This year one of the things I'm most proud of is my adherence to a new years' resolution I made for 2009. At the start of 2009 I was back up to 255 lbs. Frustrated with this, and suddenly with the ability to hit a free, decent gym, I decided that I was going to run twice a week, every week, as a new years resolution. I wanted to go low and easy, so I could keep the resolution. No minimum on the running, just run! That quickly became a workout routine that included running, and at the beginning of february I decided to make the routine badass. I began to workout 4 times a week, running each time. Here is me post workout at the beginning, february 12th, 255 lbs.
http://zombat.roosteredge.com/2009/res/a02.03.09.JPGOver the course of the year, I kept to the 4 times-a-day workout that looked like this:
Monday: Run 1 mile, Do upper body strength training with machines and freeweights
Tuesday: Run 2-3 miles, do lower body and core strength training
Thursday: repeat of monday
Friday: reapeat of tuesday
I began to eat salads more often, I cut soda, any milk fatter than skim, coffee, and fried foods completely out of my diet. I began to plateau, however, and as this was happening, I overheard a couple coworkers mentioning a hardcore workout called 'p90x' which piqued my interest and I got it from them.
P90x is a workout routine that you'll see sometimes on infomercials, one of those 'get ripped fast' things. After the first week, I had no doubt that I was going to see results. At the time I was 245 lbs, and I was physically destroyed. The system targets individual, opposing muscle groups and works the living shit out of them, one day a week, alternating cardio with strength training. The workout is roughly this:
day 1: Back and Chest, ab routine
day 2: Plyometrics (jump training)
day 3: Shoulders, Biceps and Triceps, ab routine
day 4: yoga
day 5: Legs and back
day 6: Kempo (kickboxing)
I'll admit, I felt somewhat stupid working out to a TV video, but at the same time I was completely destroyed after the hour and a half long workouts. I was forced to eat much better to maintain the 3,800 calories needed daily to fuel myself. Protein Shakes, Multivitamins, Flax Seed Oil, and Creatine became part of my diet. I tried to eat 5 small meals a day. Every day of the week I was sore somewhere. This lasted 3 months. after which I took a short break, and decided to do it all over again, though this time I couldn't do all six of the workouts because the amount of time I was spending at the gym was eating my social life up and exhausting me. Nevertheless, I maintained a 4 day a week workout routine as well as a better diet.
Today, I am 220 lbs. I can run a mile in 6:30, I can run 3 miles in 23 minutes, I can do 10 wide-grip pullups in a row, 15 underhand chinups in a row, 50 pushups in a row, 250 pushups over an hour, I can hike 13 miles with 40lbs on my back, and I curl 45 lbs per arm, 8 reps, 3 sets. I went from a 40 waistline to 36. This is what I look like:
http://zombat.roosteredge.com/2009/res/12.19.09.JPGhttp://zombat.roosteredge.com/2009/res/a12.17.09.JPGFor next year, my resolution is to go to the gym 3 times a week, at least 45 minutes each. again, I want to low-ball it. I'd like to lose another 10-15 lbs of fat, further reducing my bodyfat percentage. I have abs beneath the remainder of my belly, I want to see them. I've always had a body image problem (lets face it who hasn't) and as someone who was chubby through out most of school I have got to say that it is incredibly rewarding to see muscles for the first time, to see a continuous vein popping out from my shoulder down to my wrist.
