That kobe beef steak was still out of this world amazing. Last week someone in my van told me that I needed to do sprints on the beach to work off the steak dinner that I had 2 weeks ago. I told her it was well worth it and I'd like to report that I will be doing sprints again this week.
Today we spent the afternoon at the Ronald Reagan Museum and I have a ton of pictures, so let's get straight to them.
Closing thought for the day: It is disappointing that this weekend is over. It was that amazing, honestly. When I came to the BLR, I knew it would be life changing in the weight loss area. I didn't realize that meeting some of the people here would change my life in other areas. Oh ya, and the Reagan museum was incredible and worth a trip out here just to see it. Tomorrow I'll post some videos.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Natural disaster
Just like most people this morning, I woke up, checked a few headlines and continued with my morning routine. Of course there was an earthquake near Japan and a tsunami warning for the entire US West coast, including California.
If you know me, you know that I'm not into drama, but the media always is. I find it funny and sad that every time there is a hurricane in Houston, the local news media acts like they've never seen water before. A few months ago Prince William announced his engagement and CNN International had 24 hour coverage. Do we really need 24 hour news coverage of this engagement announcement?
Every morning I warm up in the gym and sometimes I turn on the television. Today was one of those days and you can imagine my reaction to the local news media's reaction to the events. By the way, the stories were completely different between the internet media and the local news. The internet news said that the impact will be felt in Northern California and Oregon. The local news was having a cow over how LA will be hit hard.
No matter what happens, we're up in the mountains and will be safe. My van was assigned to Castro's Crest where the top has a view of the ocean. I can report first hand that the water was calm. There was no sign of a tsunami.
After lunch I went to Enterprise to rent a car for the weekend and on my way back I noticed a car with a license plat that said ECONAUT, as in a play on words of astronaut. I didn't have time to get my iPhone out and take a picture. It almost made me want to throw up. Does anyone know if this word has made it's way into pop culture yet? I think they should take the "A" out of it and call it ECONUT.
The highlight of my day was at circuit training in the afternoon. I have never stayed on the Jacobs Ladder for more than one minute, and I wanted to see if I could go longer. The intervals for circuit training are 2 minutes long and I can gladly report that I stayed on for the entire 2 minutes!!
So, at the end of the day I would have liked to write about outrageous adventures with the tsunami, but it wasn't that way. At least my threshold on the Jacobs Ladder is 2 minutes.
Closing thought for the day: I can't believe that week 7 is over. It started with treadmill sprints at 9.0mph, continued with revenge on Newton Canyon, and ended with 2 minutes straight on the Jacobs Ladder. Wow, what an awesome week!!
If you know me, you know that I'm not into drama, but the media always is. I find it funny and sad that every time there is a hurricane in Houston, the local news media acts like they've never seen water before. A few months ago Prince William announced his engagement and CNN International had 24 hour coverage. Do we really need 24 hour news coverage of this engagement announcement?
Every morning I warm up in the gym and sometimes I turn on the television. Today was one of those days and you can imagine my reaction to the local news media's reaction to the events. By the way, the stories were completely different between the internet media and the local news. The internet news said that the impact will be felt in Northern California and Oregon. The local news was having a cow over how LA will be hit hard.
No matter what happens, we're up in the mountains and will be safe. My van was assigned to Castro's Crest where the top has a view of the ocean. I can report first hand that the water was calm. There was no sign of a tsunami.
After lunch I went to Enterprise to rent a car for the weekend and on my way back I noticed a car with a license plat that said ECONAUT, as in a play on words of astronaut. I didn't have time to get my iPhone out and take a picture. It almost made me want to throw up. Does anyone know if this word has made it's way into pop culture yet? I think they should take the "A" out of it and call it ECONUT.
The highlight of my day was at circuit training in the afternoon. I have never stayed on the Jacobs Ladder for more than one minute, and I wanted to see if I could go longer. The intervals for circuit training are 2 minutes long and I can gladly report that I stayed on for the entire 2 minutes!!
So, at the end of the day I would have liked to write about outrageous adventures with the tsunami, but it wasn't that way. At least my threshold on the Jacobs Ladder is 2 minutes.
Closing thought for the day: I can't believe that week 7 is over. It started with treadmill sprints at 9.0mph, continued with revenge on Newton Canyon, and ended with 2 minutes straight on the Jacobs Ladder. Wow, what an awesome week!!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
What is normal eating?
One of the handouts that I have from the lectures is on normal eating and what is normal eating? I think the handout says it best, so I'm going to type it just as it appears.
Normal eating is being able to eat when you are hungry and continue eating until you are satisfied.
It is being able to choose foods you like and eat it and truly get enough of it - not just stop eating because you think you should.
Normal eating is being able to use some moderate constraint on your food selection to get the right food, but not being so restrictive that you miss out on pleasurable foods.
Normal eating is giving yourself permission to eat sometimes because you are happy, sad or bored, or just because it feels good.
Normal eating is three meals a day, or it can be choosing to munch along the way.
It is leaving some cookies on the plate because you know you can have some again tomorrow or it is eating more now because they taste so wonderful when they are fresh.
Normal eating is overeating at times: felling stuffed and uncomfortable. It is also under-eating at times and wishing you had more.
Normal eating is trusting your body to make up for your mistakes in eating.
Normal eating takes some of your time and attention, but keeps its place as only one important area of your life.
In short, normal eating is flexible and varied, in response to your emotions, your schedule, your hunger and your proximity to food.
Closing thought for the day: I like this handout on normal eating because it addresses all of life's issues including emotions. It doesn't have the "diet" mindset as something that we go on and then later go off. It also addresses both sides of the 90/10 rule or guideline.
Normal eating is being able to eat when you are hungry and continue eating until you are satisfied.
It is being able to choose foods you like and eat it and truly get enough of it - not just stop eating because you think you should.
Normal eating is being able to use some moderate constraint on your food selection to get the right food, but not being so restrictive that you miss out on pleasurable foods.
Normal eating is giving yourself permission to eat sometimes because you are happy, sad or bored, or just because it feels good.
Normal eating is three meals a day, or it can be choosing to munch along the way.
It is leaving some cookies on the plate because you know you can have some again tomorrow or it is eating more now because they taste so wonderful when they are fresh.
Normal eating is overeating at times: felling stuffed and uncomfortable. It is also under-eating at times and wishing you had more.
Normal eating is trusting your body to make up for your mistakes in eating.
Normal eating takes some of your time and attention, but keeps its place as only one important area of your life.
In short, normal eating is flexible and varied, in response to your emotions, your schedule, your hunger and your proximity to food.
Closing thought for the day: I like this handout on normal eating because it addresses all of life's issues including emotions. It doesn't have the "diet" mindset as something that we go on and then later go off. It also addresses both sides of the 90/10 rule or guideline.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Budget continued
Yesterday's post was about the budget and the wording was straight out of the guest lecture book. Today it is time to do some calculations, so get your spreadsheet ready.
The first thing to determine is how much weight you want to lose, or the caloric debt. Put that at the top of the page. On the next line, multiply the number of pounds by 3500. This is the caloric debt. If you take a pound of fat and place it in the lab, it will take 3500 calories to burn it. For example, if you want to lose 50 lbs of fat, you need to burn 175,000 calories.
Next we determine the income. The income side can be split up into base income and other income. The base income is the RMR as discussed previously. Other income is the calories burned from exercise. We're going to assume that our unit of time here is a week. So, for the base income, multiple your RMR by 7 and add up all of the calories burned through exercise for that week. This will be the total caloric income on a weekly basis.
Now for the expenses. Expenses are easier to track, so add up all of the calories consumed through food for that week.
Take the total income and subtract the total expenses to get the total caloric savings on a weekly basis. Divide this number by 3500 to get the number of pounds lost that week.
At the bottom of the page, list your current weight and goal weight. Subtract the two numbers to get the number of pounds that you'd like to lose. Hopefully this will be the same at the number at the top of the page. One last calculation. Divide the number of pounds that you'd like to lose by the number of pounds that you're going to lose that week to see how many weeks it will take to reach the goal. You can even use the spreadsheet to tell you what date you'll reach the goal.
You might be saying this is too simple and there's a lot of variables. I understand about the variables. Part of loosing weight is gaining muscle. I've heard people say at first you're only loosing water weight. Of course life happens and we can't work out as much some weeks. Sometimes the body reacts differently. The quality and quantity of sleep is a variable. Life happens and we become stressful, which will become a variable. Sometimes we hit a plateau and won't lose weight one week.
The key is to control or track the variables, which is harder said than done. If stress is a variable, then control the variable by relaxing however you like to relax. Life happens and you may need to adjust the caloric budget to reflect not working out as much. The muscle mass gained is a variable that I know can be tracked. I think with a scale and a body fat percentage measurement, the pounds gained of muscle can be calculated. I'm going to check it out and get back to you later.
So, like I said earlier, this budget is the basis of the program here at the BLR. They do a good job of providing food that is low calorie, but filling and full of good nutrition. The exercises are interval based and are never boring. It is a great program and I highly recommend it.
Closing thought for the day: Another personal record was broken today. My van was assigned to the beach hike and it previously took me 50 minutes to hike from the van to the bottom of the stairs on the second beach section, then another 20 minutes to hike to the end of the beach. Today the first part took me 45 minutes and then 18 minutes to the end of the beach.
The first thing to determine is how much weight you want to lose, or the caloric debt. Put that at the top of the page. On the next line, multiply the number of pounds by 3500. This is the caloric debt. If you take a pound of fat and place it in the lab, it will take 3500 calories to burn it. For example, if you want to lose 50 lbs of fat, you need to burn 175,000 calories.
Next we determine the income. The income side can be split up into base income and other income. The base income is the RMR as discussed previously. Other income is the calories burned from exercise. We're going to assume that our unit of time here is a week. So, for the base income, multiple your RMR by 7 and add up all of the calories burned through exercise for that week. This will be the total caloric income on a weekly basis.
Now for the expenses. Expenses are easier to track, so add up all of the calories consumed through food for that week.
Take the total income and subtract the total expenses to get the total caloric savings on a weekly basis. Divide this number by 3500 to get the number of pounds lost that week.
At the bottom of the page, list your current weight and goal weight. Subtract the two numbers to get the number of pounds that you'd like to lose. Hopefully this will be the same at the number at the top of the page. One last calculation. Divide the number of pounds that you'd like to lose by the number of pounds that you're going to lose that week to see how many weeks it will take to reach the goal. You can even use the spreadsheet to tell you what date you'll reach the goal.
You might be saying this is too simple and there's a lot of variables. I understand about the variables. Part of loosing weight is gaining muscle. I've heard people say at first you're only loosing water weight. Of course life happens and we can't work out as much some weeks. Sometimes the body reacts differently. The quality and quantity of sleep is a variable. Life happens and we become stressful, which will become a variable. Sometimes we hit a plateau and won't lose weight one week.
The key is to control or track the variables, which is harder said than done. If stress is a variable, then control the variable by relaxing however you like to relax. Life happens and you may need to adjust the caloric budget to reflect not working out as much. The muscle mass gained is a variable that I know can be tracked. I think with a scale and a body fat percentage measurement, the pounds gained of muscle can be calculated. I'm going to check it out and get back to you later.
So, like I said earlier, this budget is the basis of the program here at the BLR. They do a good job of providing food that is low calorie, but filling and full of good nutrition. The exercises are interval based and are never boring. It is a great program and I highly recommend it.
Closing thought for the day: Another personal record was broken today. My van was assigned to the beach hike and it previously took me 50 minutes to hike from the van to the bottom of the stairs on the second beach section, then another 20 minutes to hike to the end of the beach. Today the first part took me 45 minutes and then 18 minutes to the end of the beach.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Revenge and numbers part two
Ok, I need to briefly discuss today's hike, but it requires some set up. On my second day here, my van was assigned Newton Canyon, which is a moderate hike. I was having blisters inside of blisters interfering with other blisters. I was in the wrong shoes, was not used to the hikes, and was really sore from my first day. To sum it up, it was my worst moment here.
Newton Canyon isn't a common hike that we do and I don't really know why. Now that all of the problems listed above were solved, I have been wanting to return to Newton Canyon. Last week I asked the program director if I could be assigned to Newton Canyon during my last two weeks. She said yes and today my van was assigned to Newton Canyon.
It was amazing going back exactly 7 weeks later to conquer the hike. I am proud to report that today I got my revenge!! I was almost in tears at the end when I reached the van because this hike today was one of my best moments here. The hike today was only topped by last week's hike on Castro's Crest.
Now for the continuation on the numbers. One of the first lectures we had was called the budget lecture. Ever since I graduated from college I have been managing my own financial budget and really don't need help in this area. I was confused at first.
This budget lecture isn't about financial debt, it is about a calorie debt. After the lecture, this simple analogy and concept really hit home. To be honest, the page in the notebook for this lecture is really good and I'm going to type it all next.
Financial Debt: The source of great anxiety, unease, even depression. Many of us understand what is required to pay off financial debut, though often it goes ignored. We spend money, sometimes small amounts, other time large amounts. And sometimes we spend without acknowledging how much. And we repeat the cycle. And repeat the cycle.
Weight Loss Debt: The source of great anxiety, unease, even depression. Many of us understand what is required to pay off weight debt, though often it goes ignored. We eat, sometimes small amounts, other times large amounts. And sometimes we eat without acknowledging how much. And we repeat the cycle. And repeat the cycle.
See any similarities? This destructive cycle is the reason for the Budget Lecture.
Calories in vs. Calories out: People have an allowance of calories to spend according to their age, weight, and sex. However, it is easy to over-spend these calories on drinking, snacking or eating out. As a result, we are drawn to fad diets with quick results.
It is time to be accountable for your caloric income, calorie expenses, and get control of your weight debt.
Weight Budget Debt Breakdown: Your expenses need to be less than your income. What you save in calories goes towards your debt. By using this method you will set realistic goals in a realistic time frame.
Debt = Excess weight
Income = RMR + exercise
Expenses = Actual calories consumed
Step 1 - Determine your debt, which is the excess weight you are trying to lose.
Step 2 - Calculate caloric income, which is based on age, sex, and level of activity.
Step 3 - Track expenses, which are the actual calories consumed each day.
Step 4 - Balance each day. Calories in and calories out. Make sure your expenses do not exceed your income. At the end of each day your income must be more than expenses. This will go toward your weight debt. The only way to get out of debt is to work (exercise) more and save more (eat less).
Step 5 - Take steps to increase your income.
Step 6 - Understanding your spending issues. Use meal planning and healthy eating habits to help limit your spending.
Tomorrow I'll go over each step more in detail and do calculations, but this will give you a good overview of the relation to financial debt.
Closing thought for the day: No matter what happens for the rest of the week, it has already been a successful week. Today I got revenge on Newton Canyon and to be honest, the chocolate strawberries for desert have never tasted so good.
Newton Canyon isn't a common hike that we do and I don't really know why. Now that all of the problems listed above were solved, I have been wanting to return to Newton Canyon. Last week I asked the program director if I could be assigned to Newton Canyon during my last two weeks. She said yes and today my van was assigned to Newton Canyon.
It was amazing going back exactly 7 weeks later to conquer the hike. I am proud to report that today I got my revenge!! I was almost in tears at the end when I reached the van because this hike today was one of my best moments here. The hike today was only topped by last week's hike on Castro's Crest.
Now for the continuation on the numbers. One of the first lectures we had was called the budget lecture. Ever since I graduated from college I have been managing my own financial budget and really don't need help in this area. I was confused at first.
This budget lecture isn't about financial debt, it is about a calorie debt. After the lecture, this simple analogy and concept really hit home. To be honest, the page in the notebook for this lecture is really good and I'm going to type it all next.
Financial Debt: The source of great anxiety, unease, even depression. Many of us understand what is required to pay off financial debut, though often it goes ignored. We spend money, sometimes small amounts, other time large amounts. And sometimes we spend without acknowledging how much. And we repeat the cycle. And repeat the cycle.
Weight Loss Debt: The source of great anxiety, unease, even depression. Many of us understand what is required to pay off weight debt, though often it goes ignored. We eat, sometimes small amounts, other times large amounts. And sometimes we eat without acknowledging how much. And we repeat the cycle. And repeat the cycle.
See any similarities? This destructive cycle is the reason for the Budget Lecture.
Calories in vs. Calories out: People have an allowance of calories to spend according to their age, weight, and sex. However, it is easy to over-spend these calories on drinking, snacking or eating out. As a result, we are drawn to fad diets with quick results.
It is time to be accountable for your caloric income, calorie expenses, and get control of your weight debt.
Weight Budget Debt Breakdown: Your expenses need to be less than your income. What you save in calories goes towards your debt. By using this method you will set realistic goals in a realistic time frame.
Debt = Excess weight
Income = RMR + exercise
Expenses = Actual calories consumed
Step 1 - Determine your debt, which is the excess weight you are trying to lose.
Step 2 - Calculate caloric income, which is based on age, sex, and level of activity.
Step 3 - Track expenses, which are the actual calories consumed each day.
Step 4 - Balance each day. Calories in and calories out. Make sure your expenses do not exceed your income. At the end of each day your income must be more than expenses. This will go toward your weight debt. The only way to get out of debt is to work (exercise) more and save more (eat less).
Step 5 - Take steps to increase your income.
Step 6 - Understanding your spending issues. Use meal planning and healthy eating habits to help limit your spending.
Tomorrow I'll go over each step more in detail and do calculations, but this will give you a good overview of the relation to financial debt.
Closing thought for the day: No matter what happens for the rest of the week, it has already been a successful week. Today I got revenge on Newton Canyon and to be honest, the chocolate strawberries for desert have never tasted so good.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Bedge version 9.0
I know that yesterday I said today's post will be numbers part two, but something happened today that I need to share. Remember that during last Monday's circuit training class I had a personal best of 7.6mph on the treadmill during sprints. Sam was there pressing the buttons while I ran.
Today my goal was to go faster. We didn't do sprints, but I turned the last cardio session into a sprint. I asked the trainer if she would press the buttons while I ran. She agreed and I broke last week's record with 7.8mph!!
On my way out of the class at the end of the day going to dinner, I told Sam about this new record. He was excited, then said I should make it a goal to reach 9.0mph. I thought this was achievable during my last two weeks here and told Sam that I would achieve this 9.0mph sometime while I'm here. He asked why not now?
Keep in mind this is at the very end of the day and I had an intense Monday and really wasn't up for it, but I agreed. So we went back on the treadmill to do sprints. I went through a series of sprints starting with a 6.0mph and worked my way up.
I am proud to report that I reached the 9.0mph at the end and was able to stay on for 22 seconds!!!! Afterwords I went to dinner and then ended the day in the hot tub with Mason.
Closing thought for the day: The past couple of weeks are the first time in my life where I have done sprints on a treadmill and right now my record is 9.0mph. The treadmills here at the BLR max out at 12.0mph. My goal by the time I leave here is to run sprints at 12.0mph.
Today my goal was to go faster. We didn't do sprints, but I turned the last cardio session into a sprint. I asked the trainer if she would press the buttons while I ran. She agreed and I broke last week's record with 7.8mph!!
On my way out of the class at the end of the day going to dinner, I told Sam about this new record. He was excited, then said I should make it a goal to reach 9.0mph. I thought this was achievable during my last two weeks here and told Sam that I would achieve this 9.0mph sometime while I'm here. He asked why not now?
Keep in mind this is at the very end of the day and I had an intense Monday and really wasn't up for it, but I agreed. So we went back on the treadmill to do sprints. I went through a series of sprints starting with a 6.0mph and worked my way up.
I am proud to report that I reached the 9.0mph at the end and was able to stay on for 22 seconds!!!! Afterwords I went to dinner and then ended the day in the hot tub with Mason.
Closing thought for the day: The past couple of weeks are the first time in my life where I have done sprints on a treadmill and right now my record is 9.0mph. The treadmills here at the BLR max out at 12.0mph. My goal by the time I leave here is to run sprints at 12.0mph.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Numbers - Part 1
For the past six weeks I’ve focused mostly on daily activities. Today I want to get to the heart of why the program is so successful, which will involve numbers. This may be the longest post yet, but probably one of the most important.
If you pay attention to the media there are constant reports every day about health or weight loss and most of the time they contradict each other. I’ve noticed the same thing within the trainers at my gym back home. One trainer will say it is about calories in vs. calories out. Another trainer will say don’t pay attention to calories.
Over the past 10 years, we’ve had Atkins that was popular who said that all cars are bad. Then there was another fad that played on Atkins but said that some carbs are good and others are bad. I remember a couple of years ago the fad was trans fats.
Then there’s the Weight Watchers point system. Jenny Craig has been around awhile but I don’t know what is different about her system. Lately there’s been Nutrasystem meals, which started several spin offs of the same concept.
And, oh ya, how could I forget all of the infomercials about all kinds of products from Bowflex to hip hop abs.
So how is one supposed to sort through this and figure out what’s going on and what really works? Well, over the years I’ve noticed that at the end of a lot of the media reports, they end by saying there’s no substitute for proper eating and exercising.
I’ve noticed that a theme from the Biggest Loser television show appears to be calories in vs. calories out because they are always concerned about calories. Then, I remember a news report last year about a college professor who went on the “junk food diet” for one month. He would eat whatever he wanted up to a certain calorie limit and then stopped for that day. At the end of the month, he lost weight.
The combination of these items tells me that we should start with calories in vs. calories out. How do we know how many calories to eat and how do we know how many calories we are burning per day?
That is a fantastic question and now we are at the heart of the BLR program. It is a lot easier to track the calories in part because of the nutrition labels on food. The calories burned part is harder and I’m going to try to explain it.
Our bodies burn calories simply by being alive. If you woke up one morning, and laid in bed all day, your body would be burning calories. By the way, when I say “you”, I really mean “us” or “we”. This baseline of daily calorie burning is called the Resting Metabolic Rate, or RMR. Everyone’s RMR will be different and will be based on age, weight, gender, body composition, etc. You can go to shapeup.org for a RMR calculator, which will be an ok measurement. The best way is to have the RMR tested, which can be done at lots of places.
Side note: If you’ve seen the first episode of any of the Biggest Loser show, you’ve seen the contestants go in for medical testing. I spoke to Sam about what the testing that he went through and one of them was a complete body composition testing through something called a Bod Pod. You can check out their website and make an appointment for this testing if you want. I don’t have any idea of the cost of the testing.
At the end of the day, we’re going to burn calories from our RMR plus whatever movement and exercise we did that day. If we consume more calories than that number, we’ll put on weight. If we consume less calories, then we’ll lose weight.
An accurate way to track the number of calories burned throughout the day is to get a heart rate monitor that has a calorie burned feature. Be sure to buy a heart rate monitor that has a strap that goes under your chest. To get an accurate reading of calories burned, you’ll need to wear it all day. If you don’t like the strap around your chest, then another option is the Body Bug, which goes around the left biceps. The tradeoff here is price because the Body Bug is about three times the price of a good heart rate monitor.
So the main goal at this point is to get your RMR tested properly, write down the calories consumed through food, and have a good measurement of the calories burned at the end of the day. Tomorrow I’ll continue this for part two.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Best hike ever - at least so far
I know that most of my posts are about the hikes, but today's hike was just awesome and I need to tell you about it. Today is Friday obviously and most people are out of energy at the end of the week. Today was no different for me. When I woke up I felt that I had enough energy to last through the end of the day and will recover over the weekend.
My van was assigned to Castro's Crest, which is a good challenging hike. The first time I hiked Castro's Crest, we went all the way to the top near the towers right by the "no trespassing" signs. I was at the back of the group and had to stop several times to get my breath. Finlay, if you're reading this, do you remember that day?
Well, I can proudly report that today I made it to the top much easier than the first time. I remember the climb to the top was steep and very tough. Today, when I reached the top I was kinda disappointed because it was easy.
The view at the top made it all worth it, and I'll post pictures in a bit. At the top I took a moment to realize what I had just done. For the past 2-3 weeks, the weather has been bad and I haven't seen as much progress on the hikes as I originally planned to see. Today the weather was sunny and I was able to see a huge improvement from the first time on this hike.
The view combined with my trip down memory lane gave me a second wind and the cynicism from yesterday went away. I felt really good coming back down, but hiked slower than usual to ensure I made it down safely without any injuries. Let me post some pictures and I'll tell you about the rest later.
I'm disappointed this picture turned out so poorly because it looked much better in real life. This is from the top of Castro's Crest looking towards the ocean. You can see the fog coming in from the ocean into the canyon.
In the background in the middle right side of the picture is Sandstone Peak, which is the highest point in the Santa Monica mountains.
This is a picture looking down at some of the parts of the hiking trail for Castro's Crest.
This is a cool picture for those who have been to the BLR. The peak in the middle there is the top of Zuma Ridge. The entire trail starts on the left side behind the mountain the middle ground, hikes about 5 miles up to that point, then 2 miles down on the right side of the picture.
The mountain in the middle ground is the back side of Ocean View and Switchback. At the top of the mountain in the foreground, is the parking lot for Castro's Crest. We hiked down the mountain to the valley, then up Castro's Crest.
Ok, now for the cool part. I already established that this was a great hike and I had an awesome time on the hike. When I was coming down the mountain I was feeling great about the hike and my progress on this hike. The frustration from the past couple of weeks with bad weather went away.
As I approached the parking lot where the van is, I noticed there was a red car parked there. When I got closer, I realized it was a Ferrari 308 and I of course got excited. The car was parked so we first saw the back and the license plate was from Texas, which got me more excited.
There was a guy sitting on the hood of the car talking about something and a camera crew was filming. We became silent and stood there out of the way until he finished talking. I expected them to be filming a show about cars, but I was wrong.
The guy on the hood is a medical doctor and they were shooting a show called Through the Wormhole for the Science and Discovery channels. Apparently this show is about medical issues and physics issues. After the crew was finished filming, we talked to everyone for a few minutes about what we are doing and what they are doing. If you recognize the guy in the picture below, please let me know.
As you know, Friday is cardio disco and I decided to take it up one notch this week with the outfit. Here's a picture.
As you can see, the disco ball has inspired other guests to dress up a little for the class.
Closing thought for the day: What are the chances of seeing a Ferrari in the parking lot after a hike? Zero or very close to zero is correct, but it happened today. The 308 was in great shape and looked good. I will need to check out that episode of Through the Wormhole when it airs.
My van was assigned to Castro's Crest, which is a good challenging hike. The first time I hiked Castro's Crest, we went all the way to the top near the towers right by the "no trespassing" signs. I was at the back of the group and had to stop several times to get my breath. Finlay, if you're reading this, do you remember that day?
Well, I can proudly report that today I made it to the top much easier than the first time. I remember the climb to the top was steep and very tough. Today, when I reached the top I was kinda disappointed because it was easy.
The view at the top made it all worth it, and I'll post pictures in a bit. At the top I took a moment to realize what I had just done. For the past 2-3 weeks, the weather has been bad and I haven't seen as much progress on the hikes as I originally planned to see. Today the weather was sunny and I was able to see a huge improvement from the first time on this hike.
The view combined with my trip down memory lane gave me a second wind and the cynicism from yesterday went away. I felt really good coming back down, but hiked slower than usual to ensure I made it down safely without any injuries. Let me post some pictures and I'll tell you about the rest later.
The mountain in the middle ground is the back side of Ocean View and Switchback. At the top of the mountain in the foreground, is the parking lot for Castro's Crest. We hiked down the mountain to the valley, then up Castro's Crest.
Ok, now for the cool part. I already established that this was a great hike and I had an awesome time on the hike. When I was coming down the mountain I was feeling great about the hike and my progress on this hike. The frustration from the past couple of weeks with bad weather went away.
As I approached the parking lot where the van is, I noticed there was a red car parked there. When I got closer, I realized it was a Ferrari 308 and I of course got excited. The car was parked so we first saw the back and the license plate was from Texas, which got me more excited.
There was a guy sitting on the hood of the car talking about something and a camera crew was filming. We became silent and stood there out of the way until he finished talking. I expected them to be filming a show about cars, but I was wrong.
The guy on the hood is a medical doctor and they were shooting a show called Through the Wormhole for the Science and Discovery channels. Apparently this show is about medical issues and physics issues. After the crew was finished filming, we talked to everyone for a few minutes about what we are doing and what they are doing. If you recognize the guy in the picture below, please let me know.
As you know, Friday is cardio disco and I decided to take it up one notch this week with the outfit. Here's a picture.
As you can see, the disco ball has inspired other guests to dress up a little for the class.
Closing thought for the day: What are the chances of seeing a Ferrari in the parking lot after a hike? Zero or very close to zero is correct, but it happened today. The 308 was in great shape and looked good. I will need to check out that episode of Through the Wormhole when it airs.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Solstice in the mud
Last night it rained and I need to clarify. What Californians call a rain, I call a sprinkle. I'd like to see their reaction to a Houston downpour or a hurricane. Anyway, this morning the program director informs us that the hikes had to be adjusted so we are all hiking on trails that are not muddy.
Let's see if I understand this. All of the hiking trails are similar in composition and close by each other. It rained or sprinkled all night and I'm supposed to believe that some trails are muddy and others are not. It's almost like being in a hurricane where your house gets rain and your next door neighbor doesn't get any rain.
So as you can see, I started the day being cynical and it set the tone for the entire day. My van was assigned to Solstice and guess what, there was a lot of mud. We did what we could and I spent the hike trying to keep my footing. We were sliding around in the mud and I went slow to make sure I didn't get injured.
This is the third time that I hiked Solstice and didn't get as far as the other times. I only took one picture on the hike because I spent my time looking at the ground and not the mountains. As you can see from the picture, we had fog at the top of the mountains, but for some reason the sun was shining only on this one rock. It think its pretty cool.
I mentioned the other day that one of the afternoon classes is total toning. This class requires a lot of set up in the aerobics room, so its not one that can be easily duplicated back home. The trainer sets up a series of stations and everyone selects a partner. The number of stations is based on the number of pairs. This week we had 30 people in the class, which means 15 pairs and 15 stations. I'll try to describe the stations without pictures. Note that the stations vary depending on the instructor.
The structure of the class is that everyone starts at their station for 1 minute, followed by a 30 second rest period, and another one minute interval. After that, everyone rotates to the next station and repeats the process. The stations listed below are in random order.
1. Hold an elastic band in your hand with your arms straight out and wrists together. When the clock starts, move your wrists away from each other and the elastic of the band will work the shoulders. Bring the wrists together and repeat very fast.
2. Get a stability ball from the gym and one heavy weight. Sit on the ball, walk yourself out where your head and shoulders are on the ball. Your body should be parallel to the ground. The movement with the weight is a triceps extension. Have your arms out past your shoulders, lower the weight by bending the elbow, and use the triceps to bring the weight back up.
3. Spin bikes. The first set is a resistance sprint. Turn up the resistance on the bike to maximum and go all out. The second set is a speed sprint. Change the resistance to nothing and go all out.
4. Kickboxing. Hit the bag any way you want for both sets.
5. Stationary lunges. Go down with one leg, bring it back, repeat with the other leg.
6. Cleans with dumbbells. Get a set of heavy weights, start in a squating position with the weights almost on the floor, do a squat to bring the weights to the waist, move the arms to bring the weights to the shoulders, do a shoulder press, bring the weights back to the shoulders, lower the weights back to the starting position.
7. Standing biceps curl.
8. Get another stability ball and a set of heavy weights, see #2 above for the starting position. Instead of doing triceps extensions, this time do chest press with the heavy weights.
9. You and your partner stand back to back. One person gets a weighted ball from the gym that almost looks likes a small basketball. Note this is not the same thing as a stability ball. When the clock starts, you pass the ball to your partner then take it from your partner on the other side. You rotate in the core, pass the ball off, rotate to the other side, get the ball from your partner, and repeat.
10. If you've taken a stepping class at the gym, you know about those stepping platform things with the small stackable inserts that go underneath. I'll take a picture this weekend to show you exactly what I'm talking about. Get three of these stepping platforms and a lot of the stackable inserts. For the first stepping platform, put one insert on each side, for the second one put three inserts per side, and for the last one, but 4 or 5 inserts per side. When the clock starts, start in front of the first stepping platform, jump over it, then jump over the middle platform, and then the third platform. Walk back to the beginning and repeat.
11. Get a mat and lay it on the floor. One partner lays flat on the mat with their hands holding onto the back of the shoes of the other partner. This set up is to work the lower abs, so the partner on the floor will use the other person's shoes as an anchor. When the clock starts, the person on the floor raises their legs up the in air, the partner standing throws the legs down, the person on the floor makes sure their legs don't hit the floor, and use their lower abs to raise their legs back to starting position. At the 30 second break, switch places.
This is all that I can remember off the top of my head. I'll get some pictures this weekend and will take better notes next Tuesday to report more stations, but you get the idea of the class.
Closing thought for the day: Mud or no mud, Solstice is still a great hike. I survived without any injures and pushed myself very hard in treading. I can't believe that Thursday of this week is over and tomorrow is cardio disco.
Let's see if I understand this. All of the hiking trails are similar in composition and close by each other. It rained or sprinkled all night and I'm supposed to believe that some trails are muddy and others are not. It's almost like being in a hurricane where your house gets rain and your next door neighbor doesn't get any rain.
So as you can see, I started the day being cynical and it set the tone for the entire day. My van was assigned to Solstice and guess what, there was a lot of mud. We did what we could and I spent the hike trying to keep my footing. We were sliding around in the mud and I went slow to make sure I didn't get injured.
This is the third time that I hiked Solstice and didn't get as far as the other times. I only took one picture on the hike because I spent my time looking at the ground and not the mountains. As you can see from the picture, we had fog at the top of the mountains, but for some reason the sun was shining only on this one rock. It think its pretty cool.
I mentioned the other day that one of the afternoon classes is total toning. This class requires a lot of set up in the aerobics room, so its not one that can be easily duplicated back home. The trainer sets up a series of stations and everyone selects a partner. The number of stations is based on the number of pairs. This week we had 30 people in the class, which means 15 pairs and 15 stations. I'll try to describe the stations without pictures. Note that the stations vary depending on the instructor.
The structure of the class is that everyone starts at their station for 1 minute, followed by a 30 second rest period, and another one minute interval. After that, everyone rotates to the next station and repeats the process. The stations listed below are in random order.
1. Hold an elastic band in your hand with your arms straight out and wrists together. When the clock starts, move your wrists away from each other and the elastic of the band will work the shoulders. Bring the wrists together and repeat very fast.
2. Get a stability ball from the gym and one heavy weight. Sit on the ball, walk yourself out where your head and shoulders are on the ball. Your body should be parallel to the ground. The movement with the weight is a triceps extension. Have your arms out past your shoulders, lower the weight by bending the elbow, and use the triceps to bring the weight back up.
3. Spin bikes. The first set is a resistance sprint. Turn up the resistance on the bike to maximum and go all out. The second set is a speed sprint. Change the resistance to nothing and go all out.
4. Kickboxing. Hit the bag any way you want for both sets.
5. Stationary lunges. Go down with one leg, bring it back, repeat with the other leg.
6. Cleans with dumbbells. Get a set of heavy weights, start in a squating position with the weights almost on the floor, do a squat to bring the weights to the waist, move the arms to bring the weights to the shoulders, do a shoulder press, bring the weights back to the shoulders, lower the weights back to the starting position.
7. Standing biceps curl.
8. Get another stability ball and a set of heavy weights, see #2 above for the starting position. Instead of doing triceps extensions, this time do chest press with the heavy weights.
9. You and your partner stand back to back. One person gets a weighted ball from the gym that almost looks likes a small basketball. Note this is not the same thing as a stability ball. When the clock starts, you pass the ball to your partner then take it from your partner on the other side. You rotate in the core, pass the ball off, rotate to the other side, get the ball from your partner, and repeat.
10. If you've taken a stepping class at the gym, you know about those stepping platform things with the small stackable inserts that go underneath. I'll take a picture this weekend to show you exactly what I'm talking about. Get three of these stepping platforms and a lot of the stackable inserts. For the first stepping platform, put one insert on each side, for the second one put three inserts per side, and for the last one, but 4 or 5 inserts per side. When the clock starts, start in front of the first stepping platform, jump over it, then jump over the middle platform, and then the third platform. Walk back to the beginning and repeat.
11. Get a mat and lay it on the floor. One partner lays flat on the mat with their hands holding onto the back of the shoes of the other partner. This set up is to work the lower abs, so the partner on the floor will use the other person's shoes as an anchor. When the clock starts, the person on the floor raises their legs up the in air, the partner standing throws the legs down, the person on the floor makes sure their legs don't hit the floor, and use their lower abs to raise their legs back to starting position. At the 30 second break, switch places.
This is all that I can remember off the top of my head. I'll get some pictures this weekend and will take better notes next Tuesday to report more stations, but you get the idea of the class.
Closing thought for the day: Mud or no mud, Solstice is still a great hike. I survived without any injures and pushed myself very hard in treading. I can't believe that Thursday of this week is over and tomorrow is cardio disco.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Another one of those days
I think in my first week I mentioned that Wednesday is usually referred to as hump day, but I have chosen not to think about it that way. Well, one of the afternoon classes here on Wednesdays is mountain and the trainers refer to Wednesday as hump day.
Last week I let myself get dehydrated on Wednesday and it really felt like a hump day. Both days this week have been awesome, but when I started the hike today I realized it was going to be one of those days. At least I'm going to attribute it to hump day.
The hike today was Backbone Latigo Canyon, which is a good hike. We got a real early start and were hiking at 8:05am. This hike is mostly covered by bushes and other shrubbery, but there are some lookout points to see other hills. Here's some pictures.
The afternoon classes are kickboxing, something in the pool, and mountain. My routine for mountain is to be on the treadmill and increase the incline for each level. It is a hard class especially at the end. This is probably the one class that I haven't improved a lot because when the incline is at 15 percent, even 0.1mph increase is a big deal.
Last week during the gyn classes, I was sweating so much that the constant wiping of my sweat with a towel started to chaff my skin, so I decided to buy a sweatband for the head and wrists. To complete the ensemble, I purchased knee high socks, One of the ladies in my group wears a pair of sunglasses that look like they're from the 1980's. Before class today I got the disco ball and borrowed her shades for a picture.
Yes, after being here for so long and since today is one of those days of low energy compared to other days, I felt the ridiculous picture needed to be taken. The sunglasses didn't turn out that well in the picture, but remember they are 1980's retro sunglasses.
Closing thought for the day: Everything runs in cycles, and energy level is no different. Today was a low energy day, but I gave it my all in mountain and kickboxing.
Last week I let myself get dehydrated on Wednesday and it really felt like a hump day. Both days this week have been awesome, but when I started the hike today I realized it was going to be one of those days. At least I'm going to attribute it to hump day.
The hike today was Backbone Latigo Canyon, which is a good hike. We got a real early start and were hiking at 8:05am. This hike is mostly covered by bushes and other shrubbery, but there are some lookout points to see other hills. Here's some pictures.
The afternoon classes are kickboxing, something in the pool, and mountain. My routine for mountain is to be on the treadmill and increase the incline for each level. It is a hard class especially at the end. This is probably the one class that I haven't improved a lot because when the incline is at 15 percent, even 0.1mph increase is a big deal.
Last week during the gyn classes, I was sweating so much that the constant wiping of my sweat with a towel started to chaff my skin, so I decided to buy a sweatband for the head and wrists. To complete the ensemble, I purchased knee high socks, One of the ladies in my group wears a pair of sunglasses that look like they're from the 1980's. Before class today I got the disco ball and borrowed her shades for a picture.
Yes, after being here for so long and since today is one of those days of low energy compared to other days, I felt the ridiculous picture needed to be taken. The sunglasses didn't turn out that well in the picture, but remember they are 1980's retro sunglasses.
Closing thought for the day: Everything runs in cycles, and energy level is no different. Today was a low energy day, but I gave it my all in mountain and kickboxing.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Ice ice baby
Right now I'm in my sixth week here and have been sore in my legs every day during my stay. At first I thought it was part of the program and would go away as the weeks progressed. It didn't and my genius self finally asked a trainer how to decrease the soreness. I should've asked this on day two.
He said to put ice on the muscles to help reduce the inflammation. I started this last night and it appears to be better. Right now I'm sitting here with a bag of ice on my quads. I'll provide an update tomorrow about the icing.
I think that last week I mentioned that I've been on the beach hike every Tuesday for the past several weeks. I was talking to the program director this morning at breakfast about the hikes and figured it out. Starting from week two, I have either been in van four or van five. She said that on Tuesdays both vans four and five are assigned to the beach hike.
So, guess what hike I did today? That's right, the beach hike. It started off the same as usual, then halfway through the first beach section the hiking guide pointed out that a pelican was hanging out with a flock of seagulls. I really didn't care, but he said that usually pelicans don't like seagulls, so this was a rare sight. I took his word for it and took a picture.
The good thing about this hike today was that we started early, so by the time I made it to the other beach section, we had a lot of time left before we needed to turn around. Most of the group made it to the boat then turned around.
The second section of beach is in a crescent shape. The boat is in the middle of this crescent and my goal was to make it to the other end of the crescent. I was the only one that continued past the boat and one of the hiking guides caught up to me just before I made it to the other end.
Here's a picture from the other end looking up at Point Dume`.
On the way back, the hiking guide asked me if I've ever sprinted on the beach before. I thought for a second and realized there wasn't any answer that would result in not doing sprints. So we did some sprints on the beach on the way back. It was a lot different than doing sprints on a treadmill or pavement. It was like running really fast in slow motion. The speed through the sand was slow, but my body was going full speed.
The afternoon classes on Tuesday are total toning, cardio intervals, and something in the pool. I'll need to dedicate an entire post to explain total toning and I think I've already explained cardio intervals. In the cardio intervals class, we have a total of four sprints of one minute each. I decided to do the sprints on the Jacobs Ladder because I can.
Right now one minute is the longest I can stay on the Jacobs Ladder at one time, and I wasn't sure about the last sprint. I can report that I made it through all 4 x one minute sprints on the Jacobs Ladder!! It was quite a day and I'm ready for bed.
Closing thought for the day: It seems like the theme for the week is sprints. Yesterday we did sprints for 30 seconds in the gym. Today's sprints were at the beach and on the Jacobs Ladder. Throughout my life, every time that I've gone to the beach, I've never sprinted, until today. The Jacobs Ladder is still difficult.
He said to put ice on the muscles to help reduce the inflammation. I started this last night and it appears to be better. Right now I'm sitting here with a bag of ice on my quads. I'll provide an update tomorrow about the icing.
I think that last week I mentioned that I've been on the beach hike every Tuesday for the past several weeks. I was talking to the program director this morning at breakfast about the hikes and figured it out. Starting from week two, I have either been in van four or van five. She said that on Tuesdays both vans four and five are assigned to the beach hike.
So, guess what hike I did today? That's right, the beach hike. It started off the same as usual, then halfway through the first beach section the hiking guide pointed out that a pelican was hanging out with a flock of seagulls. I really didn't care, but he said that usually pelicans don't like seagulls, so this was a rare sight. I took his word for it and took a picture.
The good thing about this hike today was that we started early, so by the time I made it to the other beach section, we had a lot of time left before we needed to turn around. Most of the group made it to the boat then turned around.
The second section of beach is in a crescent shape. The boat is in the middle of this crescent and my goal was to make it to the other end of the crescent. I was the only one that continued past the boat and one of the hiking guides caught up to me just before I made it to the other end.
Here's a picture from the other end looking up at Point Dume`.
On the way back, the hiking guide asked me if I've ever sprinted on the beach before. I thought for a second and realized there wasn't any answer that would result in not doing sprints. So we did some sprints on the beach on the way back. It was a lot different than doing sprints on a treadmill or pavement. It was like running really fast in slow motion. The speed through the sand was slow, but my body was going full speed.
The afternoon classes on Tuesday are total toning, cardio intervals, and something in the pool. I'll need to dedicate an entire post to explain total toning and I think I've already explained cardio intervals. In the cardio intervals class, we have a total of four sprints of one minute each. I decided to do the sprints on the Jacobs Ladder because I can.
Right now one minute is the longest I can stay on the Jacobs Ladder at one time, and I wasn't sure about the last sprint. I can report that I made it through all 4 x one minute sprints on the Jacobs Ladder!! It was quite a day and I'm ready for bed.
Closing thought for the day: It seems like the theme for the week is sprints. Yesterday we did sprints for 30 seconds in the gym. Today's sprints were at the beach and on the Jacobs Ladder. Throughout my life, every time that I've gone to the beach, I've never sprinted, until today. The Jacobs Ladder is still difficult.
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