Road to Success

Today was a lower body workout.  I started my workout by doing the couch to 5km week 3 day 2.  Stretched for 10 minutes and then proceeded to the weights.  My workout was supposed to be the following:

Leg Press, Leg Extension, Stiff Leg Deadlift, Laying leg curl, Crunches and Hanging Leg Raise.  I only completed the leg press, the laying leg curl and then my planks. Which is not good, but in the past I tendedto work out really hard right away and lift way too much and then I would feel sick.  I told myself that I would ease myself into the workouts.  I started to feel weasy so I didn’t do all the exercises.  My goal is to improve every week.  So next week I will try and do all the exercises.

My plank times were as follows:

Plank - 1:06 - My thighs were uncontrollably shaking during the plank because of the workout beforehand.

Left Side Plank - :42

Right Side Plank - :47

Overall I’m not ecstatic about my workout because I didn’t do all of the exercises but i know I will continue to improve each week and eventually be able to go full tilt in the gym.

CHEST: 40”

SHOULDERS: 47”

LEFT BICEP: 12.5”

RIGHT BICEP: 13.5”

WAIST: 38”

LEFT CALF: 14.5”

RIGHT CALF: 14.75”

LEFT QUAD: 22.25”

RIGHT QUAD: 21.5”

WEIGHT: 183.4 LBS

Today marks a brand new start, 2012 is here and it is going to be one hell of a year.  I will be taking measurements and pictures today.  Went grocery shopping yesterday and picked up all of the healthy foods I will need. Have decided that I will be running the Forest City Marathon - 10km on April 29th.  This will be my first quest of the year. Last year I did the Couch to 5km program which was fantastic, this year I will be doing the Couch to 5km program.  Here is the link below:

Well……. it has been about 9 months since I last posted on my Tumblr and I wish it was because I was too busy pumping iron and running my ass off.  Nope! Instead it was because I fell off the bandwagon and got super lazy AGAIN.  In the 9 months that I have not lifted weights consistantly I have gained approximately 20 pounds of fat.  I officially weigh the most that I have ever weighed without working out in my entire life.  I am constantly tired and achy.  My flexibility is horrendous.  I never have energy, I am not sleeping well and I have become less motivated.  The worst thing about it all is that for those 9 months I didn’t care.  My clothes became tighter, pants would not fit.  Busted 3 buttons off of 3 pairs of shorts trying to put them on.  It wasn’t until a trip to an H&M store where I finally said “this is enough”.  I was trying on some shirts and pants and I glimpsed at myself in the mirror and it hit me.  “Tyler what the heck are you doing with yourself?” This isn’t the way I want to live my life.  That being lethargic and unmotivated.  So I decided I was going to go at it again.  This time doing it a bit differently.  I am not going to go crazy on my diet to start off.  Meaning, I am not going to be eating chicken breast, vegetables and salad every meal.  I realized that eating bland food really caused me to lose my healthy eating motivation.  This time, I will be cutting out all FAST FOOD and deep fried food…. FOR THE MOST PART.  I will be able to cheat once in a while just to keep me happy.  I will be shopping mostly in the fresh produce section and fresh meat sections of the grocery store.  I am moving out this weekend to my own place for the first time in my life (I have always lived with roommates).  This I feel is the perfect opportunity to jump on board again.  A new start so to speak.  I will be starting off slowly and progressively increase the workout load.  I am in the worst shape of my life and it would not be a good idea to start hard out of the gate.  I don’t think my body could handle it.  Here are the things I want to work on:

1. Flexibility - probably the most important thing to focus on. 

2. Endurance - I find I run out of breath waaaay too quickly now.

3. Increase of Muscle Mass - I have lost most of the muscle mass I previously had.  I look very soft and it tends to hang out in the stomach area.

Flexibility - My goal is to stretch atleast once a day.  On gym days I will stretch twice, once at the gym and once before bed.  On non gym days I will stretch before bedtime.

Endurance - I plan on doing cardio whether jogging, biking ect. atleast 2-3 times a week.  I may start the couch 2 5k program again. 

Muscle Mass - To start off I plan on working out 3 times a week starting with an upper body/lower body split.  Just until my muscles become accustomed to the workouts.  I tend to not feel well after workouts if I push too hard, especially when I am starting fresh again.

I also want to start reading again. I have purposely not ordered cable television, only the internet.  My goal by Oct 2012 is to read 100 books which I have already got a list of the intended books.  Television I feel has been polluting my mind and I need to put a stop to it at ONCE.  Now lets be honest.  I am not going to boycott television.  I will still watch it, I mean how can I miss Dexter!!??? The point is that I really want to cut down on the television and read instead.  Just like the eating portion of my goal, I don’t think its a good idea to just drop something altogether, slowly weine yourself out of it is the best bet. 

I will be posting pictures again of where I am at now and update them as I go along on this journey.

And so it begins…………………………………………………….

Day 2: Cardio, Back and Biceps

Cardio: Couch to 5km week 6 workout 3- 3.6km run

- Pullups

- Seated Row

- Lat Pulldown

- Back Extension

- Preacher Curl

- Dumbell Curl

- Barbell Curl

- Isolation Curls

Cardio: 20 minutes on the Elyptical

Todays workout went great! I had plenty of energy. I started with a 5 minute warmup and then ran 3.6km on the treadmill, it was pretty easy. I probably could have ran 5km.  I pushed hard today on the weights and really ripped those biceps.  I could lift a single pound after I was done.  Very please with today, now on to tomorrow.

 Day 1: Chest and Triceps:

- Dumbell Bench Press

- Incline Dumbell Press

- Pec Dec

- Cable Crossovers

- Cable Pulldown- rope

- Overhead Extension

- Cable pulldown- flat bar

I didn’t do any cardio today, I ran on the treadmill for about 5 minutes and decided that I wasn’t going to be able to handle it today, still sore from the 99 workout.