One Year Progress

Progress After One Year

One year ago this month my wife and I decided to make a change in our life and move to a much healthier lifestyle. Paleo became the plan and we decided to stick to it full hearted.  It has been a wonderful experience and there is no way we are going back to the way things were.  One of the biggest things I've noticed since taking on this journey is that fitness has finally become a way of life for me instead of being something I forced myself to do every day.  It such an exhilarating experience to not have to battle myself mentally to get into the gym and suck it up through the workouts. Here are some major outcomes I have made in the past year.

• 215 lbs dropped to 175 lbs (165 at my lowest weight)
• Bench Press increased from 30 lbdumbbells to 65 lb dumbbells
• Deadlift increased from 95 lbs to 215 lbs
• Started squatting (in the past I physically could not handle a squat due to flexibility issues)
• Pull-Ups went from being able to do 0 to a one rep max of 10
• Push Ups went from being able to do 15 to about 55
• Body Fat % went from 22% to around 12% depending on the tool used
• Started swimming (before I couldn't handle 25 meters and now I am lap swimming)

It is so refreshing to be able to see progress on a daily basis. There is no greater feeling than writing down and knocking off goals.  I'll outline my future goals in later blog posts.

How is your progress after 3 months into 2013?

Today's Workout

• 25 push-ups x 3 reps
• 5 pull-ups x 3 reps
• 5 negative pull-ups x 3 reps
• Bench Press 55lb dumbbells 10 reps x 3 sets
• Shoulder Press 30 lb dumbbells 10 reps x 3 sets
• Standing Dumbbell Flies 15 lbs 10 reps x 3 sets
• Seated Row 115 lbs 10 reps x 3 sets
• 30 minute interval bike ride

What is your favorite workout?

GOAL Updates

It is hard to believe how fast February has come and gone. Just two months ago, we were making plans for what 2013 would have and store. Developing grand schemes to make our lives better, earn more money, get more fit, eat healthier, and much more.

Before declaring my New Year's resolution to "learn" how to swim, I let you in on my brief, very brief, history with swimming and my struggles. I am not going to lie or butter it up in any way, I was a terrible swimmer. I knew enough to stay alive until help arrived and that was about it. I could swim a fifty with backstroke and that was about it. Pretty sad if you think about it considering my wife used to swim competitively and taught swimming lessons most of her life. While last year I made it my goal to tackle my weight problem and succeeded, I knew this year I had to step out of my comfort zone and work for so much more. By the end of the year, I want to look comfortable and natural in the water like I had been doing this my whole life while being able to pick up at least three of the major swim strokes.

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After two months of torture and triumph I am beginning to see some major progress toward my goal. I have not given up despite times when I have been severely down on myself. Life got in the way a little during January and I wasn't quite able to get to the pool as much as I would have wanted to but come February I was ready to tackle my fears head on. Now I am hitting the deck two to four times a week and doing much better than I had imagined. Here are some major milestones that I am proud to say I've accomplished:

• Swim a fifty non-stop while doing freestyle
• Using a pull buoy, swim 100 m non-stop
• Learn the freestyle stroke
• Learn the breast stroke
• Complete a 25 m and 50 m with the breast stroke
• Double my kicking speed and master my freestyle kick

I have by no means met my goals that I had set for myself at the beginning of the year, but I am we'll on my way. For the first time in my life, I can honestly say that I enjoy swimming. As a matter of fact, I had just told my wife the other day that I prefer swimming over running as a form of cardiovascular work outs. Periodically I'll try to update you on my progress and hope that you will do the same with your resolutions.

What was your New Year's resolution? Are you still holding true to that goal? What are your next steps?

Test Like the PROS: NFL Workout

The NFL Combine is easily one of the most exciting times of the year. Let’s face it, unless your team made the Super Bowl, your probably looking forward to the next year and it may be the only time your team is undefeated.  So many bright young faces enter the combine each year hoping to make their mark on some bright eyed and bushy tailed GM hoping to hit the proverbial draft lottery jackpot. The focus of the combine is around strength, agility, speed, intelligence, trustworthiness and leadership ability. The former three of which we all aspire to work on in the confines of our gym, living room, or outdoor haven. Each test is as daunting as the next and a millisecond off or one rep short can mean the difference between being considered elite or a total bust.  Quite honestly it can mean the difference between a million dollar payday or fighting to make league minimum.

Here’s a list of the physical tests at the combine with the top performers at each.

• 40 Yard Dash (Marquise Goodwin 4.27 seconds)
• 225 lb repetition bench press (Margus Hunt / Brandon Williams 38 reps)
• Vertical Jump (Christine Michael 43.0 inches)
• Broad Jump (Jamie Collins 11’7”)
• 20 Yard Shuttle (B.W. Webb 3.84)
• 3 Cone Drill (Will Davis 6.52)
• 60 Yard Dash (T.J. Moe 10.87)

Each of these tests bring these athletes that we all covet to reality. A point at which we think, “I CAN DO THAT” and then quickly realize that there is no way we could reach that level.  It’s like those commercials run during the Olympics every time Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt, or Missy Franklin broke a new record and they showed the aspiring star write down the record as their goal.  We see a wide receiver break off a sub 4.3 40 yard dash and think, “piece of cake” while we are eating our cake.  Hopefully it’s paleo cake like mine. While we may not be able to reach the level of these athletes or break any records along the way, we can break our own records and better our selves.

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For the next week, test yourself in each of these drills.  The NFL posts all of the set up instructions for each of the drills on their website.  For the bench press, instead of doing 225 lbs, test your one rep max with the supervision of a spotter (of course).  For the running drills, you may want to put a day rest in between each test just to make sure you get your best results from each one. For the vertical test, use a piece of chalk and blank wall or a blank sheet of paper and a pen.  Mark with the pen reaching above your head without standing on your toes.  Perform the jump and at the top of your jump mark with the chalk or pen again.  Measure the distance between the two.  After you have tested, post your scores in the comments section and start cheering on others as they do the same.  Periodically I’ll call out for a retest and hopefully each of us will begin seeing improvements.

Be on the look out for a complimentary workout to help improve these times.  What other goals do you have? Let us know!

A Week Down

I made a lot of mistakes while gone on Christmas vacation. I got caught in a sugary web of holiday treats, egg nog galore, and all the food I could ever imagine. While I put on several unwanted pounds, I made the commitment to not look back and to move forward. To make the changes to once again lose the weight and help my body seek its true potential. No, it was not a New Year's resolution, but more a declaration of commitment that I will stick to. After all I had done it once before and know that I can again.

Nutrition

Last year, my wife and I went Paleo and absolutely loved it. Who wouldn't love eating delicious foods and not having to pay as much attention to calories being consumed as long as you were sticking to good wholesome foods. While in the past we had a lot of success doing the Whole 30, we found after our first initial time, it was hard to stay on track. It wasn't because the Whole 30 was impossible, it was merely because we didn't have a plan to stick to. This year, we decided to take a new approach. In December, my wife purchased Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfilippo. Check out her blog at Balanced Bites. The book features several 30 day meal plans to help the body through sugar detox and to get it on a path of fat burning. The cover states there are over 120 easy recipes that make eating Paleo a breeze. Let me tell you, easy makes these recipes sound hard. We absolutely love the book and are doing the 30 day fat burning guide. As the title of this blog suggests, we are a week into the program and seeing wonderful results! Please see below.

Exercise

I have really become passionate lately about becoming fit. Someday I would love to get into a Cross Fit gym but unfortunately the costs are just astronomical here in the Nashville area. Fortunately I have a strong background in Physical Activity as it is part of my Masters degree in Public Health. Monday's I focus on my upper body working the chest, biceps, triceps and some back. Typically I'll start off with a heavy dose of pull ups (typically I can get 3 sets of 5) throwing in negative pull ups for the other 5 reps in each set. I'll follow the pull ups with push ups testing my max number I can do at one time. The rest of the routine is fairly basic with three styles of bench, curls, dips, triceps extensions, etc. Tuesdays is my leg day focusing on squats, lunges, and dead lift  Wednesdays is my HIIT day which changes weekly. Some days it consists of a 30 minute HIIT Treadmill workout and other days it involves a jump rope, and a modified version of burpees for 10 sets of 8 reps. Thursdays will usually be a repeat of Monday's and Friday's have been a modified leg day not so much focusing on strength but endurance. Overall I have had a lot of success with this program and it keeps me coming back from more. I am hoping that I'll start seeing some major results soon!

Progress

This week has gone fantastic. Of the 20 pounds I gained over Christmas, I lost 15 of it in the first week alone. I assume that most of that was inflammation and stored water from my body being put on alert with the influx of carbs. I cannot tell you enough how happy my wife and I are with the Practical Paleo book. The meal plan has been so easy to follow and the food is absolutely fantastic. We have made some modifications, especially to the breakfasts but overall have followed it to a T. Last nights pesto shrimp and zucchini linguine was phenomenal.

The gym on the other hand has been what I expected in the beginning of January. Loaded with a ton of folks trying to fulfill their resolutions. I feel for them, I really do. Two days last week, the parking lot was absolutely full and let me with no way to access the gym. Instead I took a new approach and came back to the office to run stairs. 75 flights of stairs total in about a 45 minute work out. Not too shabby. As always I try to keep track of what I do so the next time I can knock out more weight, more stairs, or faster times.

Persistence definitely pays off and I've learned quickly not to expect results right away. I've been lifting weights for about a year now and while I've seen some good muscle growth, I have yet to see those long desired six pack abs or the tone in the arms and back. I will say though that my shoulders and legs have been the fastest to tone.

How is your progress in 2013? Are you seeing some results you were hoping to achieve? Leave a comment!

2012 In Review

Now that 2012 is here and gone, it's a great time to reflect back on the good and the bad from the year past. I achieved a lot more than I ever thought I would in 2012 and look forward to the road ahead in 2013. There was a lot that was left on the table, but I am excited to see what my future has in store.

The Good

I always like to start with the good. Why put yourself down only to have to catch up along the way? At the end of 2011 I was in the dumps. I was extremely overweight, tired all the time, and only saw a downward spiral ahead. It all came to a head when I was called a fat @$$ by a family member that shall remain nameless, though she still denies it every time we bring it up (despite the good natured ribbing we give her for it). It was right then and there that I decided to get over myself and change for the better.

In January I started p90x and never looked back. I am very grateful for sticking with the full 90 days of the program. I didn't see huge successes weight loss wise, only losing about 10 pounds, but it laid the foundation for what was about to happen. I made huge strength gains however, especially in the arms and core. I couldn't have been happier with the results that I experienced. The biggest thing I gained from doing the full 90 days was the confidence that I could carry through with almost anything after enduring those exercises.

In March, Steph and I decided to take another leap. Steph had stumbled across Whole 9 Life and the Whole 30 challenge. After I got back from my trip to St. Louis, we decided to embark on the journey together. It was by far the greatest decision we had ever made health wise. I'm not going to lie, in those 30 days, I lost more weight than I ever have in my whole life, but it was more than just that, it was the shift in my thinking around how I ate. I ate foods I wanted to eat and completely lost the cravings for sugar which had haunted me for the past couple of years. In addition I had more energy than I had ever had before and was loving every minute of life. I felt like I had a steady stream of coffee running through my veins.

Over the year I dropped from 215 lbs to about 165 which was something I had never imagined possible. At the beginning of the year I was dead set on the 165 number and was so glad I stuck with that number despite doubts from many that I could get there. The last time I had seen that number was 8th grade. Even in high school when I was playing baseball and probably at my healthiest, I always weighed in the 180s and 190s, I just carried the weight differently and had more muscle. I know what you are thinking, you probably lost more muscle mass than you did fat, however, I can prove that wasn't the case as I dropped from 24% body fat to about 11.5%. I gained about 15 to 20 lbs in lean muscle mass over that span.

In addition to the weight loss journey, I began this blog. It started out as a blog about my life through the eyes of my dog. As I began putting time into it, it slowly shifted to what you see now; a reflection of my passion to help others get healthy. While I haven't had too much success with the blog yet, I plan to work on the website and slowly develop a fan base. Hopefully by the end of 2013, I'll see my followers quadruple. I would love to top the 200 follower mark by 2014.

Thank you to all those who follow me on facebook, twitter, and subscribe to the blog. I appreciate all of the support and hope you will continue to follow the blogs progress.

The Bad

The end of the year last year didn't quite end as planned. The last two weeks of December on a trip home, I fell back into some bad habits. Quickly I let my guard down and let sugary sweets take control of myself for those two weeks. It was amazing how quick the weight came back on. Before I knew it I had stepped on the scale and was astonished when it read 185. I guess I never really embraced the whole "lifestyle change" approach to what I was doing. I thought I could simply press the pause button and come back to whatever I was doing when I got home. It was a major set-back I hope to overcome.

My facebook page is lagging behind very badly. I only have 11 followers and was hoping to be farther ahead with it than I currently am. I thought once I started getting followers I would see some of my articles shared and more people hop on board. For some reason that really has never happened. Even with twitter I have struggled to capture and audience. I would like to definitely see more interaction among my followers and attract a larger audience.

On the back-end I could do more the spread the word about this site. I have simply sat on it and developed content hoping that it would "catch on" so to speak. I relied on word of mouth and nothing more.

Lessons Learned

The biggest lesson I learned this year was that perseverance definitely pays off. If I hadn't finished p90x who knows how the rest of the year would have turned out. I may have never attempted the Whole 30 or completed it for that matter. I definitely never would have switched to the Paleo lifestyle and seen such a drastic change that I have. I want to give a shout out to Nerd Fitness and Marks Daily Apple, because without those two sites, I never would have gained the knowledge or the will to move forward with Paleo.

The second biggest lesson I've learned is to never truly let my guard down, especially when it comes to weight loss. It was so easy to take the weight loss I saw for granted and to slip back into old habits. Knowing what I know now, I will be sure to make the commitment a lifestyle change rather than a dietary change.

The last thing I've learned was to always be happy with yourself. Even if you haven't reached your goals yet and your body doesn't quite look the way you expect. Just be happy with what you were given and know that you can always work to better yourself. If you begin to get critical, your more than likely going to want to quit. Only you should your happiness with yourself matters and it doesn't matter what others think.

2013 is just beginning and there is a lot in store. What are your plans for 2013? What successes did you leave behind in 2012? Please take some time to leave a comment even if it is just to say hi!

Goal Setting for the New Year

There is one thing in life that has always eluded me. That one thing has always been the ability to swim. It's not that I can't swim (unless you ask my wife :) ) it's just that I cannot swim very well. In 9th grade I took your standard swim class, but that was about the extent of my training. I like to think I got really good at it over the 9 weeks but really I probably wasn't much better than the toddler down at the local Y just starting out. About all I can do is enough to survive if I was capsized on a boat or needed to get away from a really really really slow shark (I'm talking, tail and fins cut off type shark).

Recently, I bought a membership to our local pool and my goal in 2013 is to learn how to swim freestyle really well. Perhaps one day beating my wife in a 50 meter race. It could happen. Did I mention she used to swim competitively? In addition to mastering the freestyle, I would like to master one other stroke be it the butterfly, breaststroke or even back stroke. My hope is that I can make swimming a fun hobby rather than something to dread.

My challenge to you is to find something you want to do but really really suck at and learn to master it. Practice it, embrace it, and make it something that you can really enjoy once you are good at it. I love the water but hate swimming simply because it is something I've always been terrible at.

Tell me what that one thing is you want to master. What steps are you going to take to master it? What other goals do you have for 2013?

New Year, New You!

So the Mayans were wrong about the end of days coming.  What’s your excuse now? If preparing for the end of the world wasn’t enough to motivate you to get in shape to save yourself, what will be? Here’s a good one, how about living longer for your husband, wife, kids, parents, dog? There are a lot of good reasons out there to get in shape, you just need to find your passion and what is worth getting in shape for.

For me, I couldn’t imagine having to leave my wife alone on this earth any longer than she probably will have to already.  Also, I couldn’t imagine not being able to protect her if something were to happen (no not apocalyptically). One day I know I’ll have kids and the same will go for them to.

From here forward, big changes are going to come about.  Starting in January, upon returning to work, I’ll be doing a kettlebell class at least once a week. It’s something I’ve always found interesting but too intimidating to try.  Now that I am in better shape, I think I am ready to handle the intensity of a fun class. Here are some of my goals for 2013.

Goals

• Drop to 155 pounds (currently at 170)
• Drop to 8 % body fat (currently about 12%)
• Deadlift 300 lbs (currently repping 215)
• Dumbell Bench 150 lbs / 75 lbs per dumbbell (currently at 60 lbs per dumbbell)
• Workout 5 days per week (currently achieving this but not consistently)
• Incorporate p90x and Insanity
• Walk 7 days per week
• Move toward 90% Paleo (currently about 65%)

What are your goals moving forward into the New Year? What would you like to see from this site? Plan moving forward is to start making this site more personal.