Workout Summary, Day 84

Here comes the plateau!

It's a common occurrence in every long-term fitness plan to have plateaus: points when your progress appears to level off. Whether you're used to seeing them or not, they can be frustrating and can cause even the most well-intentioned of us to stray from our plan or quit!

In my case, I've been using my weight as one of my indicators of my own progress. I know I've dropped a significant amount, but I'm reaching a point where I'm building muscle and reshaping my body as a product of the work I've been doing. Since muscle weighs more than fat, my weight will tend to stabilize or even increase during this time; however, I may see some performance gains during this time which I'm going to need to focus on in order to stay motivated.

Another factor (an expensive one) comes from the classes I've missed this week at Shamrock MMA. I was a bit ambitious and went on a hike in the afternoon before my Tuesday night class, got a bit overheated, and lay down after I got home...woke up too late to go, and feeling dehydrated. I spent the rest of the evening chilling out, having some watermelon, a healthy amount of water, and cooled off by lounging in the pool at my gym. I had intended to return tonight for my class; however, I forgot that class was cancelled because of tonight's fights. I'll have to make up for them next week.

I can still celebrate other progress though. My numbers for pushups and crunches have increased significantly, in terms of the numbers that I can complete before stopping! I'm enjoying the activities that I've been doing, so I can't complain there. I've especially enjoyed being able to share many of my workouts with my students, who are growing tremendously from the process! Also, I've found that I've really come to enjoy my "free day food" a lot more when I use it as a treat and not a staple. Lastly, my shorts are still falling off. I'm going to have to do something about that before it gets embarassing. (lol)


Anyways, here's my tally for the week:

• Cycling (stationary): 35 miles (5 Sat, 10 Sun, 5 Mon, 10 Wed, 5 Thurs)
  
• Hiking: 21 miles (7 Sat, 3.5 Sun, 3.5 Mon, 3.5 Tues, 3.5 Thurs)
• Running (elliptical): 9 miles (3 Sun, 3 Mon, 3 Wed)
  
• Basics: 60m (15m Mon, 15m Tues, 15m Wed, 15m Thurs)
  
• Forms: 36 (12 Sun, 12 Tues, 12 Thurs)
• Kicks: 2300 (700 Sun, 700 Tues, 200 Wed, 700 Thurs)
• Push-ups: 800 (200+100 Mon, 100 Tues, 300 Wed, 100 Thurs)
  
• Crunches: 1300 (300+200 Mon, 150 Tues, 300+200 Wed, 150 Thurs)
  
• Squats: 150 (150 Mon)
  
• Lunges: 150 (150 Wed)
• Bag Work: 18m (10m Tues, 4m Wed, 4m Thurs)
• Boxing: None (overheated and missed class, darn)
  
• Grappling: None (class cancelled this week, aww)
• Current Weight: 233
  

Total since Day 1:

• Cycling (total): 521 miles
• Hiking: 115 miles
• Running (total): 77 miles
• Basics: 195m
  
• Form repetitions: 384
• Kicks: 21200
• Pushups: 6330
• Crunches: 9835
• Squats: 4070
• Lunges: 2270
• Punching w/weights: 30m
  
• Bag work: 142 rounds (142m total)
• Boxing: Will begin next week.
  
• Grappling: 1 hour
• Net Weight Loss: -16
  

Workout Summary, Day 63

Pictured: Someplace I'd really love to work out at! (lol)

In two short months, I've made a lot of progress. There's still a lot more to be made, but I'm happy to have remained consistent for this long. I've slipped a little bit at times, but I have an amazing support team that's kept my course steady and true!

The hiking is going well. I've been hiking at Santa Teresa Park and exploring several of the trails that I've always wanted to see. There's so much more here than I originally thought! I'm hoping to wander around a bit more and become really familiar with this place this summer. In the fall, I think I'll start tackling Alum Rock and Quicksilver Parks to change things up.

I'm going to need a new pair of shoes soon. My trusty cross-trainers have survived more than a few black belt training cycles and tests over the years and this recent blast of training will probably finish them off by the end of the summer.


Tally for the week:

• Hiking: 22 miles (5 Sat, 5 Sun, 3 Mon, 3 Tues, 6 Thurs)
• Cycling (stationary): 30 miles (5 per day: Sat-Thurs)
• Running (elliptical): 3 miles (Wed)
  
• Basics: 45m (15m per day: Sun, Tues, Thurs)
• Forms: 36 (12 per day: Sun, Tues, Thurs)
• Bag Work: 12m (4x60s: Sun, Tues, Thurs)
• Kicks: 1800 (3x600: Sun, Tues, Thurs)
• Punching (w/5lb weights): 15m (3x5m: Sat, Mon, Wed)
• Push-ups: 375 (3x125: Sat, Mon, Wed)
• Crunches: 450 (3x150: Sat, Mon, Wed)
• Squats: 300 (4x25: Sat, Mon, Wed)
  

Total since Day 1:

• Running (total): 59 miles
• Cycling (total): 426 miles
• Hiking: 55 miles
  
• Pushups: 4425
• Crunches: 6775
• Squats: 2720
• Lunges: 1800
• Punching w/weights: 30m
  
• Basics: 90m
  
• Form repetitions: 272
• Kicks: 13900
• Bag work: 96 rounds (96m total)

I Lost Some Stuff

As a child, when I used to tease my mother about losing her keys, she smiled and told me that someday, my memory would start to play tricks on me, and I would begin to lose things too.

And look at me now! Now I'm losing stuff left and right. The thought of it makes me smile.

Most recently, I've noticed that in the past 56 days, I've lost 12 pounds. I'm not even the slightest bit concerned. I don't know where they went, and I don't even plan on looking for them. They can stay gone. (The first few pounds always go quickly. It's just water weight, but it still feels good.)

I have also lost the ability to walk around in my current wardrobe without a belt. When this happens, my pants begin to collect around my knees like some of the local kids. I don't mind this either. Soon enough, I may lose some money and find some smaller pants, but I guess that comes with the territory.

I can't seem to find my appetite for fast food and greasy diners these days. It used to be a source of post-traumatic comfort, but I suppose there are worse things that I could be losing.

I saw my mom the other night and she asked me how I was doing. I told her about my upgraded workout schedule, the running, lifting, sparring, training, and hiking. Then I told her about the ever-present soreness that I've been feeling, but how happy I've been to be losing so many things.

Now my mother thinks I've lost my mind.

Mom was always right.

Workout Summary: Day 56

What a difference variety makes! It's helping me to enjoy my workouts again, plus I'm getting some different feelings of soreness as well!

This week marked the beginning of my students' summer "Preparing to Live Like a Champion" workouts: a series of semi-casual, come-when-you-can (but come often) workouts aimed to get everyone into shape in time for January. The sessions are aimed to overcome the objection, "I don't know if I can keep up with the workouts," so there's a lot of confidence-building and team-building going on. I really like their energy.

If anything, I'm impressed by their desire to do well! They're hungry for success and it's pushed them to accomplish amazing things in a short amount of time. This week, we did some initial endurance testing and asked students to do as many push-ups, crunches, and chair squats as possible - pushing until they couldn't go anymore.

The push-ups went as expected, the results for the crunches was impressive, and the chair squats blew me away! Most of the students, while scoring under 15 for the pushups (many under 5), could do over 100 crunches without stopping! I was flabbergasted by the chair squat results: many students performed over 1,000 chair squats without weights before stopping! You can see more on this in my previous entry.

We plan to do a Saturday hike together, as a form of active recovery. My legs are wobbly. I hope I can keep up with the young'uns!


Tally for the week:

• Hiking: 15 miles (4 Sat, 5 Sun, 3 Mon, 3 Wed)
• Cycling (stationary): 30 miles (5 per day: Sat-Thurs)
• Basics: 45m (15m per day: Sun, Tues, Thurs)
• Forms: 36 (12 per day: Sun, Tues, Thurs)
• Bag Work: 12m (4x60s: Sun, Tues, Thurs)
• Kicks: 1800 (3x600: Sun, Tues, Thurs)
• Punching (w/5lb weights): 15m (3x5m: Sat, Mon, Wed)
• Push-ups: 400 (3x125: Sat, Mon, Wed...extra 25 on Mon)
• Crunches: 525 (3x150: Sat, Mon, Wed...extra 75 on Mon)
• Squats: 620 (Wed's squat marathon)
  

Total since Day 1:

• Running (total): 56 miles
• Cycling (total): 396 miles
• Hiking: 33 miles
  
• Pushups: 4050
• Crunches: 6325
• Squats: 2420
• Lunges: 1800
• Punching w/weights: 15m
  
• Basics: 45m
  
• Form repetitions: 236
• Kicks: 12100
• Bag work: 84 rounds (84m total)

Workout Summary: Day 49

Haha, I should have really changed my workouts up after Day 42.

This week's workouts felt dull and less inspired than my previous ones. I was talking with my girlfriend, Jenn (who doubles as my personal expert in all things fitness-related), and she's comforted me by reminding me that it's a good idea to change up my workouts every 6-8 weeks anyways, but even though this is Week 7 (well within the 6-8 week target), I still feel like I haven't taken as large of a stride forward this week.

It could be my mental focus as well. This week was centered on final exams, grading, and summer school planning, so admittedly, my mind has been elsewhere. I found myself planning while cycling, constantly looping back to ensure that I had thought out my summer school curriculum completely.

In any event, I will be starting to train with several students to prepare for the "Live" project beginning in the coming week. Since it's "summer vacation" for them, and many have commitments at work, summer classes, and family events, it will be more of a "drop-in when you can, but come often" type of format. That's going to shift up my training (and theirs) in a number of ways:

First off, I'll be implementing weight training into my routines. Low weight, but high rep for toning. That's going to be the focus of my Monday/Wednesday routine. Some of this will happen with my students, some at the gym, and some at home. Doing it this way means I'll be getting two mini-workouts after my group workout. Should be neat.

In addition, I'll be doing a weekly hiking and training session with my students on Saturdays. We'll be covering a lot of ground, going up and down big hills. I like hiking. It's going to burn really nicely. :)

Also, I'll be condensing my martial arts workouts into Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. Much of my focus will be on basics, forms, and advanced kicking, with some bag work on Sundays. I've received some invitations to train with friends in various locations on Sundays, and I may add that in eventually, with hiking as a backup in case I am unable to attend their workout.

Fridays will become my new "free day", effective tomorrow. It'll give me two back-to-back free days this week, but it'll also provide me with an opportunity to get my head on straight with my other work.

Tally for the week:

• Running (elliptical): 6 miles (Sat, Mon, Wed - 2 miles each)
• Cycling (stationary): 60 miles (10 per day Fri-Wed, not today)
• Pushups: 600 (100 per day)
  
• Crunches: 600 (100 per day)
• Squats (no weights): 300 (100 Fri, 100 Sun, 100 Tues, 4 sets of 25)
• Lunges (no weights): 300 (100 Fri, 100 Sun, 100 Tues, 2 sets of 25 - each side)
• Form repetitions: 30 (10x Fri, 10x Sun, 10x Tues. Each day consists of 5 traditional, 5 contemporary)
• Kicks: 1800 (600x Sat, 600x Mon, 600x Wed. Assorted kicking techniques.)
• Bag work: 12 rounds (60 sec rounds; 4x Sat, 4x Mon, 4x Wed. Assorted boxing techniques.)

Total since Day 1:

• Running (total): 56 miles
• Cycling (total): 366 miles
• Hiking: 18 miles
  
• Pushups: 3650
• Crunches: 5800
• Squats: 1800
• Lunges: 1800
• Form repetitions: 200
• Kicks: 10300
• Bag work: 72 rounds (72m total)

Mission Accomplished, Almost

Tomorrow, I will complete a commitment that I made to my students at the high school: writing one blog entry per day until the last day of school. Since I will be posting a workout summary tomorrow, that should be relatively easy.

Doing daily blogging has been a useful exercise for me. Just like a good martial artist requires regular practice, and being fit requires regular exercise, becoming comfortable with writing requires that you regularly put your thoughts into words.

I'd recommend this to any student who is preparing to "Live Like A Champion" next year, and also as preparation for classes in the fall: write often, daily would be best! Scribble at least half a page into a journal, diary, notebook, blog, whatever. Reflect on your day, focus on a moment or an idea, consider your future, or more.

Just be sure to write.

P.S. Now that I have fulfilled this commitment, I may post less frequently. It'll still be more than once a week, but it won't be daily. Don't worry, I'll use the extra time for training. :)

Building My Team, Part 1

Today, I had my first information session for prospective "Live" student members. It was an after school session, held during finals week, so I was expecting a somewhat low turnout. To top that off, our school busses had to depart earlier than normal, so I ended up with a lot of interest forms signed. I'll need to follow up on that.

In terms of promotion, it's primarily been word-of-mouth, using the unparalleled power of the Teenage Communications Network to broadcast news about the program in a way which evoked a sense of school pride in the students. I also put out a couple of handmade infomercial-like posters , along with some digitally-edited photos of some of the club's members (much like the photo above). Lastly, I posted announcements on Facebook and my club's Google Group.

I could've promoted this much more effectively. I didn't utilize the school's advisory (homeroom) period to make any announcements, or to ask teachers to do it. I also needed to schedule this during a more convenient time, and with enough advance notice for parents. I didn't pick up the phone at all, and I could have developed better handouts.

Still, the turnout was impressive. I had 23 students show up, which is 10% of the school! Of them, 15 were prepared to commit on the spot. The other 8 are almost fully committed. I will follow up on them later. Additionally, I have a large stack of interest forms, and several teachers from the school who want to take part in the training!

Between all of them, I'm absolutely certain that we will have 20+ people participating in the program. Ideally, I plan to secure firm commitments from the rest of the interest forms and build to the point where 20-25% of the school is involved.

More on this soon!

Time Out For What Matters

I visited my cousin in the hospital today. She's begun treatment for Type-B large cell lymphoma, and it's tricky because she's also six months pregnant. Today, I set aside plans and made sure to stop by to comfort her and to help her pass the time as she waits in bed for the stream of medical personnel to perform tests and observe her reactions.

She's in good spirits, and for this, I'm glad. However, I think a part of me also realized that I often get too caught up in my daily routines and forget to share time with family and friends. Holidays, weddings, illness, and funerals shouldn't be the only times that I see my relatives.

In my own process of developing myself, I need to expand my awareness and my consciousness in layers. This begins with myself and expands outwards. I cannot skip layers of social consciousness and claim that I'm some kind of role model, if all I've done is to support noble causes by sacrificing quality connections with family and friends, or by ignoring my responsibilities at work, etc. I need to balance all of these things.

I need to evaluate the way I prioritize my time so that I can begin to share more time with those who are closest to me. That's what this boils down to.

Update 6/7: My cousin was discharged from the hospital today. She gets to go home. Yay!

Workout Summary: Day 42

It's almost time for me to shake up my workout.

I've been reconditioning myself for the past 6 weeks, and I feel like I need to add some martial arts training into the mix. I've begun looking for places which will help me fulfill my UBBT goals of receiving 20 hours of pro-boxing instruction and 100 hours of jiu-jitsu mat time. Both of these will be "white belt" experiences for me, but I'll be able to work out while I learn.

I'll keep you all posted and let you know what turns up in my search. The cool thing about San Jose is that the city is full of martial arts schools, but the bad thing is that the city is full of martial arts schools. I'll stick to this program for another week or two until I commit to a new workout facility.

Tally for the week:

• Running (elliptical): 6 miles (Sat, Mon, Wed - 2 miles each)
• Cycling (stationary): 60 miles (10 per day Fri-Wed, not today)
• Pushups: 600 (100 per day)
  
• Crunches: 600 (100 per day)
• Squats (no weights): 300 (100 Fri, 100 Sun, 100 Tues, 4 sets of 25)
• Lunges (no weights): 300 (100 Fri, 100 Sun, 100 Tues, 2 sets of 25 - each side)
• Form repetitions: 30 (10x Fri, 10x Sun, 10x Tues. Each day consists of 5 traditional, 5 contemporary)
• Kicks: 1800 (600x Sat, 600x Mon, 600x Wed. Assorted kicking techniques.)
• Bag work: 12 rounds (60 sec rounds; 4x Sat, 4x Mon, 4x Wed. Assorted boxing techniques.)

Total since Day 1:

• Running (total): 50 miles
• Cycling (total): 306 miles
• Hiking: 18 miles
  
• Pushups: 3050
• Crunches: 5200
• Squats: 1500
• Lunges: 1500
• Form repetitions: 170
• Kicks: 8500
• Bag work: 60 rounds (60m total)

Building My Team

I'm six months away from the official "Live" start date, but I'm already beginning to assemble my student membership team. Since my program is based out of a high school, I intend to draw primarily from the students, faculty, and alumni of the school. I've already drummed up a lot of interest through declaring my admission into the "Live" project, my intention to test for rank, and my wish to share this journey with as many people as possible.

Now I get to see how many people have been inspired enough to commit. I'm holding my first info session on Monday and beginning to take applications for membership.

To be honest, I haven't done as good of a job promoting this as I could have, were I running a commercial school. Since my job is education, I find that I'm teaching and promoting the same ideals all of the time, but my focus is in multiple places, and my efforts to promote my program are not always appropriate in an English classroom. My best advertising is personal example, and it has earned me numerous students over the years. Still, I have time to dust off my marketing skills prior to January, and I can get a headstart with anyone who signs on early!

My target enrollment for Monday's info session is 12 members. Because school will be letting out for the summer, I will use the summer break to begin working with these 12, and then continue my recruitment efforts in the fall. I'd like to have a complete team of 20 by October 1, 20+ if I'm given the opportunity to include more than 20 student members.

Atychiphobia and Kakorrhaphiophobia

Atychiphobia = fear of failure.

Kakorrhaphiophobia = fear of failure or defeat.

I learned two new words today while preparing this blog. Yay me! (Don't ask me to pronounce them.)

It is often the fear of failure that prevents many people from initiating any change, whether in their own lives or the lives of others. There is a part of me that still whispers fears, doubts, and insecurities. 99% of the time, I can ignore them. My problem is the 1% of times when I listen.

What if I failed this project?

Well, I suppose my sense of failure would have to depend on the criteria with which I assess my success. Would I have failed if I did not receive a rank promotion? Would I have failed if I did not complete all of the UBBT criteria? How about if my students do not complete the challenge - would I take that as a failure?

Time for an attitude check.

Everything that I am doing, and everything that I inspire others to do, represents progress. It's a step in the right direction, and it's something beyond what any of us would have done alone. The longer we can maintain this, the more success we have attained.

If I view the "Live" project, my participation in it, and my students' participation in it as a collection of successes, celebrating each as they happen, then I need not fear the end point. I just need to appreciate the journey, and participate with nothing less than legendary effort.