OMFG! (31.10.2009)

Just when I decided to start updating this blog I noticed that there is men's body buildig on TV. I'm glad I already went to the gym since this is the most unmotivating stuff to watch. I seriously never want to resemble those people in any way. I want to be fit and strong, but still look like a human being. How in hell do the get so much muscle definition on their face?!? Good thing I ate those tacos for dinner, they should ensure that my workout today wasn't too effective. ;-)

Today then. 20 minutes on x-trainer, four sets of shoulders and pecs with dumbells, three sets of assisted pull-ups, lower back and leg presses. Finished with four sets of butterflies.

Gym (30.10.2009)

Right knee hurts from the stupid run yesterday.

Started today's excercise with 10 on the bike, then 10 minutes on the crosstrainer. I added 5 kg to the bench press and did the usual 4 sets. I also did four sets of abs, biceps, shoulders and butterflies, but only three sets of triceps (dips).

No good (29.10.2009)

I was too lazy to go to the gym, but my consience wouldn't let me just staying on the couch all night. I went for a run, but put on way too much clothes because it was -1 celcius outside. I got really hot after the first km and got pissed off. That only lowered my motivation to run even more. Also, not having a working heart rate monitor sucked, I'm so used to have it pushing me to go just a little faster all the time. To top this all off, RunKeeper lost the GPS signal a little before I got home and decided to add 500 m to my run, so not even that data is accurate. I'll add the RunKeeper data a little later.

Anyway. One lap (6,20 km) at Kasavuori in 42:30, so aproximately 3 minutes more than last time. No good, but I guess it's better than nothing.

Tomorrow I'll go to the gym, I promise.

Quickie (28.10.2009)

Really tired after work today. Did go to the gym anyway.

12 minutes on the treadmill, four sets of bench presses and shoulders. Three one minute ab holds and three sets of inclined bench presses.

Maybe I'll have more energy tomorrow. Or maybe I'm getting sick.

Monday (26.10.2009)

Another pretty usual day at the gym. I broke the belt on my heart rate monitor, so no calorie, TE or hr data for a while until I get a new one.

First I did 12 minutes on the AMT and followed that with four sets of bench presses, abs and deltoids. I continued with also four sets of biceps, dips and butterflies (pecs).

I'm pretty tired. I think I'll go go bed.

Punishment Sunday (25.10.2009)

The bad news first. I make way too good food, and that's really affecting my diet. This weekend I made some Carelian Pastries ( the best translation I could find for karjalanpiirakka...) and my lovely wife did a baked cheese cake. You can imagine that I was not able to stick to my planned 1500 kcal per day.

So. Today when I came home from changing winter tires to our cars I ate some more and really started to dislike myself and my lack of self control. I didn't feel like driving to the gym and thought that a run would be a good punishment for all the over eating.
Just like earlier this week, I ran to Kasavuori. This time I did two laps up there, so This time I did 8,87 km in 57 minutes. I did a small extra loop in the end to make sure I got to TE 5.0. I think this was my second time ever reaching that magical TE value. I didn't aim for a new record time, but rather to have more consistent pace. I think I achieved that goal, at least I didn't have to stop in the middle of running except when I had to fix my pants. :-) I burned 1234 kcal, but my heart rate was so hight that this wasn't really a fat burning exercise. Average heart rate was 164 with a peak rate of 187. I did the peak in the end when running up a really steep hill right by my home. I felt like passing out when I got to the top. See the RunKeeper data at http://bit.ly/c92PJ.

Even thought I call this a punishment, I really had fun. I was clever enough to have sauna ready when I got back so now I feel absolutely fantastic.

Saturday 24.10.2009)

Another basic workout today. 30 minutes on the crosstrainer, four sets of bench presses, biceps, dips, shoulders and inclined bench presses. Today I started doing ab crunches again. I started easy with only 4x30.

Total time 62 minutes, TE 2.8 and 790 kcal. Now a little tv and I just might bake something. Man, I'm getting old...

Grinding on (22.10.2009)

Pretty boring and uneventful workout. 30 minutes on the AMT, followed with four sets of bench presses, biceps and dips. Ended with three sets on the inclined bench press. I added 5 kg to both bicep machine and inclined bench press. I now do both with 50 kg.

TE 3.0 and 697 kcal.

I wondering what kind of progress I'm doing? Then only real progress I see is the added weights in weight training and the 4 kg (!) I've put in the last two months. I'm not. Too worried though, I guess the weight gain in related to the increased weight training. I'm still pretty concious of The calories I eat daily, and I'm pretty sure I'm still using more than what I'm consuming. Some of the new weight is probably muscle and the rest is just water my body is storing.

A quick run before French class (21.10.2009)

I wasn't going to do anything sporty today, but the chocolate I had after lunch made me change my mind. After walking the dog I went for a run on Kasavuori once again. Running still doesn't feel good, but his time it was a lot less appalling than last time. I did the 6,15 km trip in little over 38 minutes, which if a pretty good pace for me. I used up 764 kcal with avg hr of 158 and TE 4.0. See the run stat at http://bit.ly/2JXma8.

Nice thing about today's run was that my back didn't hurt at all. I'm a bit worried about my right knee though, it has bee a bit sore ever since my last bike ride. Tomorrow will tell what my workouts will be like..

Knees hurt, back hurts (20.10.2009)

Today I went to the gym again. Yesterday I didn't have time since I decided to bake rolls instead.

I did 20 minutes on the crosstrainer. My aerobic option are pretty limited, because I seem go have a little aches all over my body I guess I'm getting old. I wanted to do more than the 20 minutes, but I had this strange little pain in my stomach the whole time, so I ended up doing more muscles once again. Four set on the bench press, bicep machine, and inclined bench press, followed with three sets of dips. I also warmed up my legs after all the upper body workout with a few minutes on the bike and then stretched for a while.

I really hope my back get better soon so I can get back to working on my abs and back.

Weight training (18.10.2009)

After a nap and walking the dog I did go to the gym as promised. I warmed up like so many times before, with 12 minutes on the crosstrainer. I concentrateed on upper body muscles, since my legs are pretty sore from the bike ride and my back / side still hurts just like it has done for the past three days.

I started with four sets on the inclined bench press, then moved on to do three sets of biceps, shoulders and dips. I added 5 kg to all workout weight and so increased the intensity of the workout.

All in all, 401 kcal in 32 minutes with TE of 2.0.

After I came home I had  a protein shake and did some oriental chili and rice for lunch tomorrow. I ate some of it and some licorice and now I'm stuffed. Why can't I just not eat?

Fall sightseeing on the bike (18.10.2009)

I wanted to spend the morning at home for once and decided not to go to the xycling session at 11:45. Instead I decided to take my bike out for maybe the last ride of the year. Weather was just fine, even though it was on +3 degrees celcius. I went for my favorite trip, the "Veikkola run" and for the first time I got that route recorded on the RunKeeper. Check out the RunKeeper stats from http://bit.ly/4epnzU. Total calories burned 1987 with TE 3.8 and avr hr of 148.

I try to rest for a few hours, then walk toe dog and go to the gym. Feeling good.

Double (16.10.2009)

Just as planned, today after work I went for a swim. I ended up swimming for 1 km in approximately 45 minutes. Most of the 1000 meters I swam breaststroke mixed with a little freestyle. Swimming was pretty much fun, I haven't done it in almost six months. I will definetely do it more ofter over the winter.

After swimming I came home´and started the huge cleaning project we have to do. There's just way too much crap in our home and I can't relax in the middle of it all. Then after a few hours we went to the gym and did a pretty slow paced 44 minute workout. I started with 20 minutes on the crosstrainer and followed that with four sets of bench presses and bicep curls. For last I did four sets of lying leg presses and three sets of butt machine.

I don't know how, but somehow I managed to hurt my right side in the run last night. The muscles between my ribs are killing me, I can't take a really deep breath or sleep on my side. Hopefully it will go away soon. I'll try to do three workouts over the weekend, but the pain doesn't make it fun.

Why can running feel so bad? (15.10.2009)

I just came back from a 40 minute run. I have no idea what is the reason why all aerobic exercise fees so bad. I started to get cramps in both calfs after 2 km. I also felt like my lungs would give in and I just couldn't run for more than 500 m at a time. I somehow need to pace myself better in order to be able to run without breaks.
I ran for 6,18 km as you can see from the RunKeeper data at http://bit.ly/fh4AX. Total calories burned was 741 and TE 3.9. Average heart rate was 153.

I need to try to run more even though it doesn't feel to good. I still want to run the Cooper test before winter. If all goes well I wish I will do the test in little over a week.

I think I'll go swimming tomorrow after work and then maybe for a gym workout later at night.

I need more sleep! (14.10.2009)

Geez. IToday I realised that in five of last six nights I've slept less than six hours. No wonder I haven't had any energy left to do anything. Even thought yesterday's seminar was very productive and fun, I can really feel it in my body.

After a looong nap I went to the gym. I started out with a crosstrainer, but it felt pretty much as bad as it did on Monday. I guess the lack of rest can first be felt in aerobic workout. I lasted for 20 minutes, but at no point did it feel good.

I did a pretty routine mucle workout. I started with four sets of inclined bench presses and four sets of rowing exercises. Then I continued with 15 ab crunches, 3 sets of dips, 3 sets of shoulder presses and 3 sets of bicep curls. All in all pretty good training day, but I'm a bit worried about the aerobic capacity. I think I will be concentrating on it when weekend arrives.

Today in numbers: 613 kcal, 57 minutes and TE 2.1.

I'm back (12.10.2009)

After six days off from working out I found running really exhaustive. I thought I'd run for an hour, but really quickly realised that that is not going to be possible. I changed my plan to include a muscle workout, and only ran 12 minutes (2,2 km) as a warm up. Then I did four sets of inclined bench presses, four sets of bicep curls, five sets of ab crunches and three sets of shoulder presses. I ended the workout with 12 minutes on the crosstrainer. Total calories burned today in 53 minutes was 747 with TE of 2.6.

I really can't take time off from exercise like this. It's amazing how quicly I slide back into my old habbits of eating too much and eating only crap. I didn't mean to not exercise last thursday, but I had some strange stomach ache from Wednesday to Friday. The weekend was spent with friends at a cottage which was a lot of fun, but all the eating, drinking and sleep deprivation left me with nearly 5 kg (!) extra weight comparing to the Friday morning weighting. Even though it's just liquid, it's still going to take a week to get rid of. Tomorrow's seminar trip with all my colleagues is going to postpone everything by at least one day and make me use my rest day of the week already on Tuesday. Let's hope I can push myself for the whole week. I really need to start getting back to a more strict diet and workout plan.

All comments with encouragement is well appreciated.

Boring (6.10.2009)

I know this must be pretty boring to read since it's getting pretty boring to write as well. I really need to start coming up with some new training ideas before I quit writing. The workout itself is still a lot of fun, so no worry, I won't be quitting that any time soon. :-) I guess the easiest thing to add to the routine is swimming and later hopefully cross country skiing.

Today I quickly warmed up with a 12 minute run (2,2 km) and then proceeded with mainly upper body exercises. I did 3-5 sets of abs, rowing, inclined bench press, dips, shoulder presses and glutes.

Tomorrow might be a run, but no promises.

Fast (5.10.2009)

A quick one today. A 30 minute run on the treadmill, this time with 10 % faster pace of 11 km / h. I really felt the faster pace after the run, the avg hr was 161 (max hr 181!) and TE 3.8.

After the run I only had time for 160 ab crunches and 4 sets of bicep curls. Total kcal burned 732.

I'll concentrated more on the anaerobic workout tomorrow. Now I watch a little tv while tomorrow's lunch cooks in the oven.

Back after fun two days (4.10.2009)

Today I returned to my workout routine by going to the gym after cleaning around the house and doing laundry.

I did a full hour on the crosstrainer witht the heart rate average of 155 and TE 4.1. After the crosstrainer I did bench presses, two different shoulder exercises and the 400 ab crunches. Totsl calories burned dunring the 92 minutes was 1390.

Yesterday I talked to a friend about doing the Cooper Test ( 12 minute run) on a regular basis, maybe 4-5 times a year. I got him to join my plan, and we'll fo the first test in two or three weeks. My goal is to break 2500 m now and 3200 m in the spring. Ultimate goal for next year is 3500 m. We'll see how this goes.

Start of a good year (2.10.2009)

I turned 31 today, and since 31 is my lucky number I hope this will be a fantastic year. Birthday is a no-exercise day for me, if I don't count the round of golf I played at Kytäjä today. Instead of going to the gym we went out for a nice dinner and now I'm laying on the couch kicking myself for eating too much.

For my birthday I got a Gymstick body ball, so now have one less excuse for not doing any ab or back exercises at home. I also got an headlamp. It looks really dorky, but it comes really handy when running late at night.

My colleague got me two large cakes for my birthday and they are calling my name from the fringe. I think I'll have one small piece tonight. Or maybe two...

Fun fun fun (1.10.2009)

As you can see from the title, I enjoyed my workout today. I started with the usual 5 km in 30 run as a warm up, and then did four sets of eight bench presses (2x 50 kg, 2x60 kg). After that I did the 200 sit ups, 5x8 dips, 5x12 bicep curls and 5x12 shoulder presses.

From now on, I think I'm going to increase the pace during warm up. I'll try to raise it to 11 km/h.

Totals for today were: 856 kcal and TE 3.1 in 61 minutes. Average heart rate was 144 (151 during warm up).