Wednesday, September 12, 2007

My discovery of: i want six pack abs


Well its the first week, and I cant tell you how excited I am to have found this workout program. This all started for me one day when I got out of the shower, looked at myself in our floor to ceiling bathroom mirrors and just said "damn, Im fat...and Im sick of it!"



I have a 2 year old daughter, Ally, who is my life and my love. Its amazing the energy that these little people posses! Its actually getting hard to keep up with her and I dont like that at all, so that is my MAIN reason for doing this program, to make sure Im around to see my little girl become an amazing person someday, and to know that I was there to help teach, shape and mold her into the person she will be. But I cant do it if Im fat and unhealthy, so here I am!






So now that I had my motivation I just needed that 1 last thing to push me into gear, so would'nt you know it, I found my last piece of inspiration in a movie. A stupid movie of all things, and I know it might sound stupid, but it was when me and my girlfriend were sitiing down one evening and watched 300. Besides the fact that I thought the movie was great and seriously kicked ass, I just watched and thought to myself "wow, Im 29 and I dont look anything even remotely similar to these guys, and most of them were in their 30's and 40's!" So I went online and researched a 300 spartan workout regimine, and one of the Youtube videos that popped up was Arnel's week 7 (or 8?) video. So I watched it along with others but something about Arnels just caught my eye, so I checked out the six pack abs website that I saw in the video. I then emailed him my email address and got access to the real six pack abs website and sat there for about an hour and read it from top to bottom.


The thing that really grabbed me with Arnels program was that after looking at the exercises for each individual week I sat and thought "hey, this looks like something I could do". So I did some research on nutritional guidelines I should follow for eating better, checked out some of Arnel's sample menus, did a little more research, and wholla! It took me about a week to write up my 1st weeks diet plan, but I ate good during that week too. I quit soda completely!! Cold turkey. But you know what, it was'nt that hard. I've learned that if you are eating the right foods, and eating more frequently, you dont get cravings for alot of the bad stuff that we have been blindly stuffing into our mouths for years and years. I had to give up the Ho Ho's too, but Im ok with it!

Now I have my diet planned out, my routine for all 16 weeks printed out, how and when I will be working out all shceduled, its just time to start!


First off let me just say, the first week is the hardest! I am so out of shape, so weak feeling, that it makes it hard to even keep going. I really tried to do all of the reps for each specified exercise that was writtin out but some of them I just could'nt. I kept track of exactly how many of everything I did do though, and it helped give me something to try and beat the next time I was going to do the resistance day. Honestly, the first resistance day, Monday, I could'nt finish the entire workout. My head was pounding and I could feel extreme pressure building up in the back of my head. Im still not sure what it was but I do know that I have a history of heart and blood pressure problems that run in my family. Also my blood pressure reading the Sunday before I started was 134 over 89, which is not good.

Tuesday came, the second day of my 16 week journey and my first interval training day. Lets just say I was motivated...but not really excited. I have chosen to run for my interval training days for the entire 16 week period, I have always loved running so I figured great, its something I like so I know I would stick to it. It was VERY hard....I ran for 4 minutes at a medium jog, then sprinted as fast as I could for 1 minute (actually only 38 seconds), it was NOT easy! I then continued to jog again for another 4 minutes, sprinted again, this time for 45 seconds, and then jogged for another 4 minutes till I gothome. I then went upstairs to take my shower and sat on the floor in the shower for a good 10 minutes before I had enough energy to stand and actually shower! Funny...but not really.

Wednesday's resistance was a little easier. I actually did 3 full sets of the pull ups, first 7, then 9, then 10! I was very excited then, so happy I found enough energy in me to finish the entire routine. This time I had only a very slight headache...a good sign I guess.

Thursday's interval day was alot better than Tuesday's, I used my treadmill which made it alot more enjoyable than running in the sun. I ran fo over 1 mile, keeping my jogging at 5 miles per hour and sprinting for 1 full minute at 8 miles per hour. I repeated this 3 times just like the program requires, and I sweated my brains out!!

Friday was great! Did all of the required exercises, but only could muster 3 sets of 10 for the pull ups, but hey...its week 1. I still finished everything, and I ws very happy with myself.

Saturday was my last interval day of the week, and I was glad too. I pushed myself as hard as I could and ran through the sore muscle pains and did exactly the same routine that I had done on Thursday. I was very sore and achy, like most people doing this routine know. But I had done it!! Week 1 had come and gone for me, and I survived it!!

"NO PRISONERS.......NO MERCY!!!!"




1 comment:

MeJustMe said...

I am glad that some people have got serious targets behinde this.
What I really like about Arnel's program is that it is "home made" so its truly works and required minimum equipment and space.

And I've also experienced some problems you mentioned like not be able to stand up in the shower. To avoid headackes make sure u've got you neck in the right position for situps etc. don't push ur neck with the hands.

Easiest way to control it is to use small towel under your chin (so u can brief properly. And hold on to another towel with your hands which is supporting your neck (to have good circulation).

Good report I like to watch your progress.