Training & Nutrition - Here we go again, time to get back in shape!

It's been pretty hectic for me the past couple of months so I haven't been able to get on the bike much. Right after I started back to the gym and started preparing for next season everything went haywire and I ended up not going to the gym for two months and going over five weeks without even getting on a bike. During this time I continued to eat normally. This is a bad combination!

I am now starting to get my life back in order so it's time to begin training. I've been on the bike once, been to one spin class and started going back to the gym. As of Friday (11/16) my weight was up to 194 pounds ( I am 5'10" tall). I also had a very accurate body fat test done (DEXA, Dual Energy X-Ray Absorption (http://www.new-fitness.com/body_fat_analyzing.html)) that was down right embarrassing. I learned a lot that day, for starters those handheld bf meters and the scale bf meters are no where near accurate. My handheld shows me right around 24% right now, the scale type showed me at 26%. Actual was a very humiliating 34%! :o

Truth is it is embarrassing to even post this, I am only doing it to help me with my motivation and to get back to where I need to be. My goal is to be around 170 - 175 by March and have my body fat down to the mid to upper teens.

To help me with my goals I switched over to a smaller gym that offers a little more personal attention. Not only that, it is small enough that it will be noticed if I skip a few days and cause me to feel guilty. Guilt works well for me. :o I have also ordered a computrainer pro to help break up the monotony of those trainer days. On top of that I plan on attending at least one but hopefully two spin classes a week.

Basically, my training schedule is going to be:

Gym - 4 days a week
Trainer - 3 days a week
Spin Class - 1- 2 days a week
Bike ride - 1 - 2 days a week
Rest day - 1 day a week

Hopefully I will be back in shape and ready to race by the end of March, beginning of April. Wish me luck!

Are you recording nutrition as well? I know for me, if I am not careful, I end up eating a bit more when increasing my exercise and end up close to my maintenance Calories, thus not seeing any effect.

Lowcel knows how to turn himself into a lean, race-winning machine. He just needs to get motivated and HTFU. ;)

I'm not planning on recording what I eat at this time, just cutting way back. For instance, instead of two bowls of lucky charms or cinnamon toast crunch for breakfast I'll be eating either oatmeal or carnation instant breakfast. Instead of eating out for lunch every day I'll be eating a bowl of soup or a couple of sandwiches. Just by doing this I will be eliminating a few thousand calories a week.

I'm not planning on recording what I eat at this time, just cutting way back. For instance, instead of two bowls of lucky charms or cinnamon toast crunch for breakfast I'll be eating either oatmeal or carnation instant breakfast. Instead of eating out for lunch every day I'll be eating a bowl of soup or a couple of sandwiches. Just by doing this I will be eliminating a few thousand calories a week.

Two bowls of junk food for breakfast would make anybody fat.

I find if I eat simple carbs in the morning I over eat all day. However, if I eat something with a decent amount of protein I have a lot more control later on. Eating one carb makes you feel like eating another; protein and fat fills you up.

I do the same thing. I find it better than micro-managing my Caloric intake. It also doesn't make me feel bad to sneak in a piece of cake then. ;)

My oatmeal is slowly becoming an art form. First it was oatmeal and some brown sugar and honey. Then I added almonds. Then I got rid of the sugar and honey and added protein powder. Then added blueberries. Now I think the last step will be ground flaxseed.

I jumped on the scales at the gym this morning (before my workout) just out of curiosity since I won't be going there on Friday to weigh in. My weight is 191.5. It's a start.

All is going well. I did take Thanksgiving day off, however I kind of watched what I ate. I had no seconds and no desert.

Friday - trainer (40 minutes)
Saturday - I took off to spend some time with my grandma and to put her Christmas tree up.
Sunday - Three hour mountain bike ride.
Monday (today) - Went to the gym. Did some upper body, ran on the treadmill then got on the elliptical machine for 32 minutes.

i always say it, but the way i find i lose most weight is by drinking A LOT of water. It will fill you up and eventually you'll sweat it out or piss it out, but it gives your body the illusion that you are full and you don't need to eat anymore. I would say eat your essential fruits/veggies/carbs/protein. Then just drink water, no soda or anything bad either.

I wish i had more time to ride but as of now im riding 2-4 days a week, just short 20 mile rides generally. I go to the gym 5 days a week at night to do weights and on the non-riding days i do 40mins on the elliptical (10 min warm-up, 20 mins of intervals - 3 mins medium pace, 1 min hard as i can, 5 intervals total, then 10 min cool down). Thats about it for my training.

My body-fat % on a scale said i was at a 7.8%, but who knows how accurate that is. I've been training like this for some time though and used to run marathons.

Keep up the work and you'll get there, post your results every now and then and hopefully someone will have some insight

Thanks for the information. I haven't had a coke in about six years now. Caffeine triggers migraines so I just stay away from them. I can't stand de-caffeinated drinks either so I just don't drink any soft drinks. I pretty much just drink water and an occasional juice or glass of milk. A beer or two here and there as well, probably about four beers a month on average.

Another good workout this morning. I ran a mile on the treadmill to warm up, then did some upper body work for about 30 minutes, then jumped on the eliptical machine for 33 minutes. Burned right at 600 calories according to my Polar S725x. I wish it would lie to me like the calorie indicators on the gym equipment, or even like the ones on the cheaper heart rate monitors that I have owned. They generally show about twice as many calories burned. :( Oh well, accuracy is more important I guess, lying to myself with bad data doesn't help me lose weight.

I'm hoping to get on the trainer for a while this evening, have to wait and see what happens. Tomorrow will be some more cardio and a leg workout.

i went through the same thing a couple of years ago. one thing that greatly helped me (and still does) keep the weight in check is to develop a routine of cardio for 30 mins every morning - and don't count it towards your weekly exercise time. for me, that was hitting the treadmill for 30 mins at an easy pace every morning. then you lift or bike or swim or run as you normally would, acting like you haven't already done 30 mins on the treadmill.

i aim for everyday, but it usually ends up as 5 days a week. its become 2nd nature to get up, hit the treadmill, then start my day. then i don't feel like i have to put in junk miles running or on the bike to burn extra calories, and i don't feel guilty if i have to miss a workout. and once i got down to a reasonable weight, its been easy to maintain.

You the man, stay on it. For once, your heavier than me so but you can cull that stuff off no problem. I need to shed 15 myself. Darn Thanksgiving week.

PS. That 194 pounds sucks at the base of that hill eh? God, I hate it too.

Sucks even more about halfway up the hill.

As of right now I'm down to about 190.5, I think I'll be able to be back in shape come race season so I'm not too worried about it yet. It's hard to believe, but I didn't gain any weight over Thanksgiving weekend. :eek:

I'm getting ready to eat my 360 calorie lunch, much better than the Chinese buffet, honest! :rolleyes:

tso's mmmmmmmmmm

Homemade General Tso's works well for dieting. ;)

You might wanna let the recipe out then. hehe. My man loves him some Chinese

Okay, I think I met Satan today. He is the trainer at the gym / sponsor of our race team for next year. I ride with him quite a bit, go to his spin classes and hang out with him from time to time. Generally a very nice guy, at least until today.

I get to the gym and they are getting ready to have a group workout thing. He tells me to jump in so I decided to give it a try. It wasn't really the type workout that I was after but figured what the heck, a nice rest day would be nice. Afterall, it was just a few women and a couple of older (heavier) gentlemen.

Satan (aka Jeremy) hands me two 30 pound dumb bells. He gives everyone else 15 - 25 pounders. I figured how good of a workout could anyone get with 30 pound weights, boy did I find out. The workout conisted of curls, military presses, lunges, and sumo squats. It started off doing one of each, lunges one each leg. Next set was two of each, etc, etc. The goal was to make it to ten of each exercise. By the time I made it to four my legs were starting to cramp up. Five was miserable, six I was seeing stars. At eight all I could do was think about how evil that SOB was. I hated life. I didn't make it to ten. He let me stop at eight, well not exactly stop. Next I did seven, then six, then five, etc, etc.

Needless to say, by the time we were finished I would have loved to have had some five pound weights. Those thirty pounders felt like they weighed 100 pounds each. I dreaded each time he finished his set and handed me the weights.

Once I finished I jumped on the treadmill a few minutes to stretch out a little then I took a shower. After the shower I sat down and I thought my legs were going to fall off. I could barely get out of the chair. My legs were shaking, trying to cramp. I did finally get up and somehow managed to walk to my truck. Getting in it was a real challenge, if that wasn't bad enough each time I pushed in the clutch I felt like screaming. I finally made it to my parking spot at work. Next challenge, walk 1/4 mile from my parking spot to the office. Somehow I made it but I cursed Satan out every step of the way.

Right now I am setting in my chair in ten different types of pain. I can't wait for my next workout. The only thing I look forward to more is the next time we head out for a road ride, I'm picking the route! :D

You catch the biggest looser? Man, the best show ever!

I figured how good of a workout could anyone get with 30 pound weights, boy did I find out. :D

For sure you can get good workout with 30lb dumbbells. I only own two sets of dumbbells 25 and 35lbs and I can blast myself pretty decent with them.

Using this table you can estimate conversion of low-weight and high-rep stuff to the equivalent heavyweight version.



Reps Fraction 1rep max
1 1.000
2 0.972
3 0.945
4 0.917
5 0.889
6 0.861
7 0.833
8 0.806
9 0.778
10 0.750
11 0.722
12 0.694
13 0.667
14 0.639
15 0.611
16 0.583
17 0.555
18 0.528
19 0.500
20 0.472
21 0.444
22 0.416
23 0.389
24 0.361
25 0.333
26 0.305
27 0.277
28 0.250
29 0.222
30 0.194



In theory, to meet Friel’s max strength goals* I would “only” have to squat my 35lb dumbbells 30 times and step up 20 times. Your pyramid set was 64Reps total so if you used a short rest period that is pretty killer.

*Squat goal: 6 reps of 1.3 x Body Weight; Step up goal: 6 reps of 0.7BW

You catch the biggest looser? Man, the best show ever!

Nope, never watched it.

For sure you can get good workout with 30lb dumbbells. I only own two sets of dumbbells 25 and 35lbs and I can blast myself pretty decent with them.

Using this table you can estimate conversion of low-weight and high-rep stuff to the equivalent heavyweight version.

<snip>

*Squat goal: 6 reps of 1.3 x Body Weight; Step up goal: 6 reps of 0.7BW

Thanks for the information, much appreciated!

I was actually able to get a couple of hours of sleep last night, sort of suprised me. Everytime I moved I felt like I had a gremlin in my legs with a jagged knife and a rusty old pair of pliers cutting and ripping at my quads. When I did finally decide to get up I almost collapsed, the level of pain in my legs was amazing. However, none of this pain compared to when I tried lowering myself on to the toilet for my morning visit to the library. I was almost in tears!

By the time I made it to the gym I was convinced that I was nuts, not nearly as convinced as my wife though. I managed to suffer through 30 minutes on the elliptical machine thinking that it might loosen me up a little. It worked for a little while but it didn't last. By the time I made it out of the shower the pain was back. The 1/4 mile walk from my truck to my office just about killed me. The gremlins were back!

Tonights spinning class is going to suck!

I was actually able to get a couple of hours of sleep last night, sort of suprised me. Everytime I moved I felt like I had a gremlin in my legs with a jagged knife and a rusty old pair of pliers cutting and ripping at my quads. When I did finally decide to get up I almost collapsed, the level of pain in my legs was amazing. However, none of this pain compared to when I tried lowering myself on to the toilet for my morning visit to the library. I was almost in tears!

That means it's working :D

I was actually able to get a couple of hours of sleep last night, sort of suprised me. Everytime I moved I felt like I had a gremlin in my legs with a jagged knife and a rusty old pair of pliers cutting and ripping at my quads. When I did finally decide to get up I almost collapsed, the level of pain in my legs was amazing. However, none of this pain compared to when I tried lowering myself on to the toilet for my morning visit to the library. I was almost in tears!

By the time I made it to the gym I was convinced that I was nuts, not nearly as convinced as my wife though. I managed to suffer through 30 minutes on the elliptical machine thinking that it might loosen me up a little. It worked for a little while but it didn't last. By the time I made it out of the shower the pain was back. The 1/4 mile walk from my truck to my office just about killed me. The gremlins were back!

Tonights spinning class is going to suck!

When you reach that level of hurt, gel packs like this rock! Buy like 8-10 of them and spread them all over your legs, focusing on spots warm to the touch. 1-2 sets of 10 min or so and you get superhuman recovery; and it's a lot more comfortable than a ice bath. I love them! So much better than bags of ice or old frozen vegetables etc.

http://www.canadianmoose.com/images/CMGP1_Gel_Pack_-_example_8.jpg

One weight loss pointer you could try is if you do cardio in AM do it w/ just coffer for 1st 30-60 min.

I tried it after reading the bonk training thread and it helped me break throug a stubborn plateau.

On lifting- you should never be that sore as that is more like injury.

Thanks for the tip Enthalpic, I appreciate it. I'm hoping I don't hurt like this again for a while though. The last time I felt this type of pain was when I first started going to the gym three years ago. On my first day I thought that I had better try to keep up with my buddies that had been going there for a year. I found out very quick that was a bad idea, I now always try to take it easy my first few days back after a break. I also found out that no one is impressed with what anyone does at the gym, set your own goals and go after them at your own pace. No one else matters while you are there (within reason of course).

the shark - I appreciate the advice but coffee would send me straight to the emergency room. I'd prefer not to go that route. :)

Last night I made it to spin class, I don't know how though, I was barely able to walk in the building. The only thing that helped me through was that the trainer that had me do all those god forsaken lunges was almost as sore as I was. It's good to know that they didn't just hurt me. :D

Anyway, he is the one that leads the spin class so I couldn't back out. If I did he would make fun of me and call me names. I just can't handle that. ;)

I was able to make it through the spin class. It hurt quite a bit towards the beginning, then towards the middle it started to hurt about the same amount, at the end it let up to the point where it didn't hurt any more or any less than it did when I started. :D Unfortunately my legs wouldn’t let me get my heart rate up like I did in my previous session. I maxed out around 165 bpm which is still in my zone 4. I was able to burn close to 800 calories though so it wasn’t a complete loss. The worst part was at the end when he had us do squat for 30 seconds, then another 30 seconds, then one more for 45 seconds. If I had hair I would have pulled it out at that point, I couldn't have made it much longer.

Once I made it home I had a hamburger to give me a little protein, plus I hadn't eaten nearly enough calories yesterday. After that I started watching the movie Hot Rod until I fell asleep. I woke up this morning still sore, decided that a day away from the gym will be a good thing. I will be leaving work early today to help with the Secret Santa bikes. Our bike club needs to build around 450 bikes this weekend. Should be fun, but I probably won't be able to work out at all today.

Keeping this thread alive helps me to get in the zone! I rode today, it was 55 but still, I need more winter clothes.
:0

I didn't make it out on the bike this weekend but it was still pretty successful. Here's a summary of my weekend.

Friday - I skipped the morning workout, my legs were exhausted from the two workouts on Thursday. I built up 25 bikes for Secret Santa. Then I headed over to the shop, picked up my new computrainer lab. I spent the next couple hours setting it up and did a 3 mile ride on it and a 0.5 mile ride on it just to test it out.

Saturday - I had my first ride on the Computrainer. I decided to try out the Sea Otter race course. The course is 21.8 miles and has a good bit of climbing. I figured this would be a nice test for it. I was instantly amazed by this trainer, it is the least boring trainer I have ever been on. In a way it actually makes training fun. The flats are about like any trainer, the downhills are completely different though, it's actually a lot like riding downhill. The hills, now they are tough! I couldn't believe it but at times I was looking for an easier gear, unfortunately I didn't have it though. Some of the climbs were close to 16% and they actually felt like it.

By the time I finished I had ridden 20.8 miles in 81 minutes, burned 983 calories with an average heart rate of 149 bpm. I had a terrible average wattage though, it was 205 watts. I'm definitely out of shape. According to the computrainer I had 4,866 feet of climbing. It was definitely pretty cool!

Once I finished my workout I had to help the shop owner clear off some land.

Sunday - No ride, went to watch my 12 year old nephew's violin recital. He played a mozart piece and it was beautiful! Did you all realize that these 12 year olds are playing $60,000 violins? I don't want to hear how expensive my toys are anymore!

Monday - This morning I did some circuit training at the gym. Did some squats, hamstring work, quad work, cardio work, curls, shoulder work, etc. Burned 510 calories. This evening I plan on getting on the computrainer.

Just for the heck of it, here is a shot of the computrainer program.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b148/LowCel/001x.jpg

How much is the Computrainer?

How much is the Computrainer?

The Computrainer Lab (http://www.racermateinc.com/compu_lab.asp)like I bought costs $1,699.

Dang. That looks amazing.

Yeah, it is pretty cool. I didn't want to do a real long ride this evening since I worked out at the gym this morning. I jumped on the CompuTrainer website and downloaded one of the hundreds of free courses they have on there. I downloaded the Windach24 course, it was perfect. It is 14.9 miles long, 1469 feet of climbing and only took 43 minutes to ride while burning 566 calories, average heart rate 156. Average watts 220, max 547. It was a perfect workout for a short period of time.

Another positive, it only took about 10 seconds to download the course even though I am stuck with dial up. :D

I found a cool website called Infinit Computrainer Challenge (http://www.nextideas.ca/ct/default.asp)that has different courses every week allowing you to compare your results against others using a Computrainer. The courses are not all races either, some are designed to keep you in a certain power zone so it will help with base training as well.

I did my first course this morning, a lactic threshold test. It hurt like hell! I got out of bed at 5:15, messed around on the computer for a few minutes then warmed up for 15 minutes before calibrating the computrainer. At that point I started the 11.19 mile course. It took me just under 30.5 minutes and let me tell you it hurt! I'm amazed at how much power I have lost after pretty much taking two months off. I'm also a little concerned at how much difference there is in the readings of my power tap and the computrainer.

Anyway, according to my pt my threshold was 265 (was 297). According to the computrainer my new threshold is 245 watts. I'm sure that will go up pretty quick now that I am back to training but it is still slightly depressing. My average heart rate was only 158 bpm, I'm just not able to push myself as hard as I would like right now. My previous threshold heart rate was 167 bpm.

I really look forward to watching my numbers come up, I think it is going to be kind of interesting to see how quick (or slow) they increase.

I won't be doing any more workouts today, I am going out to dinner with some co-workers and a sells rep. Tomorrow morning I will do a leg workout then if I am able I will get back on the computrainer tomorrow evening.

Time for another update. Unfortunately dinner did not go to well last night, I may have enjoyed myself a little too much with the soft shelled crab, the $40 filet mignon, the corona's, and the vodka. Oh, and a piece of chocolate seduction cake. Other than that I did great though! :D

Today was a new day though. I woke up to snow on the ground and two groundhogs fighting each other inside my head. I still managed to make myself go to the gym for 35 minuts on the elliptical machine though resulting in a little over 300 calories burned.

This evening I came home from work and jumped on the computrainer. Tonights workout was an 18 mile course with some mild climbs. The goal was to say in zone 2. I managed to say there almost 100% of the time. I ended up completing the course in 59:58. Just under an hour. :D I burnt 646 calories, average hr was 137 bpm, av wattage was 180.

All in all I would say it was a successful day.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b148/LowCel/001-9.jpg

nice work so far. that computrainer looks to be the the BOMB! :) very cool. later.

Looks like I am going to be taking an involutary break from my training plan. Hopefully it is just a matter of days but it could be a matter of weeks or possibly over a month. I'm heading to a doctor at 2:00 today so I will find out more.

The good news, I did have a good training day on Thursday. I went to the gym that morning and had a great workout. That evening I went to spin class and really enjoyed myself. Total for the day was about 1400 calories burned. Not too shabby.

The next three days I spent on the couch. Unfortunately it wasn't a muscle injury or anything that nice. Anyway, hopefully I'll be updating this in the very near future.

Good luck. Flexibility in training is important...at least that's what the training bible tells me. ;)

Nothing like that. Basicly, I have a hemorrhoid the size of a little toe coming out of my bum. I don't think flexibility would have helped much with this one. :(

Ouch! Heal well and soon.

I just got home from the doctor. Apparently it was a good thing that it ruptured, that kept him from having to stick a needle in it to numb it and then cutting a slit in it. He said that it ruptured perfectly, actually looked cut. All he had to do was stick his fingers up there and rip out the blood clot. I assure you it was not pain free!

Now, I have to go back three times to get a treatment called infrared coagulation to prevent future hemorrhoids from coming for a visit. :D

Just a little update, I've decided not to rush back into training so I plan on taking the rest of the week off just to make sure everything is healing properly. Not to mention, it still freaking hurts! I'm hoping I can possibly get a ride in this weekend but if I don't I'm not going to get too upset about it.

Sounds like a real pain in the as$.

Eat some dynamite hot chicken wings for supper. ;)

More seriously you may want to consider increasing the amount of fiber and magnesium in your diet.

More seriously you may want to consider increasing the amount of fiber and magnesium in your diet.

Indeed, it's also a good boost to weight loss. Plus it allows you to time constitutionals down to the minute :D

How much is the Computrainer?

I just ordered the lab model. Thanks for the info LowCel. :)

I eat and eat and eat and eat eat and eat and eat and eat eat and eat and eat and eat eat and eat and eat and eat eat and eat and eat and eat eat and eat and eat and eat

Time for a bit of an update. Last week I finally made it back to the gym but only once. Things kept coming up, I guess that happens around the holidays. However, I did finally manage to get back on the road bike. I went out for about 21 miles Friday afternoon and it felt great! That was my first road ride since October 4th. The following day (Saturday) I went out and did 24.5 miles. I would have done more but I had family in. I took yesterday off for family duties and then went for another 25 mile ride today. I'm feeling pretty good but my heart is pounding on the climbs!

Anyway, it's great to be back on the bike. Now it's time to start getting some base miles in. Last January I got in 462.6 miles. I'm hoping to beat that this year. As long as I can keep my head in the right place I'll be alright.

Just got back from the gym and while I was there I decided to have my body scanned again. I wish I would have skipped on that. Apparently taking the time off during my little "pain in the arse" plus eating like a pig over the past couple of weeks was a bad thing. My bf% actually went up 0.6%. The good news is that my lean muscle has also gone up a good bit which will be a nice plus once I start losing the fat. Current weight is a whopping 195 pounds! :eek:

Anyway, I figured I might as well post the bad as well as the good.

On a side note, I had a good workout this morning. I did some upperbody and spent 30 minutes on the elliptical. I burnt a total of about 500 calories. I'm hoping to get on the computrainer this evening for at least an hour. Have to wait and see though since it's my sister-in-laws birthday I may have to alter my plans.