The second half begins! It was a little rough picking back up after a few days off, especially after last night (my ass is getting old…), but it was great to get back on it. My buddy Casey planned an impromptu 80’s skating night last night. Impromptu in the fact that it wasn’t something the rink was doing – it was just something a group of crazy old folks would be doing. I haven’t been skating in YEARS and it was crazy going back. The same middle-school drama – I used to go quite often and be just like those kids! Now I was there, dressed up in 80’s gear, skating like I was 40. I never fell (came close a couple times…) but I felt sore as hell afterward – especially my right knee. Probably should have stretched before hand

Regardless, it was a damn fun time, and I still was able to do my pushups today. Now that I am back at it, I will not quit until I hit 100! Today’s sets…

18, 22, 16, 16, 36 (max set, minimum of 25)

I actually did some pushups on Thursday when I didn’t have to. Thought I needed a progress test after week 3, so I did one (got 35) and then looked to see I didn’t actually need one. Never hurts to get in an extra workout, right? Especially since I was waiting until today to start back up anyway. Things continue to ramp up pretty good this week, so I just gotta stick with it.

Check out more pictures from the 80’s night here (need to login to Facebook to check them out – I gotta start getting some pictures up on Picasa so I can share them…)

Hello faithful followers! I know you all are mighty worried that I might have fallen off the train, but never fear! While I might have stumbled a bit, I wasn’t close to falling. I just have to make a pact with myself: gotta stick to the Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday schedule, otherwise I get myself all screwed up. My schedule ended up falling on a Friday last week, and Friday’s are just far too busy, so I didn’t do my pushups then. I could have done them Saturday, but Saturday’s are usually just really lazy, so I didn’t do them then. So I did Day 2 of Week 3 on Sunday, and I was going to try and do a few days in a row to try and get back on track, but we had my brother’s birthday dinner last night (happy birthday once again, little bro!), so I wasn’t able to then. But I did finish up Week 3 tonight very strongly. I think just to make things even again, I am going to do my progress test either tomorrow or Thursday, then wait until Sunday to start up Week 4. I will lift a little in between there just to keep active. But I want to make sure I stick to my schedule and this is the easiest way to do it. Here are my stats for Days 2 and 3 of Week 3.

14, 19, 14, 14, 31 (max set, minimum of 19)

16, 21, 15, 15, 35 (max set, minimum of 21)

Very excited about my max sets these two days, shows I am progressing a little! Week 4 starts ramping up pretty good, and Week 5 even starts adding more sets, so the progress is a good thing. I also did some lifting tonight to make up for the missed days, and I am feeling really good.

And on the weight side: I went down for the first time! Woo! I still need to work on my diet a bit, but Kirsten and I are starting a “eating out fund” next month – meaning we have a set amount we will spend on things like that, and when its gone, its gone. Hopefully that helps curb the constant going out for us

February 1, 2010: 203.8 lbs.
February 8, 2010: 206.4 lbs.
February 15, 2010: 209.4 lbs.

Current weight: 207.1 lbs.

Difference from last week: -2.3 lbs.
Overall difference: +4.3 lbs.

Quick post before I go to bed. I was side-tracked by the Olympics and wanted to get this out quick (PS – Shaun White is a freakin’ monster) Started Week 3 today. Arms were a little sore, but I can definitely feel like things are loosening up, especially my first couple of sets. It’s not as hard to get started as it used to be (that’s what she said) My sets today:

12, 17, 13, 13, 30 (max set – min. of 17)

I am especially proud of that last set. I also go into a max set telling myself to get at least 5 – 7 more than the min. (usually depends on what it is, like today’s was 17, I was telling myself 25) I probably shouldn’t do that – mainly because I hit 25 fairly easily, but then it was like night and day – my arms knew I didn’t need anymore. But I powered through five more, and felt great about it. That is 75 pushups in one night. I can’t tell you the last time I did that many in one night (probably never) And to think – in a little over three weeks, I will be doing 100 IN A ROW! Rock out, kiddies

Week 2 = done! It was a lazy weekend, so I didn’t do this on Friday like I should have. Had I done that, I would have been able to do my week 2 stress test yesterday. But I didn’t do anything all weekend except enjoy some downtime with the wife (yay!), so I did something unprecedented – I worked out in the morning! And honestly, I didn’t even think about it until my alarm went off this morning. I thought, “I don’t want to fall too far behind – let’s do pushups!” So I got up after only one snooze (another unprecedented action) and did my pushups downstairs. A very solid set too:

12, 13, 10, 10, 26 (max set – minimum of 15)

My triceps were pretty sore, otherwise I think I might have been able to hit 30 on my max set. But I felt good and I felt pretty good going into work after working out too – a good way to start the week.

But that’s not all – I still didn’t want to fall too far behind, so I did my Week 2 Stress Test tonight! That way I can take off tomorrow night and get right back at it on Wednesday. Since the stress test is just one max set, I also added in a little bit of light weights as well. I figured I should work on my triceps a little since they were a little a tender, and I also did some bicep curls and side laterals (you can view the whole custom workout if you check out my DailyBurn account – I think you have to be logged in to view the whole thing though) I completed a max pushup set of 24, so I will be in the second column for Week 3 of the program. This is about the point that I fell off the wagon the last time around, so I am excited to power through and get to the halfway point. I feel great every time I work out and Kirsten even said that just seeing me stick with it is getting her motivated to start working out, so that is a very good thing!

The only downside right now: my weight. Now I understand that is totally fluctuates and as I said last week, I am still not entirely convinced by my scale, but it is just odd. Granted I could be gaining tons of muscle, but I doubt I’d be gaining 3 pounds a week But I tell you this – I am not going to let my weight get in the way of keeping this up. I am doing this to get into shape, to feel better about myself, and to tone the weight I do have. I am sure I will eventually start losing it, but I need to work out the stuff I do have! And I just need to continue to eat better as well, which will really help.

February 1, 2010: 203.8 lbs.
February 8, 2010: 206.4 lbs.

Current weight: 209.4 lbs.

Difference from last week: +3.0 lbs.
Overall difference: +5.6 lbs.

Today was probably one of the more rough days I have had. Starting out from set number one, I just didn’t feel like I had it in me to get them all done. But I powered through. And I kicked some serious tail on my max set.

10, 12, 9, 9, 21 (max set, minimum of 12)

21 is the most I have done up to this point and it felt damn good. I was almost dead by 17 but I made sure to get to at least 20. Then I through one extra in for good measure Right now, the thing that hurts the most is my wrists. I might invest in some kind of a workout pad of some sort – I typically do my pushups in my bedroom and we have a very thin carpet and a very hard floor, so my wrists don’t like the pressure much. I might try my next set downstairs to see if that helps.

It was a tough day today. On the good side, I had off, so I was able to sleep in and take it easy. On the bad, I did something to my back and it was killing me all day. I almost didn’t do my workout for today, but I figured you gotta work through the pain sometimes. I stretched extra before hand, just trying to work out whatever it was I did in my back. And actually, my back didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would while doing my pushups. With the hundred pushups program, for Week 2, you stick with the same column you did during Week 1 (which for me was the second column) It starts off much like Week 1 did, but with a little more progression in the next two days. My sets today:

9, 8, 6, 4, 14 (max set, minimum of 7)

And I just noticed something interesting now. I have been logging my pushups on DailyBurn, just as part of my workouts. I went to the hundred pushups website to remind myself when you do the stress test, and they have different numbers for their sets (should be doing more at this point). It is possible that the guy that put this workout into DailyBurn was using old numbers, but I think I am going to switch to the actual current program numbers from the hundred pushups website. The next two workouts might be a little bit more of an increase than I should be doing, but I want to make sure I am following the program as closely as possible (and really, a few extra pushups sure won’t kill me)

Being Monday, I also weighed myself today. Now I really haven’t been eating the greatest lately, especially today, so I am not surprised that I went up, but 2 pounds surprised me. Granted I have never really trusted my scale, but that is what it said – so that is what I put in. No secrets here, blog followers Just gotta keep doing better!

February 1, 2010: 203.8 lbs.

Current weight: 206.4 lbs.

Difference from last week: +1.6 lbs.
Overall difference: +1.6 lbs.

Week 1 = in the books! Woohoo! And on a Saturday, no less! I am quite proud that I worked out and was able to finish the first week. They say starting out is always the hardest…I am not sure who “they” is, but it was hard to motivate myself to get going. But I did get going, and I will keep on going. Felt good today – chest and arms are a little sore, but a good kind of sore. My sets today…

10, 8, 8, 5, 16 (max set, at least 10)

Felt good about that last set especially. I am looking forward to ramping up a little bit more next week. Yay me!

Day 2 overall of my workout program is in the books! And actually, I felt pretty good today. Did a few more pushups than on Tuesday, and I also mixed in a little bit of free weight action as well (side-laterals!) Today’s sets:

9, 8, 6, 5, 11 (max set, minimum of 7)

Felt good through the whole thing, and I continue to feel good about my progress – even thought it is only the second day

I have a busy weekend coming up, so it will be interesting to see when I fit in the third day of pushups this week, but I am committed to this, so I will find time! Woo! Keep it up!

So I promised I would blog and keep you updated on my workout status.  And damn it – my fans demand to be entertained!  So I need to keep that promise!

I have switched gears a little bit on my working out.  I got lazy on Monday, but I started back on Tuesday – but with a new program.  I found a much better site, DailyBurn.com (run by Google) that let’s keep track of a lot more things.  It has a lot more workouts and different types of things that I can do and track, so I figured I would just switch now before I got too into the workout I was doing.  I will probably incorporate a couple of the exercises that I liked into my new workout, but my main focus now will be pushups.  One hundred pushups, to be exact.

If you haven’t heard of the one hundred pushups program, it’s pretty simple.  The workout vows within 6 weeks, you will be able to do 100 pushups in a row.  Pushups are a great workout for your upper body, and doing them on a regular basis can really help tone and strengthen your arms, chest, shoulders, etc.  I tried this program a few months ago, but only lasted 2 weeks before moving on to other things (read: giving up because I am lazy).  But I thought this would be a perfect time to get back into it.  It basically requires doing pushups 3 days a week.  You start with an initial test.  Do as many pushups as you can, and this will put you into a certain bracket.  Based on that bracket, you do 5 sets of a predetermined amount of pushups (with a set break in between each set).  For the fifth set, you do as many as you can (just to finish off the workout on a good note)  Then you should rest a day, and continue on your merry way.  After 2 weeks, you do an “exhaustion test”, to make sure you are progressing.  As long as you hit a certain number, you can keep going.  Otherwise just redo that week.  Fairly simple (check out the website linked above for full details if you want to do it yourself!)

So basically, I found this workout as one of the ones you can track on DailyBurn.  I started that and at this point, I will be doing the second column (the 6 – 10 pushups area) for the first week.  I did my first day of this yesterday with the follow sets:

7, 7, 5, 4, 8 (the fifth set is a max set, with a minimum of 5)

Pushups were a part of the workout I had been doing last week, so it’s not like I was doing them for the first time in a while, and it definitely felt good.  I really hope I can stick to the program this time around.  Doing 100 pushups in a row would be a really great accomplishment.  I will likely add a few of those exercises I had been doing into the routine eventually, and I also want to add some running to the list as well.  Slowly but surely, right?

Oooh, I also got a battery for my scale!  I guess that means I should probably put it in the scale and weigh myself…but I am too lazy for that…

Fine…be pushy.  I will do that now.  Be right back.

Yikes – I never really trusted that scale before, but at least I have a starting point…all uphill from here, right?

Starting Weight: 203.8 lbs.

I think I will probably do weekly updates of the weight, starting on Mondays (I will probably let next week slide just since I did this one so late).