March On to a Ripped Physique

If only it was that easy eh?

I came across this fantastic quote which kind of sums it all up really ...

For me the pain of discipline relates directly to my diet. I occasionally watch these 'Biggest Loser' programs or 'Obese: A Year To Save My Life' while I'm pedalling on my spinning bike in the evening and I'm often shouting 'well eat less you fat bastard' at the screen. Now over the last few months I've fallen into the trap of training well, dieting well and then succumbing to a binge session that leads to my weight going back up!

Now it all comes down to two things: having a clear goal and being disciplined. My current goal is clear ... to get down to 80kg by the end of May. My discipline however has been somewhat wank. Now like all weak-willed fat bastards I have a list of excuses like the fact that my daughter keeps all sort of crap food in the cupboard and fridge for when my grandchildren stay. So fucking what! Just don't eat it Dave you fat bastard!

So bollox if I don't achieve my goal I'm must be some sort of cunt who has no ambition, drive or self-control. I'll be unable to cycle up the short steep hill near Reculver (it does continue up a bit further and it is fucking steep!) ...

 
... the next time that I go to the coast and I'll be sitting outside The Belgian cafe in the sunshine with my flabby gut hanging over my shorts!

The alarm is set for 06:30 and I'm going to get my fat, lazy ass out of bed before sunrise each morning! 



01/03

Up at 06:30 as promised and straight down to the gym!


Morning session - 30 minutes heavy bag

Evening session - 30 minutes bike
 
08:00: protein shake & water
11:00: home made vegetable soup
14:30: home made vegetable soup
17:45: tin of tuna & 1 slice of toast (tasted fucking gorgeous)
19:45: protein shake & milk



02/03

Morning session - 30 minutes bike

Evening session - 30 minutes bike

02:00: home made vegetable soup & 1 slice of bread
13:00: tin of tuna & 1 slice of toast
17:00: home made vegetable soup & 1 slice of toast
21:00: tin of tuna & 1 slice of toast


Strangely enough I didn't feel particularly hungry this morning. I trained on the bike at home in the morning and then went shopping. This took me ages so I didn't really get time to sit down and eat something until 13:00 .... and that's better than jumping out of bed at 10:00 and munching my way through pots of jam, chocolate spread and loaves of bread!



03/03

Daily press-ups - 160

Evening session - 30 minutes bike


My third day of getting out of bed at 06:30! The sauna at my gym is still out of action so I decided to swap my morning session with sets of 10 press-ups throughout the day.

02:00: protein shake & porridge
08:30: tin of tuna & 1 slice of toast
13:45: tin of tuna & 1 slice of toast
20:30: tin of tuna & 1 slice of toast
23:30: protein shake & porridge


My grandson comes to visit for a few days each week and he loves his mini-donuts so yesterday I bought some and they have been sitting in my fridge. They have called me once or twice but I'm resisting the urge. I'm already craving for food like toast and chocolate spread/jam, cakes, etc but my willpower is strong!



04/03


03:00: porridge
07:30: tin of tuna & 1 slice of toast
12:30: home made vegetable soup & 1 slice of bread
15:00: tin of tuna & 1 slice of toast
19:00: bottle of Hoegaarden




25/03

Weight 95.8kg/ Bodyfat Percentage 33.2%

26/03

Weight 94.5kg/ Bodyfat Percentage 32.1%

03/04

Weight 94.2kg/ Bodyfat Percentage 32.3%

04/04

Weight 93.3kg/ Bodyfat Percentage 31.4%

05/04


21/05

Weight 88.8kg/ Bodyfat Percentage 28.3%

03/06

Weight 88.5kg/ Bodyfat Percentage 28.2%

Let's Have a Strict February!

Yep it's time for a strict diet during February and plenty of cardio! I'm looking to dip below 90kg by the end of this month ... let's go!


01/02

Morning session - 20 minutes bike

Evening session - 60 minutes bike

12:45: protein shake & milk
16:00: tin of tuna
20:00: protein shake & milk/water



02/02

Morning session - 45 minutes heavy bag / 6 * dips (max 15 reps) / 6 * press-ups / 6 * tricep pushdowns

Evening session - 40 minutes bike

01:00: protein shake & milk/water
07:15: protein shake & milk/water
09:15: protein shake & milk/water
12:00: tin of tuna & 1 boiled egg
15:15: protein shake & water
18:00: tin of tuna & 1 boiled egg
20:00: protein shake & water

My legs and body felt absolutely destroyed after this evening's session on the bike. Hopefully I'm burning loads of calories!



03/02


Morning session - 20 minutes bike (205 cals) / 6 * standing hamstring stretches / 6 * lying hamstring curls

Evening session - 40 minutes bike

01:00: protein shake & milk
06:30: protein shake & milk
08:15: protein shake & milk
11:20: tin of tuna & 1 boiled egg
14:50: tin of tuna & 1 boiled egg
18:20: protein shake & milk
20:20: tin of tuna & 1 boiled egg




04/02

Weight 92.4kg / Bodyfat Percentage 29.4%

Morning session - 20 minutes heavy bag / 30 minutes sauna

Evening session - 20 minutes bike


01:00: protein shake & milk
04:00: protein shake & milk
08:00: protein shake & water
13:00: tin of tuna & 1 boiled egg
16:00: protein shake & milk
18:45: boiled chicken & 1 slice of toast
22:00: protein shake & milk



I felt like I couldn't punch my way out of a paper bag this morning and the 20 minutes on the heavy bag seemed like an eternity. Triceps and shoulders were weak but that's obviously a sign of the effect of the good previous workouts.

I actually did some light physical work when I got home as it was quite a nice day, albeit a bit nippy,  so I started tidying my garden (jungle) and loading up my car with shite for the local tip. Strangely enough I think that this helped take my mind off food as I didn't feel particularly hungry and had a five hour break between meals instead of the usual three hours. 

I'm well pleased with my initial weight loss and will now probably hit 88.0kg by the end of February ... watch this space! The lowest I've beeen on bodyfat percentage is 25% on my scales (last June) so I'd imagine that if I could hit sub 20% then I'd be looking pretty lean ... let's go for it!! 



05/02


Morning session - 20 minutes rower (225 cals) / 6 * 5 reps reverse grip chins / 4 * 15 reps barbell curls / 30 minutes sauna

Evening session - 35 minutes bike


06:30: protein shake & milk
08:45: protein shake & water
13:30: boiled chicken & 1 boiled egg & 1 slice of toast
16:30: tin of tuna & 1 slice of bread
20:00: boiled chicken & 1 potato waffle
23:00: protein shake & milk & 2 scoops of porridge



So I'm just about to complete the fifth day of my diet and I'm fucking starving! Now usually I just make sure that I don't buy crisps, cakes, sausages, etc when I go shopping but I now have my grandkids living with us three days per week and obviously they love all of the above!. So the tempation is always there, especially when they don't finish their dinner and they leave chicken nuggets, pizza and fish fingers on their plates! That's why the potato waffle found it's way into my belly at 20:00!



06/02

Weight 92.2kg / Bodyfat Percentage 30.3%

Morning session - 30 minutes heavy bag / 10 minutes sauna



04:00: protein shake & milk & fish finger!
07:30: protein shake & milk
09:00: protein shake & water
13:00: tin of tuna & 1 slice of bread
16:15: tin of tuna & 1 boiled egg & 1 slice ot toast
20:00: 2 * pork loins & 1 slice of bread & 2 small botttles of Hoegaarden
22:30: protein shake & milk & bowl of porridge




07/02


02:00: 1 slice of bread & jam & glass of milk
07:00: tin of tuna & 1 slice of bread
09:15: protein shake & milk & 1/2 bowl porridge
13:15: 1 pork loin & 1 slice of bread & chips
16:00: protein shake & milk & 1/2 bowl porridge
19:00: 1 pork loin & 1 slice of bread & chips



09/02

Morning session - 45 minutes sauna




13/02

Morning session - 20 minutes rower (242 cals - felt strong) / 5 * 5 reps * 1 * 3 reps & 1 * 2 reps wide grip chins / 6 * reverse grip chins (felt very weak) / 30 minutes sauna

Evening session - 20 minutes bike


My training and diet went out of the window over the last few days in a moment of weakness! I ate chocolates, chocolate spread, bread, jam and crisps I also had a few Hoegaardens!

So now it's time to pay for that lapse of concentration! My wife made some soup earlier in the week and it was gorgeous so I think I'll try a liquid diet from 15/02 onwards in order to shed a few pounds. So home made veggy soups, tuna, chicken, egg whites and protein shake here I come!!


09:00: protein shake & water
15:45: tin of tuna & 1 slice of toast
18:30: protein shake & milk
23:00: salmon & 1 slice of toast



14/02

Morning session - 30 minutes heavy bag / 15 minutes sauna

This morning's heavy bag workout was probably one of my best efforts and I felt as though I had quite a bit of stamina and good power.


02:00: piece of omelette
09:00: protein shake & water
12:45: protein shake & milk
15:45: tin of tuna & 1 slice of toast
19:15: jacket potato & 1 slice of toast & 1 bag of crisps



15/02

I fell off the wagon AGAIN today and ate bread, chocolate spread, a pizza and some chunky kit-kats!



16/02

Morning session - 30 minutes bike

Evening session - 30 minutes bike

 
11:00: home made vegetable soup
15:00: protein shake & milk
18:15: home made vegetable soup & boiled chicken
21:45: salmon & 1 slice of toast



17/02

Morning session - 20 minutes bike & 80 press-ups

Evening session - 20 minutes bike

10:00: tin of tuna & 1 slice of toast
13:00: protein shake & milk
16:30: home made vegetable soup & boiled chicken
21:30: tin of tuna & 1 slice of toast
23:00: porridge & protein shake




18/02

02:00: kit kat & 1 slice of bread with chocolate spread
12:00: home made vegetable soup & boiled chicken
15:00: fried chicken breast & 1 slice of toast
18:30: porridge & protein shake
21:30: chicken & omelette
23:30: 2 kit kats & 2 slices of bread & chocolate spread




19/02

08:00: 2 slices of toast & jam/chocolate spread


... AND THEN IT ALL WENT DOWNHILL!!

53 Today - Now or Never

Fuck me time flies when you're having fun!

80kg by the end of April.

15/01

Weight 95.0 kg / Bodyfat 31.1%

Morning session - 30 minutes rower / 4 * 3 reps wide grip chins / 4 * 3 reps reverse grip chins / 4 * seated rows / 30 minutes sauna

Evening session - 20 minutes bike


16/01

Morning session - 20 minutes heavy bag / 4 * dips (max 10) / 4 * benchpress (max 10 * 60kg) / 4 * tricep pushdowns / 30 minutes sauna

Evening session - 42 minutes bike



17/01

Morning session - 20 minutes bike

18/01

Starting to feel a bit sore and knackered from my recent efforts. I'm also fucking starving as I have cut out all of the crap food that I was eatIng!

Morning session - 20 minutes bike / 6 * leg extensions / 30 minutes sauna



23/01

Received my protein powder yesterday so it's now all systems go!


Morning session - 30 minutes rower (330 cals) / 5 * 4 reps wide grip chins / 1 * 4 & 4 * 3 reps reverse grip chins / 4 * seated rows / 30 minutes sauna

Evening session - 30 minutes bike


24/01

Morning session - 10 minutes bike (100 cals) / 30 minutes heavy bag / 6 * dips (max 12) / 6 * tricep pushdowns / 30 minutes sauna

Evening session - 20 minutes bike


26/01

Did my training this morning and really fancied a session in the sauna but the fucker was broke! .... so no sauna this morning doh!

Already made an improvement on my chins so happy!

Morning session - 20 minutes rower (200 cals) / 6 * 4 reps wide grip chins / 6 * 4 reps reverse grip chins / 4 * seated rows

Evening session - 20 minutes bike



27/01

Morning session - 11 minutes bike (100 cals) / squats 3 * 10 reps & 1 * 6 reps @ 60kg / 4 * leg extensions

Evening session - 20 minutes bike



28/01

This morning's heavy bag session went really well and I felt quite a bit more powerful than what I have done recently. Sauna still broke tho doh!

Morning session - 30 minutes heavy bag / 5 * dips / 5 * press-ups / 5 * tricep pushdowns




30/01

Morning session - 40 minutes rower / 6 * 5 reps wide grip chins / 5 * 5 reps & 1 * 3 reps reverse grip chins / 5 * seated rows

Slim or Father Xmas Lookalike??

Yep it's time to get my ass out of bed and hit the gym. It's also time to stop stuffing sausage and egg sandwiches, pringles, donuts and chocolate encrusted cakes in my gob!


01/12

93.6kg / Bodyfat 30.5%

Morning: 30 minutes heavy bag / 10 * calf raises / 30 minutes sauna

Evening: 60 minutes bike


02/12

Morning: 30 minutes heavy bag / 4 * 4 reps narrow grip chins / 4 * 20 reps barbell curls / 30 minutes sauna

Evening: 60 minutes bike



03/12

91.4kg / Bodyfat 28.7%

Morning: 30 minutes heavy bag / 5 * benchpress (max 4 * 80kg) / 4 * tricep pushdowns / 30 minutes sauna

Evening: 40 minutes bike

I waned to do 60 minutes on the bike this evening while watching the Arsenal game but as I approached the 40 minute mark the tank was emptying and I was going slower and slower even though I was on a low intensity .... I was fucked!



04/12

Morning: 30 minutes bike / 4 * hamstring curls / 30 minutes sauna

Evening: 50 minutes bike


13/12

Morning: 40 minutes heavy bag + suit / 15 minutes sauna (5 + suit)

I bought myself one of those sauna suits and tried it out today. I wore it for my 40 minute bag workout and it really makes things harder. I then kept it on for 5 minutes in the sauna and now I know how a turkey feels around about 11:00 on Xmas day!!

Evening: 60 minutes bike



14/12

Morning: 45 minutes heavy bag + suit / 30 minutes sauna (10 + suit)


15/12

Evening: 45 minutes bike


16/12

91.4kg / Bodyfat 28.8%

Morning: 30 minutes heavy bag + suit / 4 * barbell curls / 20 minutes sauna (5 + suit)

Evening: 70 minutes bike


17/12

Morning: 15 minutes heavy bag + suit / 6 * benchpress (max 3*80g) / 20 minutes sauna (5 + suit)


18/12

Morning: 60 minutes bike



22/12

Morning: 30 minutes heavy bag / 30 minutes sauna

Movember = big moustache and slim belly!

My diet has been really poor over the last few days and I've also skipped the gym once or twice.

The sauna broke in the gym a few days back and that kinda pissed me off as I was spending quite a bit of time in there each morning and it also meant that I was less inclined to hit the gym.

So now it's the start of November and I really want to make a big effort to get back ino good shape before the end of the year. These are probably the most important months because if you can get in shape for the start of the year then you can use January - March to get super ripped for the summer. 




01/11 - Target 88.0kg

Morning session - 60 minutes heavy bag / 4 * barbell curls * 21 reps max 40kg

Evening session - 60 minutes bike



02/11

Morning session - 60 minutes heavy bag / 4 * tricep pushdowns / 4 * tricep overhead rope / 4 * tricep rope pushdowns

Evening session - 60 minutes bike



03/11 - Target 87.7kg

Morning session - 60 minutes heavy bag

Evening session - 30 minutes bike



04/11

Morning session - 20 minutes bike



05/11 - Target 87.4kg
 
Morning session - 30 minutes heavy bag / 30 minutes bike



06/11

Morning session - 30 minutes bike


07/11 - Target 87.0kg

Morning session - 30 minutes bike

The Battle STILL Continues!

03/08

Yep the battle for a chiselled physique continues, albeit accompanied by the burden of trips to the coast and the associated gallons of Hoegaarden and chips/burgers/fried breakfasts, etc.

So here's my effort at the gym this morning ...

10/08

88.4kg / Bodyfat 27.0%

01/10

93.0kg / Bodyfat 30.0%

Shamefully my blog activity has pretty much matched my physical activity over the last few weeks. I basically replaced all of my training with eating and drinking! But hey it was a great Summer!

So now it's back to the gym and diet with a vengeance! I'm aiming for sub 80kg by the end of the year. By my calculations that's approximately 1kg per week which is definitely achievable.

Morning session - 30 minutes heavy bag / 4 * wide grip chins / 4 * reverse grip chins / 4 * seated rows / 20 minutes sauna

Evening session - 30 minutes bike

 

02/10

92.1kg / Bodyfat 29.3%

Morning session - 30 minutes heavy bag / 4 * dips / 4 * tricep push downs / 4 * overhead tricep rope / 20 minutes sauna

Evening session - 30 minutes bike



03/10 - Target 92.7kg

Morning session - 30 minutes rowing / 5 * calf raises / 4 * standing hamstring stretch / 5 * lying hamstring curls / 5 minutes gloveless bag / 30 minutes sauna



04/10

92.1kg / Bodyfat 29.4%

Morning session - 30 minutes bike & intervals / 5 * leg extensions / 20 minutes sauna

Evening session - 30 minutes bike




05/10 - Target 92.4kg

Morning session - 30 minutes heavy bag / 4 * hanging leg raises / 4 * crunches / 4 * Straight leg raises / 20 minutes sauna

Evening session - 40 minutes bike




06/10

91.1kg / Bodyfat 28.6%

Morning session - 35 minutes heavy bag / 4 * barbellcurls * 17 / 15 minutes sauna

Evening session - 30 minutes bike




07/10 - Target 92.0kg

Rest day.




08/10

Morning session - 30 minutes bike / 4 * squats (6*60kg) / 30 minutes sauna




09/10 - Target 91.7kg

Morning session - 30 minutes heavy bag / 6 * benchpress max 75kg / 30 minutes sauna




10/10

Morning session - 45 minutes sauna




13/10 - Target 91.0kg

Morning session - 45 minutes heavy bag / 30 minutes sauna

Evening session - 45 minutes bike




14/10

Morning session - 20 minutes rowing / 10 minutes glider / 10 minutes bike / 30 minutes sauna

I thought that I'd concentrate a bit on my cardio this week in order to shift a few pounds. I don't usually use the glider machine, it's the kind of cross country ski thingy where you stride out and push and pull the handles at the same time. I thought I'd give it a go to make a bit of a change and thought I'd do 20 minutes but fuck me my glutes were burning after about 5 minutes! I'll do 20 minutes next time ...


Evening session - 30 minutes bike



15/10 - Target 90.7kg

Morning session - 30 minutes bike

Evening session - 30 minutes bike



16/10

Morning session - 30 minutes heavy bag / 15 minutes rowing / 15 minutes bike / 15 minutes sauna




17/10 - Target 90.4kg

Morning session - 35 minutes heavy bag / 15 minutes glider / 15 minutes sauna

I jumped back on the gliding machine this morning and upped my time from 10 to 15 minutes although it's fucking hard work!! It probably doesn't look as though I'm gliding ... more like an old guy stumbling along, sweating like a pig and moaning and gasping for air!

Evening session - 40 minutes bike



18/10

Morning session - 30 minutes heavy bag / 4 * barbell curls * 18 reps max 32kg / 15 minutes sauna

I feel fucked this morning ......

Evening session - 60 minutes bike


19/10 - Target 90kg





20/10

90.1kg / Bodyfat 28.0%

Morning session - 20 minutes bike / 10 * calf raises / 30 minutes sauna

Evening session - 30 minutes bike



21/10 - Target 89.7kg

Morning session - 30 minutes heavy bag / 5 * tricep push downs / 4 * tricep rope pushdowns / 4 * tricep rope overhead extension



22/10

Morning session - 30 minutes bike

The sauna in the gym is broken at the moment which is a pain in the ass as it was a bit nippy this morning and it would have been nice to site in there for 30 minutes.


23/10 - Target 89.4kg

Morning session - 30 minutes bike / 4 * barbell curls * 20 reps max 18kg

The Battle Continues

28/06

It's now reached that time of the year where it's compulsory to go and get shit faced every time the sun comes out.

I think that I've done well to stay below 90kg for quite a while now and I've dipped under 85.0kg once or twice. However, this achievement always seems to co-incide with a spell of good weather, and each time I've decided to hit the coast and this obviously sees my weight go back up a few kilos. My recent trip to Ramsgate/Whitstable/Herne Bay/etc and subsequent few days of munching my way through anything edible in the house saw me nearly break through the 90.0kg barrier (in the wrong direction).

Now in the past few years my target was always sub 90.0kg, and therefore anytime that I took my foot off the gas, for drinking and munching, I'd always end up back at a steady 95.0kg, and then when I let things slip completely I'd be back up over the dreaded 100kg mark.

Now in terms of weather the next few weeks usually give us some spells of some lovely hot sunshine and present the opportunity to fuck off back to the coast and sit in the sun. The mid term forecast is for some nice weather to arrive in a couple of weeks time, so therefore I'm smashing the gym and strict diet again in order to get as far under 85.0kg as possible. If I can get a good couple of weeeks under my belt before I get lured by the sun and alcohol then I reckon that I can hit sub 83.0kg by 10/07.




30/06

86.0kg / Bodyfat 25.4%

Well I hit my lowest ever bodyfat percentage so that's a great incentive to get it down below 24% and then keep going! I've probably got another week or so of training before my next visit to the coast so I should be able to hit sub 84.0kg before my next beerfest.


01/07

85.2kg / Bodyfat 25.0%

29/07

89.1kg / Bodyfat 27.5%

Well the sun decided to make an appearance so I abandoned the gym and my diet and smashed into the Hoegaarden!

After at least a couple of weeks of laziness I dragged my sorry arse out of bed this morning and once again journeyed to the gym. I did 30 minutes on the heavy bag and 15 minutes in the sauna. I actually didn't feel too bad at all but was expecting to be around the 92.0kg mark when I stepped onto the scales, so I was well happy with 89.1kg.

I'm going to blitz it over the next week so I should be down to 85.0kg by 06/08.