A personal training & food journal. Read about our weight loss progress at Train With Ron in Chicago, our nutritional habits and the life changes we're making to get in shape and stay healthy!
December 22nd
Took me 8 months to accomplish this goal!
I did it!
After my third – and abbreviated – Pure Steel cycle, I bench pressed 250 pounds last night and got myself on the board at TWR! This was a major victory and big time progress for me. After my first full twelve week cycle, I was able to get 195 pounds up. After the second full twelve week cycle, I got 237.5 pounds, which would have been 240 except I screwed up and left a 2.5 plate off the bar. That’s a 22% jump, which I was really excited about. Well, that odd number is no longer my personal best… although I now check the bar before every lift since that incident. This cycle was 8 weeks long, but I went up another 5% in maximum weight. The total jump was about 28% over the last 6 months of the year. That’s a lot!
When Matt first approached me about joining Pure Steel, I was excited, but apprehensive, too. I had seen those guys over there, the “real” workout guys who were building muscle and lifting what looked, to me, like extraordinary amounts of weight. I’d seen guys at the gym doing it before, and I’d even lifted some weights earlier in life, but never in an organized, well run, documented, and planned program. (more…)
December 5thHi Gang,
Monika and I started this blog about 14 months ago. So much has changed since then – physically, mentally, and spiritually. We’ve made a lot of friends at the gym including – especially – Ron, Matt, and DB. We’ve settled into a routine of being at TWR regularly, taking that long climb up the steps, and sweating it out for an hour. We are glad to see new people coming all the time and we love seeing our friends and also the familiar faces of those we may not know as well – but who are on the same difficult path of working out hard and eating healthfully.
It’s gotten very comfortable – very comfortable, indeed… and that, for me, is a red flag.
Getting “too comfortable” was what got me into trouble physically in the first place. I stopped eating well and exercising because I was comfortable – comfortable in my relationship, comfortable with bad eating habits, comfortable with a sedentary lifestyle… and slowly but surely I got very UNcomfortable. Right now, I think that comfort level is manifesting itself in the lack of continual process of “body sculpting”… I’m working out twice as much and twice as hard as when I first got to TWR but have been stuck at around 225 lbs., the same waist size, and same body fat percentage for at least two or three months. When we first started I was eating very carefully at every meal – I’m still eating pretty carefully for breakfast and lunches, but with some dinners and certainly after dinner/before bed, I have gotten lackadaisical. As a result, I’m figuratively “running to stand still”.
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November 4thFor the last 12 weeks, I’ve been working through my second cycle of Pure Steel with Matt and some other friends from TWR. After the first cycle, I bench pressed 195 lbs. This was pretty good, but I fell short of my goal of 200. I made a lot of progress… when we started the first cycle, I was struggling with 155 lbs. – yep, I know… out of shape… but the muscle memory came back pretty fast and I got a respectable gain after my first cycle.
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June 3rdWell, it’s been quite a while since I’ve written, so I’ll try to resist the temptation of overdoing it with an overly long post. Obviously if you read the blog you saw where Monika and I went to Hawaii, which I can honestly say was the best time I’ve ever had in my life… I haven’t felt that grounded, relaxed, and just plain happy in a long time… possibly never as much as I did on that trip. I played golf (shot 105 and a 92 on the Palmer course and a 98 on the Fazio) pretty well, rode a horse, walked on the beach with my shirt off, got a suntan (burn) and just enjoyed life. Since coming back, I’ve been really busy with work but Monika decided to get us the unlimited package. I thought I’d go 4 times a week instead of 3… but I’ve been going 5 times and even 6 when I can squeeze it in for a couple of weeks now. It hurts, but I’m also stronger than I’ve ever been at this point and definitely making some new progress – I’m not really losing weight, but I am still losing inches.
Yep, that's me in the tan shorts getting some air.
I’ve been playing with a band called Thump 808 since early May. Great guys, good music. Thanks to
Ron, Matt, and DB I can actually get some air now! We have a
Facebook page and you don’t have to be a member of Facebook to check it out, so check it out if you like great live music.
Last week I got into what could be considered a pretty serious car accident… I got “T-boned” on the passenger side of the car at about 30 mph, then did about a 120 degree spin-out, and ended up hitting a light pole head-on at about 25-30 mph. My car was totaled… but I walked away without a scratch on me… no blood, no broken bones, no bruises… honestly, not even an ache or pain. I would say “miraculous”, and also lucky… but I attribute this miraculous luck partially to the physical shape I’m in as well. As Ron put it… every play in football is like a car accident and I am built to take the hit at this point – strong and fairly lean.
My latest battle at the gym has been bench pressing in the Pure Steel weight program I’m doing with Matt. I was stunned the day a few weeks ago when I threw up 175 lbs 10 times… that was great for me… but these last two weeks I’ve failed at the heaviest weight (195, 5 reps, and 215, one rep, respectively). I know I’m strong enough to bench the 215… I don’t know if it was form, technique, or just a mental block, but I could not lift the weight. I was aggravated by it, but not discouraged. I’m starting to feel like I can do anything the guys throw at me and I’ve definitely gotten much stronger since starting the weightlifting program with Matt.
I pledge to do a better job of writing more frequently and keep my posts looking like blogs rather than huge essays. I forgot how much I enjoy blogging about this experience. More to come, soon! :)
April 17thFeeling pretty sore after my first week back. Just worked out 3 times this week and my muscles are sore! It feels good though because I know I am getting back into the routine. I know that the 2nd part of my weight loss journey has begun and I am on my way to getting back in shape. To reach my goal and enter maintenance phase. So I’ll take the soreness this week and do a lot of stretching and walking with Brady. The weather is really beautiful in Chicago now so more outside time.
It was also great seeing my friends this week and supporting each other through the workouts. It makes all the difference! I love it that they are such a positive group of people that have the same goal in mind, workout hard. We chat and laugh, of course, but our main goal is to workout as hard as we can and help each other achieve that and offer support. Ron, DB and Matt top that off with guidance, motivation and regimen. Boy did I miss them! In my last post I talked about the activities we did in Hawaii and I really didn’t think that we were being too lazy or anything but it just goes to show you, after getting back to TWR, what a real workout is. Nothing compares.
I’m thinking of doing the unlimited workout package for the next 2 months. TWR is running a special and it’s a great deal. I think I could do a lot of good with that and just pound it out hard for the next 2 months. I was thinking about doing just the 4 times a week like I did before we left for vacation but a couple of my friends are doing the unlimited and getting some awesome results. I am all about seeing results. Dan and I talked about doing it but haven’t decided yet, he’ll read this and find out, I have decided. As with my other decisions, somehow they all occur while I’m writing this blog. Maybe because I feel more accountable or I just get in the mood while writing this? I don’t know but it helps me and that’s the most important.
Can’t wait for summer! More updates to come ….
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