Tuesday, day 2 of week 7

I am surprised to say that I am sore from yesterdays Spartan training day. My biceps are a little sore, my abs, and my butt. So I guess it wasn't just a "get you tired fast" workout afterall.

Today went good, heres what I did:

After stretching and warmup....
2min at 3mph, then
2min at 7mph, then
1min at 9mph, then
2min at 7mph, then
1min at 9mph, then
2min at 7mph, then
1min at 9mph, then
2min at 7mph, then
1min at 9mph, then
2min at 7mph, then
2min at 6mph, then
1min at 3mph, then
1min at 2mph.

My totals when I was finished was 20 minutes running time, 58 carbs burned, 335 calories, and 2.3 miles. Im watching my time now and Im getting down to about an 8.5 minute mile, which Im happy about cause I used to run like a 7 minute or less mile in highschool. I'll keep you posted as to my minute per mile average as the weeks go on.

Thanks for the great comments all of you, Im really glad to hear positive remarks. I will be trying extra hard to give you all a good "half way there" stats and picture post when the time comes at the beginning of week 9. Thanks again!!


Doug

Monday, day 1 of week 7

Well I guess I'll start off with my pics, since this is the beginning of week 7, and I have consistantly been posting pics every 2 weeks. So here they are!

Here's a comparitive shot from week 1 to now:

My stats as of today are:

Weight-164 lbs (a loss of 13.5 lbs)

Gut measurement- 36-7/16" (a loss of 3-3/8")

Its insane how much better I feel today compared to week 1! I feel better, I have a ton more energy, I sleep better, I do other things better...wink wink!! But seriously, I feel great, and alot of people are noticing now. I get at least 1 or 2 people a week telling me I look great, or if Im working out, and its nice to hear. I still look in the mirror and get a little frustrated with how slowly my stomach is dissolving away but I know it will take more time. And I am really happy with my progress so far, especially when I look at the pictures of what I looked like in week 1!!! YUCK!!!! Ive also been reading up a little and I know that for your six pack to really show, you need to get your body fat percentage somewhere between 10% and 4-5%, depending on your body type. So I know I have a ways to go yet, but I WILL GET THERE!!!

Well on to week 7's routine...the first Spartan home workout. Honestly, I watched the video a couple times and started to think that it wasn't going to be that hard. Boy was I WRONG!! I was surprised at how difficult it was to do some of the things in the routine 30 times. I allowed myself 30 minutes to do the routine, which gave me 3 minutes per exercise, and at 30 reps thats only 10 reps per minute average....piece of cake, right?! NO. The staggering pushups were hard sort of, I had to break them into 2 sets of 15, and my explosive pushups weren't very explosive. I maybe got my hands an inch or so off the ground with each push. Some things I had no problem with pumping all 30 reps out real quick, but some I did. Then I got to the pullups, and I was dead, so I wont lie, I did do all 30, but I had to use the elastic bands to help. I was SO tired by the time I got to the pullups I just didn't have anything left in me.

I think I will break the routine up next time into 2 sets of 15 reps each, so I dont get burned out too quick. Use my experience as a tip if your not at week 7 yet. Hope everyone else is still rockin, keep it up guys...and girls (Pie!).

Carmina Burana - O Fortuna

START THIS BEFORE READING END OF FRIDAYS POST!!

Friday, day 5 of week 6

I didn't post yesterday because I worked all day and was going to do my interval when I got home, but, my knee was bugging me alot last night. Still not sure what I did, its the wierdest thing! It will hurt one minute and then fine the next. The pain isnt unbearable, but it is rather annoying, so we went for a family walk for about 45minutes plus, which was nice...beautiful breezy night!

So today, my knee felt ok, so I did some stuff around the house and got ready to kick my ass hard!! I did my normal warmup, then I hit the resistance routine with some fire!! I stopped timing myself and just set a certain number of reps to acheive, like some of you guys have also done. So heres what I did for my circuit:

25 standing chest press with all 3 bands
18 linear stability jumps
25 standing rows with red and blue bands
18 one leg box stepups (each leg seperate)
18 tricep bench dips
50 feet walking distance of walking lunge with 25lb dumbell
25 tricep extensions with black band (each arm seperate)
25 alternating toe touches
25 bicep cable curls with blue and red bands (each arm seperate)

Each exercise took about a minute, real close, and to do the whole thing took me about 12 minutes each time. And again, like the other days, I completed a total of 4 circuits with no more than a 1.5 minute break between circuits. Then after I was done with the routine, I took a 2 minute break, had a bit of water, and started my interval training to make up for not doing it last night. Heres what I did:

2min at 3mph, then
2min at 6mph, then
1min at 9mph, then
2min at 6mph, then
1min at 9mph, then
2min at 6mph, then
1min at 9mph, then
2min at 6mph, then
1min at 9mph, then
2min at 6mph, then
1.5min at 3mph, then
1.5min at 2mph.

I finished off with a bit of stretching for my calves afterwards, they were very tight and hot. BUT CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??!!!?! I did 4 rounds of 9mph! And that was after the resistance routine!! I was so frickin excited with myself...after I finished the 4th round of 9mph I was a total dork and put my arms up like Rocky and yelled out "YES, I DID IT!" Stupid I know but I was exstatic. And to tell you the truth, it wasn't that hard. I mean, I was very tired, but everytime the 2minutes of 6mph was up it was like my energy had come back, so I kept doing the 9mph's and ended up with 4 of em. Small victories I guess, even though I may only win some of the battles with my gut, I WILL WIN THE WAR!! Not even the knee will be able to stop me!!!

SO HERES WHERE YOU SHOULD START THE VIDEO AT THE TOP IF YOU HAVNT YET

In conclusion, I just wanted to say to everyone,...we are doing it!!! No matter what anyone else says, no matter what anyone else thinks, no matter how stupid your friends might think this program is,...WE ARE DOING IT!!!! THE BATTLE WITH OUR FORMER OUT OF SHAPE SELVES IS SLOWLY CREEPING TOWARDS THE END, DAY BY DAY, WEEK BY WEEK, WE ARE DOING IT!!! WE WILL NOT SUCCOME TO THE PAIN IN OUR MUSCLES, WE WILL NOT SUCCOME TO THE TAUNTS OF OUR PEERS, WE WILL NOT SUCCOME TO THE INNER VOICE IN OUR HEAD THAT SAYS WE WILL FAIL, ...........

WE ARE DOING IT!!!!!!



THERE'S NOTHING THAT CAN STOP US!!!!!

Wednesday, day 3 of week 6

First off, let me start by saying this, I have so much respect for for Arnel in accomplishing his own 16 week program. The reason I say this is because Ive heard him say before "now you guys now the hell I had to go thru!" And he's right, as much as I love it AFTERWARDS, this is hell! I did my resistance today and added an interval day after I was finished. I didnt do the same speeds that I did yesterday, but I still did pretty good for just completing the resistance training, heres what I did:

Stretched, and then my normal warmup

4 circuits of the advanced level week 6 routine (60 sec per exercise with no brake inbetween each exercise, and a 1 minute brake inbetween circuits

Then onto the treadmill:

2min at 3mph, then
2min at 6mph, then
1min at 9mph, then
2min at 6mph, then
1min at 9mph, then
2min at 6mph, then
1min at 9mph, then
2min at 6mph, then
2min at 3mph for cooldown

For a total of 15 minutes running time, burned 38 carbs, 220+ calories, and ran a distance of 1.5 miles, all again at the 2% incline.

Now I dont want you to take this the wrong way, and it is not meant to be a downer in anyway shape or form, but, THIS WAS A HARD, HELLISH DAY!! I cant tell you how many times I wanted to just stop, and how many times I sat and argued with myself about if I was too tired to keep going on or not. If you could here the fight with myself in my head you would think I was mad. Its sortta funny now, but at the time it was really trying!

Let me say this though, I really LOVE week 6, ....Im not sure if its cause I told myself to push harder doing this weeks program or just the routine itself, but this is a hard week. I was sore on tuesday for the first time in like 3 weeks, especially in my calves and ribs and lower abs. Im assuming thats a good sign. And the soreness made yesterdays interval really tough, which didnt help since I uped my speeds. But I really felt it today with combining the 2, and Im feeling it now as Im sitting here typing to you. I dunno, I guess Im just really thinking about whats in store for us in the coming weeks, and how Im really getting a little frustrated with not seeing the results I want to see, but I will be pushing on. Actually not seeing the results I want is whats making me madder and forcing me to push harder and harder. Plus week 7 is the first Spartan training week, I cant wait!!!

Tuesday, day 2 of week 6

THIS ONE WAS FOR ALL YOU GUYS THAT KEEP PUSHING ME ON!!!

Today was a GREAT interval day! I am really feeling it right now though...heres what I did today:

Started with my usual warmups and stretching, then I thought I would try something different, so I did 10 pullups palms towards me, good ones too!! All the way down and all the way up, they were smooth and percect, I was really stoked cause I had no problem doing them, it was awesome. Then I pumped out 40 regular nice clean pushups, again, I was happy! Then I did 30 of the squats from week one, with minimal burn in my legs. Those killed me by number 10 in week 1! Then I did some crunches. After all that I jumped on the treadmill and did the following:

2min at 3mph, then
2min at 7mph, then
1min at 10mph, then
2min at 7mph, then
1min at 10mph, then
2min at 7mph, then
1min at 10mph, then
2min at 7mph, then
7min at 6mph, then
2min at 4mph, then
2min at 3mph, then
1min at 2mph.

I was very happy with the 3 rounds of 10mph, it was very hard to do. The first was ok, then I got really tired half way thru the second burst, and I didnt think I had it in me to do the 3rd, but I pushed on and thought about how great it would be to write you all and tell you that I actually did it, so I did! My final results were 2.5 miles ran, 397 calories, 68 carbs, and 25 minutes total running time. Again, all running was done at a 2% incline (grade).

I just wanted to add something, I check up on alot of you guys and I must say that alot of you started this competition in much better shape than I was in, so I know that if I can push myself to my extreme, so can you guys! Some of you already look as good now as I hope to look in another 10 weeks, like Sam, Hulse, JJeagle, Abdominator, and others. So I just wanted to maybe give you an extra push towards putting up some of your own personal bests, dont slow down, dont give up!!!

KEEP PUSHING ON, PUSH HARDER, AND KICK SOME ASS!!!!

Monday, day 1 of week 6

So my knee got an extra day off with not doing any interval training on saturday, and then yesterday as my normal day off, which really helped out alot. It was really buggin me on saturday but I wrapped it when I went to bed and took some ibuprofin. I did the same thing last night just to make sure, but it didnt bug me as bad on sunday. I didnt sit around all day either, we were up and around early morning (early for us) and got all ready for a day out in the desert shooting. So I did plenty of walking and climbing all over the place to setup and reset targets all day, and I had no problem and really no pain. I was releived, cause week 6 is very leg intensive!!

So today I started with my normal warmup routine and stretching, then went over the routine for week 6 one more time and then got to work. First off let me say that I REALLY LIKE week 6! This routine got me sweattin like mad!! Even my legs were sweating!!! I found this to be a high intensity routine, well layed out, and really did a good job of hitting all major body areas, like biceps, triceps, quads, back, shoulder, stomach, calves, and glutes. I thought it was a great workout. I did the advanced level like in weeks 4 and 5, so I did each exercise for 60 seconds with no break in between, and only a 1 minute break in between circuits, and I completed a total of 4 circuits.

I dont know if its because I took the extra day to rest or not, but I felt really energized in todays high intensity workout. I was worried that taking the day off would of killed my energy and drive to do well but once I started I couldnt stop! I was running out of time at the end of my 3rd circuit but I said forget it, I had more energy to burn off so I pumped out 1 more final circuit. It took me almost 13 minutes total to complete a circuit. But man I feel great right now, and my muscles feel invigorated and loose.

People at work and some freinds have been commenting on how good Im looking and that they can really notice a difference. Ive gotten alot of good compliments too on the changes in my arms, from my girlfreind and others too. Im still trying to get rid of the gut though, thats my main goal. I swear it must be the last place your body burns fat from cause my arms and legs dont have much fat left on them to burn, but I still got plenty on the ol belly! I will be kicking up the interval training this week to try and attack some of that stubborn fat cause like I promised, I have to post pictures again next week! Wish me luck!!