The Weekly Wrap: Injuries are part of the Journey

 Monday morning came around. I was going to do the 300 workout and run, but my back started feeling tight during the deadlifts, so I cut the reps to 25 instead of 50. Then, during the box jumps, my back completely tightened up. Cramps and knots blasted swiftly through the lower left portion of my back. I could barely take a breath. So I stayed still, my breathing came back soon enough, and I attempted to relax.

After a few minutes rest, I determined I would be able to accomplish little more lifting, but I have usually been able to run with a tight back, and it tended to help. Well, the last three days have consisted of a few runs, ab focused posture exercises, and a yoga ball. I have essentially taken the week off from working out more than a cursory amount.

After three days of merely running and stretching, I took it up a notch on Thursday. My back felt good, so I decided to do a pull up focused workout before lunch. It was sets of 12, 16, 11, 10, 14, 10, with 2 minutes rest between each set. It was difficult, but I did it. I then did a pushup work out after lunch with sets of 20, 35, 50, 45, 40, 30. It was very challenging to complete the last two sets with good form and cadence, and a lot of it went out the window. 

Friday morning, I did the same workout as last Thursday. Given my back is still a bit tight, I did not want to commit to a full Murph, so I did the Tellior WOD. For those who forgot, it is...

10 burpees

10 burpees, 25 Pushups

10 burpees, 25 Pushups, 50 walking lunges

10 burpees, 25 Pushups, 50 walking lunges, 100 sit ups

10 burpees, 25 Pushups, 50 walking lunges, 100 sit ups, 150 squats

Last week I set a new PR by squeaking under 20 minutes, but today I completed it in 18:30. At this point in time, I am making sure my reps pass a gym teacher's requirements, but it is likely time to focus on great reps instead of speed. I also had another go at the pull up workout (12, 16, 11, 10, 14, 10) with 2 minutes between sets. It seemed easier this time already. 

Diet has been pretty good, though still not great. We had two ice cream socials through our kids activities this week (a yard game, end of summer bash, and our kiddos are starting up baseball again). Other than that, a lot of chicken, salads, some enchiladas, and a lot of yogurt. My weight has dropped from a weekly average of about 190 two weeks ago to 186.5 last week to an average of 185.6 this week. Losing 6lbs in the first week would be awesome, so I just need to lose a little bit more this next week and I will be down to low 180's again! If I can then lose 3lbs in September, I would be likely under 180 by the time mid-October rolls around, and at a really good weight for another attempt at an official Murph time. 

The Weekly Wrap: Returning to the Schedule

 This week has been all about getting back into the swing of things as I did them before; structure and schedule. While I did not fully follow it, I did get up to workout most morning this work week, which is more than I have gotten up for an early workout since we left for our trip out west two months ago. 

Monday I was to complete the 300 (25 pull ups, 50 deadlifts of 135lbs, 50 pushups, 50 2' box jumps, 50 floor wipers of 135lbs, 50 clean and press with 36lbs weight, 25 pullups). As I had not done this workout in months, I opted for the 150 (25 of each movement, but splitting the pullups 15 to start, 15 to end, so really 155). I completed the workout in 6:30, which was quite good. The thing I really like about this workout is how it splits upper and lower exercise well, but is a whole body workout. By the end of the 300, arms, back, abs, and legs are all fatigued.

The next morning (Tuesday), I intended to do 150/5k/150, but it took me longer to complete the first 150 (an extra minute), and my 5k was acceptable, but slow. I did not do the second 150 as I needed to get to work. 

Wednesday morning, I did my first speed workout in months. 90 seconds fast, 75 seconds rest, repeated 8 times. I averaged about 415-425 meters per 90 second run, which is again acceptable, but not great. I am basically at where I was 3 months ago. This speed work is part of a 6 week program I utilized before, and I am optimistic it will work quite well for me again. I was able to run a 5:36 mile this summer, and I am hoping for a small improvement on that time before the end of September. 

Thursday, I did the Workout of the Day (WOD) Zachary Tellior. I have only done this one a few times before, and it is taxing. It is broken into 5 progressively more challenging sets. 10 burpees/ 10 burpees, 25 pushups/ burpees, pushups, 50 lunges/ burpees, pushups, lunges, 100 sit ups/ burpees, pushups, lunges, sit ups, 150 squats. 650 reps in all. When I did this workout in June, and it took me over 25 minutes. It took me just under 20 minutes this time. A great improvement. 

Friday, I did a Murph. The form for my pullups was atrocious, though, as the monkey bars are too thin and the frame for them is too thick. I really need to fix my form on that. Even so, it took me 6:45 to run the first mile, 15 second transition, then 14 minutes to complete the reps and transition back to running, then 7:23 for the last mile. Total time of 28:23, just slower than my best. However, again, my pullup for was BAD!!! I need to do some really high intensity pullup workouts to get better at them, and do tons of additional back and shoulder exercises to supplement the pullups. 

Diet wise, I have done acceptably as well. Thursday last week I was 191lbs, and Thursday this week I was in the 185s. Granted, I weighed in at 187 this morning, so I think there was a lot of water weight missing when I stepped on at 185. I have been alternating between intermittent fasting (basically just skipping breakfast) and not. Also, I have eaten more veggies via salads, spaghetti squash, and zucchini this week. Most days, one of my meals has also consisted entirely of Greek yogurt and fruit, which is lighter and gives me ample proteins. This Saturday, though, my daughter is being baptized, so we will be having a party or sorts. Going to test and see how well cheat days work for a 30 year old.

In addition, I was able to have a successful week while also working a lot on the basement bedroom we are building. We have completed studding the walls, removed the drop ceiling, installed light fixtures, switches, and outlets, hung the door, re-hung the door, and are almost done with drywalling the walls and ceiling at this point. After that, we spackle and paint (two tasks with long wait time between duties), then the flooring, which we have already done a few floors, so we are not too concerned with that task. We are really looking forward to completing the basement so we can finally finish organizing all our tools, opening up space to organize our workout area (next to storage, laundry, and the HVAC). And our son is really excited to move in. 

Stream of Strain

I found an unpublished blog detailing my workouts from early April to early June. I will publish it because it gives me a good barometer when comparing in the future for PRs.

Early April (can’t recall the day), I did a new Tabata based body weight workout. It involved 20 seconds on/10 seconds off super setting pullups, pushups, squats, and sit ups, for 8 sets of the circuit. I initially focused on getting reps of 8 pullups, 16 pushups, 24 squats, and 12 sit ups. This was taxing, but not challenging, so about halfway through I upped it to 10 pullups, 20 pushups, and 15 sit ups. In all, I completed 524 reps. My goal is to complete sets of 12 pull ups, 25 pushups, 25 squats, and 16 sit ups, for a total of 624 reps.

4/12/21 – Cindy Murph (no vest) – This was the first time I did the Murph in this specific style. There is a set of monkey bars exactly 1 mile from my driveway, so I run to it, perform my pullups on the monkey bars, the pushups on the wood chips, and the squats under the bars. The first mile took me just about 7:15 (I took it easier than needed), and then I found there was some wasted time as I got ready for the reps. I started timing the next workout on my watch, which took almost 15 seconds, cleaned off the dew from the bar so I wouldn’t slip, and started the interval timer on my phone. It was wasted time. The reps took me 13:48 to complete, and the run home was about 8 minutes. In all, it took me 29:25 to complete, a new PR.

4/15/21 – 5 mile run – Nothing fancy here, just a run, completed in 36:04. Not great, but not bad considering I have only just started running again after a year of just a 2 or 3 runs of under 2 miles in a month, and nothing through winter.

4/21/21 – Pacer – Set my new adult high of 100 reps. Still a long way to go, here. And, I realized, I now weigh 35lbs more than I did in high school, which means I am doing okay.

4/22/21 – 300 – The floor wipers were excruciating this time through. I haven’t focused on ab workouts at all through the pandemic, so it was nearly disastrous for me. I completed the workout in 17:50, but then spent 15 minutes almost puking due to the exertion.

4/22/21 – Speed – My first speed workout of the new mile training program I am using. 8x90 seconds with 75 seconds rest. I ended up running about 415 meters into the wind and 430 meters with the wind. Pretty decent, but a long way to go.

4/24/21 – 5 mile – Again, nothing fancy. Started with a big downhill, ended going up the same hill. 34:40 for a sub 7 minute pace. 

4/26/21 – Pull-Push-Sit-Squat Tabata - I completed the Tabata workout noted earlier again this week, finishing with 76 pullups, 180 pushups, 192 squats, and 128 sit ups or 576 reps, a respectable improvement.

4/27/21 – Speed – Cold and windy, this did not go well. 5x60 seconds with 60 seconds rest, 3 minute rest, then 8x30 seconds with 30 seconds rest. My average distance was about 280 meters for the 60 seconds, and about 150-160 for the 30 seconds. Not terrible, but way off where I will need to get to reach my goals.

4/29/21 – 10k – I went out to run an easy-ish 10k as I was not feeling all that great, and ended in a time of 44:52. I once again ran a big downhill to start and up is to finish. Even with that, though, I ran a negative split; 22:56 out, 21:56 back.

4/30/21 – Cindy Murph (no vest) – Same strategy as before; to the monkey bars, reps, and back. This time, the run took me 6:30 out and 7:15 back, shaving off nearly 1:30 of running time. However, it somehow took me even more time to go from run to reps, and YET MORE to go from reps to run. While I set a new PR on both the reps alone (13:20) and the total Murph (28:20), I wasted 30 seconds getting ready for the first pullups, and 45 seconds from the last squat to running again. I anticipate dropping another 45 seconds running and 20 seconds on the reps, so if I can cut the wasted time in half I will be doing an amazing job.

5/4 – 5 Mile 33:23. This is a pretty good time. I was surprised by this one, but I think something bad happened after this; I got arrogant. I didn’t do anything for a week, and at the end of that week I had gained near 10 lbs and stepped on the scale to see 196.6. Not good at all.

5/10 – 5x90 (90 seconds rest), 3 Min, 5x90 (75 seconds rest). Most of my distances on this run were over 400, but many were not over by much. I had a few at 440 meters or more, but most were only about 415 meters.

5/11 – 4 mile run, 28:20. Again, I think the weight got to me. Also, I had started wearing new shoes, and my feet HURT. Also, it was hot, and a rare afternoon run.

5/13 – Distance Medley (1000 meters, Rest, 800 meters, Rest, 600 meters, Rest, 400 meters) My time were pretty good here. 3:31, 2:46, 2:02, 1:16.Well paced as each 200 meters less lost 45 seconds.

5/17 – Multiple sets of pushups to failure. Just trying to get ready for high volume pushups for the Murph. Highest set was 57, lowest was 50. Did 5 sets.

5/18 – 5x20, 135lbs squats. Again, trying to get ready for a high volume of squats by adding weight and keeping rest times small.

5/19 – Weight pullups to failure/Pullups to failure/Ring Rows to failure. Getting my pullups ready to Murph. I wore a 30lbs back pack, did pullups (usually about 12), took of the pack (8 pullups), then rows (5).

5/20 – 10 Minute Max Distance. I ran 1.69 miles, or a 5:56 pace on my 10 minute run. Good, but not great for my expectations moving forward.

5/21 – Did a Cardio workout, but cannot recall what it was... I should keep record as I work out, not a month later

5/24 – Mile Time Trial. I went to a local park and ran my time trial. It didn’t feel great, but my finishing time of 5:36 exceeded expectations. I was very glad to do as well as I did.

5/25 – Tabata Biking. 1:30 slow, 30 seconds hard. Repeat. I did 9 sets. If I recall correctly, a study found this workout 4 times a week was as beneficial to a 10k race as actually running 5-10 miles 5 times a week.

5/28 – 10 pullups/ 20 pushups/ 30 squats, x6. Again, getting ready to Murph, I wanted a higher rep count, fewer sets to challenge me a bit more.

5/29 – MURPH. I wore the vest, and kept my set range at 5/10/20x15, 5/10x5. Basically kept to the Cindy sets. I finished in 33:13. My goal for this year was 34:30, so better than I planned! I was really glad to be able to raise funds for both HOOAH, a non-profit helping Service members, their families, and veterans, as well as the Murph Scholarship. I intend on fund raising over a longer term for next year.  

5/31 – Not an actual workout, but we went for a family hike, and it help get some of the soreness out.

6/1 – MtnTough 22’s. After doing the Murph, this workout still seems insanely hard. Run 800 meters, do 20 jumping lunges, 2 pushup. 18 Jump lunges, 4 pushup… 2 jumping lunges, 20 pushups. Run 800 meters. 20 jump squats, 2 Renegade rows (pushup row L, row R) 18/2… 2/20. Run 800 meters. This took me nearly 43 minutes. BUT, I counted each pushup instead of each row. So I did twice as many pushups and rows as I should have. Changing that should dramatically drop the time. They also have a 45-70 (Run, 20 squat jumps/4 reverse lunge with weight above head, 20 lateral jump burpees/4 pushups, 18/6, 18/6… 4/20, 4/20, run, 20 Lateral Lunges/20 butt kicks/20 Supermanx3 rounds, ) and a 30-30, but both of these are parts of programs, so I will likely not do them as that involves commitment to someone and something else, and involves me paying money, something I am wont to do.

6/2 – 6k shakeout run. This felt slow, and was. It was about 28:40, so decently slow, but after MtnTough 22, it was really just to shake out and loosen up.

6/3 – Zachary Tellior – Another Crossfit Hero workout, it involves… 10 burpees. 10 burpees/25 pushups. 10 burpees/25 pushups/50 walking lunges. 10 burpees/25 pushups/50 walking lunges/100 sit ups. 10 burpees/25 pushups/50 walking lunges/100 situps/150 squats. This workout took me 25:36 to complete. When I first looked at it, I did not think it would be that challenging. I hate burpees, but there were only 50. And only 100 pushups. But they are incredibly front end loaded, burning you out quickly. Within the first 5 minutes or so you perform 40 burpees and 75 pushups before you get to the second set of lower body exercises. If I can get to doing this workout with out breaks at all, It will really harden me for other pushup workouts.

6/4 – 5 mile run, 34:53. This run was over a minute slower than a month earlier. I am still heavier, weighing about 190 last week, and I have not kept up my distance volume, something which needs to change if I want to tackle a marathon this fall.

6/7 – Loredo. Another Crossfit workout. This involves 24 squats/24pushups/24 walking lunges/400 meter run x 6. I was aiming for sub 18:00, and I got 17:47. This was challenging. Considering I ran a 5:36 mile a few weeks back, I figured 80 seconds for the 400 meter would be doable without too much strain, but having done near 50 squats/lunges before each run made it much more difficult.

6/8 – 400 repeats. 400 meter run/rest every 3 minutes x 6 (86, 83, 80, 77, 77, 77). Then 2x 400 meters with more rest (77, 72). Then last one was all out, and I was really hoping for a faster time, at least in the 60s. 

6/9 - I did a series of HIIT lift workouts, 2 left incomplete

What? Another One? (Enjoy the Memories Made)

 It was not my intention to write three posts in three days, but here it is. 

There are those moments, experiences, and times which stick out and create a memory in your workouts. I remember racing to victory my Junior year of high school in the first Cross Country meet of the year, running hard enough in the 2 mile I induced a competitor to vomiting, and a blissful midnight romp in a rain storm where I ran into a friend and we talked in the middle of the road for 30 minutes. 

This morning, I got up to a thick fog blanketing our neighborhood. It was hauntingly beautiful to me. I rushed through a bodyweight workout, then headed out for a run. I was soaked and sodden before the end, but I loved the way building, cars, trees, and people would slowly emerge from the dark shapes in the mist to identifiable forms. 

While my workout was somewhat less successful than anticipated, it was more enjoyable for the memory it created. 

Maybe It Wasn't All Bad

My previous post seemed pretty gloomy to me. Also, I suppose it is below, so if you read this one first may be a bit confusing. Anyway, I focused on my failures the last few months, specifically how after being rather successful in my first official Murph attempt in May I have not had structure to my workout plan, merely whatever fit into that day. 

But it hasn't been all failures...

   I can still run fairly well; a 20 minute 5k is not to be snubbed, especially not while weighing 40 lbs more than I weighed in high school. 

   Strides have been made in my short recovery workouts; I can alternate between 25 and 20 pushups Every Minute On the Minute (EMOM) for about 15 minutes, getting up to 300 pushups. 

   I am not weak; while haven't "tested" my max lifts, I can still do 100 reps of back squat at 200 lbs in 15 minutes, rep 225 on the deadlift for 20 reps, and complete a dozen pullups with 30 lbs in a backpack. 

   Haven't gained weight; I actually weigh less than I did in May, which is part of my goal. I want to weigh what I did in college come next spring.

   I have some better ideas what not to do; while things have not been terrible, good progress has been lacking. I have learned structure and scheduling will be a great help moving forward.

Being able to roll with things can be a benefit, but it is not getting me closer to my goals, so here is my basic schedule,

Monday: 300, run 10k

Tuesday: WOD/Hero, Lift Heavy, 5k

Wednesday: Pull and Clean, Speed workout

Thursday: WOD/Hero, Lift Heavy

Friday: Murph, 5k

Saturday: Be active, maybe a run, maybe a workout

Sunday: Rest

The longest days should be Tuesday and Thursday. For me to benefit a lot from heavy lifting, I need to usually be at it for an hour or so. This plan is a bit ambitious, but I am hoping even 90% adherence should reap great rewards. 

The Weekly Wrap: One step Forward, Two Steps Back

Over this weekend, I realized something which would indicate a rather profound failure on my part; I have not done a Murph since May.

My espoused Goal to make a run at the Murph World Records. The partitioned record was set by Josh Bridges at the 2016 Crossfit Games (5 sets of 20/40/60, completed in 34:38). Upon setting that goal, I will attempt to break Hunter McIntyre's record of unpartitioned (All pull ups, then all push ups, then all squats in 34:13 on Memorial Day, 2020). I completed my Murph on Memorial Day, less than 4 months after my first attempt, in 33:15. That morning was also the first time I wore a ballistic vest while working out. I was quite encouraged by these results, and determined I had potential to set some records. 

I believe the success of that morning has gone to my head. My workouts have been sporadic, hectic, and not long. I have squeezed in 5 minutes here, 15 there, and one 25 minutes workout. I have not dedicated myself to working out.

This is probably typical of most people. Working out is usually something we fit in around other things in life. Most people do not enjoy grinding away, covered in sweat and feeling weak and pained by the end of it. I personally chase the sense of accomplishment which comes from completing workouts, but am one of those who does not especially enjoy the process. 

Because of the way I have scheduled my workouts the last 3 months, it is time for a drastic change. No longer will I simply wake up in the morning with no idea what I am going to do. No longer will it be a coin toss or an internal debate to decide what exercises will be done. I will create actual weekly schedules, focusing on Murph, 300, and a Workout of the Day (WOD) I found which switches between pull ups and clean and jerk. These combine a lot of squats, pushups, and pull ups with overhead exercises, abs, jumps, and deadlifts, hitting all the major muscle groups I want to focus on. Additionally, I will utilize at least one additional Hero and WOD a week, two days of actual lifting, and three or four runs a week, which will include speed work. 

Given how busy my life has been, and will continue to be, this is an ambitious goal. Then again, I am aiming for a World Record. 

The Weekly Wrap: Return To Normal

This past week has been fairly hit or miss for both fitness activity and for diet. My wife this week said “When someone is visiting on vacation, your diet is also on vacation.” So it was when my sister came to see us. Instead of spaghetti squash with a red sauce, we ended up with a freezer of ice cream and a pantry of Oreos. Oi vey. Also, as we were being visited, our schedule was a bit shot and made it difficult to find time for extended workouts.

Even without a lot of time to dedicate, we still made it to the beach as a family, though I did not swim or romp or play much at all. I squeezed in some heavy squats on Monday as well as a push up workout. It was quite similar to one I have been doing recently where I do pushes Every Minute On the Minute to push close to failure consistently, only this time I increased both reps and time frame. I focused on 40 pushups every third minute, completing 6 sets. It was definitely challenging, and felt harder than doing 20-25 reps each minute, even though the former ended up in more pushups total. Tuesday I did pullups a few times during the day, hitting 20 or more reps three times. Then my family went for a nearly 2 hour walk which included a stop at a playground where I found some good monkey bars for completing additional pullups. 

When we got home, I did a bodyweight Tabata workout I have used before. With 20 seconds workout, 10 seconds rest, cycling through pullups, pushups, squats, then sit-ups. The circuit is completed 8 times. I set a new best for this workout in pullups (78), pushups (200), squats (200), and tied in sit-ups (128).  I don’t think I can get much better on anything but pullups, and I really would love to get to 100 in that. Everything else, I am doing it about as fast as I reasonably can without really sacrificing good form and tempo. This workout really does a good job of testing strength endurance while also benefiting from a long and drawn out challenge to aerobic functions in the body. I was winded early on, and it kept me winded throughout. By the end, I was gasping for breath. Overall, I find it to be a workout which allows scaling it to fit current fitness levels making it challenging no matter how in shape you are. Thursday, I mimicked the pushup workout from Monday, but I increased the reps by 5 each set to 45 reps x 6 sets. However, by the end of the second set I was already feeling a lot more fatigued, and ended up breaking up the pushups to mini sets: 45, 45, 30/15, 25/20, 25/20, 15/15/15. I could not tell if it was the slight increase in reps each set or a more determined focus on full Range of Motion in the pushup which made this feel so much more strenuous. 

Today, I decided I should run again. I have been far too lax on my cardio this summer. I have completely abandoned what had been the training and focus on my mile time I began in April. So, today I ran a 5k. It is basically an out and back, but the out is down the road into a park, two laps of the park, then back home. Easy course. I went a little hard, but it did not yet feel like an all-out race pace, but I completed it in 20:29. Another couple seconds dropped per kilometer and I will finally be back under 20 minutes, which I am VERY excited for.

Diet wise, I ate way to many snacks Sunday night. As I stated, my sister visited, and while we did eat a rather healthy meal of baked sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots, and kielbasa sausage, we also ate a lot or chocolate covered almonds, trail mix, and Oreos. Monday, I ate quite a bit better and only snacked on the chocolate almonds and a few Oreos. Tuesday was just a few Oreos. Wednesday, I ate no desserts! But Thursday we had friends over for dinner and I indulged in a bowl of ice cream, but it was only 2 scoops… and lots of manicotti! Really, our meals this week have been quite healthy (not SUPER healthy, but good). We made teriyaki chicken with pineapple, ate leftovers from the sweet potato sheet bake, and made the manicotti.

Oh, wait. We went to Red Robin Wednesday night…

Maybe my diet aggregated to normal person diet instead of healthy normal person diet this week.

The Weekly Wrap: Back from my Travails! I mean, Travels

With our major vacation behind us, it is time to get back into the swing of things. Never before have I spent nearly 3 weeks on the road visiting and travelling, but this trip built up memories for us in South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, and then through Iowa before lastly helping someone move in our home state of Wisconsin to wrap up my long drives, hopefully for a while. While we were not completely butt-bound, most of our hikes were either cancelled or truncated. Storms and cold weather cancelled our hikes to the tallest peak east of the Rockies as well as our intended first 14,000+ foot summit. A rock slide blocked our progress to the top of Timpanogas as well. We still remained at least moderately active with a few hikes and a few more exploring walks. But we ate too much junk and I did not do enough of my intend push ups, pull ups, squats, or runs. So when I got home, I felt woefully out of shape.

Upon returning home, I wanted to evaluate my push up and pull up endurance. I was still able to manage 17 strict pullups, which is quite good, though less than I hoped. But I surprised myself with 60 pushups, and not to complete failure. Intrigued, I tried pushups again a few hours later and completed 70. Thinking I had counted wrong, I attempted again a few hours after that to get 70 again. I have test max pushups a few times since, and completed 85 this past weekend, a post-Dad best.

I also returned to a HIIT based lifting approach where I complete 10 reps of a lift, rest 1 minute, then lift again for a total of 10 sets. I did squat at first at 195 lbs, and I could not effectively walk for a few days. Everything below the belly button hurt. But once the soreness was gone, I did it again, but this time at 200lbs and 12 total sets. While I need to focus on completing the squat an inch or so deeper, I am quite pleased with the progress there as I was challenged by 185 before leaving Out West.

Lastly on the fitness front, I have run a few times outside and a few treadmill based workouts. I did two 5k shakeout runs, and 2 Tabata runs on the treadmill. The Tabata runs consist of turning up the incline, then running 20 seconds, resting 10, and repeating for about 10 minutes. I can currently do 8 mph at 8 incline for 8 minutes. Hopefully I will get to the goal of 10/10/10 before the end of September. The Tabata treadmill workout has a focused outcome of replicating the benefits of running 6-10 miles, but doing so in only 10 minutes. For someone who is having a harder time getting up early, shaving 30-50 minutes off my workout is a fantastic trade. Now, this does not mean I will not go on long runs; I intend to still get in one long run each week. But instead of running 5-15 miles on 5 day a week running, I can substitute the Tabata treadmill work for 3 days and run 3 days.

I only today really settled on what I intend on following for a diet. Previously, I found great success committed to a diet with nearly no carbs, high proteins, and a weekly cheat meal. Of course, I was 21, so that likely influenced it. By mixing this past plan with continued wide-spread healthy lifestyle diet choices, I intend on limiting carb intake by focusing on whole grains. I will continue to shoot for a high protein diet, and intend on proteins outpacing carbs and fats for calories. I also plan to fast once every week or two, and have a cheat meal every one to two weeks.

Based on that, diet wise, I have been… okay. Some cereals and ice cream a few times/ We had pizza twice (one homemade and one take and bake). A morning of homemade pancakes. Otherwise, a lot of chicken, some tuna melts, tacos a plenty. Leading into this new plan for consumption, I am not too far off where I want to be. Obviously the ice cream won’t be a regular thing. It should be quite rare. Also, having taco bowls instead of utilizing tortillas is a fantastic way to cut some calories, specifically carbs. And there has been a huge lack of eggs (which I normally each about 7 meals a week). Very strange for me. I think moving forward, there will be more green smoothies as well, sourcing me with high vitamin veggies about half a dozen times a week.

I have two main goals with this new diet. First is quite obvious; create a caloric deficit which will still allow me ample energy and vitamins/minerals/macros/etc to workout and get stronger while losing weight slowly. But secondly, I want things to be as “normal” as possible when it comes to meal times with my family. I have 3 kids at home, and I don’t want to have a different meal or meal time than them. I know a hyper focus on diet and workouts can cause situations where children become more picky about food, and I don’t want that for my kids. They are fantastic eaters for the most part, and I want to encourage that.

Goal Setting

 At the beginning of April, I set some fitness goals for myself. I trained for a marathon last year, but it was cancelled about a month before the event. This time, I wanted to train through summer instead of winter. As stated before, I ran in high school and college, so I have a great base for distance running. I had trained last year down to a time of almost exactly 3 hours for a marathon, with a goal of running 2:50 on race day. My goal for this year is a bit more ambitious, gunning for 2:45, which is holding just under a 6:20 pace for 26+ miles. Oy Vie. Moving to shorter distances, I would like a 37:30 10k, which is a steady 6 minute mile. I went and ran my first 10k in about a year to gain a baseline, and finished in 44:30. Not terrible, but that mean I have to be a full minute faster every mile. That is a long way to go. A goal of 18:00 for a 5k is about a 5:45 pace, which is also a minute faster each mile. Again; Oy vie. One thing which may very well help me meet these speed goals is by focusing primarily on my mile time. I set a very aggressive goal of 4:55, a time I haven’t hit since my teenage years. I am utilizing a program of progressive speed to see how well it works to improve my mile time. I ran a 6:44 last month, giving me TWO MINUTES to drop. A triple crown Oy Vie! Two somewhat more unnecessary goal are my 400 time as well as the pacer, or Beep Test. If I can run a 400 meter in 58 seconds, I would be going at a great clip to hit my mile time. So I also need to focus a LOT on just increasing speed. The Pacer, a test where you run 20 meters back and forth at a progressively faster time, is a challenging workout. In high school, I completed 158 reps. I completed 75 my first test this year and my goal is 125, far below my previous high, but still a very respectable score. 

Next are my power lifting weights. I have always been good at deadlift, so a goal of near 600lbs isn’t out of the realm of possibility, but definitely aggressive. I have already maxed out all weights I have for my bar at 390, and it was an easy rep, so I probably have about 150lbs to add to the lift. I tested my squat at 365, also a bit easier than I anticipated, so adding 90 lbs is again aggressive, but not unreasonable. My bench is not likely, though. I trained exclusively for bench for a few months, starting at 275lbs, and plateaued at 297.5lbs. Hopefully, this time I will do better. 

Lastly, here are two famous fitness tests which I have taken aim at. The first is a newer one, and likely more well known at this point. The Murph is a workout which my friend claimed is so difficult he said “I just read the workout and it made me throw up.” It consists of running a mile, completing 100 pull ups, 200 pushups, and 300 body squats, then again running 1 mile. Ideally, the workout is completed while wearing a 20lbs weight vest, matching the ballistic armor the workouts name sake Lt. Michael Murphy wore as a Navy SEAL. There are many ways to do the reps between runs. The best way I have found is called the Cindy, where you complete 20 sets of 5/10/15 reps. I attempted my first Cindy to prepare for the Murph in January, and couldn’t complete it, so it is very difficult. The second is the 300 workout, named after the movie for which the workout was utilized. It consists of 25 pull ups, 50 deadlifts of 135lbs, 50 pushups, 50 box jumps of 2 foot height, 50 floor wipers (50 each each side, that is), 50 clean and press with at least 36 lbs (25 each arm), then finish it off with 25 more pull ups. Each set must be completed before advancing to the next movement. The goal is under 20 minutes. I recently completed it in 17:50. But there is still a lot of time to drop to set a PR. 

An intro to Normal Folks getting Fit

In the realm of Normal Guys, I fit right in. I am just over 5’ 9”, same as the typical US man. However, things have changed so dramatically in the past 10 years, I do now differ significantly from the average weight. A decade ago, I weighted around 185lbs, just under the average for a male adult. I am still around 185lbs, but the average weight has ballooned to just under 200lbs. No Bueno, America!

As the (almost) average American, there are other American things I do. While I abstain from all drugs, tobacco, and alcohol I do eat pop-tarts and Costco Chocolate covered almonds, enjoy pizza most weeks, partake in soda and brats, love lazy Saturdays (and Sundays, Mondays, or any day which ends with a Y), and will scarf handfuls of Starburst jelly beans. Also, I have a desk job. I don’t take protein shakes, pre workouts powders, ammino acids, definitely not steroids, and eat way more fatty foods than is necessary. Basically, I am not a health nut.

But I also love being active and fit. I ran cross country and track in both high school and college. I also played football, rugby, and la crosse in college, and was very nearly signed by a professional ultimate frisbee team.Now I want to be clear; what I do for workouts now is not necessarily “Normal.” But I do believe a normal person CAN do them given the appropriate application or effort. And, to be clear, I have mostly lived an active lifestyle my whole life. I have pursued fitness challenges for many years, and it took time to get to the point of success, and years of work to get to the point of excelling in some cases. Progress, not perfection, is necessary in fitness. 

Men’s Health Published an article in 2015 which lists 10 things to denote physical fitness.

   Bench 1.5 times your Body Weight

   Run 1.5 miles in 10 minutes

   Touch the Rim (score a 30 inch vertical)

   Leg Press 2.25 times you Body Weight

   Swim 700 yards in 12 minutes

   40 pushups

   .81 Waist/Hip Ratio [(Narrowest Part of Waist) / (Widest part of Hips and Butt)]

   300 yards in under 1 minute

   Bend over and Touch your Toes

   Kneeling, Overhead basketball toss 75 feet

Looking at this list, there are a number of these thresholds I know I meet (bolded above), or a few I know I am at least close to meeting (italics). Again, progress, not perfection! Not meeting everything is a good thing for me, because it gives me concrete goals in things I typically would not consider. I am not a great swimmer, jump poorly, and am a bit stocky, so focusing on things like swimming, jumping, and a narrower waist will help me have a more versatile and well rounded workout routine.

An Intro to Normal Fitness

I am adapting a personal blog from a decade ago. Back then, I was a single guy working out and working. I had few responsibilities outside that. I am now a husband, father of 3, am a volunteer Sunday School teacher and work with two separate little league teams, while also renovating our home. 

I now have less time. MUCH less time. 

In looking around for inspiration for my fitness journey, I found a few pages which I found helpful, but many of them were either too simple and not challenging, or way too involved and dedicated (pro CrossFit athletes and ripped guys with their own lines of supplements). I, like most folks looking at becoming active and fit, lie in between these two groups. 

And that is what I would like to show you all. A fitness journey which does not devote a bunch of money to fitness gadgets, fancy equipment, food services which cost 3 times more than my grocery budget, supplements, or subscriptions to expensive gyms or online/virtual classes. I will shop sales for my weights ( $180 for a 325lbs weight set from Dunham's Sporting goods), browse YouTube and Google for challenging workouts or download free apps for daily challenges, eat home cooked meals bought by a frugal couple while sprinkling in normal people foods such as pizza, doughnuts, chocolate almonds, ice cream... you get the picture.

In other words, I am going to do what normal folks do when they want something; budget my time, money, and energy, and make sacrifices to get what I want.