—Today was an Upper-Back Day—
~Upright Rows - (Trapezius) - 15lbs. Resistance (each arm) - 2 Sets of 15 Repetitions
~Kneeling One-Armed Rows - (Latissimus Dorsi) - 15lbs. Resistance - 2 Sets of 15 Repetitions
~Standing Wide-Rows - (Posterior Deltoid) - 15lbs. Resistance (each arm) - 2 Sets of 15 Repetitions
Breakfast: 9am
2 Eggs Over-Hard (w/American Cheese)
1 Round Steak 8oz. (Medium-Rare)
16oz. Skim Milk
16oz. Water
Mid-Morning: 11am
16oz. V8 (Low Sodium, Spicy Hot)
16oz. Water
Lunch: 2pm
1 Chocolate Visalus Shake
Mid-Afternoon: 5pm
1 Egg (Raw)
16oz. V8 (Low Sodium, Spicy Hot)
16oz. Water
Evening: 7pm
1 Orange-Everyday-Defense Visalus Shake
State of Being:
Felt pretty good today. Got lots of extra sleep yesterday and last night.
Back’s still a little stiff today, but the pain has diminished quite a bit.
I’ve noticed that my ankles are significantly less swollen since giving up my Diet Coke. So, it was definitely having an effect on my metabolism, as swollen ankles are one of the first indicators of higher insulin levels. I hope I didn’t slow my weight-loss down too much during those weeks. Either way, I’ll find out on Christmas Eve, at the 30-Day mark of my Challenge, which will see my next weigh-in.
Today, I decided to shake things up a little. I replaced lunch and dinner with my Visalus shakes rather than breakfast and lunch. For breakfast, I protein-loaded.
Was there a significant difference? No. Not that I could tell. Since the shakes are basically/mostly protein, I wasn’t expecting there to be much of a difference. But, I wanted to experiment with it just the same. Truthfully, I think that you can mix it up however you’d like, so long as, (if your Challenge is centered primarily upon weight-loss) you are doing the shakes for two of your three main meals (breakfast, lunch and/or dinner.)
By the way, here's a picture of my refrigerator, in case you ever wondered what a V8-Junkie's stash looked like...
I’ve been getting asked why I workout before I eat, in the morning.
Well first of all, I do and I don’t. To clarify, I’ve never done and I wouldn’t do anything aerobic, (walking, martial arts, etc.) before getting my body started metabolizing for the day. However, when it comes to strength/resistance training, my experience has been that it doesn’t matter when you do it in relation to your meals, as metabolism plays very little role in that type of training (if any), and, given that, I would rather do it when I am at my highest level of energy, which, for me is first thing in the morning. Also, because of the fact that, on my diet program, I’m eating five (and sometimes six) times per day, and I don’t like to lift-heavy while I’m still digesting, it limits my strength-training workouts to occurring either first thing in the morning, or well-into the evening and by late-evening, an active six-hundred pound man who’s been working all day is in no condition to be holding heavy pieces of molded iron above his head.
The overwhelming majority of your fat-burning happens while you sleep, a direct result of the work you’ve done that day. Secondary to that is the fat-burning that occurs during aerobic exercise. Muscle burns fat when working aerobically. Strength training isn't about that. It's about tearing muscle down so that, while at rest, it can be rebuilt bigger and stronger than it was before. I haven’t yet reached the point where I’m comfortable resuming either my martial arts training, or my regular walking which have always been my primary sources of aerobic exercise. My goal for my second 90 Day Challenge is to get myself to the point where I can regularly train again, but I’m not there yet.
Now, I may well be wrong about this stuff. If I am, please convince me of why. I only want to do the most effective thing I can at any given time. So, feedback is definitely appreciated. :)
Headed over to my Mom’s house for Mason’s birthday-party tomorrow. I’m pretty excited for that. I’ll try and get some video while I’m over there.
See you later!
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