Rebuild 4-4

So after hitting the snooze button on my alarm for almost an hour, I decided I should finally get up and knock out these intervals. It was 6:30 am, I'm slowly inching myself closer to the "normal morning," which I find kind of cool in a way. I guess I'm not so worried about people watching me spratically run down the street anymore. Whatevs.

So I did one more two minute run than last time, which was pretty cool. I sort of ignore the pain about half way through the process, then it's just killing time listening to the podcast, while I watch the stop watch casually. It still gets my heart-rate up, I guess I just get into the zone. I realize that I'm traversing two miles by doing these intervals, which is pretty sweet. In the near future, I may trying running from 8 to 9 Mile Road in one run. I haven't ran a solid mile since fourth grade or something, which took about 8 minutes back in the day. I may try that tomorrow, I'm feeling that I can do it. I know I can. So Friday I'll up the 2 minute runs from eight to ten, and then next week I'll start at 7 again, but this time - THREE minute runs. I know, intense.

Did some DDR today as well, for an hour or so of cardio. Burnt about 500 calories, so says the workout mode. Pretty cool, I can see the DDR becoming an every day thing, maybe replacing the bike on some days (like today). That's all for now. Peace!

Diet:
Water
Vitamin
Bowl of Cereal
PB&J Sandwich
Milk
Some Baked Beans
Cheez-Its
V8 Fusion

Rebuild 4-3

Rode bike for an hour today. DDR for two hours. Word.

Diet:
Yoplait Yogurt - 100 calories
Bowl of Cereal w/ fat free milk - 190 calories
2 servings: Cheez-its - 600 calories
PB&J w/ whole wheat - 350 calories
8 oz. fat free milk - 90 calories
Water - 0 calories
22 oz. Arizona Green Tea - 210 calories
8 oz. V8 Fusion - 120 calories
Vitamin
Total - 1660 calories

Rebuild 4-2

Pretty intense, although cut short due to rain.

Intervals today, Looked overcast so I brought my hoodie along with me, and I used the stopwatch feature on my iPod, for the first time in history. I ran around the block but then proceeded on further, and hit 9 Mile Road, before turning back. When I hit my sixth run it started to rain, by the time I got back home, I was soaked.

Run 1: 2:02 Rest 1: 1:00
Run 2: 2:00 Rest 2: 1:01
Run 3: 2:00 Rest 3: 1:00
Run 4: 2:01 Rest 4: 1:00
Run 5: 2:00 Rest 5: 1:00
Run 6: 2:00 Rest 6: 1:00
Run 7: 2:00 Walk: 10:00
Total Time: 30:04

Went shopping for food shortly after, picked up a nifty pair of shorts while out. Picked up DDR as well, Did an hour worth of cardio on that. That's about it. Later.

Diet:
Bowl of Cereal
PB&J
Milk
V8 Fusion
Beef Stew
Cheez-its
Water
Vitamin

Rebuild 4-1

So my tower of endless determination and positivity could have quite possibly toppled over today. Rick spent the night and all that, and I weigh myself in the morning, only to realize that I still weigh 195 lbs. I know weight isn't necessarily an accurate representation of how much fat I'm burning -- as I'm more than likely gaining muscle every day -- but it's still a bit depressing. I'm just going to keep pushing on however, as best I can. PUSH IT TO THE MAX, like Brucie.

So I woke up at 6:30 this morning, and didn't feel like going out and exercising, to spare my friend from confusion, as he would undoubtedly wake up and wonder where I had gone to. BUT, that doesn't mean I neglected my training for today. NO WAY, never again will I skip a day of cardio - I know the consequences.

Around 11:30 Rick had left for his Mother's baby shower, and that meant that it was on. I geared up and hopped on that bike, and I rode like the wind. Took about 80-85 minutes this time, not necessarily taking my time but just going with the flow, pushing myself a fair bit along the way. Rode to a couple familiar places, picked up a green tea on the way back, from 7 Eleven (since I don't believe in paying $1.25 for a bottle of water). It was definitely an invigorating experience, riding at high noon. It was a bit hot, but not unbearably so, and the combination of the summer breeze and the rays of the sun, was definitely refreshing. I might opt to do cardio around this time more often, on the non-interval days.

So I got home and then just felt like riding my bike some more, so I rode up to my Grandma's, and basically just chatted it up with her for a while, and she gave me some money, which was very nice of her. I said I'd cut the grass for her if she ever needed it, etc. So then I ride to 7 Eleven again and get a Gatorade, and I'm on my way back home. Overall, a great day for cardio. That bank card should get here soon enough, and I should be able to purchase DDR, for even more cardio throughout the day. I know it seems ridiculous but I really want to shed off the pounds, pounds of fat anyway. A little muscle is obviously welcome. So I imagine I'm going to be bumping up cardio to two hours in one day, once I get that in the hizzy. Hour on bike/interval, hour on the ddr. Pumped.

I'm definitely watching the portions that I eat from now on, no two sandwiches at a time, only one. Things like that. I know I'm strong enough to do this, and the fact that not really anyone believes me really just drives me to prove them wrong. It might take more than six months, I might be talking about this come next June, but I'm getting genetically superior, whether you like it or not world.

P.S. This will be the last week where I blog about my experience every day. I will instead be referring to an Excel sheet for the specifics. I will still post every week and recap my experiences, and my progress. I know not really anyone reads this, but I need online documentation to further drive myself. Think of how pumped I'll be when I'm reading this a year from now - like, yeah past mike, GO FOR IT. Since I'm paranoid about my weight I won't be doing any bodyweight training today. I know I'm lame. It'll give my arms time to rest anyway. Talk to you G's tomorrow!

Diet for Today
----------------
Big Breakfest (Eggs, Hashbrown, Bacon)
Footlong Sub
Green Tea
Gatorade
Water
Vitamin

Feel Good 3-7

Last day of the week. YEAH. One more week to make it a month of work. I'm pumped.

So I rode the bike for 60 minutes today, Rode up to Target on 11 Mile & Dequindre and then turned back. Was good, listened to the Giant Bombcast Metal Gear Spoiler Edition while riding.

Washing clothes, and probably hanging out today. That's it! Rest of the day is a easy day. Talk to you NEXT WEEK.

Diet for Today
---------------
3x PB&J
Cookie
Some Soup
Water
Vitamin

Feel Good 3-6

Approaching the end of the week, today is Friday so I did my tri-weekly intervals as planned. 2 minutes of run, 1.5 minutes of walk. Did that five times, then on the sixth run I made it 2.5 minutes, by that time I was pretty much back up my driveway.

So that took a good 21 minutes or so, the rest of the hour I rounded out with the bike. I rode in a wide circle around the city, not necessarily hitting any destinations, but just turning around to reverse the circle at 20 minutes. So that took up the rest of the 40 minutes, and was pretty lax, since I was pretty winded after the intervals.

After that, I fed the cats and all that good stuff, then started on my push-ups. It was considerably harder today, but I managed to hit 130 today. I pushed myself as hard as I could to hit the first set of 70, then followed up with 35. Then I did 25 elevated push-ups, and that completed my upper workout. I then did approximately 601 crunches, in 300-301 fashion. I opted to skip out of legwork today, since I had done that running, my legs were super tired. But I feel like I did my job, and that's what matters. I'm pretty exhausted, and will ONLY be doing cardio tomorrow, nothing else. In fact, I think I'm going to take a nap for 3 hours or so. Then I'll probably hang out with some peeps. Later!

Diet for Today
----------------
Protein Shake
PB&J
Cheeseburger
DQ Blizzard
Water
Vitamin

Feel Good 3-5

So I opted to sleep in until 6 this morning, so I could get a decent 8 hours or so. Didn't do all that much today, just rode the bike up to the park, and rode around on the bike paths there, then I rode up to 7 eleven. Only did about 45 minutes today, just wasn't feeling it like most days. It'll be nice when I pick up that DDR, so I can do cardio on top of cardio.

So I did just upper body today, did 125 push-ups. 70-30-25, the last 25 being elevated. Pretty cool that I keep pushing my max set by 10. I wonder if I can hit 80 tomorrow? Who knows, I counted to 25, started counting to 25 again, then counted to 10 twice. That's how I paced it, just in case I wanted to stop at 50 or 60. In a couple weeks I can guarantee that I'll be able to do 100 consecutive push-ups. It's a bold claim I know, but I'll show you.

So after about three weeks of training, "Ninja Warrior" training, as Joe calls it, I feel like I'm comfortable enough to realize what I can and cannot do. I'm going to be sticking to a scheudle starting next week, which includes Cardio x7 (times a week), Intervals x3, upper body x5-6. core x4, and lower body x3. I'll divulge the specifics when the time comes. By the start of next month that would be a milestone, and I'll probably chart my eating as well. Nothing too ridiculous, just counting how many calories I consume, along with protein and carbs, in a day - along with how many I (theoretically) burn, to maintain about 30% below maitenence consumption. Cool stuff, it's fun to geek out on something like this, keeps me driven.

If I continue to lose about 2-3 lbs. a week or about 10 lbs. a month, it seems ridiculous, but I would be down to about 160 in a little more than 3 months from this very day. That's inspirational, if anything. Although I'm sure I'll hit a weight loss stand-still. I have to be putting on muscle at the same time. But as long as there are visible results, I'm fine with trading fat for muscle.

I get excessively tired right around this time every day. It's probably because I don't do much else besides the exercising within a day. Sure Joe came over yesterday and prevented me from going to sleep, but who's going to save me now? I may have to just go on a long walk or something, do something outside. If that DDR was here I could just be jamming out on that all day, unlocking songs, and burning calories without even noticing. I'm pumped, that's the last piece of the cardio puzzle. I'm done jabbering, until tomorrow, good blog.

Diet for Today
---------------
PB&J x2
Milk
Vitamin Water
Water
Vitamin

Feel Good 3-4

Alright! So I took a day off from the intervals, as I got my new stuff the other day.

I rode my bike for about an hour, my NEW bike...and it rides pretty darn good. A fair bit lighter than my old mongoose, despite having pegs on it (which I could do without, it's not like I use them). Rode in some random direction and ended up hitting 11 Mile anyways, then went past Mound Road and somehow ended up on Sherwood. Didn't know what direction I was traveling in, but luckily I eventually hit 9 Mile, I could have been going the wrong way, for how much I knew about my current location. It was definitley refreshing to ride the bike, took me a couple minutes to get back in the swing of things though, it was harder initially than I remember. Tomorrow I might use my in-line skates, or if I do interval training before, I'll just ride the bike again afterwards.

So I opened up a checking account the other day, when I went to cash this check. I had to put a minimum of $50 in the account, so that's exactly what I did. I can't purchase DDR at the moment because of this, because I don't get the checking card for 7-10 days in the mail. Once I get that, I'll combine the $50 in my wallet with whatever else I need from the account, to buy it. Might buy a used older version, like the first Supernova, and buy the pad seperately. Just need something with the workout mode. That'll be a totally new spin on cardio, I'm personally excited. My ex has both the DDR pads and the game in Texas, and the funny thing is, I DOUBT she even plays it. Man, makes me mad. That's a wasted investment. I probably shouldn't have left her half of my damn games, because the only game she cares about is World of Warcraft.

But yeah, after the cardio, I did the exercising. 120 pushups for today, 60-40-20 fashion. I broke 50 in one set! YEAH. The last 20 were elevated pushups, which felt pretty good. Crunches I did 300-200. That was pretty intense as well. Then I did week 1 of Air Alert III, the leg training program. I'm spent. Thinking about doing upper body stuff every day, just the pushups at least...I seem to be getting noticably stronger.

That's about all for now, hopefully I won't take a huge nap today, but we'll see how things go. Off to take a shower. Later.

Diet for Today
---------------
Muscle Milk
Powerade
x2 PB&J
Chicken Sandwich
Cookie
Milk
Cheezits
Burrito
Water
Vitamin

Feel Good 3-3

So I woke up about 5:30 this morning, and got ready to go run a bit. I did more interval training, this time increasing the running to 2 minutes, while keeping the rests at 1 1/2 minutes. Did four of those, then did one run for 3 minute, and walked back to my house. I've been running just around my block, but I've been thinking about running in one direction, and then just walking my way back. This would burn more time, if I spent 30 minutes interval training, going north, it would probably take me 45 to walk back. This would make it like a full cardio workout, plus interval training. I'm thinking...

I will continue to up the ante with each day I interval train, be it increasing reps, extending running time, or shortening resting time. When I run in one direction, I may not look at time at all, and instead run for as LONG as I can, and then rest for 2 or 3 minutes, then continue to do that until I'm completely burnt out.

Whereever I decide to go with this, it's irrelevant at the moment. I have to cash this check I got today, and go to the Dick's Sporting Goods and pick up some in-line skates, and probably a bike. I've been looking at this sweet mongoose on their website for about $130, and these K2 skates for $80 or so.

Did 70 pushups today, 50 were elevated. I would thrust away as hard as possible, so my hands would leave the surface, then land back down. Elevated pushups are a different kind of burn, not as hard to begin with, but I couldn't see myself doing 100 of them. The joints in my legs are pretty sore, I'm not used to the impact running brings me. That's all for all. Out.

Diet for Today
---------------
Footlong Sub (Subway)
Water
Vitamin Water
Orange Drink
Vitamin

Feel Good 3-2

Well, today I almost did nothing. I felt really bad too, but I was still tired and wanted to sleep more. So I end up waking up at 6:30 or something, and I say what the hell Mike, get out there and do something. So I did interval training like I was supposed to, and I did it for the same lengths that I had last week. 1.5-1.5 x4, 2-1 x1. I'll gradually push it up to another two sets or maybe change it to 2 minutes of running, by the end of the week. I'm really just trying to hold out until I get that government check so I can go by some rollerblades and other stuff, so I can do something BESIDES interval training. I know it can't be bad to do it every day, but it's FAIRLY exhausting, and I'd like to take days off from it and do something more casual. But yeah, felt real good, despite doing it in a bit more sun than usual.

Did 100 pushups, this time in 40-30-20-10 fashion. I could have probably done 50 pushups in one go, which is pretty sweet to me, I'm definitley progressing. I then did 200 crunches, in 100-100 fashion. I didn't feel like overdoing it in that respect, but yeah. Feels good man, real good.

Still haven't eaten anything, besides that vitamin, I don't have any milk to mix the protein drink, and I'm sure it's going to taste like ass if I use water - so I might hold out for a couple days on that. I'm glad I decided to push through and not be a chump today, after those two days of rest, it was definitley hard to get back in the mix. But here I am, another day feeling good. I'm out.

Diet for Today
---------------
x2 PB&J
Cheez-its
Yakisoba
Vitamin Water
Water
Vitamin