I was Assessed...

As I told you guys in my last post, I have started working out with a trainer twice a week. It is something I have always wanted to do, so I finally pulled the trigger and signed up. I let her know what I wanted to accomplish and that I wanted the exercises we do to benefit my triathlons, and she said she could come up with a plan which is always exciting! However, with the start of any plan, you need to be able to have a starting point, a place of measurement for lack of a better term, a way to tell how much progress you have made throughout the workouts, so we started with the dreaded health assessment.

 Remember, I have basically been fat and happy through November and December, so I was not looking forward to this.

 THE ASSESSMENT

 It started with blood pressure. Yawn, boring, then we went to measure my bicep strength. Now we are all friends and I can be honest on here right? Well my bicep strength ranged in the poor ranking. "James, your bicep strength is considered when measure against other makes your age" Quote. I decided to tell myself that luckily triathlons do not require a lot of bicep strength to make me feel better but it was still embarrassing to hit anything in the poor category, so there goes my arm wrestling career. Next up, flexibility.

Oh great!

 Flexible is not a word used to describe me, in any way. So I was not looking forward to doing the Sit & Reach assessment at all. So what it is basically is that you sit on the floor, legs forward and see if you can reach past your toes. I was hoping to make it to my toes honestly, however, I was genuinelly surprise that I scored a 10.5, which places me int he fair category! Yeah , not bad, even went past my toes, and then I could still get up and walk around! Next up was Body Composition.

Sighhhhhhhhhhhh

This is the one I have been dreading. I know I have gained some pounds and I really wanted to skip this instead of hearing someone say "you weighed in at XXXlbs and have XXX% body fat" because then I would hear the unsaid whispered barbs "you really did a 140.6? what did you do waddle all the way to the finish line? more like aluminum man than Ironman!" Now I know that my trainer would in no way ever think those words, but I did. So here are my body composition numbers: Remember I did Redman at 183 lbs

Body Weight: 196 lbs 
Lean Body Mass: 166 lbs 
Fat Mass: 30 lbs 
Body Fat percentage: 15.3%

Yessssssssssssssssss! I was thrilled and shocked. I am only .2 away form the low category! I wasn't happy about the 13 lbs I have picked up, but I was relieved that was all. I was actually expecting to be in the 25% BF category, so this was good news. This was news that made me want to eat right and jump into my training. As a matter of fact, I was so excited that I just had to do the Dougie, so I jumped on my bike...

Next post will be more about Monster rope workouts, my love/hate relationship.

I'm Bringing Sexy Back & I know It!

This is how I feel at the weight room

As I alluded to in my last post, I will be working with a trainer in 2014, well at least for the first couple of months anyways. So just beware, I am Bringing Sexy Back!!! (My wife says it never left, at least that is what I interpret her saying when she says I got fluffy) This has put me in a very thought provoking frame of mind, or an uneasy mindset. I am not really afraid about working out with somebody, it's more of the fact that I do not see myself as a weight room type of guy. I am not a weight room loving, lifting weights in the mirror, sleeveless hooded sweatshirt wearing, yelling at myself type of dude! I honestly couldn't tell you the last time I was in a weight room... maybe in college? I am not sure. I walk by the machines and I really have no idea what I am suppose to be working on some of them, so my trainer's work is cut out for her!

I know this will help me greatly in my racing. I know I need a stronger core, and as I learned from last year, doing 10,000 crunches over a couple months did not give me the benefit I was looking for. I know I want to get stronger but not bigger, so basically I am looking to get lean. Which is exactly what I told my trainer, and her response was, well that also comes from diet!  Whoaaa!!! I do not want anyone messing with my diet! I recently read where some dude lost 40 lbs by only eating at McDonalds!!! (2 all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun!!!)  So I am assuming I will really need to eat better and healthier, and I should since I am paying for this.

And you know that the best way to get motivated for any race is to pay the entry fee, I am all in. I am ready for Bosu balls (I think, sounds a little scary), ropes, body weight activities, kettle ball, medicine ball and stability balls. I will be sure and whine blog about my workouts, to keep everyone up to speed, and give you fair warning, cause summer will be here before you know it!

A Speedo on the beach this year!!!!

This Time is For Real! I Mean it!

I am serious this time. I have started mentoring a group on BeginnerTriathlete.com with Bradleyd3 from Brad's Ironman Journey. The group has been really cool and we have all levels of triathletes that have joined, so it will be great encouraging, answering questions and watching them hit their goals for the race season. So we decided as a group to have a group challenge for February. Several ideas were kicked around, but we came up with a core/ab challenge for February.

So what does that mean? It means that I (along with the others member of the group) will be selecting either a number of crunches we will commit do doing in the month of February, or we will commit to a certain numbers of minutes spent planking! Simple enough right? Well the hard part is coming up with that number or that time goal! So that is my struggle right now.

This idea came to me when my bride said her trainer challenged her to do 1000 crunches by their next session, which will be Monday. That works out to 250 crunches a day. That's a lot of crunches, but my bride can totally do it, so that has definitely influenced my choice between the two options.

Another blog I read always talks about doing core work. The author is a marathon runner, fast marathon runner that also does a huge focus on core work. I know that a strong core will really help me when I S/B/R. According to their blog, they do a ton of planking and crunches to strengthen their core and help them run better. So I have been really thinking over my goal for February in regards to the group, and based on the challenge my bride accepted, I think know I can get her to join me, so I really have some accountability going on up here! So with all that, I say this:

My goal is going to be 7,000 crunches in the month of February. That breaks out to 250 a day (which will have to be split up, I can't do all that in one session), or 1750 a week. My plan involves doing 250 in the morning and 250 in the evening, alternating every other day. I have no idea if this is doable or not, but in my head I am totally going to rock this. Regular crunches, side crunches, crunches with a stability ball will all count.

I am also going to photograph my before and after shots to see if I can see any difference! (and I better after 7,000 crunches!) So, I know what you are thinking, but to afraid to ask... I do not know if I will post them on the blog or not. Maybe is all I am ready to commit to at this time.

So throw the cokes out the window, start drinking tons of water, getting plenty of sleep, eating smartly and continuing on my training plan, and I "should" be ready by the time May gets here!