Week 43 Day 2

Posted on November 29, 2011 by admin

SO I did an “unofficial weigh-in” at home and gained 7 pounds over the 4 day holiday weekend.  Not what I wanted but I did eat lots of desserts and missed 6 of my 8 workouts for that time period.  I can’t be mad or discouraged, it is what it is.  I am happy to say I did drop 1.5 pounds already.  I am back in the groove and moving in the right direction again.

AM:
21 min 2 mile jog
20 min elliptical machine
20 min stair stepper

PM:
60 minutes elliptical stepper alternating 5 minutes of elliptical and 5 minutes of stepper action. I started at level 10 (50% of max) and worked up to level 20 (100% max) It was intense!

During my workout I saw a woman who must be the most fit person at the gym. She did some weights and later got on a treadmill in front of me. She started jogging at 6.5mph and I was impressed since she looked like she was about 5’2″ tall. That was her warm up! She cranked it up to 9.3 mph and did 30-40 second sprints with about 20 seconds of rest in-between. That was insane! She was way more muscular than any other woman I have ever seen in a gym before but not to the grotesque point of some female body builders. If she wasn’t a professional athlete (in what sport I do not know at such a short height) She might be a police officer or something similar requiring strength and fitness. And if not required by a job, that is even more impressive. If you take the time to look around in this world you can see some amazing things.

 

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Week 43 Day 1

Posted on November 28, 2011 by admin

First day back to the grind!

I was a bit hard getting motivated to get to the gym even though I wanted to.  It took me an extra 30 minutes to be on my way.  Once there I was back in the swing of things pretty quickly.  I jogged a mile, got on the elliptical machine for 30 minutes then on the stepper for 20 minutes.  The hour flew by.

The afternoon workout was one of my original ones.  I did a garage workout.  I did 6 sets of squats (with light weight), 5 sets of overhead presses and 4 or 5 sets of ez-bar curls.    It felt good and gave me the extra time to make dinner, a pan of chicken pot pie.   I cut up 2 chicken breasts, some mushrooms, carrots and added frozen mixed veggies.  I also added a can of creamed mushroom soup and creamed chicken soup.  I baked the stuff after cooking the chicken in a frying pan for a bit.  After 35 minutes I added a “crust layer” of crescent roll dough placed flat.  It was really good.  I need to find a better combination for the sauce as the mushroom soup was a little to strong but it was good non the less.  Here is what it looked like.

I added some hot sauce t

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Week 42 Day 7

Posted on November 27, 2011 by admin

The party is over and the fat lady sang!

Today was atravel day back home.  We were slow going since we stopped along the way 3 times.  Well actually 4 times, we went grocery shopping once we made it back to town, but before we got home.  It is great to be home.  No workout again today.  My body is going to love the cardio tom

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Week 42 Day 6

Posted on November 26, 2011 by admin

Another day of hiking!

So it was off to Hackettstown to hike at Stevens State park.  We had fun.  There were a few trails there and one along the river.   We hiked up the one orange trail that was a mountain biking trail.  It was extreme!  I would not ride a bike down it!  It was tough hiking up it.  All in all another great day.  Any day my wife and I get to spend together in the great outdoors is a winner in my book. Add that we went to a new place and it was perfect.

 

 

Down by the river on a small island.

That was at Waterloo Village.  Pretty neat place. It was off season so nothing was going on there.  That was OK because it was free and we did not get suckered into buying anything.

Even with all the bad sweet treats we still managed to eat a healthy meal or two during the holiday.

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Week 42 Day 5

Posted on November 25, 2011 by admin

Black Friday!

Today we did the right thing and did not do any shopping, at all.  Instead we headed into the Delaware Water Gap area and Hiked on some of the Appalachian Trail.  We hiked the Fire Tower area near the Rattlesnake swamp loop.   It was great out.  We did not encounter any wild animals and confirmed a theory of mine that the trail by the fire tower connects to a trail we previously hiked from near route 80.  We hiked 5.69 miles in 2 hours and 43 minutes.  We could have done more but lack of sleep was wearing us down.  We took a few pictures and made a new memory of the beauty that is in the area.

 

 

 

 

There is the fire tower way at the top!  we were up there.

The hill was very step and the picture does not do it justice!

What a view from the Trail!  You could see for miles.  

Another great view from the top,  My WIFE!  She likes the view.  

And another one just for good measure. We never take enough pix.  

One from the trip back to the car.  The water looked so clean and inviting!

 


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Week 42 Day 4

Posted on November 24, 2011 by admin

Thanksgiving!

I got 2 hours of sleep last night and drove 5.5 hours to visit with my family for Thanksgiving.  Well no exercise at all today and too many calories.   Back to the grind tomorrow.  Here is what it looked like at our Feast!

Figures, the rest of the pix are not loading properly.  Oh well I got one in!

 

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Week 42 Day 3

Posted on November 23, 2011 by admin

Less than 24 hour till Turkey time!

Thanksgiving is a time to be grateful for all the family and friends we share our lives with, both past and present.  It is a time to take stock in ourselves and create memories for years to come.  For many “The Holidays” are the only time you get to see each other so go out of your way to be your best that day and share the good memories of years gone by.  It is also a time to be thankful for all the men and women protecting our way of life overseas so we can enjoy ourselves and our way of life everyday.

AM:
15 min jog
15 min Stair stepper
15 min elliptical machine
12 min bike

PM:
Cable machine workout (something new for me!)
4 sets Cable bench press
4 sets Cable incline press
4 sets cable curls
4 sets cable tri’s
4 sets one arm curls
4 sets one arm tri’s

4 sets assisted pull-ups
3 sets leg press machine

It was a good workout! I will do it again. I was surprised at how little weight I was doing the exercises with. Cable exercises require way more stabilization than regular free weights. This was a good thing.

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Week 42 Day 2

Posted on November 22, 2011 by admin

Thanksgiving will be here before we know it!

AM:
20 min dumbbell aerobics
20 min jog
20 min stair stepper

PM:
60 min elliptical machine up to level 20 and incline 20!  This was the hardest I have ever sweated using the elliptical machine.

It was a good day, I ate well and had an amazing steak dinner. We made some steak, peppers and onions over a bed of lettuce and tomatoes. It was good!

 

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Week 42 Day 1

Posted on November 21, 2011 by admin

Monday!

This morning I woke up and was feeling tired and like I was getting sick.  Some coughing and some hacking, but I felt better as the day went on.  I hit the gym and jogged 2 miles and then did 40 minutes on the elliptical machine.  I had a good sweat going.

My afternoon workout was going to be something new.  I was going to use the upright cable machine and do a series of exercises with it for my weights, but I forgot about it when I got to the gym and started a regular lifting routine so I finished what I started.

BP
135-12
185-3,5
205-1,2
185-5,4
135-12

Assisted pull-ups
+70-5
+85-6,6
+100-8,8,8

Leg presses
180-12
270-12,12
360-12,12,12
450-10,10,10,10

Concentration curls
25-8
35-6
30-7
25-8

I felt good after this. I had a light sweat going and I feel like I worked my body. Food was good today with dinner kicking ass! My wife lightly breaded tilapia and baked it. We had spinack with lots of garlic and some tomato and mozerella risotto.

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Week 41 Day 7

Posted on November 20, 2011 by admin

Today was a “wife and me” day.

She really wanted to do some hiking so off we went the the Billy Goat trails.  She wanted to challenge us so we set out to do the “A”  and “B” trails.  It was tough, but in a good way.  We hiked for 3 hours and 40 minutes.  We covered 7.54 miles, and plenty of it was us scrambling up and down large rock sections instead of just following the trail.  We had a blast. Neither of us were feeling at our best but we both doing great.  Near the end of trail “B” I tripped and stubbed my right foot and can still feel some of the sting in my toes.  Nothing broken or discolored, but I did see stars when I first did it.  This was also my only workout for the day.  Once we got home, showered and fed we watched some TV on the couch.   Before long I was stretched out on my own couch and snoozing during a show.  I missed more than half of it.  I guess I was really tired.  We did not take to many pictures since we have been there so many times and things blur together but we did take a few.  We also had the pleasure to see two different woodpeckers out in the wild.  One was the small common woodpecker we are accustomed to seeing, and one was the large bird we don’t normally see to often.  Of course the ducks were all out and we even saw a turtle sunning himself.  No snakes this trip, and nothing else to really share except these pictures.

The woodpecker picture did not come out great.  There was a canal between us and I had my cell phone zoom in as much as possible but he still seems little more than a small black bird on the right hand side of the tree.  He was a foot tall in person, so it was great seeing him in the wild, the picture is not doing him justice.

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