Workout Equipment

I though it would be appropriate to list all of the equipment I will be using during my quest.

2 sets of dumbbells: 15lb and 35lb

An exercise ball

An iron gym

An elliptical machine

A Wii balance board

A mountain bike

Soon to come. The exercises and workout schedule!

Can you turn left?

For a couple days now I’ve been looking at fitness magazines to create my muscle failure routine and notice how absolutely ridiculous some of these guys look. I mean they are fit, but oh my gosh, so silly looking with their poses and perfect hair. Which got me to thinking about the movie Zoolander.

Derek Zoolander: Have you ever wondered if there was more to life, other than being really, really, ridiculously good looking?

And I couldn’t stop laughing. O.K. back to getting the workout together.

It’s Magnum!

Withdrawl Already?

I cannot believe this but it must be true. Yes, I’m not officially starting my quest until the 1st of August but I have started eating a little better and doing some exercises so a fitness program won’t be such a shock to my body when I do start. And today, day 1 and 1/2, I’ve got the worst headache I’ve had in years! I’m chalking it up to caffine withdrawl. I’m glad I don’t have to give up soda (I gave soda up in the summer of 2001 when my weight was getting totally out of control). Using the Fat Flush Plan I’ll probably suffer withdrawl again around day 4 or 5 but hopefully I’ll be too busy to notice.

Muscle failure vs Cardio p1

If you’ve ever tried making a workout schedule from scratch you know it isn’t easy. Balancing muscle building with toning and getting a healthy amount of cardio can be a challenging task. It’s easy to get overwhelmed quickly and start to think, “When will I have time to do all of this!?”

Even 2 weeks before starting my quest I feel this way. It’s probably why I’ve put it off so long. Well procrastination ends today… well 2 weeks from now. I’m gonna start with the easy part for my quest, the cardio.

I read a clever article for a running program while I was in Iraq. My friend lent me a fitness magazine, eventually gave it to me, and the article suggested for a novice runner 1 min of running with 29 min of walking for a total of 30 min. Each day you increase your run time by 1 min and decrease your walking time by 1 min.

At the time I was in the Army and running was not new but now I prefer not to run. It is however what I will use as my cardio for my 3 month quest. I’ll do so for 2 reasons: It’s free and besides swimming it’s unparallel for a cardio workout. The suggest plan above is terrific because it will increase the workout difficulty for the first 30 days. Hurray!

Die “t”

The dreaded change of eating habit. No more cheesecake. No more specialty coffees from Starbucks. No more wonderful fast food. No more no matter how good it tastes or easy it is to make. Hardy har har.

To begin my journey I am going to return to a liver detox diet call Fat Flush Plan by Ann Louise Gittleman. By return I mean I’ve followed the plan once before with great success. I mean I literally shed pounds of unwanted flab. So here we are again. With a burning desire to shed those pounds, keep them off, and share my adventure with you.

Weeks 1 and 2

My breakfasts will comprise of hot lemon water; 1 cup of water to 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (freshly squeezed if available). 20 minutes later a water and cranberry mix with ground flax seed; 8 parts water to 1 part cranberry juice (and not the Ocean Spray delicious stuff). Personally I disliked putting the ground flax seed in the drink so I ate it separately and slammed the beverage after. 2 Eggs will finish my breakfast; preferably made by my wife as her egg preparing skills are magnificent.

Lunches will vary but include some combination of the following: chicken or turkey or nuts for protein and vegetables (green leafy kinds or squash and zucchini). As for a salad dressing, flax oil with apple cider vinegar with some fresh minced garlic. So tart, so good.

Dinner consists simply of a fruit smoothie, the ingredients are a secret or available in the book mentioned above.

Throughout the day I will drink the cran-water mix and plain water if thirsty and I’ll go to bed with another cran-water/ground flax seed concoction.

All this without the bag of chips. The “Plan” as Ann so puts it helps cleanse the liver allowing it to process the fats you do eat instead of your body storing them. This is the 2 week kick start, right in the gluts, my quest needs.

The purpose of this blog

Join me on my 12 week journey – My Quest for Fitness.

You will be entertained, moved and maybe even motivated to join me. Ok maybe not but let’s hope for the best!

So starting August 1st I’m going to start a fitness program and diet plan to lose weight, gain muscle and be overall more fit. Each week I’ll outline exercises and eating habits, record my progress and address concerns at any given moment!

What has given me the drive I need to do something so crazy as excerise and eat vegetables you ask?! The cool reason: Have you seen Ninja Warrior on G4!? The real reason: I want to look, feel, and live better to live longer.

So come on. Check out my diet for the first 2 weeks of my Journey!