DaveGetsFit

Neal and I played our match that was rescheduled from Monday. I got off to a really hot start by winning the first game 15-2. I think I had 11 or 12 before he scored his first point. My serve was my chief weapon—I had several aces. The second game didn’t go as well as I lost 10-15. I fell behind early and really worked hard to get back but it wasn’t enough. The third game was nip and tuck and was tied 8-8 before I ran off a nice streak and ended up winning 15-10. It was really a great workout!

I haven’t been doing any of my body weight exercises because of a mild muscle strain in my upper back. I haven’t felt anything for the last couple days so I’m going to crank up the pushups and pullups tomorrow.

Weight is hanging in the 205-208 range. I just can’t seem to make the big push to get it down any further. The problem is an over supply of junk in our house and an under supply of will power by yours truly.

Morning weight: 207

I try not to live and die with what I see on the scale, but this morning was a bit of a shocker. I know I had a bad weekend—much ingesting of carbs while at the pool. At some point Saturday afternoon, the chocolate brownies just screamed at me and I couldn’t ignore them. Things went downhill from there. It seems my system does a real good job of converting excess carbs to fat. I don’t think this is just some topped off glycogen stores—I feel fat!! As I stated in a Twitter update, I have to overcome 50 years of programming and that is not easy. So once again, I climb back on the wagon and press on. I did a VERY LOW carb day to jump start my recovery.

Monday I got back on the winning side in my recurring racquetball matches with Neal. I won the first two games including coming back from 13-10 in the second game. Before starting the third game, Neal switched us to a racquetball he keeps in a pressure can. I hate playing with those things. They are way too lively and make hitting a decent ceiling shot almost impossible. I more or less went through the motions in the third game and maybe scored five points. We still had time so I asked if he wanted to play a fourth game. We did but I insisted on using a new ball from my bag. I won that one.

I stopped by the gym on the way home Monday and knocked out some pullups on the Gravitron machine. I did 3 x 10 with the weight stack set to 110. I’m going to drop it to 100 for the next set—at least for the first two sets.

Today I played Ron and did fairly well. I was 17 hours into a fast but I felt great. I scored a total of 26 points in three games which isn’t bad when playing Ron. We had some terrific rallies and I put out some serious effort. It was fun!

I haven’t jumped back on the bike yet this week. I just don’t feel like giving up the extra half hour of sleep I get when I drive. But I may ride in tomorrow—great weather for it now.

That should get me caught up. Hopefully the last entry in this post will change quickly.

Morning weight: 211lbs.

I was supposed to play someone for the first time Thursday but he had to back out. So I ended up on the court with Ron again. Although I lost three games, I actually played fairly well. I fell behind 11-1 in the first game but I fought back to get it to 11-8 but that’s as far as got. I also scored eight points in the second game and nine points in the third. Ron was using a drive serve more often then usual so I was real happy with my effort. And it should go without saying, but I will, it was a hell of a workout!

I took it easy on Friday but I did get in some pullups on the Gravitron machine. I did three sets of ten with the weight set at 110lbs. The first two sets were clean but the last couple of reps on the thrid set were sloppy. But I feel like I’m making progress.

Long day at the pool tomorrow. Hopefully they will provide something decent to eat.

Morning Weight: 206lbs

I find myself in catch-up mode again! So here goes:

Monday
My winning streak against Neal came to and end. I blew a 13-10 lead in the first game, fought back from 2-7 in the second to win, and was tied at 8 in the third before running out of gas. I really put a big time effort into coming back in that second game. It was a great workout—gotta start a new winning streak next week.

Tuesday
I played Ron for the first time in awhile and he put a whuppin’ on me. I really didn’t play all that bad, however, and hit a handful of really good shots. Earlier in the day I had walked to his office with the intention of postponing our match until Thursday because I wanted a break after the match with Neal. But it’s hard to turn him down—I just enjoy playing. As a matter of fact, I’ve scheduled a match for Thursday against another guy in our office that I haven’t played before—should be interesting.

Prior to playing with Ron, I did three sets of pullups on the Gravitron. I lowered the weight stack from 120 to 110.

Today I disappeared into the library stacks and did four rounds of pushups: 12, 10, 7, and 7.

After the ride home today, I’ll be three-for-three with the bicycle commute. The weather has been great but I may get a strong headwind going home today.

Nutritionally I’ve done well this week once I got passed the chocolate left over from Easter.

My morning weight has been 206 the last two days.

And with that, I’m caught up!

My website/blog server was inaccessible Friday afternoon so I was unable to post. I just wanted to do a quick update. Friday afternoon I did a quick workout in the front yard. I did kettlebell clean and press ladders, and some swings. Saturday I went to the gym (while my wife was a few hundred yard away grocery shopping) and did pullups on the Gravitron, and some pushups. Saturday I also walked for an hour around the hood.

Today was a do nuthin day—a lot of time in front of the tube watching golf. But I did manage to cook a rather primal meal. I made a stew from javelina meat. I came out quite well.

After a long layoff due to the foot problems, I’m back on the bike for the commute tomorrow.

I went to the gym at lunch today for a quick workout.

Pushups (four rounds)

• 10
• 10
• 7
• 6

Pullups (Gavitron at 120)

• 10
• 10
• 10

I was going to do dips but I decided against it.  The position of the hands on the bar puts a lot of pressure on the same point that caused my nerve injury from cycling.  I need to get some gel gloves or figure out some way to do them without putting pressure on that nerve.  I’m glad that I can do pushups again without pain—I don’t need to reinjure my hands.

Morning weight: 206lbs

I mentioned in an comment on Marc’s blog that I couldn’t do a pull up.  He suggested a program on the Gravitron (a device that gives you weight assist to do pull ups and dips) where I start at a point where I can do three sets of 10.  I put the pin in the 120 lb slot thinking that if that was too much, I would adjust on the fly.  But by the time I got to the third set, it struggled to do the last two.  So this looks like a good starting point for me.  I dropped it to 100lbs to do thee sets of dips.  It’s another testament to the weekness of my upper body but I’ll keep working at it.

Neal couldn’t play racquetball today but we’re scheduled for tomorrow.  The foot feels good now–hope that’s true this time tomorrow.

Morning weight: 206lbs

I did a quick workout in the front yard after the bike ride today:

• 10 pushups
• 30 Kettlebell Swings (15 per arm)
• 10 Kettlebell Clean & Press (5 per arm)
• 15 crunches

Three rounds with no rest between exercises.  All done on some thick St. Augustine grass in the shade of a mesquite tree.  Short and sweet!