Starting Strength

http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki

Random Tips

Ideally, fat-burning sets should last between 40 and 60 seconds.

http://www.menshealth.co.uk/building-muscle/get-big/increase-strength-controlled-rep-tempos-360280

How to run properply

Summary

1. Don't overstride
2. Do land on a flat foot, or on the ball of the foot. 
3. Don't lean forward at the hips. Be vertical from hips up. 
4. Don't thump. If you're making sound when you're running, you're running poorly. 
5. Listen to pain. 

Tom Venuto on Goals

If you know what to do, but you can’t seem to get yourself to do it, you’ve probably been giving negative or conflicting messages to your subconscious mind.

For when you don't wanna workout

2014 Kia Soul Hamster Commercial (Lady Gaga "Applause" Official Song)

Is it the shoes?

Running shoes?
Nike Free 3.0
Nike Dual Fusion

Training Shoes?
Puma Saloh
Adidas Adipure Trainer 360

Ideally, if you get the technique right, I should be able to do both with training shoes, in fact, I should be able to do both without the shoes.

Wednesday, October 16

Was supposed to do this yesterday. Totally missed it. Cause hey, Eid!

Oh, which reminds me, Eid Mubarak!

Squat 80 lb
Bench 40 lb
Rowing 60 lb
Curling 60 lb

I remember just a month ago I was struggling, struggling a bit too much with lifting only 50 lb. And today I couldn't even feel 80 lb on my legs. I could feel it on my back, but not on my back. Why? The technique. I learned about it, I tried to get it right. And this time, I didn't even implement the technique 100%... as in, I wasn't entirely mindful of it. But it worked. So technique it is. Rowing, Press and Deadlift need more reading. Bench is getting out of hands as the load is increasing. Will see about that...

Great quote from "The WillPower Instinct".

Eating Tips

This is an ongoing list of articles, tidbits, recipes, all in one place, focused towards healthier eating habits.

http://stronglifts.com/breakfast-recipes-fat-loss/

Sunday, October 13

Sixth week of the workout begins now! And things are getting tough. Especially on the press front.

Squat 75 lb
Press 35 lb
Deadlift 120 lb
Curling 40 lb

Squateth

I think - again no claims here - I think I have the squat form nailed now. It's not in my muscle memory though. Which means I will have to research, read up, and watch videos for a good ten minutes before every workout for the next few workouts, to get the form memorized. I hope it will be after that. At least, I did today's workout with correct squat form. No knee pain in the first set (That's the only time I felt the pain though, never felt in the consequent sets. And today's squat was heaviest ever I have done. 75 lbs)

Last workout, I think - think - I nailed the form for bench press. Now this is an exercise I have been doing for... eight years? Still, in recent 6 weeks I have really discovered there are two correct ways of doing this exercise for the goal of chest alone. And if you want to shift target muscles, variations are unlimited. And in the last workout, I really really did it the right way. Full range of motion. Bodybuilding style, not power-lifting style. And could get all the reps done. And I am still sore from that. How do I know it was a correct form. I felt the right muscles. I could feel the levers and mechanics of the body to produce a smooth motion that contracted and stretched the muscles that felt natural. No pain in wrists etc.

A week before I had a workout in which I had done rowing and deadlifts with what I think was good enough form. But after that, haven't been able to do that. I was wrong in assuming that I will get this form right by the sixth week, and then I will be able to afford to do these mindlessly. But no. I have to tense my entire body. Read up, think up. Watch videos before workout, and stay very very mindful of what I am doing. I still don't think I have deadlift and rowing under control.

As for the press. Well, I thought I knew the exercise. But once again, on all the other exercises, I was progressing naturally. But on this one I was struggling. So I thought maybe I don't have the technique right. So I started reading up on this, and I discovered that in the top position you had to move all the way up. To the point where you even compressed your traps. Now this is something that a guy coming from isolation mindset wouldn't think of. Anyway, so that's what I did. I couldn't get past the first two sets. I had to do around 5 sets. Very well. I complete the workout, and to compensate for the missed sets, I did press with dumbbells, with very very light weights. I was struggling with even that. But I did it, and that's the only part of my body that got tired from the workout, other than the back of course, from the deadlift.

Lions, Tigers, Bears... Oh My!

Squats, dead-lifts, rows... oh my!

Squat

Wide stance
Straight back
Knees shouldn't go past toes
All the weight should be on heels. Imagine driving your heels in the ground while getting up.
Entire body should be tense at all times, specially back and core.
"Spread the floor" - http://www.inthecave.com/blog/?p=4861
Breath in - descend - ascend - breath out
Do them barefoot if your shoes don't work for you.
Use your hips.
Bend knees only in the first 1/3 of the squat, then leave them fixed there.
Bar should be over mid-foot through out entire movement.

Deadlift

Plan feet just outside shoulder width
Mid-foot should be right below the bar.
Squat down till shins touch the bar
Grip just outside shoulder width.
Chest out.
Stand up straight, drive by hip.
Descend with hip, bend knees only in the last 1/3 of the movement.

October 11, Friday

Since I had missed a couple of workouts because I went to Austin, I thought I would continue doing, and instead of taking the weekly two-day gap, I would take one-day gap, because of which I would be back on track. However, that didn't happen. What happened, that I ended up taking even more two-day gaps. Sometimes it was this, sometimes it was that. Anyway, I still have kept on the workout plan, so far.

On Friday I did

Squat 5x5 70 lb
Bench 5x5 35 lb
Rowing 5x5 55 lb

Tuesday, October 8

I did the workout alright! And I did well.. I think. This is what I did:

Squats 65 lb
Press 30 lb
Deadlift 110 lb
Dumbbell Press 25 lb

I know I shouldn't be mixing stuff up with 5x5, but well, the reason is that I don't feel enough of what I want to feel. And Mehdi, being the educated informant that he is, has warned it times and again that exercise and workouts is not about feeling sore, it's about growing strong and fit, but well, what can I do? I wanted my pump. I am struggling with two of my exercises - rowing and press - and it is these that I do extra. And if I think about it, I am doing exactly the opposite of what I should. The flawed reasoning says workout these muscles more so you get more stronger next workout. But the truth is, since I am increasing weight every workout, I need to give my muscles enough time to recover, hence I shouldn't be doing anything extra if I want to complete my sets well. That also means nothing extra for biceps as well.

From tomorrow onward, I won't do anything extra. And if I need the 'feel' I will make my form even more strict. That's what I will do.

Sunday, October 6

Squat 60 lb
Bench 30 lb
Rowing 50 lb
Lat pull-downs - some random weight just so I feel something in my back
Curling - 40 lb

Running is fun, if you can run

Ah well just a quick note. I didn't get time to do my usual planned workout. So I just did a thirty minute run-as-much-as-you-can-then-start-as-soon-as-possible thing. It was fun, got the heart beat going for a good thirty minutes. That's what the goal is, If I can develop this habit of working out for thirty minutes everyday, I am a success. That's all I want.

Hopefully, I will do Squats, Bench, Rowing tomorrow with 60, 30, 50 lbs. Let's see.

There's so much to do man!

S.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

The heart wants to talk a lot - but the rule is that the logs labeled as Log are to be kept clean :)

It was 10:00 pm already and I hadn't worked out the entire day. The gym was about to close in an hour. And I had to run to it in the dark of the night, and with all these people telling me it's not safe, I didn't feel good about it. But I went, and I worked out, and I came back. This is what I did:

10 minutes jog to the gym
5x5 Squat 55 lb
5x5 Press 25 lb
1x5 Deadlift 100 lb
3x5 Curling 60 lb
10 minutes jog from the gym.

After the Deadlift I made a mistake. I did something the 5x5 specifically tells you not to do; I did an isolation exercise. The temptation was too much. I has been ages since I have felt something in my biceps. So I just did:

Actuallllly back on track, weightwise too!

Okay, so it's not like I've magically lost seven pounds in seven days while I wasn't even trying (which would have been a really bad thing if it had happened) but today, October 3, when I weighed myself, I stood at 119 pounds... That's two less than last week. Good.

What happens when you miss a workout!

And a friend shared article with me on facebook, I thought it's a good motivational article :p

Though I don't notice any scientific rigor in this article. I would like to see some citation for the so bold numbers that are posted there, but anyway, the article is a good motivation.

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=893&sid=3329829

Back on Track

So I got back on track, so to speak.

Though if we consider the original workout plan I had, the Stronglifts 5x5 one, I am lagging behind by only one week (I did the workout scheduled for Sep 25 on Oct 1). But if we consider the weight loss milestones I had set for myself, then I am wayyy behind. I was supposed to weigh 196 lbs on Oct 1, and instead of losing weight, I have sort of put on some weight, 2 lbs. Now, there are no surprises there. A trip to Austin came in, I hit a mild rut, where I got stressed, and just ate and slept, ate and slept, and ate and slept. That's all I did. I am well out of it now, but still I am not in an ideal, organized schedule. Though that will happen soon, inshallah. I just need to be more determined.

So, time to ditch my original mile stones for weight loss. It's tough, and unhealthy to aim to catch back to him. My plan is the same. Lose one pound per week.

I should weigh around 220 lbs on Oct 7, that's a Monday, so I will use the university weight machine and take a snap too :)

Lastly, just some additional bit. Today was not my workout day, according to SL plan, but I went for a run. And Man it felt awesome! It just took half an hour of my time. I ran/jogged for ten minutes, walked for five minutes, then ran for ten minutes, then jogged/ran for 10 ten minutes. A total of thirty minutes, and I was back home! I went to Medina store, which is a halal meat store near my house. And I loved the entire experience. From tomorrow inshallah, that's what I will do. If it's not my workout day, or if I am afraid I will miss my workout, I will simply go for a run, and do some rope-skipping after coming back, and would do the scheduled workout on the next free day. Though this is bound to hurt my progress in the SL program, but well, I am taking steps to get organized. And while I am not there, I need to put nets for when I fall down again. Cause I do fall down.

Today's workout:

10 min run
5 min walk
10 min run
5 min run
5 min of rope skipping with breaks

Last workout:

Squat 50 lb
Bench 25 lb
Rowing 45 lb

Next workout

Squat 55 lbs
Press 25 lbs
DL 100 (Whoa!)

Next cardio? Cardio will be same. Just run/jog/walk for 30 minutes, and keep increasing the intensity to a point till I can run, not jog, for 30 minutes solid.

May Allah protect us All.

Progress?

This is why I am not really a plan of making a plan and everything.

So I had made a plan of losing 4 pounds a week; and I was all over the place blabbering how I am keeping things conservative and practical, and how I am gonna achieve them with no effort whatsoever, slowly I will transition blah blah blah. The goal was to weigh 196 lb by Oct 1. And I have put on weight in the last week or so, instead of losing it. I went from eating like a horse to eating like a pig. There was a Austin trip in between, which was good in some senses, a throbbing hot pain in the a$$ in some other sense. Missed four workouts, that's more than a week of working out.

Took this picture today.

So one of my favorite books (and from favorite I mean a collection of books that I haven't actually read :) is Tom Venoto's fat-loss bible. And in the first chapter he talks about having a plan first, before even reading the second chapter of the book. I guess I will start reading the second chapter of that book now. Since now I have the plan, and reading more about fitness will probably make me think about it more, thinking more about it might probably make me act more on it too. Let's see how this goes.

Goals Revisited

This post on February 8 says I weighed 116 kg (256 lbs) on February. I said that I will try to lose 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) every month since then. And that I will hit 80 kg (176 lb) in three years time, as that is the weight I would like to stay at; though I agree that still puts me in the overweight category.

There were other behavioural goals that I had set. Haven't been able to stick with a single one of them consistently, but have been practising all of them on and off.

So, in the four months that I spent in tableegh, I lost quite a bit of weight. And then there was Ramadan, in which I lost some more, and then I came to US, and lost a little more.

Mar, April, May, Jule, July, Aug, Sep - that's seven months. The plan was to lose 3.3 lb per month, now that I look back my average has been 5 lb/month, roughly speaking.

The new goal that I am setting for myself is losing 4 lb/month. Which means 1lb/week. Which means a daily caloric deficit of 500 Kcal (3500 Kcal make one pound of fat). This is challenging, as I am eating like a horse.

Today is September 15, I am still at 219/220 lb mark. Need to lose these 3/4 lb in the next 15 days.

To summarize, the goals now are:
- 1lb/week or 4lb/ month
- 196 lb on Oct 1
- 192 lb on Nov 1
- 188 lb on Dec 1
- 184 lb on Jan 1, 2014
- 180 lb on Feb 1, 2014
- 176 lb on Mar 1, 2014.

Behavioural goals?
- For now, it's just sticking with 5x5.
- Eating three meals a day.
- Breakfast: Omelette or Cereal; Lunch: Omelette/Fruits; Dinner: Omelette/Chicken/Fish/Meat/Lentils
- [Will throw in 15 minutes of cardio five days a week]

This is tough, but this will have to do. The boredom at home makes is really easy to just keep making Nutella sandwiches, or eating Hershey's or Dried fruits as it some zero calorie snack. Gotta work on that and control the chubs.

Meh

I keep saying I will log later, I will log when I have time, when I can do a better job at logging, And I keep delaying. Whatever.

So, in this post I tell what my goals are. I haven't been able to stick to those goals. But among those goals was one of weight loss. And the plan was that I will lose about 1-1.5 kg every month. And the weight I had logged in for February 1 was 116 kg.

Then I remember weighing myself around July 4, and I stood at 104 kg.

Then I remember losing three more kgs in the month that followed.

Today I weighed myself, and here I am at 220 pounds (From now on, the weight will be in pounds as I'm in US now, most machines only show pounds :)

I don't know whether it's healthy weight loss or not. I can still do 25 push-ups on an ordinary day, and about 30 squats. I think I have lost a lot of stamina over past few years, but that can only be judged when I do decide to do cardio. I haven't done cardio in a long time.

Planning on following scooby's cooking recipes and the training plans as discussed in previous posts.

Since I am pretty much on my own now, in terms of cooking and eating, I can cook whatever the hell I want, no more delicious (and unhealthy) Pakistani food for me!

So far it's been peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches for me. But I did get myself a pack of oatmeal and a box of Kellog's cereal. I thinking I will learn to cook all sorts of beans and peas and what not, while also snacking on fruits all the time. These cereals (and bread and Nutella!) I will save for breakfast. This whole grain bread is Awesome! Just awesome. Gotta myself a toaster man, toaster or a tava cause I like to toast my breads before I have them, and with a tava I could put some butter and cheese while toasting them too!

My my, my mouth is already watering.

I am all set to cook channay ki daal at my place. Have all the stuff, only oil missing. And some utensils, I get those, and the cooking begins! Till then, it's all Nutella sandwiches, bananas, milk and some cereal.

Just wanted to log the weight. Kinda happy I am back in two digits now. Will lose the chub soon inshllah. Then will get on to putting on muscle.

The last few days

So, as you can see, between February 10 and today, I didn't log any workouts. That doesn't mean I didn't do any, thankfully. Though I have been working out, almost regularly. I haven't been posting about them, cause I have been really busy.

But that's not the point of this post. The point is to announce that I won't be updating this blog for the next four months. Inshallah more stuff will come from July 1, as I make my journey to 80 kg body weight.

Why? I will be travelling for four months. So I won't be working out, but I will be eating out, so I will stay on my lose 1 kg per month track. Inshallah!

See you on the other side of four months!

Barefoot!

For so long I kept bitching about gyms not letting me workout with shoes on. Why? Balance, stance, mobility, force from ground, blah blah blah.

Today I saw a picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger training barefoot in gym. Many pictures.

Who am I to bitch now? I welcome those gyms now :) 

The email to Wahaj which was never sent

Yaar I can't for the life of me find the difference between these all! To me there seems to be only Deadlift and <something> deadlift. Now let that something be stiff-legged, straight-legged or Romanian, they all seem the same.

If you get bored, then do take a look. On this website Deadlift is categorized under waist (lower back) exercises. And the rest are under hamstrings (back of thighs).

I don't know why I am getting confused over it.

• Deadlift
• Straight-leg Deadlift
• Stiff-leg Deadlift
• Romanian Deadlift

And if you want to perform the first one, here's a guide to get the form right. You want to get the others right, well, then screw you.

Deadlifting for beginners

UPDATE: Discovered this awesome guide for deadlifts!

Deadlift 101

Saad Rehman.

February 10

Oh, and just for the record, that's what I did yesterday:

Squats 5 x 10
Press 5 x 16
Rowing 5 x 16

I did them all with 6 kg dumbbells. I rested for only 30 seconds for squats, and tried the same for other exercises too. But sometimes my rest grew to 45 seconds, even one minute in a few cases. The total workout was  completed within 30 minutes. My breathing stayed heavy throughout, so I am guessing this should suffice as cardio too (A).

Tonight I will either skip, do cardio, or the same with Bench instead of Press, so I can follow Mehdi's routine.

Since I won't add weight, my goal is to gradually reduce rest size and/or increase reps. Number of sets I guess I will keep at 5.

For foreseeable future, I will be using dumbbells to do the entire Mehdi's routine.

If I do cardio, then I will try to jump rope as much as possible, doing punching and kicking when I would need rest.

I was hoping I would be sore in back, especially lats, but I am not. I am only sore in shoulders, which is good nonetheless.

Oh and this is for February 10. Let's see what happens tonight :)

A man with two watches

So the saying goes that a man with one watch knows what time it is; a man with two watches is never quite sure. And this exactly is the case with me. I have read so many articles, and never really followed anyone through and through, that I am pretty confused about the workouts I am doing.

I mentioned the Rippetoe Novice workout in my post, and then at the same time I was also reading the Stronglifts 5x5 report by Mehdi Hadim, and both these programs sounded awfully similar, so I thought they were. But they had some differences. To hell with that, here's the summary:

Now, since I am not going to be following the numbers anyway, so take that out. That means Rippetoe's workout only has one more thing that Mehdi's doesn't, and that is Power Clean. Now that's a difficult move to learn, even tougher to master, and I already have a history of getting injured doing it with dumbbells. So, I guess I will just follow Mehdi's. Though it's tempting to try Rippetoe's workout, I honestly don't have enough months for either of then. I will do what Mehdi says on the 10 of the next 20 days. On the other ten days? I will probably just jump rope, or do the same for the other ten too.

Here are some links on how to do these:

Power Clean and this
Full Squat
Deadlift
Rowing

EDIT:

The 5x5 workout.

• Do 5 sets of 5 reps with the same weight
• Add 5lbs/2.5kg total weight each workout until you can't get 5 reps on all 5 sets anymore
• Take 10% weight off for the exercise you stalled on only, continue adding weight on the
other exercises
• Continue adding 5lbs/2.5kg total weight each workout until you stall again
• Repeat this 1 step back, 2 steps forward approach until you can Squat close to 1.5x your
body-weight for 5x5

The high level goals

I should weigh 80 kgs. (Why?)

I want to lose 1-1.5 kg per month. (Why?)

And I weigh 116 now, so I have to lose 36 kg *sigh*- that's like one third of my current weight. I won't even be me after that. I wonder how will only two thirds of me contain all this awesomeness. Anyway, so I have to lose 36 kg. If I lost 1-1.5 kg/month, it will take me 2-3 years. So the deadline is basically March 1, 2015, and by that time I will be 80 kg.

To lose 1.5 kg every month, I need to create a caloric deficit of <so much>, and since I am planning on Not losing more than that, I won't be creating a greater caloric deficit. So I will keep my eating within this calorie range: <some> - <some>kcal.

I will do it by:

1. Drinking milk for breakfast. Just milk. If hungry, I will have oats or barley with it. No other breakfast allowed. 
2. One roti per meal. 
3. No drinking calories. No coffee/tea allowed. Only milk, green tea, water. 
4. Fasting At least thrice every month. Ideally, twice every week. Monday and Thursday. 
5. Not eating crap. Now this is the most important part. Most of my calories don't come from meals. Nothing in between, unless it's weekend :)
6. Not finishing food. My parents ingrained this habit of cleaning the plate in me. Now this is a good habit, but I have taken this to the next level. I just Have to clean up All the food, no matter how much. This has to stop.
7. Exercising five days a week. What's the exercise? That's in other posts. 

If I can bring myself into this calorie range through these habits, great.

If I get a greater deficit than I am aiming for, I will add hot mugs of milk, as needed.

I will surely not get a lesser deficit than I aiming for. But if I do, that will be because the meals themselves are fatty. So I will try cooking them myself, or soaking out oil from them before eating.

So,

I weighed 116 kg on February 1.

I should weigh 109-111 kg on July 1.

Why didn't I track the weight for every month, and just jumped to July 1? Cause I will be travelling for four months, and I won't have any access to weighing machines etc. How will I stay on track in these months? Basically, just by doing the first six steps. 

When will it start showing?

On Wednesday, I told Wahaj about having done 100 push ups. And you see, Wahaj has a way of being very simply, and very honest, and say huge things while being it. And he asked, when will it start showing? And that was a thought provoking moment for me. I said well, for it to start to show, I need to lose fat, and for me to lose fat, I need to eat in moderation. And since I had (at that time) no plans of fixing my eating habits, I said it's not showing anytime soon.

But it was enough to set the wheels rolling.

Now the world is full of all sorts of workouts and diets. And now I am not a sage or anything, but fads are so foolish. And everything, no matter how beautiful, loses it's value when it's turned into fad. Even things like writing, marrying, worshiping, studying, charity. It just loses its spirit. And most of these workouts and diets, regardless of how effective they are, are indeed a result of a fad. And do what do fads do, apart from being value-lessening? They end. They last only for a season.

The best workout in the world is that which you can do every day.

And likewise, the best 'diet' is those small changes that you aren't afraid to live with, for the rest of your life, those eating habits that you gradually grow in to, that become a part of who you are. Not some diet plan that you go on. 

So when the wheels of my brain start to roll, I started to think, well, what are these changes that I can do to my eating habits, that are so small, that they aren't uncomfortable, so my body and mind wouldn't just want to get done with them? And among the many things that come to mind, there's really only one that came to mind. And That is, to eat one morsel less in every meal for one month.

(More later)

Awesome guide to Fat loss!

These are some of my most favorite articles ever written on the subject. I have done a lot of reading on the subject, and have taken journeys from hormones and the effects many chemicals have on them, blah blah blah. All that may or may not be true, if you're not training to be an Olympic champion, or learning to be a elite trainer, you don't need to know all that. Just read these and you're good. Here:

1. Building six pack is as easy as 1-2-3
2. Fat loss 101 how to lose fat fast with free fat loss diets
3. The biggest secret to fat loss
4. Fat-loss-diet-more-important-trainin
5. h5-reasons-why-you-struggle-to-lose-fat
6. Are-you-making-this-fat-loss-mistake
7. True Natural Bodybuilding: Losing Body Fat
8. Lose fat and gain muscle at the same time!

A little advanced:

1. Cardio-fat-loss-hiit-vs-long-duratio-cardio
2. Hiit-interval-training-fat-loss

And as for what I did today, well I didn't do anything. I skipped the workout. In my defense, I had fasted from dawn till dusk today. And had Hardee's for dinner.

Edit: I did ~60 push ups Friday morning to make up for the missed workout.

Mark Rippetoe - Novice workouts

Quite some time ago, I read about this workout. I guess it was Ramadan when I read it i.e. August 2012. Here is the article in which I read about it. You can read all about Mark Rippetoe, he's all over the web. I know, the guy I usually follow, Scooby (from www.scoobysworkshop.com) doesn't like him much. But you need to understand, both are different kind of people. And I really like Scooby. But I still did this workout for 1-2 weeks in Ramadan, during nights, while I used to fast during the days, and it did work wonders :)

So, it's about time that I retire 55 now, I am bored of it. Haha... Basically, I just want to take it up one notch, since I will be working out only till February, because I am going travelling on March 1. The plan is that Monday, Wednesday, Friday I will follow this workouts, alternating between Workout A and B (So, first week, it's ABA, and second week it's BAB).

The workouts to alternate are:

Workout A:
Squat, 3 x 5 using the same weight
Press, 3 x 5 using the same weight
Deadlift, 1 x 5
Chin-ups Rowing, 3 x failure, 5 minutes rest between

Workout B:
Squat, 3 x 5 using the same weight
Bench Press, 3 x 5 using the same weight
Power Clean, 5 x 3 using the same weight

Also, since I don't have enough weights to be doing 5 rep sets, I will most probably do 10 reps, or however many reps I can do.

As for Tuesday and Thursday, I will be doing cardio. Now I don't have a fixed plan for cardio. The idea is that I will do as much rope jumping as I can. I can now do around 15 minutes of rope jumping before my feet and ankles start telling me to stop. What I do is that I jump for 100 reps, then take a minute rest, then jump, then rest. This goes on for half an hour, so I presume I have rested for like 10 to 15 minutes, hence I jumped for 15-20 minutes. And sometimes, I do some other cardio as well if I need a longer break from jumping, so I think total time I jump for is 15 minutes. In fact, this is what I did today :) Though today was not Tuesday or Thursday, but I did 100 push ups last night, so cardio today.

On Saturday and Sunday, I will do whatever the eff. I want! Be it workout, be it rest, be it part hard hard hard.

That's the plan!

100 push ups

What can I say? Really, I don't feel like saying much. Truth is, today I didn't have a good workout. In fact, I was quite nervous to being with. I had missed past three workouts. Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Saturday, it was Russell's dinner at BBQ Tonight. Sunday, well, Sunday my two colleagues had come to stay at the masjid where I pray, and one of them, who also happens to be living alone in Karachi, asked me to go to Hardees with him, so didn't feel like working out after having had dinner. Last night, it was invitation at Wahaj's place, from where I cam around 1 am. Now I have indeed worked out even later than that (2:30 am ), but well, I didn't quite feel like it. Really, there is no better excuse, so I ain't looking for one.

Today too, I had had dinner. It was unplanned dinner. I had just went to my granny's to bring the sister back home, and there just joined them over dinner. And guess what? Ate loads of beef! Now when I was eating, all the time I was thinking, how awesome it would have been if I had been doing rigorous training for three days and would be eating this beef right now. But I hadn't been working out. And it wasn't awesome. Anyway, I came home. I rested. Two-three hours passed. I still felt heavy from the dinner. Heavy and sluggish. And as if the anxiety of slacking, and the heaviness from dinner wasn't enough, it was very cold outside too. Cold breezes. And I work out in the open. Under the night sky. Well, I started. And thought, I would just do 55. And would do my squats with weights. So I feel like I have done some work. I did first five sets. I did ten reps in all the ten sets. And since I was doing ten reps in all the sets of squats, I thought why not give it a shot in push up sets too. I tried. It worked. Downside is that it took my One hour to complete the set. I rested a lot. As opposed to doing the workout in a circuit fashion, which exhausts an energetic person, I did it like I wrote my papers in college: lazily, with a lot of lags in between, and while thinking about other stuff.

All this time I was thinking how much I will brag if I accomplish this. Ah well, here it is. Done.  Hundred push ups, in one hour. First time in life. Next goal? The same workout in 3o minutes :)

So it was:

100 rope jumps, 10 weighted or 15 free squts, 2 min rest, 10 push ups, 2 min rest
100 rope jumps, 10 weighted or 15 free squts, 2 min rest, 10 push ups, 2 min rest
...
100 rope jumps, 10 weighted or 15 free squts, 2 min rest, 10 push ups, 2 min rest

That's all for now.

When I fail to plan...

It's true that they say, when you fail to plan, you plan to fail. As you see, yesterday, Thursday, I didn't have any plan for my workout. And since so, I hadn't been thinking about it, imagining doing it, and therefore, didn't actually do it.

Today, Friday, I had been thinking all day, I would do cardio, I would do cardio. I even made a post about what I was gonna do, which is not like the norm of this blog. But magically, whatever I had put in the blog, though however less I meant it, came into being. I ended up doing exactly as I had written it. I did 30 minutes of continues cardio, without taking any break. Heart-rate, breathing was etc was all high during the entire 30 minutes. And resisted the temptation of taking up dumbbells and pumping some iron.

Anyway, what I did went like this:

Jogging in place. This time I really tried to raise my knees high.
Rope Jumping, I think 200 jumps. I wasn't counting after 100.
Lateral jumps. Three sets of 15 each.
Boxing punches, 15 with each arm.
Knee Kicks, 10 each leg.
Judo Punches, 10 with each arm.
High round house kick, 10 with each leg.
Repeat.

I did some more rope jumping towards the end. I wish I could do rope jumping for 30 minutes straight! Ah well, that time will come too.

I got to control my eating too! Any plans for that?

Bring back the machine!

I was supposed to write this one on Thursday (Yesterday), but I was having such productive day at work,  that I let the work get done, and didn't set down to write. So here I am, writing.

Basically, I write about my workouts the next day after I do them, because I do them at night. So yesterday I was to write about what I did on Wednesday. Believe me, I was excited about sharing it! But today, the excitement is gone. Why? Because I didn't work out yesterday. It was an unscheduled, unplanned break. But I will make up for it by working on the Sunday. And since I will work out early in the day on Sunday, it will not interfere with the workouts of my next week. Anyway.

So basically, yesterday I was feeling that I have been busting my butt for two days now, and still no sign of soreness. I took a day of rest, thinking maybe the soreness will come the next day. (Sometimes that happens with me too, I guess because I haven't taken enough sleep in the first night.)

Anyway, so on Wednesday, I don't know what got into me, I tried to turn '55' into '100'... haha... Not only that, but the last five sets of squats, I did them with weights. Now That gave me soreness. But that was all. And it wasn't enough. Anyway, we will see how to address this issue too.

So, on Wednesday, I did:

10 squats, 10 lateral raises, 100 rope jumps
10 squats, 10 lateral raises, 100 rope jumps
...
10 squats, 10 lateral raises, 100 rope jumps

So that's how the '55' went. It turned into 100. And no, that's not how I would be doing it every day from now. Like I said, I don't know how I did it. Perhaps, both of these exercises were easy? And perhaps, I really wanted to see some improvement in shoulders as well as thighs? I guess so.

And after that, I had decided I would couple military press with lateral hurdle jumps, and do five rounds. And I noticed an improvement in lateral jumps too! That's awesome. But I didn't do all five rounds. I was noticing not-so-pleasant kind of pain in my right shoulder, and I recalled the time when I had ripped my lats, so I just stopped there. And that too, was a good tough workout, for me.

For next day, I didn't really have a plan. And I ended up going to Madni masjid, there I spent some extra time. So got home late to begin with. Then went to the bank to fetch money. Another 15 spent. Then on the way back got soup for family. Now when I brought the soup, and everybody was having soup and all, and I was feeling this tightness in my head, right around the crown, I just felt like taking a day off. And I Can take a day off, provided I do six workouts in a week, with rests in between. So, like I said, I will now work on Sunday.

Now - what should I do? That issue still remains un-addressed. Perhaps, I will follow Scooby's guidelines (Scooby from Scooby's Workshop) for beginners, and make my regime such that one day I will do only cardio for 30 minutes, and the other day it will be 15-min cardio and 15-min weight training.

If it's cardio day today, what cardio should I do? Can I do? I don't wanna go to the park and run, walk, jog there. No. And jumping rope, I can't do for half an hour! Or can I? I don't know. I could alternate jumping rope with some sissy exercises like raising knees, punching in air, kicking in air, jumping jacks, and that will be it. But it will bore me to death. But I guess that will have to do, till I shift my workout to morning and can go to park for nice tiring runs. What do you think I should do?

So that's how much I weigh!

I mentioned in my last post that I will buy weighing machine today. Well, Alhamdulillah I bought it. Actually, I had been intending to buy one since… September. Yeah. It’s been four months actually. The truth is, that just like everyone else, I too don’t feel like doing something when there are too many unknown involved. What kind of weighing machine to buy? Where to buy from? How much does a good one cost? Do I really need one? Should I get a medical one that’s there in hospitals, well, because I am an accuracy obsessed nut? If I do, will it be too expensive? Where will I keep it? – Yeah, I work that way. But, one of my friends was very kind. She told me about the shop, googled and gave me the exact location of the shop. I just went there, and I got exactly the kind of machine I wanted. Not the medical one, the old-school one. It seems like it’s a really good quality one. It’s like the one I grew up with. Which was so durable! Anyway so I got it. It wasn’t too expensive. It was exactly as much as I wanted to pay for it. I got a perrrrfect deal. Alhamdulillah!

Now the even better part of the news, I weight today. The weight? Haha… Really… I am laughing as I am trying to write. So, basically, all this time I have been thinking I weigh 120kg, because well, I remember weighing that much. But today the machine showed I stand at 115-116 kg. That’s not bad. So that’s the news for today.

The workout? Hmmm… If truth be told, I was veryyy tired today. Tired and sleepy. Just whining, not excusing myself. I was so sleepy in the morning that after reaching the office I slept for another two hours In The Office! And even then when I got up, I was shaking, I couldn’t walk straight until I dropped hot coffee on myself. Anyway, back to the question. The workout went like this:

1 squat, 10 push ups, 100 rope jumps
2 squat, 9 push ups, 100 rope jumps
...
10 squat, 1 push up, 100 rope jumps

Though I know better to do a push up session again today after doing it yesterday, but I kind of enjoyed the soreness all day long, and wanted to do push ups with really good form this time. So today, I did 55 push ups with the best form that I can produce. As for the circuit, it went like this:

10 alternate dumbbell curls
10 military press

I did it thrice. That’s three sets each, and then followed it by 3 x 10 of standing dumbbell rowing. Just for the lulz.

That’s all for now!

The three day gap

On Thursday, I knew there would come a three day gap in my regime. And it did. And I didn't work out for three whole days. In my head, I was wishing that though I would not work out for three days, I would make up for it, by eating with discipline in that time. But I had done exactly the opposite of that. I ate like a horse!

When I did think of working out on Monday, I felt terribly lazy. Note: Eating badly makes you not-feel-like-working out, you need good kind and right amount of fuel to feel energetic enough to want to work out. So I was  feeling veryyyy lazy and sluggish about it.

But what did I do? Here, the fact that my workout is not a workout, but a small workout saved the day. I told myself, it's only 55 push-ups and 55 squats, so why not? And that's what I aimed at doing. And guess what? I ended up outperforming myself in the rope jumping I threw in between the sets :D

This is how it went:

1 squat, 10 push ups, 100 rope jumps
2 squat, 9 lateral raises, 100 rope jumps
...
10 squat, 1 lateral raises, 100 rope jumps

That's right. It was 100 in every set. Sometimes I would get too tired, and I would do it into three sets, like 30, 30, 40, but I still did 100 in every set. A total of 1, 000 Jumps! Take that, belly fat!

By this time, my 30 minutes were over, I was feeling a bit tired out too. So I thought I would call it a day, and not go for circuits, so I just did

20 hammer curls
20 military press

to end the session. And that was it. What will I do tonight? I don't know. It will be something very same. Except that tonight, I am planning to buy a weighing machine too :) Let's see how that goes. It's about time I start keeping a record.

I am thinking of starting a food journal too. Though I understand how tough it will be for to keep record of all the stuff I eat, but well, If I am looking at making small changes that can be easily incorporated into my eating habits, first I have to analyse the data and find out where I could fit those in. For that I need the data!

I guess I will start within this week sometime. Tomorrow? Depends on how much work I have. Maybe tonight. Maybe not, I am both busy and sleepy today.

On my other blog, I will probably write about where I went for the three days, and how it went. That would be fun. I hope.

Any suggestions on what I should change in my workout? Or should I just keep it as it is?

Thursday, January 24

Tonight, Alhamdulillah summa Alhamdulillah I did what I had in mind.

Firstly, when I was doing 55, just like yesterday I did rope jumping in between the sets instead of resting. This is how the first part of the workout went:

1 squat, 10 lateral raises, 60 rope jumps
2 squat, 9 lateral raises, 60 rope jumps
...
10 squat, 1 lateral raises, 60 rope jumps

But the awesome part? I hit the mark of doing 100 jumps with rope in one go! That was the glory moment for tonight. So that's the checkpoint worth noting, from now on, that's what I will be aiming for.

Then the circuit:

10 Side-to-side jumps
10 mountain climbers
10 side bends (for obliques)
10 goodmornings
10 alternate dumbbell press

Now the purpose of the last ten exercises was not to do muscle building of those areas that are targeted by those exercises, it wasn't even to get stronger, basically I had no 'building' goal in mind. The goal was just to do any exercise, and since I was too out of breath and un-creative to do any other cardio, I just did these.

Oh, and my workout has naturally grown to 35-40 minutes. That doesn't mean I am doing it slowly, though it may be possible, but I think that's because I am doing more. More reps in some cases, and completing the sets in other cases.

So that's all for now. Oh, and my made an account on Fitrocity! I don't know how many points I am gonna get for this one, I got 50 points just for logging ten minutes of rope jumping.

Now, that's really all for now :)

I am Saad, the keeper of promises!

Tonight (i.e. Wednesday January 24) I did as I promised on my blog I would.

I did:

1 squat, 10 push-ups, 25-60 rope-skips,
2 squats, 9 push-ups and 25-60 rope-skips,
...
10 squats, 1 push-up.

Obviously I was out of breath many time, sometimes so much so that I couldn't go on, there were many 30-second (or longer) rests sprinkled in between. I remember taking a few water breaks too :)

Then I removed rope-skipping and mountain climbers from the circuit mentioned in the link above and it became like this:

1) Side-to-side jumping - 15 reps
2) Alternate Dumbbell Curls - 10 reps
3) Bent Dumbbell Rows - 10 reps
4) Military Press - 10 reps

And I did two such circuits. Only taking a break when I was too out of breath to go on. Since I am not lifting too heavy, and the volume is totally non existence, I could afford to be so hard. After all, I was treating this as cardio, and not as bodybuilding.

Since I didn't give myself any day to rest after yesterday's push-ups, I was kinda weak today after the first 18 or so reps. I resorted to knee push-ups, then gained some strength, and was back to full push-ups, but I didn't go all the way down. Anyway, I am happy with substituting 2 sets of rope skipping and 2 of mountain climbers with 10 of rope skipping.

Let's see what I do tonight. I am planning on doing the same though, perhaps doing curling instead of push-ups in the 55, and doing mountain climbers instead of curling in the circuits.

In the beginning, there was nothing

It all started last week. Tuesday. In fact, it all started Monday, but night, but the first workout was done on Tuesday. I have wrote the whole story here, you should check it out too, it's fun.

Point is, I just started because I had to start. And because of that, I started small. And it was a huge success! It was enough to make an impact, and not so much that it would discourage, or tire me out. I will write about that happening too, because I have been there too.

Talal Khan (a friend since grade seven) once told me, we often think about advanced things, doing this and that, and making our workouts seem all serious and efficient. But really, even if we did petty, sissy exercises, but did them regularly, we would be better off. He's right. He's always been fit, he's always been an athlete (as far as I can remember), so he automatically got time here and there to play football. And that is a proof of what he said. So this time, I decided differently. I thought, instead of giving it my best shot, and doing it 'right', I would Just Do It. And let it fine tune itself as the time passes. But as for me, I have only one goal. To exercise, or do anything that can be, by any standard, qualified as exercise, regularly.

The first workout went like this:

1 Squat, 10 push-ups, 30 sec rest.
2 Squats, 9 push-ups, 30 sec rest.
...
10 Squats, 1 push-up, Voila!

This worked great. Man this worked great! The best part? Completed within 15 minutes. Even better part? Completed! and the most awesomestest part? I did 55 push-ups in one day, probably first time in my life! I needed a week till my triceps and chest could properly recover to do that much again. But it was fun, so much fun, that it set the feels rolling. I am gonna recommend anyone and everyone to try this from now :) Specially the heavy and strong kind who've trouble starting working out.

Why this blog?

I have a craze for keeping things organized. Though I fail at it miserably in the department of Thoughts, but whatever. Because of this craze I have ended up creating many blogs. Don't get me wrong, I am not a blogger, at all! I don't post regularly on any of them, but it just feels against my style to post one thing that's related, or in my opinion, confined, to a blog that has a wider more general scope, or worse, the one that's confined to another subject.

Perhaps, at a later day, I may be able to go through all this stuff, and filter out among all of them what's really worth keeping, and put them all in once place. That will be easy to manage, No? But for now, I find it easy to manage it like this, keeping all the different colored balls in their separate baskets. And therefore, I am starting this blog.

I read productivity porn a lot, and I know a thing or two about how making your goals public makes it a part of your identity, the way your mind sees your self, which in turns makes it easy for your mind to help you keep on track, because the mind gets very very upset when your actions are not in line with the image of self your mind has. I experienced this too, last week I told my friend I am gonna do workout. I have been telling my own self that I am gonna work out, but I never really did. But when I told my friends about it, it became a part of my image, and not just the image they had of me, but the image my own mind had of me, the identity, as we call it. So, I tinkered my identity a bit, and it was easier to do an action that's in line with one's identity. So, I have been working out for one week now.

Also what I did was write a post on my main blog about it, and share it on my friends walls, taunting them, telling them how awesome I was and what not; they probably think I am awesome by now... haha. What I noticed was, that doing that motivated me even further. It helped it make it easy for me to keep in track, i.e. less will power was needed. Then I blogged even more about it, and well, that also helped me in a way.

One more purpose that blogging was serving was of logging. Keeping accountability aside, when I posted the exercises I did in one workout, and what I was planning on doing in the next session, It became very natural to do them. The mere act of having a record was enough to improvements, without me making the Mental effort to improve. Now, the physical effort is still there, of course. But part of the mental effort is keeping record of where you were last time, where you should aim to be next time, where you finally aim to be, and where you end up. This logging every session, online, publicly, made this whole thing pretty fun! I could be honest with where I was, after all, I am trying my best. I could be practical with my ambitions, because I was making them public. And doing just these two for every consecutive workout meant I was automatically measuring performance between what was done last time, and what was done this time. And I hope that if I make a mistake, the documented existence of that mistake will even prevent me from making the same one again. More mistakes to try! :)

That being said and decided, I looked up online services to log my workouts. Some of them did have a whole fitness community with them, which would have helped in all these things I just mentioned above. And really, none of them made the cut. They were too rigid. As in, it was difficult to i) Make it personal ii) Record my assortment of exercises in it. So, here it is. Here's the blog, which documents how Saad gets fit, for the world to see, and be awed. And they're used to be being awed by now. Haha...