Woes of working out when traveling - Iowa City, IA

This weekend I’m in Iowa City, IA for a Writers Workshop clinic. I went to the University of Iowa as an undergrad. Back then I worked out hard and often. Between the schools’ various workout facilities and a gym called “Body Dimensions” in downtown Iowa City (located right next to a still running restaurant called “The Brown Bottle”). I didn’t expect to experience an issues or concerns when it came to working out here.

The hotel gym is excellent for cardio workouts. I dropped in to take a look and I saw newer-looking treadmills and other machines. The strength training equipment looked limited. Consequently, I went next door to Iowa City Fitness, a 24-hour gym. It cost me $10. That’s a price I’m happy to pay in order to get a great workout.

At first blush the gym looks great. When you walk in and start planning out the workout, however, you notice that the equipment is a mishmash of machines that was put together. While it doesn’t look so great, if it works well, then the look of it doesn’t matter.

The equipment stinks. The machines don’t adjust their seating positions on several of the pieces I sought to use. The cushioning was loose on the leg extensions and in the middle of my first set the cushion upon which my left ankle was pressed slid almost off the bar. This is just one example.

The leg press machine wouldn’t allow me to adjust the position of the backrest so the range of motion for the exercise was static. It looked like it was set back in a position that worked for someone much taller. As a result, my range of motion on the exercise was less than 45 degrees. I like a full range of motion on my leg exercises so this was not helpful.

In the lower level of the gym where the free weights were I found some better equipment. The problem in the free weight area, however, was that it was a mess. Clearly this gym didn’t require patrons to put the weights back when they were finish.

Also, there aren’t nearly enough plates for the number of machines they have. It was fine for me last night because I was working out alone and I had to move about the space to find plates. Given the size of the room and the number of machines in the free weight area if there were 10 people doing strength training at once and they were at my level or better, then they would have to share weights. That’s horrible. It’s one thing to share the equipment with another person, but to have to share the weight plates between machines would be extremely disruptive to a serious training session.

I wrapped up my workout with a light 30 minute cardio session on a treadmill. It was an old Cybex machine. It was ugly but fine.

Today’s schedule calls for strength training for my chest, shoulders and triceps. I’m not sure I want to go back to Iowa City Fitness to get it done.

A 5K tomorrow: I'm very excited!

Tomorrow evening I’m running in the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services’ Race Judicata 5K! I’m running with my colleagues from the office.

The response from the office has been very good. There are ten of us participating in the the run/walk event. Six of us are running and 4 of us are walking. I’m not really nervous but I do have some butterflies in my stomach because of the six who are running, one is an experienced marathoner, another a half-marathoner and one is a triathlete. Between the remaining three I am the slowest!

I’ve got the butterflies because I feel a need to perform well. I’m the “captain” of my team since I organized this outing. I’ve been talking about the run with the office to promote it and in the process I’ve talked about my own running endeavors (humble as they are). The reality is that no one will care how I do, but my ego is convinced that everyone will be watching to see my final race time!

It’s been a while since my last race. In fact, I think my last race was the 10K I did with a colleague in Evanston, IL. I’ve been working out (strength training and running) a lot since my last organized race but I can’t tell if I’ve really been pushing myself or not. For me at least, competition is the best way for me to push myself. Tomorrow will be a good opportunity for me to assess my progress.

I’m trying to workout smart so that I’m not too tired tomorrow. However, I also need to keep things in perspective - this is a 5K and not a marathon - and not overdo the “resting the legs”. Today I went to the gym and did strength training for my chest, shoulders and triceps.

My bench press is definitely improving. Today I did 215 pounds for 7 reps. When I can do 225 pounds for 15 to 20 reps then I’ll know that I’m getting closer to where I need to be. The bench press is not the only (or even the best) measure of one’s strength training progress. It’s a psychological thing from my youth (remember the question everyone asks at the gym in high school - “how much can you bench?”). My leg strength, shoulder strength and back strength are all improving too.

It was good workout, and when I came home I followed it up with a meal of quinoa, spinach and beef. For dessert I had Kashi “Go Lean Crunch” with skim milk and a medjool date. Now if I can get to bed early and get a good night’s rest then I should be in good shape for tomorrow’s 5K!

2 Workouts in 1 Day Today

This morning I got up extra early to jog and ride the stationary bike. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel the rest of the day. I had plenty of energy and my fear of hitting a “wall” later in the day was unwarranted.

In fact, when I got home at 5pm I felt good enough to go to the gym like I normally do for a strength training session. I put in 1 hour this evening at the gym. I worked my legs, back and biceps.

For my legs I performed leg presses and hack squats followed by leg curls and calf raises. For my back I did two types of pull downs, and for my biceps I did dumbbell alternating curls and preacher curls. It was a good workout.

Now it’s 10pm and I need to get to sleep. I’ve got to be up at 4:15am. I will not be doing 2 workouts tomorrow, however, so I should get some quality recovery time in on Wednesday.

Tomorrow I’m going do some more strength training. I’ll be working on my chest, shoulders and triceps. I may do some cardio cross-training on the stationary bike as well. I plan to have a hard workout tomorrow - like every other day.

On Thursday I have the Race Judicata 5K charity race after work in downtown Chicago. The race starts at 6:30pm. I should be very well rested by the time the race starts since my last run will have been about 36 hours earlier (this morning).

Pre-Sunrise Run Today!

I didn’t make it to the gym yesterday. I made up for it by working out this morning! That’s 4am to be precise.

I woke up at 3:30am. I drank some water and ate a bowl of Kashi Go Lean Crunch with skim milk. I was on the road by 4am.

I wasn’t sure what to expect. I don’t remember the last time I ran so early in the morning. I didn’t have a choice, however, since I missed my workout last night and I knew the post-work meetings would make a workout this afternoon questionable.

I started out slowly. My intention was to do a slow run and to be mindful of how my body was responding to the new workout time.

The run felt great. I ran for about 39 minutes. It was a very slow run and I think I covered about 3.3 miles. I went back to my house and into the basement to follow up the run with 20 minutes on my stationary bike and some sit-ups.

After the workout I drank some more water and ate a banana. And now I”m on the train and on my way to work.!

With 5 hours of sleep the morning workout felt good. More sleep would be helpful though.
I caught the 6:34am train instead of the usual 5:50am. If I hadn’t done the stationary bike and I had shaved the night before then I could have kept my regular 5:50am train schedule.

Now, as I write on the train, I feel the need for coffee! Assuming I get a good cup of coffee once I get downtown, today should be a great day!

I need to jumpstart my fitness routine

This is the strength training area at my gym

I’ve lost a lot of weight (about 40 pounds) since I started working out again in February 2010. I’ve been at it now for over 5 months. I can run up to 6 miles on a good day under the right conditions and my latest bench press was 205 pounds for 9 reps. That’s all pretty amazing.

I’m not where I want to be, however. I want to get down to 185 pounds. I still have about 25 pounds to lose (sometimes the scale says 30 pounds!) in order to get there. I want to be able to run a 1/2 marathon. I still have 7 miles to go (I’m not even at the half way point in mileage). I want to be able to bench press over 300 pounds. My hunch is that I can probably do 260 pounds for a single rep. I have other fitness goals that I have yet to reach as well.

I need something to kick-start my engine though. I’m starting to feel complacent. No, not so complacent that I’m going to backslide into morbid obesity. But yes, complacent to the point that I may just make where I am now a permanent fitness plateau.

I’m going to start lifting weights more frequently and adding treadmill runs at the end of the weight training sessions. I’ve been focusing on lifting 3 times per week with a routine that hits all my muscles groups. Now I’m thinking about doing more exercises for each body part. That means, however, I can’t finish an all-body workout in 1 hour (it’ll probably take more like 2.5 hours).

Yesterday’s strength training focused on legs and chest. I also ran 2 miles at 5.1 mph on a 1.0% grade/incline. The entire workout lasted 1hour 26 minutes.

I started the workout intending to do my usual full-body workout. However, by the time I finished the leg press, squats, leg curls and calf-raises it was already 30 + minutes into the workout (I wanted to do squats but the rack was being used so I started on the leg press and then moved over to the squats afterwards). That’s when I decided I’d better pick another muscle group and wrap it up with a run.
Today I’m going to do back, shoulders and arms. If my body holds up I’m going to try doing a run outside later this evening after the kids go to bed (in lieu of a treadmill run).

The problem I foresee is not being able to do this workout back to back to back because it’s going to really fatigue my triceps. The alternative is to do back, biceps and legs on one day and shoulders, chest and triceps on the other day. This might workout better.

I’m going to see if this increased focus on strength-training may help me get my workouts re-energized!

I'm so tired: is it a lack of sleep or a lack of food

Why am I so tired?  I got a decent amount of sleep last night (I went to bed at 10pm and woke up at 4am - that's good by my standards).  I had coffee this morning and a diet coke just an hour ago.  So why am I so tired on the train ride home?

I'm wondering if my tiredness has anything to do with not eating enough.  This morning I had a protein shake and a banana at about 5:15am.  At around 8am I ate a handful of raw almonds (no oil, no salt).  At about 9:30am I went over to Protein Bar and got a bowl of steel-cut oats with whey protein and skim milk and some sliced bananas.  Then at 2pm I drank a 20oz bottle of Coke Zero.  I feel a bit of a grumble in my stomach but I don't feel like I'm that hungry.

I'm heading home on the commuter train now.  It's about 4pm.  I'll go straight to the gym.  I've got a new mix of NO Xplode and unflavored whey protein isolate 28.  I'm going to mix it in water and drink it as I work out.  I'm strength training today.  If my legs feel up to it I'll run on the treadmill for 1 mile (at least) at the end of the workout.  The NO Xplode and whey protein drink should give me enough energy and nutrition to get me through the 1.5 hour workout.

I plan on having a mix of quinoa and chicken (khorma) for dinner.  I'll need to get some kind of vegetable as well (maybe a salad).  I'll eat well tonight but the nature of the food I'll be eating will make it hard to eat too much fat or too many calories.

I'll end the day with a large cup of green tea sweetened with a sugar substitute.  Is that enough fuel for the day?

2-A-Days Not Easy... I wish I could get more sleep

Everything I've read says that I need at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep.  On a good day I get 6 hours and it isn't uncommon to get by on 5 or less hours on some days.

It's the lack of sleep that's interfering with my plan to do 2-A-Day workouts.  I normally wake up at 4:15am.  In order to get a morning workout I need to get up around 3:30am.  That would be fine except that I can never get to bed before 10:30pm (usually its about 11pm).

Over the next few weeks I'm going to experiment with 2-A-Day workouts on Saturdays and Sundays when I have a little more control over my sleep schedule.  If I'm able to do these double workouts and I don't feel too tired as a result, then maybe I can push myself to do them on the weekdays too.

25 pounds in 25 days? It can be done, but...

I want to get my weight down to 185 pounds.  I'm at 210 right now.  That means I've got to lose another 25 pounds.  I've already lost 40 pounds since the beginning of February 2010.  Assuming I don't lose any muscle and/or water, another 25 pound reduction (of fat) would put me at about 13% body fat.  That's my goal.

That's all quite doable, but let's throw in a huge wrinkle - I want to do this in the next 25 days!  First of all, it can be done.  If I workout enough, and if I adhere to a very strict diet, then I can get to this goal.  The questions are: (1) do I have the stamina and strength to do it?  (2) how bad will it be for my health?  (3) Is this too fast?

My doctor friends will certainly tell me that this is too fast.  But frankly, I feel a lot of medical advice is too conservative.  I think that has a lot to do with fear of liability for side effects from a strenuous weight loss regimen.

Since my tween years doctors have been naysayers.  I remember at age 12 my pediatrician told me and my parents that lifting weights would stun my growth.  But frankly, I'm pretty sure my height has everything to do with genetics and nothing to do with the heavy weights I hoisted over my head during high school.

In my tween years my doctor said there wasn't much room for my muscles to grow.  I went from a chubby 150 pounds as a freshman in high school to a much leaner 180 pounds as a graduating high school senior.  That's at least a gain of 30 pounds of muscle, but I think I gained even more muscle because I also lost some of my belly fat at the same time.

My point is that my body (and perhaps most of our bodies) is capable of a lot more than we (me and my doctor) allow it to do.

I've been surfing the web to get some ideas on how to go about this.  A guy named Tim Ferriss lays out a strategy to lose 25 pounds in 30 days on his blog.  He doesn't even incorporate exercise.  His plan focuses on eating lots of vegetables and lean protein.

This is basically what I've been doing anyways, but for the next 25 days I'll need to be very strict about not deviating from the planned diet.

Currently my breakfast consists of a protein drink made with Whey Isolate 28.  I also eat one to two bananas and I drink about 4 cups of coffee over the course of the morning.  I take 2 PB & J sandwiches which I eat throughout the day (the jam is sugar free and the bread is whole grain from Pepridge Farms with 4 grams of fiber per slice).  Dinner on good nights consists of lean protein, fruits and veggies.  On bad nights I might eat some wheat pita with whatever Indo-Pakistani meat or veggie dish is available.  If I'm hungry when going to bed I sometimes have another protein drink.

This diet is basically sound.  Still, in order to hit my goal of 25 pounds in 25 days I'll probably need to cut back on the bread, skim milk and peanut butter.  I'll need to be very particular about eating more vegetables and lean meats.

The difference between my plan and the one Ferriss suggests above is that I'm also including exercise in my effort.  I'll need cardio every day and probably a solid short run in the morning.  Running twice a day plus lifting weights every other day will help keep my metabolism going.  The concern, however, is that I'll become very tired and that this will in turn cause my workout intensity to decrease.

I'll be taking my vitamins and supplements as I have been over the past several months.  This should help avoid any gaps in my nutrition.  I also need to find some kind of snack food that I can munch on in order to keep myself from getting distracted from other things by hunger (I'm not sure what it will be but once I figure it out I post the details).

I'd like the weight loss to be fat.  I like my muscle and I want to keep it.  That's hard to do in the best of diets so this will be very challenging.

In order for me to even come close to my goal I'm going to need plenty of sleep.  Last night I got 4 hours.  That's not going to cut it.  I need at least 7 hours of sleep,  With the early morning run probably being at around 4 am, I'll need to get to bed by 9pm.  This is going to be tough.

While I am very committed to achieving this goal, I have to be mindful that I have a day job that I need to do well and that I have a family that needs my attention.  I can't ignore either the job or the family.  That means I need to fit in this challenging regimen with everything else I'm doing.

Now it's time to head to the gym for today's after work workout.  I'm psyched.  I can do this.  I'm going to take it one day at a time!

Supplement Review: I like GNC's Whey Isolate 28

When I started working out in February of this year I knew that my diet would have to improve in addition to a good workout regimen if I wanted to lose weight and get more fit.  I tried to stick to real food - lean meats, veggies, fruit and so on.

The hardest thing was getting enough lean protein.  Well, let me be more clear - it was hard getting lean protein that was convenient, economical and tasty.  It was too hard to grill a piece of lean meat every day (particularly several servings).  I'm too picky to cook and refrigerate meat - I prefer to eat it the same day I cook it.  Tuna in water out of can is doable but not on a regular basis and certainly not every day.  Ditto for egg white omelets.

I realized that I need a protein supplement.  I started out with protein bars but found that it was too tedious to eat them (chewing on a bitter sweet, doughy, chalky bar will chugging water isn't pleasant and it takes a while to get down).

That's when I returned to the tried and true protein drinks.  I say "returned to" because in my youth (high school) I used to chug Joe Weider's Muscle Builder protein drink (a protein powder that I mixed with skim milk).

It was a great protein supplement back then (the packaging was different back then though).  I got very strong thanks to Weider's Muscle Builder and a lot of exercise back then (my pride and joy of that era was a 320 lbs bench press at a body weight of 180 lbs with good form).

Nowadays there are so many protein supplements on the market.  They all have flashy advertising and boast of all sorts of special qualities.  I needed quality protein.  Some friends suggested I go with an whey protein isolate.  It is easy to digest and it's a high quality protein they told me.

Okay then.  I went shopping for a protein supplement at the local GNC.  As I said, the shelves were stocked with all kinds of hi-tech supplements.  While in the store, however, the simplicity and the price of the GNC brand caught my eye.

GNC's "Whey Isolate 28" was reasonably priced and it was a basic supplement.  I decided to go with it and I've remained with it over the past 3 months.  It's been a great dietary supplement.

I started out mixing it with cold water but then moved to skim milk.  I need the calories and carbs anyhow and it tastes better mixed in milk.  I use the chocolate and vanilla flavored powder with skim milk.  Recently I bought an unflavored version as well to mix with juice as an energy drink before workouts.

In the morning I drink a serving (8 oz skim milk + 1 scoop of the whey protein).  It ends up being about 250 calories and about 35 grams of protein.  I drink another serving at night or soon after my workout.  If I don't eat any protein at dinner, then I have another serving with dinner.

I feel it's helping me.  It's a great way to get large quantities of protein conveniently, quickly and economically.  I'll admit it's not like drinking a chocolate milkshake, but then again, I don't expect it to taste that way.  It's easy to consume then the protein bars and I can control the portion size.  It's also a lot cheaper.

Although many people said I can't lose fat and build muscle at the same time, I feel that's exactly what I've been doing these past few months thanks in part to the protein supplement provided via GNC's Whey Isolate 28.  I'm burning more calories than I consume but I'm ingesting at least 80 to 100 grams of protein daily in smaller doses throughout the day (including right after workouts).  I think this is helping me simultaneously grow and strengthen my muscles will allowing my body to tap into the fat reserves rather than muscle to make up for the caloric deficit.

The bottom line for me is that I'm happy with the gains/losses I've been experiencing and since the GNC Whey Isolate 28 has been a part of the success, I'm going to stay with it!