The FAIR?

The FAIR? You went to the FAIR? What could a moderately health conscious nut job like me find to eat at the fair? Surprisingly at the Illinois State Fair it was possible to make some reasonably good food choices. (that's how we say it at my house, "food choices" we're fancy) The 1st time we went to the fair, yes we went twice, we ate before we went to the fair. Eating brfore is both economical, and calorically(is that a word?) wise. Didn't spend $6 on a corndog, etc. Also, it's easier to pass up the funnel cake, taffy, mini doughnuts if you're tummy is full. So, anyhoooooo, we ate first, that was the good part, we went to the Twilight Ballroom, not as good. The Twilight Ballroom is where the Illinois wineries set up a tasting. I probably drank about 500 calories of wine. But I did not have a corndog!
The 2nd time we went to the fair we decided to eat supper at the fair. So, what do you eat at the fair? I went for the grilled pork chop on a stick. A little bigger than the pork chops I normally grill, but still, about 300 calories. Not bad. The other options were a dinner, pork chop, baked potato, applesauce and a roll. I also would have been happy with the ribeye sandwich, sans bun. In this case the side dishes could have been the downfall. Later in the evening we had some river fries (fried thin potatoes) not a great choice calorically (my new fav word) but 3 of us shared them. Overall not a bad fair, food wise.
Now on to other more exciting (?) topics. I just finished the 1st few days as an Intermediate PE teacher. If only we could find that energy when we get a little older. They are very energetic, and it's nice to see how excited they are to be in school.
So, to recap, eat grilled stuff when you go to the fair, don't drink too much wine, try to act more like a 4th grader every now and then.

That's all for now.
I'll see you at the gym.

Saturday/Sunday Workouts

I know, I know, I'm behind. Just started back to school, had some scheduling issues, blah, blah,blah. NO EXCUSES, NO EXPLANATIONS. I should have done better, I will do better in the future.
Saturday Workout:
Day 2/5 from "The Body You Want" book. 60 minutes x6 days per week.
15 minutes on elliptical, 1 mile, 325 calories
1 arm row 4 sets of 15 reps with 45 lb dumbbell
Lat pulldown 2 sets of 15, 115 lbs resistance
Bicep curls 3 sets of 15, 30 lb dumbbell
Bicep hammer curls 2 sets of 15, 20 lb kettleball
Ab Ripper workout 12 sets of 25
HIT cycle, 1 circuit

Sunday Workout:
Day 3/6 from "The Body You Want" book
15 minutes on elliptical 1 mile, 345 calories
Leg press 3 sets of 15, 225 lbs
Front Squat 3 sets of 15, 95 lb barbell
Squat 3 sets of 15 225 lbs
Leg Curls, 3 sets of 15, 70 lbs resistance
Leg Extension 3 sets of 15, 110 lbs
Abs, 3 sets of 33 weighted reverse crunch, 70 lbs resistance on cable crossover
Abs 2 sets of 50 seated crunch with 140 lbs resistance on cable crossover
Abs 4 sets of 25 straight leg lifts while holding 135 lbs barbell
Abs 4 sets oblique crunches
10 minutes on elliptical .62 miles 203 calories.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday will repeat the last 3 days, then Thursday off.
As with most of you, I now have to get my workouts in around a work schedule. It will take a few days to get in the groove.

That's it for now.
I'll see you at the gym.

Friday Workout

Today's workout is from "The Body You Want in the Time You Have" I am doing the 6 days a week x 60 minutes per day lean body workout. And here it is:

Elliptical 15 minutes 1 mile 340 Calories burned
Incline dumbbell press 3 sets of 15 with 45lb dumbbells
Incline Chest fly 3 sets of 12 with 30 lb dumbbells (was only supposed to do 2, I got confused)
Shoulder Press 3 sets of 15 with 30 lb dumbbells
Seated Lateral Raise 2 sets of 15 with 10 lb kettleballs
Overhead triceps extension with rope attachment on cable crossover 2 sets of 12 with 60 lbs resistance
Triceps extension with rope attachment on cable crossover 2 sets of 12 with 90 lbs resistance
Ab pulldown seated on exercise ball. Done on cable crossover with rope attachment 120 lbs resistance. 2 sets 0f 50
Oblique crunches done as above 4 sets of 25
Reverse crunches on ball done on cable crossover with 60 lbs resistance. 4 sets of 25
15 minutes cardio done as 1 HIT cycle.

The HIT (High Intensity Training) cycle I do is:
1 set of 6 Squat or Leg press
1 minute SPRINT on Elliptical
1 set of 6 Front Squat
1 Minute SPRINT on Elliptical
1 set of 6 bench press
1 set of 10 Perfect Pushups
1 set of 6 standing shoulder press
1 minute SPRINT on Elliptical
1 set of 6 pullups
1 set of 10 kettleball swings
1 set of 50 bicycles
Everything in this circuit done with explosive movements, no rest between lifts.

I was in and out of SNAP in 1 hour and 5 minutes. It took a little over an hour because I did extra abs. On occasion I will do 3 of the HIT cycles as my workout (with 15 minutes of elliptical at the beginning and abs at the end) It's a good mixture of cardio and strength training.

That's it for today.
I'll see you at the gym .

Todays Workout

Today's Workout: None, nada, nothing. It's my day off. You have to take a day off every once in awhile. I keep telling myself that. I needed to go to Carlinville and take a look around at my new school, I'm going to be teaching 4th/5th grade PE in the mornings this year. I also was looking back at my workouts and realized I hadn't actually taken a day off in about 2 1/2 weeks. I rotate around enough that, other than abs and cardio, I don't work the same muscles 2 days in a row. I still should take a day off. Every week. Usually life helps me with the schedule, but for whatever reason, it hasn't lately. I'm sure that starting next week it will be more difficult to get to SNAP, than worry about having to take a day off. Poor me! Having to work 9 months out of the year is tough. OK, maybe not. Anyhoo, take at least one day off a week, when you 1st start working out, take 3 days off a week. I'll post my workouts the next 3 days, I'm going to go back to the "Body You Want" workouts. I think I'm going to do the 45 minute lean body workout. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm also going to mix in a HIT cycle once a week. If that doesn't work, I'll play some jiggly ball with the orderlies. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Anybody? C'mon people, watch a Scrubs rerun now and then!
That's it for today.
I'll see you at the gym.

Health and Wellness

The long anticipated health and wellness blog post is finally here. I asked, on Facebook, for a definition of wellness. I got lots of very good answers, but of course I want to start with health. As some of you may know I used to teach high school health. One of the things I liked to do on the 1st day, before they got their books, had to be done in class, for their definition of health and their definition of wellness. As you might expect, 9th graders came up with some interesting definitions, and in fact, many of the students thought health and wellness were the same thing. They are not.
According to my McGraw Hill text, "Health is the absence of disease" pretty simple, if you don't have a disease you are considered healthy. My question always was/is, define disease. I can find a definition, you can find a definition, none of the definitions answer all of my questions, you have to interpret. My interpretation might be different than yours. The big questions for me are:
Is obesity a disease? Hypertension? Diabetes? Some are easy, who would argue that cancer is a disease? If you use a literal definition of disease are any of us healthy? I'm not. I have hypertension, probably have always had hypertension, probably always will. Also at 5'10" and 184 lbs I'm overweight according to the Body mass Index scale. Again, you have to interpret. Am I overweight? According to the height weight charts and BMI scale I am. But am I really? My doctor doesn't think so, and more importantly, my wife doesn't think so. How depressing would it be to lose 80 lbs and still be considered overweight? At 264 lbs I knew I needed to lose close to 100 lbs to be in the healthy weight range. I also knew I had no intention of weighing 164 lbs. I wasn't sure what the number would end up, but I was pretty sure it wouldn't be 164 lbs. I know as a nation, statistics say that Americans are overweight. Like we needed someone to do a study to figure that out, look around.
So, how many of us are healthy? Depends on your definition. What if I change the definition of health to "absence of chronic disease"? What if I change the definition to "absence of chronic health problems"? Surely wellness will be easier, right? According the good ol' textbook, "wellness is the ability to perform day to day tasks with ease" Really? With ease? If I have a 1 acre yard that I push mow, and struggle because, you know, that's a whole bunch of grass to mow, does that mean I'm not well? If I decide to do nothing but sit on my couch, I can do it with ease, am I well? Right now I'm wondering why I started this. Back to work. The definitions I got from you, my loyal followers, mostly had to do with being able to live your life. Go to work, mow the yard, play with the kids, work out. I had a couple that mentioned people with disabilities. Can someone with a mental or physical disability be healthy? Can they be well? By most definitions, healthy would be a tough sell for someone with a disability. But what about well? I think (it's my blog, I get to have an opinion) a person with a disability could be considered well. We all have our own version of well. Will the 75 year old me be able to do everything the 46 year old me can do? Not unless I find the fountain of youth. Does that mean I cannot be well when I'm 75? In a word, no. I have no way to measure what I'm about to say, so don't ask. I define wellness as the ability to accomplish tasks that my peers can accomplish, without causing undue strain to my body. In other words, can I do most of the things an average 46 year old male can do daily. I workout 6 times a week, am I average? Is it possible that any 46 year old male off the street, who doesn't work out regularly, can show up at SNAP, and do my exact workout? Sure they could, if they are too stubborn to quit. But how would they feel the next day? The day after that? Would they be so sore they could not do their normal daily activities without pain/discomfort? If they couldn't, does that mean they aren't healthy? Does it mean they aren't well? Not necessarily. Now I need to define peer. 46 year old used to be obese, now works out all the time? How many people are in that group? To restrictive? How about male between 42 and 48? I'm giving myself a headache. I'm going to make this easier. Health is absence of chronic disease. Wellness is the ability to perform regular daily tasks without putting undue stress on the body. I know what you're thinking, this has been a long, rambling post that didn't really answer any questions, and may have brought up more questions than it answered. Sometimes that's how it goes, sometimes you have to come up with your own conclusions. I just hope I can make you think. If any of you have other ideas, thoughts, definitions, drop me an email at: mrigoni64@gmail.com. Also if you have topics you would like me to discuss, please send them to me.
That's all for now.
I'll see you at the gym.

Wednesday Workout

Today's workout: Shoulders
Before I get started, I have to ask myself, who cares what I do at the gym. Then answer is, probably not one single person. Next question, why am I listing my workouts? Then I congratulate myself for asking such a good question. The answer to the second question is............
Because I thought listing the workouts (although I doubt anyone will do the workout I'm doing) would give an you the reader, assuming anyone reads this, an idea of how to set up a workout plan.
That said, here is todays workout:
15 minutes on the elliptical, 1 mile, 337 calories burned
Until I tell you otherwise, all of these exercises were performed standing on an upside down Bosu Ball. A Bosu ball looks like half of one of the big exercise balls with a flat plastic base. Most people, and by most I mean normal) put the flat side on the floor, stand, kneel or si on the rounded "ball" part and do whatever they do. In case you haven't noticed yet, I'm not most people. I put the rounded part on the floor and balance on the flat side. The idea of doing exercises on the ball is, you have to keep your abs tight to stay balanced, also engages your leg muscles more. Now back to your regularly scheduled program.
Standing front raises with a 25lb plate. 3 setsof 15
Superset with
Front pulldowns with "A" handle on cable crossover 30 lbs. 3 sets of 15.
Standing lateral (side) raises 10 lb kettleball 1 arm at a time. 3 sets of 12 each arm.
Superset with
Standing lateral pulldowns 20 lbs resistance on cable crossover. 1 arm at a time. 3 sets of 15 each arm.
Standing high pulls with a 35 lb kettleball. 3 sets of 15.
Superset with
Standing front pulldowns 1 arm at a time, no handle. 25 lbs resistance. 3 sets of 15 each arm.
The following exercises were not done on the Bosu ball.
Incline row 35 lb dumbbell 1 arm at a time 3 sets of 12.
Superset with
Incline reverse fly with 5 lb kettleball, 1 arm at a time. 3 sets of 12.
Standing barbell row, curl bar with 35 lbs on each end, 3 sets of 12.
Superset with
Pushups using perfect pushup, 3 sets of 15
10 minutes on elliptical .65 mile, 205 calories.

No separate ab workout today since most exercises were done on the Bosu ball, also my obliques are sore from the ab work I've done this week. So, I gave them a lighter day. On that note, since my leg workout, my hamstrings have been a little tight, so I've stretched them, but i won't do another leg workout until the soreness is gone. Out here in the real world, most of us can handle a little soreness in our chest or arms or abs and still function ok. If your legs are constantly sore you will likely find reasons to not workout. Same with me. I plan my leg workout for every fourth day, however, if my legs are sore I'll skip leg day and circle back when they feel better.

That's it for now, I'm going to do the health and wellness blog as a separate post.
I'll see you at the gym.

Tuesday Workout

Today's workout: Chest/Back
15 minute elliptical 1 mile 335 calories burned
Dumbbell bench press 50 lb each arm 12 reps
Superset with:
Seated row on cable crossover 120 lbs 15 reps
Dumbbell incline press 45 lb each arm 12 reps
Superset with
Standing row on cable crossover 120 lbs
Dumbbell shoulder press 35 lbs each arm 12 reps
Superset with
Wide grip pullups 10 reps
Pec deck 10 reps 110 lbs
superset with
Reverse pec deck 10 reps 60 lbs
Seated ab pulldown on cable crossover 140 lbs 4 sets of 25
2 minute rest.
Do it all again. Change abs to exercise ball crunch holding 30 lb kettle ball 3sets of 33
2 minute rest.
Do it all again. Change abs to leg raises while holding barbell with 100 lbs, 3 sets of 33
Standing oblique with 45 lb plate.

Supersets are working opposite muscle groups back to back. For example, biceps curl followed by triceps extension. Works the front of the arm and the back of the arm.

Now that the boring part is over (or maybe it's all boring?) I will talk about the scale a little bit. Did you know that most people weigh more at the end of the day than in the morning? What you eat, and more significantly what you drink will have an effect on your weight. On one of the Biggest Loser episodes a contestant threw (lost) a weigh-in by drinking 2 GALLONS of water in the hour or so before the weigh in. A gallon of water weighs a little over 8 lbs. If you drink alot of water in a day, and I hope you do, you will weigh more later in the day. Some of the weight at the end of the day is waste (yuck). So get up in the morning, hit the bathroom, then weigh yourself. Even doing it this way if you weigh everyday you will see some variation. I weigh about 184 lbs, but at least once a week when I weigh, I'll see 187. If you only weigh in once a week, which is what most weight loss programs recommend, you could do everything right for a week, happen to weigh in on your "heavy" day and be unhappy. Or, you could weigh in on what happens to be a light day, be happy one week and unhappy the next. Also, remember that because you ate the cheeseburger, fries and cheesecake on Tuesday, your weight won't necessarily be up on Wednesday. It will take a few days for your indiscretion to affect your weight. Try not to let one bad meal ruin your day, your week or your goals. Nobody is perfect, if you are going to make overall changes you have to be willing to be less than perfect.

Have a great day.
I'll see you at the gym.

Monday Workout

Today's workout: LEGS
15 minute elliptical 335 calories burned
3 sets of 15 reps leg press 225 lbs resistance
2 sets of 25 reps sumo squats holding 35 lb kettleball
2 sets of 25 reps speed squats holding 35 lb kettleball
3 sets of 15 reps leg extension 110 lbs superset* with leg curls
3 sets of 20 reps leg curls 50 lbs resistance superset* with leg extensions
3 sets of 15 reps barbell dead lift 135 lbs
Power abs workout 12 types of crunches 25 of each for 300 total crunches
15 minute elliptical 305 calories
Tomorrow will likely be a cardio day

I'll try not to turn this into my personal workout log, that would be boring.
Make sure that you include legs in your workouts.
After my workouts I have a protein shake with approx 40 grams of protein.
If you need any info on the lifts/ab workout I'm doing drop me an email and I'll try to explain. My email is:
mrigoni@gmail.com
Also, for those of you that gave me your wellness definition, I am planning on having that blog done tomorrow.
I think that's all for now, in the immortal words of John "JD" Dorian, "I can't do this all on my own, I'm no Superman"
I'll see you at the gym.

Today's Workout

For the next week, or as I like to call it the last week before the madness starts, I am going to post my workout each day. Please remember I have been doing this (working out regularly) for 16+ months. If you are just starting out, or working out less than 5 times per week these workouts are probably not for you. I should start by explaining how my workouts are set up. I have 4 basic workouts, each working specific parts of the body, although there is some overlap. I have a chest/upper back, shoulders, arms and (ugh) legs. I have 3 basic ab workouts, I do one of them ever time I work out. Ok, here goes.
Todays workout: ARMS
15:00 minutes on elliptical 5:00 at 7 incline and resistance of 20, 5:00 at 8 incline and resistance of 30, 3:00 at 8 incline resistance of 25, 2:00 at 7 incline resistance of 20. All 15:00 at speeds od 175-182 strides per minute. Distance 1 mile. Calories burned 351.
Hammer curls with 30 lb dumbbell 12 with each arm.
Tricep extensions, single arm 15 lb dumbbell 12 each arm
Standing straight bar barbell isolations, bar plus 35 lbs on each end, 12 reps
Standing overhead tricep extensions on cable crossover, using rope attachment and 70 lbs resistance 15 reps
Rope hammer curls on cable crossover 70 lbs resistance 12 reps
Rope tricep extensions on cable crossover 90 lbs resistance 12 reps
Straight bar curls on cable crossover, 80 lbs resistance 12 reps
Reverse grip tricep extensions with straight bar on cable crossover
Kettleball curls 20 lbs 12 reps each arm
Tricep extensions with straight bar on Cable crossover 90 lbs resistance
High curls with single handles on cable crossovers 35 lbs each arm 12 reps each arm
4 sets of 25 weighted reverse crunches
2:00 rest
Do it all again, except change crunches to weighted oblique crunches
2:00 rest
Do it all again, except change crunches to weighted crunch (45 lb weight) on exercise ball

So, that's the basic arm workout, I usually do another 100 of some kind of crunch and about half the time I go another 15 minutes on the elliptical, or, occasionally I go to the track and run a mile. Remember, this is not the workout I started with, this is what it has grown into. I also vary it. Right now I'm in a cycle of light weight, lots of reps, doing the workout as a circuit. In about a week I will add weight, lower reps, do 3 sets of each exercise, with rest between sets. Keep that body confused! That's alot of very dry text, I'll try to liven these up. Maybe a video of a monkey in a suit, smoking a cigar, handing me my water bottle as I sweat would help.
That's all for now,
See you at the gym.

"You probably can't have that on your diet"

How many times have I heard that in the last 16 months? Too many for me to keep track of. My 1st instinct is to say, "it's not a diet it's a lifestyle change" but then I sound like a guy on an infomercial. By the way, I could so do an infomercial. Here's a handy dandy meal plan. Look at me, I lost 80 lbs in 6 mos and I was never hungry! For only 4 easy payments of $39.95 I'll send you the plan. But wait, call now and I'll knock off 1 payment. That's 3 easy payments of $39.95. Call now! Wait, hold on, I can do better, call now and I'll send you this calendar and handy dandy tape measure. That's the meal plan, the calendar and the tape measure for only 3 easy payments of $39.95. You know what, I can do better than that. If you call right now I'll throw in my personal workout plan. That's the meal plan, the calendar, the tape measure and my personal workout plan for 3 easy payments of $39.95. You know what, if you call in the next 10 minutes I'll double your order, just pay extra processing and handling. Ok, I got that out of my system, now back to our regularly scheduled program.
As soon as people around you find out you are trying to lose weight they WILL start to sabotage you, not on purpose, mind you. But it will happen. The 1st thing that they will do is bring in food you probably shouldn't eat, then tell you that you can't have it. But you know what? You can have it. Not alot of it, not every day. Moderation, the key is moderation. Remember, it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle. But is it? Should it be? If I lay out 14 days worth of meals for you, tell you you can rotate them any way you want as long as you only eat the meals i lay out. You pick a breakfast, a lunch and 3 snacks every day. I'll set it up, 1300 calories for men, 1000 calories for women (sorry again) would you lose weight? What if I give you 4 days of workouts? Do them in any order you want, go twice a week and do 2 workouts each time, go 4 days in a row, then take 3 days off. I don't care how you do it, just get in the 4 workouts every week. Will you lose weight? Anybody, Bueller, Bueller. The answer, of course is, YES! The real question is, How long will you stick with it? A week, a month, longer? I'd be lucky to make it a week. Part of the "lifestyle" thing is correct. If you are trying to lose weight/get in better shape there's one thing we know. Your current lifestyle got you to where you are now. In that sense you really do have to make a lifestyle change. Although, I'd like to say I changed my habits. Instead of a Big Mac and fries, now I choose a turkey sandwich and light chips. Instead of 2 bowls of pasta with meat sauce, a cup of mozzarella cheese on top, 2 or 3 slices of cheesy garlic bread, I have grilled chicken, steamed peas or green beans and a salad. Instead of 3 brownies with a pint of ice cream and some caramel sauce, I have 3/4 cup of sugar free light ice cream, or some sugar free pudding. Instead of sitting on the couch, I get in a workout. Now, back to where we started, I've reached my goal weight, when we have Teacher Appreciation Day, or Thanksgiving for that matter, I can have some food that is different from what I normally eat. I still avoid the sugar, I eat much smaller portions. I can tell you that it's much easier to keep the weight off,than to
take the weight off. If you're in the early stages of losing weight, you're doing the hard part, easier days are ahead. Stick with it. Set small goals. It's the 1st week of August, Halloween is 12 weeks away. Set a goal of losing 10 lbs by Halloween. Set goals in your workouts as well. I don't set goals of lifting more weight, I set goals that have to do with cardio, or with reps. For example, if I've been dumbbell benching 100 lbs, 3 sets of 10, my goal may be to get to 3 sets of 12 or 3 sets of 15. Then I might decide to go up in weight. One of my goals for this fall is to run a mile in 7 minutes flat. The best I've done so far is 7:30, so I've got to work on my cardio endurance to reach my goal. What are your goals? If you are trying to lose weight set short term goals, but have a target weight in mind as a long term goal. When you meet a goal, reward yourself, but not with brownies and ice cream. I'd like to leave you with one last nugget of wisdom, but all I've got is "Hooch is crazy" A little something for you Scrubs fans.See you at the gym.