#30dayfitnesschallenge: July Week 1 Weights Program

English: an exercise of hip and thigh (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The focus for Week 1 will be the Legs.  For 3 days this week, I will give my legs an intense workout. Why legs? Well, strength comes with a good base. Having strong legs will help me perform heavy sets for my back and other main muscle groups.  The legs brings a lot of power.  Developing my legs will help me lose a lot of weight this month but also gain muscles. The leg are usually ignored by many people.  They go to to the gym just to do bicep curls or bench press.  It is important to develop the legs for a more balanced development.  I see a lot of "fitness fanatics" who have chicken legs and I am not intending to be one of them.

The leg exercises often have the heaviest loads among the other major muscle group.  Leg exercises usually engages other muscle groups which would contribute greatly in helping me gain more muscle and lose a lot of fat in my body.  The two major parts of the legs would be the quadriceps and the hamstrings.  I need engage the two in this routine.

Warm-up: Caloy Burpees 30 day challenge (2 x Date)
Exercise 1: Barbell Squats (5 Set pyramid 9-7-5-3-1)
Exercise 2: Alternating Deltoid Raise (5 x 5)
Exercise 3: Romanian Deadlift(5 Set 9-7-5-3-1)
Exercise 4: Bent Over Two-Dumbell Row with Palms In (5 x 5)
Exercise 5: Barbell Lunges (7-6-5-4-3 per leg)
Exercise 6: Dumbell Chest Press (5 X 5 - different angles)
Exercise 7: Bonus - Power Clean (to failure)

The main focus for now is developing strength and power. I will try improve my heaviest set every session. This program would probably just take around 30 minutes to finish. Exercise 1 and 2 will be supersets along with 3+4 and 5+6.  There will be a 1 minute rest per superset and 2 minutes to move to the next superset.

Another aspect of my #30dayfitnesschallenge would be the #30daybloggingchallenge which is to write everyday about this 30 day fitness challenge. It will be interesting to see if I can really track down and write for 30 straight days about the different things I did to get results.

Good luck to me and hopefully, this would work!

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Starting my July 30-day Fitness challenge

I decided to freeze my Fitness First Cebu account for August and September. I just wanted to basically try to reenergise my gym routine by going away for a couple of months. In those two months, I would write more posts about being fit even if you ware not working out in a gym. Since July would be my last month before taking a sabbatical, I would want it to be a month full of activities and results.

I will start a 30-day fitness challenge at the start of the new month.  The challenge will involve several goals that will include weight, fitness, and diet. My main goal for the month is to lose as much weight in 30 days.  How can you actually lose in one month?

Some would say that weight loss should be gradual like 1-2 lbs a week. If those standards should be followed, I would be looking at around 4 to 8 lbs.  I want more. I am not saying that I am advocating an unhealthy program.  Since I am overweight, I really want to maximise this month. I want to lose 10 lbs or more. To achieve this, I need to do a lot of changes in my life.

The last big change and big results month for me was January to February early this year.  I managed to finally beat 200 lb barrier that I have been struggling to overcome for months.  After a very enjoyable summer, I am back to where I was at the start of 2014. I guess it is time to lose more weight and be fitter.

The 30 day challenge will be "How to Lose 10 lbs in one month".  In my previous post,  y goal was just a kilo a month but since it is better to set high goals, I am really setting a really high goal in July.

The Rules of my 30-Day Challenge #30daychallenge July Edition

DIET

1. Oatmeal Breakfast on Weekdays
2. Rice, Meat and Eggs are allowed on Weekend Breakfast
3. Cereal with Low Fat Milk for Dinner
4. Eat anything for dinner on weekends but NO rice.
5. Eat anything for lunch with a maximum one cup of rice.
6. No Fried food for lunch.
7. Eat out only when it's FREE or there is really a reason to celebrate
8. Eat out every Sunday Lunch with wife but if possible, NO RICE!
9. Dinner is the last MEAL of the day.
10. No Sweet drinks for the month worst comes to worse, just have tea with minimal sweetness.

EXERCISE

1. Do Heavy Weights Workout 3 x a week (Heavy for Chest - Back - Legs - Shoulders)
2. In the other 3 days focus will be on group exercise and minor muscles
3. Do caloy burpees everyday (30 day challenge, 2 X date -- in July 1, I'll do 2 on July 31 it will be 62)
4. Have at least one hour of cardio a day. Either dance, bike or BodyCombat.
5. At least 1 BodyBalance class a week to improve flexibility.
6. Do doubles (one morning and one afternoon session) when possible but Weight training should only be in the morning session.
7. NO Exercise after sunday breakfast
8. Have a night light exercise routine one hour before sleeping with wife.
9. Exercise before breakfast
10. Join a fun run on weekends if possible

2014 Goals and Plans for the myself and this Blog

This blog was originally made to focus on weight loss and having a healthy lifestyle.  While I have not written much in this blog, I intend to have more entries in this blog and make this blog a helpful for others to also lose weight or maintain the ideal weight.

I have lost a lot of weight but also gained some back.  I would say I had one of the best summer body in let say 10 years. I realized that I am far from my real goals. Today, I will set my goals for the year. This goal setting  also coincides with the starting of classes.  It is like I am going back to "school" to learn more about fitness and to achieve my dream body and physical fitness.

My goal for the next 12 months is to lose 12 kilos.  I need to lose 1 kilo every month.  The goal is really achievable and it is not too drastic for a guy in his 30s. I will lose weight by doing exercise, and have a proper diet.  This blog will basically monitor the steps that I used to achieve my target.

For the next 30 days, my main goal is to ease myself to having an intense workout routine. There will be 3 intense work out days in a week. There is one day for rest (Sunday).  The other 3 days is focused working on minor muscles or in doing group exercises.

One major component for my new routine is weights.  Weight training will be optimised and initially be focused on improving strength. I will lift heavier weights at maximum 5 reps and 5 sets.  Rest in between sets will be around 1 to 2 minutes.  The 3 heavy days will focus either on the legs, chest, shoulders or back.  Focused part will mean I will do 3 exercises on that part and 1 exercise for the other 3 main parts. For example during leg day I will do Squats, Leg Press, and Lounges plus Bench Press, Front Raises, and Bent Over Rows.

I will be posting my work out routine soon after I made my initial measurements and weigh in.  My goal is to get good and consistent results.  I want to prove that it is possible to have a nice body without spending so much time in the gym.  The gym is important but staying there for more than 3 hours is not practical for real people. I want to cut down on my gym time but I want to make sure that I will still get the best results.  I even intend to freeze my account for 2 months just to see instill in my mind that fitness is part of my like whether I go to the gym or not.  It will be challenging but being independent from the gym will simply mean that you have made fitness and health a priority in life.

I hope that I will succeed in my journey and be able to help others achieve their ideal weight.  Good luck to us all! ;)

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March 27 workout: Amazing Leg Day

It's leg day once again. This I wanted to test my personal record. I immediately started with 120 kilos as my first set. I raised it to 140 k for another 6 reps. I didn't know what gotten over me that the next two sets were done with 160 kilos of load. It was the heaviest that I ever tried. I felt that I have enough strength in my tank that I added another 10 kilos to the barbell. I squated the 170 kilo load for 1 rep and I felt really good.

Since I felt very energetic today, I decided to do some bench presses. I did 8 reps at 60 kilograms, 6 at 70k, 6 at 80k, and 2 reps at 90k.

I really had one of my best strength workout days this month. Hopefully, I will have more strength gains in April.

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November 5 2013 fitness log

It's been over a week since I visited the gym, so I am going ease back myself to my usual training phase. Here's what I did today :

Warm up - 10 minute treadmill run including 1 kilometer at 10 kph.

Bench press - 6 reps at 60 kg X 3 sets
Squats - 6 reps at 100 kg X 3 sets
Pull ups - 8 reps X 3 (different grips)
Lunges - 6 reps at 70 kg X 3 sets per leg
Crunches - 100 reps

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Fun Runs: Run for SugBohol

I joined a fun run last week. I ran the 5k in the Run for Sugbohol which was organized by the Run for Sight Foundation headed Dr. Yong Larrazabal.  The run was organized to raise funds for relief efforts for the victim of the Oct. 15, 2013 earthquake that struck Bohol.  I joined the fun run along with my wife and her parents.My intene

I finished the 5k at 35 minutes.  It is not fast but I know I was improving a lot because before I really hate running.  I used to just walk the whole way.  This time, I was able to run in stretches.  The nice thing about the run is that they have water stations in every kilometer. I also like the route because it was different from the normal route.  The run started in Cebu Doctor's Hospital gym then going to Escario then Gorordo. I even ran with my cellphone with me.

I am hoping to improve my time in the next few weeks as I am planning to join at least 2 fun runs in November.

Links:

My Intense Fitness Weekend

Focusing on Mobile Photography with Xperia Z1

Fun raises 275,000 for Bohol Quake victims

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Nutrition: Carbo loading at La Tegola

I've been joining some fun runs lately and I read in some medical books that a high carb diet is a big factor in performance. Carbohydrates are the best source of glycogen. Glycogen acts as the fuel of our body. Because of the importance of glycogen, many athletes carbo load before an intense competition.

I am not yet a super athlete but nevertheless, I need the energy to finish strong in the fun run and not get too drained the days after. For this week, I discovered a very nice place to load up on carbs. It's not cheap but the quality is way up there. La Tegola is an Italian restaurant at the Ayala Terraces. The restaurant specializes in pasta and pizza which is perfect for carbo loading. When I went there, I was with my friend Hamilton and his friend Xhai. Since they asked me what to order, I decided to choose the Caruso. The Caruso is made up of 5 different pastas with 5 different sauces. With the Caruso, you can practically taste many of the pasta specialties of La Tegola. Another good thing about the dish is that it could be either for 3 or 5 people.

When our order arrived, I was quite happy. By just looking at it, I know that I'm going to have a filling lunch. And I was right. One, the food is so delicious. Two, it does not contain so much fat because the dishes uses the best ingredients and it does not have fatty meat. Three, it's a perfect carbohydrates feast because the carb to protein to fat ratio is quite high around 5-2-.5 in my estimate. Four, the bill was not that high. Five, the ambiance was amazing, you know place is special based on the attention to detail  of the owners, staff and management.

All in all, my experience at La Tegola Ayala was memorable. I will surely go back there to carbo load or to have a romantic dinner with my wife. For someone who is trying to be fit, I would rate the place 5 spoons.

Links:

My Intense Fitness Weekend

Food Trip in Pizzarea Michelangelo

Shakey's Delivery Cebu

Eating at Dong Juan with officemates

Xperia Z1 photos ate ARCH Con

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