Day 9 - cardio

Feeling good on day 9!

Yep, I upped my weight yesterday and had a run this morning for my cardio and while the legs are tired they are 100% better than they were last week! No ice bath for me thank you very much :-)

I managed 3.7 km on the treadmill this morning which was further than the run I did last week and I did it on the Tuesday where last week I was having problems walking! I also did some weight assisted pull ups. This is a machine where you stand on a platform the moves with you and you can add weight to the balance you out (does that make sense?). So I did 30 pull ups with 50kg taken off my body weight meaning I was lifting just over 50kg. I did this as the pull ups are a big concern for me and the area where I think will present the biggest challenge to score well on a Saturday. I figure that by doing lots of reps even with a lower body weight will help to increase my strength and allow me to do more pull ups. Right?

But anyway, I'm feeling good. I can happily say that the program is having a positive effect on me and I can recommend that people should try this for themselves. Go to the site, get the program and start making a difference in your life. http://www.tscheartofachampionprogram.com

Later,
Lee

Day 8 - Legs

Day 8 - Legs

I was able to up my weight this week, I knew I could do this as I was doing far too many AMAP's last week. So my lunges went from 6 and 8 up to 10kg with 6 AMAP. Squats were still at 20kg with 5 AMAP (up by two). RDL's were up from 6kg to 10kg but still with 12 AMAP. Calf raises (they still hurt) were up from 4kg to 6kg with 4 AMAP. So I've still got areas that I can increase the weight and get more benefit from the exercise, I'm going to increase everything but the calf raises aiming to only be able to push out 3 or 4 AMAP's at the end of each set.

The body feels pretty good actually. I noticed Sunday night that my body was pretty much back to normal, a little tightness across the chest and triceps but nothing bad at all. This is a really good thing as I'm now heading into week 2 feeling "normal", no pain to speak of that would lessen my experience. I really need to push hard on the upper body exercises (actually destroy myself on the day) so that I can improve my pull ups. I have been doing narrow, under arm pull ups which tend to focus on the biceps (unless I'm doing them wrong!), so I might try slightly wider pull ups to get more of my back involved in the lifting.

As I've previously said, I'm going to blog much less about my meals, I just wanted to lay out what I had in the first week for anyone that's thinking of doing the Challenge so they can see the kind of things they need to do. I will blog about any tips I've picked up along the way though. Such as, if you're low on your protein then try low fat natural yoghurt. Again, always check the "of which sugars" content value and make sure that you are not throwing loads of sugar into your bloodstream or you'll never burn the fat. I picked up some Sainsbury's natural, pro-biotic, greek yoghurt which I've had with fruit for breakfast - it's quite nice actually!

If you are still delaying about taking up the challenge and making a transformation in your body, stop delaying now! Just go and do it for a few weeks, it's not "that" hard and can make a real difference. It does take determination and committment however the results have already started to become apparent to me after only one week. I'm going to complete it so I look and feel healthier.

later,
Lee

Day 7 - Rest

Don't think I really need to blog about the rest days. Went for a game of golf though, not sure that really counts toward the Bonus Program!

later,
Lee

Day 6 - TSC Challenge

Week 1 - Day 6 - TSC Challenge

Hey hey! I've completed week one! :-)

First let's talk about my statistics. I'm still the same height just in case you thought that might change! (6' 4"). I weighed myself today and was 100.5kg, last week I was 102.5kg and 103kg during the week so it's about a 2kg drop. My BMI is now working out at 27 flat which is a drop of 0.4. My waist has reduced by an inch to 39". So these are all great things that I'm very happy about.

My score today was higher overall but I was unable to do any pull ups at all. None! :-( this is down to my back being tired and sore from the work outs all week but I'm am determined to push myself hard this coming week to then perform next weekend. So, 0 pull ups, 27 press ups (up by 4), and 23:25 on the run (58 seconds faster). So that adds up to 123 points, and increase of 5 points even though I lost 10 points by not being able to do any pull ups. I'm ok with that.

I'm going to stop blogging on the meals that I'm eating as I'm sure you've gotten the idea by now but I will post updates about interesting things I've learned about nutrition etc.

Something I've learned is that sugar is a bad thing for the fat burning and you need to be careful on how much sugar you eat. Sugar is a simple carbohydrate and is digested and turned into energy quickly by the body. Imagine that your body gets a massive intake of sugar (chocolate bar etc), your body reacts by storing some of that energy in your liver for quick fire use, any excess tends to be stored as fat. So if you eat something sugary just before working out then you will have a good boost of energy however you will burn less fat as you body with use the quick fire energy first. Complex carbohydrates, such as vegetables and fruit are digested slower, releasing the energy slower into the body. This energy is used throughout the day and is less likely to be stored as fat. Carbohydrates are (mostly) made up of starches and sugars.

Cereals tend to be high in sugar. As an example, kellogs special k is marketed as a healthy option. Yes, it's low in fat but reasonably high in sugars. Let's say that a cereal has 30g of carbohydrates per 100g, you need to check the "of which sugar" value on the packet too. If it's high in sugar then steer clear if you want to burn fat. I'd look for a sugar to carb ratio of less than half, 30g of carb then look for less than 15g of which sugar but the lower the better. This will then limit the amount of quick fire energy your body has available and force it to burn more fat. I've just got myself a pack of Jordan's muesli which I have with skimmed milk and some fruit in it (quite nice actually). This muesli has about a third of the carbs as sugars so whilst it's not perfect, it's much better than other cereals.

This is similar to the reason for not drinking fruit juice during the program. Fruit when converted to liquid is digested quicker so the body gets a big intake of energy and stores it in the liver again and uses that before burning fat (my friend will probably shout at me for my simplistic explanation). So that's why fruit juice is not allowed during the ten weeks and I like to know the "why".

My body is a tale of two cities. My legs are fine again, a little pain in my calves but nothing much. My arms, shoulders are quite tired and sore especially my left arm, but overall I think I'm in pretty good shape for week one. It is tough and does hurt but I've found that the psychological strength required to drag my body out of bed at 6am to go to the gym to be very tough too. Saying that, I did need to take an ice bath on Tuesday night as my legs were really sore and painful to walk until they had stretched a bit.

Heart of a champion - body of a cripple! ;-)

All in all, I'm confident that I can complete the program and make my body transform into something fitter, faster and stronger. Right now I would say that if you're like me, or like my friend Blair who wants to put on muscle, buy the program and stop delaying yourself from achieving what you want for. Make it happen people, make it happen.

Later,
Lee

Steroids?

Out of schedule blog.

I just want to talk about something briefly after watching some of Chris Krueger's vlogs.

Check out this video, it's pretty old but it shows a guy who is is pretty good shape already who is about to take steroids to get bigger. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8ZFloxjSX8 Really? Do you think you are this guy?

Ok, putting aside the complex he must be getting at the gym by being the "smallest" guy in the weight room which is more to do with his self esteem and image perception, and trying unsuccessfully to put aside his freakish hair cut! this guy has problems that he's not addressing by unnaturally putting on a bit of muscle. He hasn't earned his new body, he isn't experiencing the benefits of the mind that is associated with working hard toward your goals, and they should not be underestimated!

Do you WANT to be this guy? Do you want to cheat, take the shortcut option and have the bad side effects caused by steroids (anger, bacne, shrunken testicles (!!!!!!! What? SHRUNKEN TESTICLES?), and moobs [man boobs])? is this really who you want to be? Or do you want to be more like the thousands of TSCers across the globe that are earning their transformation, changing their body AND mind for the better, feeling the natural high (not really a high but a general better mood and more optimistic outlook on life) caused by the fact that you are eating properly and working out correctly?

You've got to earn it. Life isn't about shortcuts, it's about making the best of what you've got naturally and being a better person, being a person that you want to be, would you be friends with yourself if you were like this guy? Honestly? Make it happen yourself and the rewards will become apparent very quickly.

Enjoy your life. Later,
Lee

Day 5 - shoulders and arms

Day 5 - shoulders and arms.

Body: let's start with the body shall we? Ok, you're call. It's pretty sore actually! My legs are much better and can feel little pain compared to Wednesday (which was bad), maybe the ice bath really helped. My chest and back aren't too bad actually even though I know I pushed myself hard. After today's exercises however my arms are pretty tired and my left arm, which is much weaker than my right, is quite tender in between the tricep and the elbow. I think I probably hurt it doing the dumbbell pulls on Wednesday but either way it's sore. I had a massage today which has really helped and I would recommend that if you do this program that you work out a way to have regular massages, if you have a generous girlfriend then great, otherwise pay for it! (I'm still on about massages by the way!)

Meals: I was told today that cereals, including special K, are high in sugar. Sugar is something that Chris Krueger says is bad during this program so you've got to start ignoring the marketing hype and read the packet! Cereals are almost entirely carbohydrate but the "of which sugars" is almost 100% of the carb. So I'm going to look at making my own muesli so I can control how much sugar is in it. I've also been told about something called quinoa which is almost entirely protein and apparently low on "the bad stuff". I'll let you know if it's any good.

Exercises: today was the shoulders and arms day. It's pretty tough and I was reduced to only lifting 2kg weights while working the triceps! It was tough but a good workout. It's really handy having someone to go to the gym with and I cannot recommend high enough that having a training partner is the way to go. Definitely ask a friend to join the program with you, that way you can motivate each other and share in the benefits of the experience.

One benefit I've noticed is in the mind. Yeah sure I'm generally in a better mood because of the daily release of endorphins and that is also in the mind, but I'm on about something else. You may find that your attitude changes for the better. There have been chores around my flat (apartment for US readers) that I kept on putting off because I couldn't be bothered, but I find now that I want to get them done straight away. It's odd but the procrastination ("putting it off" for UK readers) trigger is no longer there, I just want to deal with it now.

Later,
Lee

Day 4 - cardio

Day 4 - cardio

So, up at 6am again and to the gym by 7am. Little tired as I was out salsa dancing last night until midnight but you've got to make that commitment to yourself when you alarm goes off and you just want to stay under the covers. Something that worked for me this morning was to ask myself if I have the heart of a champion, or a quitter? Obviously you are going to say that you do, but that switches something in your head and gives you the resolve to get up and work out. My legs are feeling better and maybe that was because of the ice bath. My chest and back are feeling pretty good considering I destroyed myself yesterday in the gym. Today I did 3.4km on the running machine.

Meals today were a bowl of special k and semi-skimmed milk after the gym. A bag of carrots from Boots for my morning snack. I've been tracking my food intake and have seen that my protein intake has been about a quarter of what it should be, so to boost my protein I decided to pick up a bread roll and stuff it full of chicken breast and ham. I also had a low fat yoghurt which is good for protein, a small bag of fruit while the rest of the office had pizza during a company meeting :-( For dinner I made up some reggae reggae chicken breast and rice with red onion, red pepper and mushroom. It was awesome! I'll have a banana later while out salsa dancing.

Keep going. Almost at the end of week one. I'm worried that I will score less on the pull ups and press ups after my first sessions of upper body exercises, what with the soreness and all, but chin up (quite literally) and dig deep to find the inner strength.

Later,
Lee