Welcome again to another week in my UFC journey. This week I learned to love my sworn enemy the V-up and in its place I gained a new nemesis: T-push ups. While you’re wondering what a T-push-up could possibly be, check out myself and Debbie being name-checked in games industry trade magazine MCV last week (career win?)
Let’s Pump Those Guns
Day 13 13/07/2011
This was the first major workout I have come across that has been solely dedicated to upper body. There were plenty of extensions and presses mixed with a few cardio exercises to keep my heart pumping. My usual topping of focus mitts and extra workouts was added for increased digestibility.
My diet is going well. The general feeling of hunger has subsided and my stomach has adjusted to the smaller portions. Avoiding things like cakes and take away is easy to do now. Along with losing weight I now feel healthier in general – less breathless despite the asthma and most of the time I feel quite refreshed.
Total workout time: 1hr 30 mins
V-Ups Aren’t Too Bad
Day 14 14/07/2011
Some sort of squat thing
Back to the torture today. V-ups, bicycle crunches, leg lifts and leg wipers were obstinately broken up by quick feet and jumping jacks for a hefty programmed workout of 400 Calories. I’m still adding in extra workouts and activities to keep my exercise levels around 1000-1500 Calories a day. My body is accustomed to it now so the pain levels are minimal if non-existent. Something is clearly working somewhere .
In other news I can actually pull off (almost) perfect v-ups, these little bits of progress are great reminders of how far I have come.
Total workout time: 2 hours
I Will Never Get Used To This
Day 15 15/07/2011
The recovery days are getting weirder and weirder. My workout is such a huge chunk of my routine that missing it out feels odd. No matter, today was a recovery day.
Day 6 the 2nd
Day 16 16/07/2011
Thanks to the glorious power of the Xbox 360 I had yet another repeat of the Day 6 incident, where I had to repeat a workout three times. 3 batches of V-ups and leg wipers left me feeling dead. 900 calories of programmed intensive lower body workouts was enough for me. No extra exercises today.
Family events also confronted me with my first real “challenge” of this challenge. A meal out at the pub without drinking or majorly pigging out was a formidable opponent. Despite the battle being played out on their home turf, the twin temptations of pub grub and foamy beers fell to my steely new resolve.
Total workout time: 2 hours
The Aftermath
Day 17 17/07/2011
After the chaos of Day 16 my lower body was still in a state of shock. Luckily enough, the program was piled on the upper body and core exercises while mercifully leaving my lower body out of the picture. I added an extra dose of upper body training for good measure and left it at that. With one more day of exercise between now and my next recovery day it was best not to burn myself out.
Total workout time: 1hr 15mins
The New Nemesis
Day 18 18/07/2011
Easiest exercise in the world
The programmed workout today was cardio intensive with a great variety of upper body, core and lower body exercises. Describing it as a solid workout would be clichéd but on the other hand, it was sure to cover all areas of my body and help me loosen up for my top-up exercises. There was only one thing that caused me a problem, T-push-ups. These dastardly devils were determined to bring me down. I can’t do normal pushups let alone this variation but when I did complete them the Kinect sensor failed to pick me up. Despite failing them twice, I was happy when I completed 8 of the required 16 in a row.
More family events meant I had no time to top up with extras and so today’s workout was only 550 calories.
Total workout time: 35 Minutes.
Recovery and Weekly Thoughts
Day 19 19/07/2011
This past week has seen me adjust into my increased routine. The fact I can pull this off with relatively little pain is a great milestone for my journey to fitness. Of course, I still get the dull ache and throbbing of muscles for hours after but nothing on the same level as my pain on starting this challenge. The Kinect still annoys me when it doesn’t pick up my movements but I am used to that now. The program is slowly ramping up its intensity and I think the next 11 days are going to pose quite a threat. This week leaves me at 110 KG with an overall loss of 5 KG.
Join me again next week for my penultimate report. No pictures of me this week – that beauty is being saved until the very end.
T push-up image taken from Men’s Health.
Let’s Pump Those Guns
Day 13 13/07/2011
This was the first major workout I have come across that has been solely dedicated to upper body. There were plenty of extensions and presses mixed with a few cardio exercises to keep my heart pumping. My usual topping of focus mitts and extra workouts was added for increased digestibility.
My diet is going well. The general feeling of hunger has subsided and my stomach has adjusted to the smaller portions. Avoiding things like cakes and take away is easy to do now. Along with losing weight I now feel healthier in general – less breathless despite the asthma and most of the time I feel quite refreshed.
Total workout time: 1hr 30 mins
V-Ups Aren’t Too Bad
Day 14 14/07/2011
Some sort of squat thing
In other news I can actually pull off (almost) perfect v-ups, these little bits of progress are great reminders of how far I have come.
Total workout time: 2 hours
I Will Never Get Used To This
Day 15 15/07/2011
The recovery days are getting weirder and weirder. My workout is such a huge chunk of my routine that missing it out feels odd. No matter, today was a recovery day.
Day 6 the 2nd
Day 16 16/07/2011
Thanks to the glorious power of the Xbox 360 I had yet another repeat of the Day 6 incident, where I had to repeat a workout three times. 3 batches of V-ups and leg wipers left me feeling dead. 900 calories of programmed intensive lower body workouts was enough for me. No extra exercises today.
Family events also confronted me with my first real “challenge” of this challenge. A meal out at the pub without drinking or majorly pigging out was a formidable opponent. Despite the battle being played out on their home turf, the twin temptations of pub grub and foamy beers fell to my steely new resolve.
Total workout time: 2 hours
The Aftermath
Day 17 17/07/2011
After the chaos of Day 16 my lower body was still in a state of shock. Luckily enough, the program was piled on the upper body and core exercises while mercifully leaving my lower body out of the picture. I added an extra dose of upper body training for good measure and left it at that. With one more day of exercise between now and my next recovery day it was best not to burn myself out.
Total workout time: 1hr 15mins
The New Nemesis
Day 18 18/07/2011
Easiest exercise in the world
More family events meant I had no time to top up with extras and so today’s workout was only 550 calories.
Total workout time: 35 Minutes.
Recovery and Weekly Thoughts
Day 19 19/07/2011
This past week has seen me adjust into my increased routine. The fact I can pull this off with relatively little pain is a great milestone for my journey to fitness. Of course, I still get the dull ache and throbbing of muscles for hours after but nothing on the same level as my pain on starting this challenge. The Kinect still annoys me when it doesn’t pick up my movements but I am used to that now. The program is slowly ramping up its intensity and I think the next 11 days are going to pose quite a threat. This week leaves me at 110 KG with an overall loss of 5 KG.
Join me again next week for my penultimate report. No pictures of me this week – that beauty is being saved until the very end.
T push-up image taken from Men’s Health.
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