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!
January 21st
The AM girls won by 12 walls* and the AM guys by 1 wall. This week is looking really close again but I’m keeping positive. Last week’s Tank Challenge was won on the last day, so I feel confident. The challenge was that each person had 10 minutes to push the tank back and forth. The tank, you see in the picture to the left, is one version of the tank. The one we used for the challenge was a bit more compact and maneuverable. The girls had to push 280 lbs and the guys 350 lbs. Our personal trainers kept track of what we completed and added up everyone’s individual results for the team total. My personal number was 13 walls and 1 post. I felt pretty good about that. We had an opportunity to go through the challenge again to see if we could get a higher number and I think I could’ve gotten 14 but that Tank is no joke and I opted not to go through it again. (more…)
January 6thHappy New Year! I really hope you had a great Holiday Season and you’re refreshed for an awesome start to the new year. We’ve had a relaxed last couple of weeks and stayed home, entertained some friends and treated ourselves to a some delicious meals. I even decided to take a few days off from the gym in an effort to heal my knee and to get some much needed rest. I’ll tell you, I can get used to sleeping in again for sure! 
It’s back at it this week and since my knee has been bothering me for a while now, Matt showed me some rehab moves and additional stretches that I can do to help with the healing process. Both him and DB are cautious and make sure I don’t make it worse. It’s just another benefit of working out with the TWR Personal Trainers that practice what they preach. They know how to still give you a strong workout while a part of your body may not be 100%. So along with that, the icing and the brace, I will be back to 100% soon.
(more…)
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…)
June 15thTwelve weeks ago I began doing the Pure Steel workouts with Matt on Tuesday nights. Tonight that program culminated in an attempt – two actually – at bench pressing 220 pounds, which would have been a personal record.
Would have been.
My warm up lifts were all strong, even the 205 felt great, but when I got 220 in my hands, I was too slow bringing it down… I got it up about half way, then hit the brick wall. On my second attempt, I eliminated the error of bringing the weight down too slow, but still hit the brick wall halfway up.
The good news: I did get 215 last week and have definitely gained (or regained) quite a bit of strength over these last 12 weeks. My physique has definitely improved, I have even lost a few pounds (6) while regaining this muscle and strength. After another round of Pure Steel, I should be able to bench my weight – which I hope will come down a few more pounds in the coming weeks. Additionally, I’ve been running the mile to and from TWR on lifting nights (I wouldn’t dare do that on the other nights – the cross training takes a lot out of me).
Today I got a great compliment on how I look from someone I don’t see too often – my boss. That felt awesome! I’m playing another show out this week and then no more shows for a month, which will give us time to gear up with new tunes and new attitude, and enable me to get into even better shape for summer shows! I hope to get some of my TWR friends to some of our shows this summer – we always have a blast… I’m not a marketing guru though, so I’ll have to put a bit more effort into that in the future.
Hope to see you at the gym soon!
March 26thI’ve been working out at TrainWithRon for five and a half months now, and I continue to see and feel some startling physical, mental, and spiritual differences in my body, mind, and soul.
First the physical:
- More energy, all day, every day, I require a bit less sleep and sleep better and deeper (usually)
- Lighter on my feet – I can get my knees up when running, I’m not dragging my feet or lumbering around like I was when we started
- Working out like an athlete – I’m pushing myself to go faster and harder… not just “getting through the hour”
- I look better in my clothes – I’ve lost 47 lbs, 7 inches off my waistline, and about 14% body fat reduction
Then, the mental / spiritual:
- I am more focused – I can concentrate harder at work and am able to work for long stretches on things that require brainpower
- I am calmer and more centered – I don’t get rattled quite as easily by really stressful situations – I have more mental prowess
- I have more confidence – I’ve never been afraid to speak in public but I’m doing it with a lot more authority now
- I have a busier, fuller life – I have workouts, band practices, a vacation planned, and social activities going on – I go out!
Recently, Matt asked me if I wanted to jump in on the Pure Steel workouts on Tuesday nights. Without hesitation, I said “absolutely”. I knew this was going to be a new type of challenge for my body and I do want to build a bit more upper body mass and get even stronger. Pure Steel is a bench press based upper body workout program created by Matt to increase strength and broadness in the shoulders and chest areas, as well as developing the biceps, triceps, lats, and upper back. I am excited to try it; in high school I could bench my own weight but since then I haven’t really gotten into bench pressing. I’m hoping it helps me to build more muscle mass, which will increase my metabolism and help me to burn even more unwanted pounds. If nothing else, I hope it helps me smash through the 230 pound line… I’ve been hanging between 236 and 232 for about 6 weeks. I’ve also been stuck between 32% and 29% body fat for a really, really long time… since January… so I’m hoping to finally smash through that plateau as well.
We go to Hawaii in a week. I need the break, as I have been working very hard at my job and am a little bit burned out… so I am going to relax, play some golf, get massages, and hang out with my beautiful wife and awesome workout partner in tropical paradise for a week. Monika has really worked hard too, both in her career and on her health, and she truly deserves a reward as well – we are so lucky to be able to do this trip and spend time together in such an amazing place. I plan to get some workouts in while we’re there and we’ll both try to send a Hawaiian update from Oahu. Mahalo! :)
Older Entries
