Belt Holes

Hey folks I have had an amazing week this week really positive and upbeat.  Saturday morning after my cycle to work I realised that I didn’t have a belt hole that was small enough.  I didn’t expect this and it was a major psychological boost.  It’s funny how such a small thing can have such a positive effect.  There are a number of reasons for this.

If I start on food then it’s been a revelation.  No takeaways and I haven’t spent any money at work on the vending machines which is a first.  The takeaways has been difficult I have to admit thinking about a Big Mac or more then one occasion but have resisted!  The second was manageable as I decided not to bring any money to work which made it very easy not to spend it!  This in total probably saved me £20 for the week!!  The other plus to the food side of things is the Sainsburys Feed Your Family for £50 which has been great.  The meals are easy and healthy and include provision for your 5 a day.  We have supplemented that a little with a few shops for milk as Evie tends to put it away like it’s going out of fashion, it may be cheaper for us to buy a cow!  I have also this week attempted to eat no bread and change onto crackers of one description or another.  It has been interesting scrambled egg on toast with no toast was different.  It’s not been all success with this though as I have eaten four breadcakes (barms) this week for bacon sandwiches and peanut butter sandwiches!  The last thing I want to talk about where food is concerned is water.  I have been drinking a lot more then I would normally in an effort to be hydrated.  I am going to do a micro blog this week on water and the positives it has on everyday function.

On the exercise front I did some good work in the gym and on the wattbikes and am doing ok with the running.  Two gym sessions for the first time in a while and you may ask why I seem to be concentrating on my chest and lats.  Well my legs and gluteus maximus (arse) are getting a great work out from the cycling and are in good shape.  I’m working on chest and lats as they are major muscles and I am toning these two muscle groups one to get rid of my moobs/man boobs/bresticles etc etc and two to crank up the amount of calories my body is consuming whilst at rest.  I figure once I reach a weight at which I’m comfortable I will work on my core muscles and flexibility.  In other news I really went for it on Tuesday night and the traffic lights where kind to me so I set a mark of 9mins 32secs for the 4km I cycle home.  This pleased me and I will try and get quicker over the next few weeks.  I didn’t get out on the new bike purely down to the fact that the weather hasn’t been great.  I am also still trying to get used to being clipped into the pedals this means I have to release the clips when coming to a stop or I just fall to one side lol!!

Exercise;

Cycling (Commuting);            51.95km (4km PB 9min 32secs!!)

Wattbike Session:                    2 x 5km sprint

Gym x 2 sessions                     Run 1.2km (10.2kph – incline 2.0)

                                                Chest Press 12reps x 3 sets x 40kg

                                                Lat Pull Downs 12reps x 3 sets x 35kg

All in all a great week.  Really looking forward to this coming week to see what it has in store.  I’ve been looking at a site called http://www.graze.com/ they do healthy snack boxes and I have always been a nibbler so may do me some good to investigate this further!

I will leave you with a quote now to finish!

“If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.”
Bruce Lee

Wind then Rain

Hey guys and gals.  Had a good week this week.  Got the new bike ordered and payed for (well it will be in 12months after a few payments) starting a new food regime with Sainsbury’s.  It is Feed your family for £50 a week.  It looks really good and the menu is pretty healthy.  Lots of five a day and healthy looking meals.  Couple of not so healthy looking ones but overall for the cost and the effort it’s worth a try.  Food went ok this week other then a McDonalds and a Domino’s early in the week.  Next week will see the first weigh in i do.  I've been doing this for about 6 weeks now so i should see some results hopefully!

Another new development is trying to eat a lot less bread.  I love bread and haven’t found a type I didn’t like (apart from a French salt bread which as it sounds was minging) yet so it may be difficult but for now I’ve subbed it out for Ryevita and Crackerbreads!

This week saw my first (since before Christmas) visit to the gym.  Kelly Strickland (Personal Trainer at Stretford Leisure Centre and a good friend of mine) has put together a running programme for me which should see my running improve hopefully to what it was when I was younger.  I am kind of semi thinking about doing a duathalon/triathalon or two before I try something on an epic scale.  Then possibly an Iron Man.  This is dependant on my being able to swim the required distance which is going to take some work and my knee being up to the runs involved.

Exercise;

Cycling (Commuting);  36.85km (Two quick 4km rides) (HIGH wind resistance!!)

Walking; 2 miles approx (again circling a pool)

Wattbike Session: 5km sprint

Gym:   Run 1.2km

            Chest Press 12reps x 3 sets x 40kg

            Lat Pull Downs 12reps x 3 sets x 35kg

So aims for this week;

1. NO TAKE AWAYS!!
2. Aiming to do 40km long ride on the new bike Thursday or Friday.
3. Two gym sessions to include running.

Hope you all have a good week guys!!

Holidays

Hey again.   

Well this week hasn’t been a great one but it could have been a lot worse.  I have been away this weekend Friday to Sunday at Flamingo Land Theme Park in Yorkshire with the rents, brother and his mrs and my little family.  Managed to avoid the Full Breakfast on Sunday morning but a Chinese and some icecreams put a blot on the week.  Had a really good time though you can see pictures and video on Facebook if you haven’t already!

Exercise;

Cycling (Commuting);  27km

Walking; 6 miles approx

The walking comprised of me doing laps of a 25 metre pool at work whilst lifeguarding.  Yes I was paying attention and that may have caused me to lose count on a couple of occasions :-D.  Worked out a long time ago that 23 laps of the pool is 1 mile and it takes me roughly 60 minutes to complete 3 miles.

Also on the biking front a new bike is being purchased tomorrow for longer rides.  I love my single speed for commuting but would like to do some hill work and for that I will probably need some gears so find embedded a picture of me new motor!

I am well up for this week.  Have four days commuting to look forward to and a ride at the weekend.  I will also fit in a wattbike session on Friday I reckon.

Cheers all for your continued support hope your still enjoying this as much as I am!

Heart Rate Recovery

This tool is a good way of seeing how fit you are.  If you follow the steps below it will give you an indicator of how fit you are.  The faster you recover to your normal resting heart rate the fitter you are essentially.

Calculate Normal Resting Heart Rate

Step 1

Sit still for approximately 10 minutes.

Step 2

Turn your hand so your palm is facing up.  Alternatively you can use a heart rate monitor which makes the test significantly easier to monitor and slightly more accurate.

Step 3

Press the index and two middle fingers of your opposite hand between the arm bone on the thumb side of your hand and the middle tendons, about 1 inch down from your wrist. Adjust the position of your fingers, if necessary, until you feel a slight throbbing.

Step 4

Watch the second hand on your watch or clock for 10 seconds and count the number of throbs you feel.

Step 5

Multiply the number of throbs by six to determine your normal resting heart rate.

Calculate Maximum Heart Rate Ranges

Step 1

Subtract the number 220 from your current age in years to determine maximum heart rate.

Step 2

Multiply your maximum heart rate by 0.8 to identify the upper range limit.

Step 3

Multiply your maximum heart rate by 0.6 to identify the lower range limit.

Calculate Recovery Heart Rate

Step 1

Exercise and take a pulse measurement at regular intervals until your pulse is within the maximum heart rate range you calculated in the previous section. Record your exercise pulse rate.

Step 2

Stop exercising, wait for one minute and take your pulse again.

Step 3

Subtract the pulse measurement you recorded when resting from the pulse measurement you recorded while exercising to calculate your recovery heart rate. According to CardiologyRounds.com, normal heart rate recovery requires a decrease of 13 or more beats within the one-minute period. A decrease of 12 or fewer beats is an abnormal recovery heart rate.

It may seem a little long winded but it is a great way to see how fit you are becoming.  Firstly with sustained regime of exercise you will see your resting heart rate start to decrease in beats per minute (BPM).  Secondly you heart will recover its normal resting BPM faster.

Anyway I will leave you with that as food for thought.  If you have any questions you can comment on here or pm me on Facebook or just give me a call if your lucky enough to have my number :-P

Tut tut...

Hey y’all,

Well had an indifferent week this week.  Miss Smith left us on Wednesday and as a fairwell tea at work we had Domino’s…I know bad ass but hey once in a while shouldn’t hurt right…well it turns out Saturday was also a Domino’s night to… I know epic fail.  So I have to make up for that this next two weeks and not have any takeaways…it will be hard but will have to do it (yes I have noticed I’m … a lot recently)

On the plus side had two successful wattbike efforts this week totalling 20k both done as time trials and done in 16:00mins dead on and 16:20mins this was after cycling both ways and also one was on a day off which I was pleased about as I would normally be online gaming (talk about this a bit next week).

Exercise:

Cycling:  45.48km done this week commuting

Wattbike session: 2x10km

Swimming: No swimming forgot my towel the other day :-S  On a plus though and with swimming in mind whilst lifeguarding I have done 4 miles this week walking around the pool (22-23 laps of a 25m per mile ish)

So did nearly 10k more on the bike due to slightly longer routes to work.  I have a 4km a 5.5km and a 9km.  Also I have to say the wind this week has been brutal to me.  It has been so hard Saturday and Sunday riding home!

I will be posting a micro blog on Heart Rate Recovery this week so hopefully that will interest some of you.

*Balcony kiss with hand*  Have a good week people!