What I've Learned So Far

No six-pack yet, but I’ve been pleased with my progress so far on this project. The photo on the left shows me on August 16th; the one on the right was taken two days ago, on September 20th. You can check my progress at a granular level on my Flickr stream, where I continue to take a pic like this every day, but here are the overall trends: weight holding steady, more muscle all over, clothes fit looser, compliments from my wife. Thus, I’m pleased.

Still, I have lots of work ahead of me to get where I want to be. Here’s what I’ve been doing lately to get there:

• Lifting weights three to five times per week, with heavy squats on Saturdays and heavy bench presses on Sundays.
• Cardio three to five times per week, with long (for me) treadmill sessions twice per week.
• Less beer, and less starches generally.
• More protein.
• Tons of pushups throughout the week.

About the pushups: a couple of Twitter friends goaded me into joining their “3000in30″ challenge, which, as the name suggests, calls for 3000 pushups in 30 days. As I write this, I’m 110 pushups in for today’s quota, which leaves me sitting at 1,770 in 16 days overall. It’s been fun.

What’s ahead of me:

• Continued progression on weight workouts.
• More cardio. The treadmill sessions have been pretty intense for me, but I haven’t pushed myself on the other days, when I typically use the elliptical machine. I need to take things up a notch.
• Tighter control of my daily calorie intake. I’ve never sustained the practice of counting my calories, but I may have to at some point to get rid of the fluff around my waist.
• Swimming?
• More flexibility work, and more consistent soft-tissue work (massage, foam roller, etc.) to make sure my muscles — especially in my calves — stay healthy.

So, that’s where I am for now. Any questions, encouragement, etc. are welcome — please fill up the comments!

 

 

I don’t feel rusty at all in many areas of my life, and in fact the past several months have been a barrage of activity, especially around my new job. Yet even though I write constantly for that job, and even though I’ve been producing columns every week, I have fallen out of the habit of posting here regularly. It’s one of those cases where copious activity in private doesn’t translate to noticeable action for the audience.

So, well, here I am. Look for more from me here on many topics, including fitness, books, business, and even my own fiction.

And if you have suggestions for topics you’d like me to take up — I’m all ears. Please feel free to air your requests in the comments.

Onward!

~

(Photo by Les Chatfield.)