Exercise - Day 7 - Sunday, 12/7/2008

Today, I did a nice Tabata on my rower. I also did some situps and some pushups.

7 down, 93 to go.

Exercise - Day 6 - Saturday, 12/6/2008

Today and tonight, I did various dumbell exercises throughout the night. Curls, squat-curl-thrusts, shoulder presses. I also did some pushups and situps.

6 down, 94 to go.

Exercise - Day 5 - Friday, 12/5/2008

Today, I continued my streak. I did one round of the Tabata Protocol on my Concept II rower. I also did some abs (one set of situps, one set of leg raise kind of things), and did some squat-curl-thrusts with dumbells. I also did some plain old dumbell curls. While this is still not much, it was a good day compared to the last few. I'll do something similar the next two days, then I'm going to start going to the gym on Monday.

5 down, 95 to go.

Goal 1 - 180 by 1/1/09

Aside from my streak of 100 days straight of working out, I am also going to put this goal up here, in the hopes that it will help me attain it.

Today is 12/5/08. I weigh between 190 and 195. By 1/1/09, I would like to consistently weigh in at 180 or lower. From my past, I know that I can definitely lose 10 pounds in a month (in the right way, too, almost all fat). I'm lucky that way, I guess. So, it really just comes down to eating right (and I let myself slide on the weekends, usually), not drinking too much, and consistently working hard (which is the idea of my exercise streak).

After that goal, my next goal will be 170 by 2/1/09. That's about 4 months before my 30th birthday. After that goal, I will continue working hard to get into really good shape by my 30th.

Can't wait.

Exercise - Day 4 - Thursday, 12/4/2008

Last night, I did my rower for only about 5 minutes, at a slow pace. Then, I did one set of 10 pushups, then another set to failure (17 good ones). Again, not much, but I'm getting started.

4 down, 96 to go.

Exercise - Day 3 - Wednesday, 12/3/2008

I came within inches of skipping today, telling myself I'd just start over tomorrow. After all, I would only be sacrificing two days of my streak.

Thankfully, I soldiered on. No, again, I did not do much, but I did something. I did a full-fledged Tabata on my rower. Oddly, I hardly broke a sweat, but I did it in earnest. I don't know why that is. Although I didn't break a sweat, I certainly did feel some light-headedness for quite some time after the routine.

Not much left to say tonight. Just glad I continued the streak.

3 down, 97 to go.

The Tabata Protocol

Ok, I'm putting this here just because I'll probably be mentioning the Tabata Protocol frequently. I'm not going to go into great depth about it here, because there's plenty of information about it on the internet. Please google it, because incorporating it into some/all of your workouts just might be the best thing you can do for yourself.

Basically, the Tabata Protocol goes like this:

1. Perform the exercise (any exercise, but best if uses many muscles) at low intensity for 5 minutes to warm up.
2. Perform the exercise as strenuously as you possibly can for 20 seconds.
3. Rest completely (or dramatically decrease strenuousness) for 10 seconds.
4. Repeat the previous 2 steps 8 - 10 times, if possible.
5. Perform the exercise at low intensity for 5 minutes to cool down.
   

Exercise - Day 2 - Tuesday, 12/2/2008

This morning I was planning on waking up at 6:00 am, doing some Tabata protocols (definitely with my rower, perhaps with some squant-curl-thrusts). Anyway, I hit snooze when my alarm went off at 6:00 and didn't get out of bed until about 7:15. That's actually 45 minutes earlier than I've been routinely getting up, because I had an appointment this morning. It wasn't hard to get up earlier today, so I hope I can continue to do so (trying to hit the 6:00 mark from now on). After work, I plan on going right to my parents' house to take care of their cat (they're away) and then run for at least 30 minutes on the treadmill. Then, I'll head back to my apartment and do some Tabatas. I'll let you know how it goes . . .

. . . Ok, so after work I went to my parents' house to take care of the cat. After that, I went on the treadmill for 35 minutes. Warmed up for 2 minutes at 3.5 mph, ran for about 13 minutes at 5 mph, walked for about 1 minute at 3.5 mph, ran for about 2 minutes at 6 mph, ran for about 4 minutes at 5 mph, walked at 3.5 mph for about 1 minute, ran at 5 mph for 7 minutes, then cooled down walking at 3.5 mph for 5 minutes. Glad I'm on my way and took care of business tonight, even though it's nothing huge. I'm working into it somewhat slowly, but expect to be more serious by next week at the latest.

2 days down, 98 to go.

Exercise - Day 1 - Monday, 12/1/2008

Today begins my exercise streak. I will attempt to work out for 100 consecutive days. Sure, some days are bound to be more intense than others. However, I think I will benefit greatly from getting into the routine of making a concerted effort to work out each and every day, no matter how "good" of a workout it becomes. Later today, I'll edit this post with what I did today on Day 1.

Oh, by the way, if I do not make 100 days, then my streak is scratched and I must start over again. When I do complete 100 consecutive work out days, then I will start a new, longer streak. Let's do this. I'm psyched.

. . .

Ok, so last night I did exercise, but only the tiniest bit. I did 5 minutes on my Concept II rower. I really intended to do more, but by the time I got home it was rather late. At least I did something, which is the whole idea of this streak thing. So, I wasn't happy with how much I did, but I suited up and did something. That's one day. 99 to go.