Showing posts with label Fitness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fitness. Show all posts
Monday, February 8, 2010
Active Rest Day and Class
Tonight was an active REST day where I did a ab workout and a one set circuit of complete upper body weight machines before going to my "Anatomy of Addiction" class. Tonight we talked about Assessment and Treatment Plans for our case study. Interesting and a bit of an Affirmation. The Behavioral Treatment Model of: Goal Setting -> Objective Setting -> Steps is similar to my Fitness 1st Cycle for improving students physical fitness. Assessment >Goal setting > Physical Activity Planning > Logging and Journaling Efforts toward goals and Plan Adherence > Repeat. Knowing the parallels makes legitimizes the process even more. NICE! Originally I had based it on the cycle for effective instruction, but this works too...
Friday, January 1, 2010
Happy New Year!
On this New Year's Day, my son Brian and I got to go to Healthtrax together, and enjoy a workout, albiet an easy one. I still felt a bit sore today, so another active day of rest is probably a good Idea. We then went to the Mall and bought a pair of sneakers for him that have the Nike+ system for his Ipod. I have written about the Nike+ for pelink4u.org before when I bought it some 3+ years ago. His girlfriend Stephanie also was able to get 3 pair of new shoes and Dieshmann's.
My New Year's resolution is to eat only non-processed foods and reduce the portion size especially with regard to protein in my diet. My overall goal remains the same until I reach it, but needed to make alterations to my diet to make this happen a bit quicker.
My dad is a vegan, and eats nothing with eyes or has a a mother. I am going going to go to that extreme, as I still enjoy the meat in my diet and don't want to loose muscle mass in the process of loosing body mass (FAT). Although it may take me twice to three times as long to loose the weight, I do have the time!
My dad gave me two books on the effect of the vegan diet on Heart Health: I am halfway through one of them, and some interesting data from various studies is used to justify the need for this extreme measure of those patients with heart disease. so far the book has provided no additional insights into heart disease other than what I knew already, and uses mainly empirical data to support the books premiss as of this point in the book.
On a less healthy note, I share a cigar after dinner last night with my brother, brother-In_Law Bobby and Frank (Bob's neighbor) . My bother and I smoke a CAIN by Oliva Robusto. this cigar is currently my new favortie smoke! It has a medium full body with plenty of flavors that show themselves throughout the cigars long smooth smoke. The almost creamy finish is wonderful and can be smoked all the way to the end without the harshness that ruins most other smokes. We were relegated to Bob's garage, and it was extremely brisk outside, but NICE! It may also have added to the extremely long white ash the cigars provided. The following pictures were taken via Frank's iPhone.
Am now going to take a week off of smoking Cigars, and only have one a week for a while. Although this is not my NY resolution, I think it wise.
Here hoping everyone has a healthy happy NEW YEAR!
My New Year's resolution is to eat only non-processed foods and reduce the portion size especially with regard to protein in my diet. My overall goal remains the same until I reach it, but needed to make alterations to my diet to make this happen a bit quicker.
My dad is a vegan, and eats nothing with eyes or has a a mother. I am going going to go to that extreme, as I still enjoy the meat in my diet and don't want to loose muscle mass in the process of loosing body mass (FAT). Although it may take me twice to three times as long to loose the weight, I do have the time!
My dad gave me two books on the effect of the vegan diet on Heart Health: I am halfway through one of them, and some interesting data from various studies is used to justify the need for this extreme measure of those patients with heart disease. so far the book has provided no additional insights into heart disease other than what I knew already, and uses mainly empirical data to support the books premiss as of this point in the book.
On a less healthy note, I share a cigar after dinner last night with my brother, brother-In_Law Bobby and Frank (Bob's neighbor) . My bother and I smoke a CAIN by Oliva Robusto. this cigar is currently my new favortie smoke! It has a medium full body with plenty of flavors that show themselves throughout the cigars long smooth smoke. The almost creamy finish is wonderful and can be smoked all the way to the end without the harshness that ruins most other smokes. We were relegated to Bob's garage, and it was extremely brisk outside, but NICE! It may also have added to the extremely long white ash the cigars provided. The following pictures were taken via Frank's iPhone.
Am now going to take a week off of smoking Cigars, and only have one a week for a while. Although this is not my NY resolution, I think it wise.
Here hoping everyone has a healthy happy NEW YEAR!
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Spin Class and Dead Battery
Today I went to Healthtrax in Newington and did my ab workout the lifted a full circuit on the Nautilus with 3 additional chest back and tricept exercises on the universal. Then I took Spin Class for 45 minutes most standing today.
When I finished I went out to the car and found the battery was dead because I left the lights on. The toughest part was waking Ben up, and finding the lady to move her car to get my truck into jump the Probe. All is well that ends well.
I now am waiting for my Turkey Soup to be done cooking...Yummy!
When I finished I went out to the car and found the battery was dead because I left the lights on. The toughest part was waking Ben up, and finding the lady to move her car to get my truck into jump the Probe. All is well that ends well.
I now am waiting for my Turkey Soup to be done cooking...Yummy!
Saturday, December 19, 2009
First Post - Mid Way to Goal
Mid Way Point for the Thinning of a Fat Man - Mid December
Although this is my first post on my new blog, it is midway to my goal for being fit and in my thin man cloths.
In the beginning: I started my quest last March when I received my tax check back and decided to start riding a bike to work as a mean to eleviate my Fibromyalgia and start my way back to being fit again. I purchased a commuter bike at Berlin Bike Shop here in Berlin CT - BerlinBicycle.com; A Sirus Sport from Specialized and decked it out with all the trimmings to make it to work and back. I wrote a website to track my progress called the BikeBlog - http://fitness1st.net/bikeblog . With this I can track my time, miles, speeds, and heart rates over time graphically for comparison purposes. Until April I was only able to ride 2-4 miles in one clip, and train during that time so that I could make it to work without too much fatigue.
Throughout the rest of the school year, (I am a PE Teacher in Hartford, CT), I was able to ride my bike only about 2 times per week, but loved the way I began to feel in my legs. The oxygination of my leg muscles helped me to walk and move better and feel less pain. This way very encouraging because no other form of treatment I had tried worked for me, and I tried them all from pills to acupressure. Not even Hot Tub stretching worked as it had for my neck injury.
In the summer, I began a more rigorous riding schedule of about 3 to 5 times per week, and lengthier rides with my brother on the weekends. My bike however did not cut it for the longer more rigorous rides to come, so I began to build my dream road bike. This time period I call my base fitness and adherence period. I was trying to lay down a foundation to build upon later and bring my weight under control with a complete change in diet. Eating more whole grains and vegitables with fewer trips to fast food and pizza joints. By Sept 1 I had lost about 40 to 50 lbs. down from about 295 in June. Hills were a nightmare though because of the extra weight.
I finished by Road Bike, a costly afair for me, but well worth it. It is a Tommaso Carbon/Alum mix with Ultegra groupo and Cane Creek Brakes (Black and White scheme) weighing in at about 17 lbs undressed. I was able to ride this bike on the weekends with Nick and by Myself and increase my distance to about 10 -15 mile/ride. Still riding to work on avg about 3 days per week using the Sirus. This meant I was riding 4 to 5 days per week depending upon weather, and went back to the gym to weight lift and begin my core training. My weight stabolized but began to loose more inches than lbs and finally had to change belts. NICE! People began to notice 'The Thinning of a Fat Man' without prompting.
In mid October I began a Yoga Class with my students during the morning 'Betances Bright Beginning' Program I developed and run. This helped tramendously with my flexibility by December. Mid November, I began to take Spin classes when I could not ride due to whether at Healthtrax in Newington, CT that helped me build stronger legs and gain intensity and lactate tolerance. So by now I was riding 4 to 5 days per week, spinning 1 to 2 times per week, and Lifting/Ab workout 2-3 days per week while still maintaining my diet.
At Thankgiving dinner I found out that local bike shops were offering free indoor trainig on trainers and tried one in Rocky Hill, CT at Cycle Concepts. This was exactly the right type of riding/training I needed to get over my platue. A friend told me that Newington Cycle also had trining on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I also tried a Yoga/Pilates class called Cynergy at Healthtrax and loved it, but it was on Thursdays during the my indoor riding session. When I went to Cycle Concepts they told me that they do a Cycle specific core workout on Mondays. Last week I tried this Cyclo-Core class and it kicked my ass, but after a few days I felt the difference. Now I am training 5-6 days per week: Indoor Cycle on Trainers 3 days, Spin on Sat, Cycle-Core Monday, Yoga Monday and Wednesday Morning, and I have also began to swim again twice a week after riding. The swim has helped me lengthen my muscles and use different muscles because I do the breast stroke which is a lateral movement (ad and abduction of the legs). I do need to find one more ab workout somewhere though.
Today I feel great! No more Fibro and I can bend down to tie my shoes and whipe my butt on the toilet. NICE! A trade off from Fibro to Muscle soreness from working out is welcomed and feels normal to me.
Although I feel I am about 3 to 5 months away from my goal, this all would not have been possible without BIKING!
So get out there and ride. If only for 10 minutes at first like I did, the journey is well worth the effort!
Keep Pedalling!
T
Although this is my first post on my new blog, it is midway to my goal for being fit and in my thin man cloths.
In the beginning: I started my quest last March when I received my tax check back and decided to start riding a bike to work as a mean to eleviate my Fibromyalgia and start my way back to being fit again. I purchased a commuter bike at Berlin Bike Shop here in Berlin CT - BerlinBicycle.com; A Sirus Sport from Specialized and decked it out with all the trimmings to make it to work and back. I wrote a website to track my progress called the BikeBlog - http://fitness1st.net/bikeblog . With this I can track my time, miles, speeds, and heart rates over time graphically for comparison purposes. Until April I was only able to ride 2-4 miles in one clip, and train during that time so that I could make it to work without too much fatigue.
Throughout the rest of the school year, (I am a PE Teacher in Hartford, CT), I was able to ride my bike only about 2 times per week, but loved the way I began to feel in my legs. The oxygination of my leg muscles helped me to walk and move better and feel less pain. This way very encouraging because no other form of treatment I had tried worked for me, and I tried them all from pills to acupressure. Not even Hot Tub stretching worked as it had for my neck injury.
In the summer, I began a more rigorous riding schedule of about 3 to 5 times per week, and lengthier rides with my brother on the weekends. My bike however did not cut it for the longer more rigorous rides to come, so I began to build my dream road bike. This time period I call my base fitness and adherence period. I was trying to lay down a foundation to build upon later and bring my weight under control with a complete change in diet. Eating more whole grains and vegitables with fewer trips to fast food and pizza joints. By Sept 1 I had lost about 40 to 50 lbs. down from about 295 in June. Hills were a nightmare though because of the extra weight.
I finished by Road Bike, a costly afair for me, but well worth it. It is a Tommaso Carbon/Alum mix with Ultegra groupo and Cane Creek Brakes (Black and White scheme) weighing in at about 17 lbs undressed. I was able to ride this bike on the weekends with Nick and by Myself and increase my distance to about 10 -15 mile/ride. Still riding to work on avg about 3 days per week using the Sirus. This meant I was riding 4 to 5 days per week depending upon weather, and went back to the gym to weight lift and begin my core training. My weight stabolized but began to loose more inches than lbs and finally had to change belts. NICE! People began to notice 'The Thinning of a Fat Man' without prompting.
In mid October I began a Yoga Class with my students during the morning 'Betances Bright Beginning' Program I developed and run. This helped tramendously with my flexibility by December. Mid November, I began to take Spin classes when I could not ride due to whether at Healthtrax in Newington, CT that helped me build stronger legs and gain intensity and lactate tolerance. So by now I was riding 4 to 5 days per week, spinning 1 to 2 times per week, and Lifting/Ab workout 2-3 days per week while still maintaining my diet.
At Thankgiving dinner I found out that local bike shops were offering free indoor trainig on trainers and tried one in Rocky Hill, CT at Cycle Concepts. This was exactly the right type of riding/training I needed to get over my platue. A friend told me that Newington Cycle also had trining on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I also tried a Yoga/Pilates class called Cynergy at Healthtrax and loved it, but it was on Thursdays during the my indoor riding session. When I went to Cycle Concepts they told me that they do a Cycle specific core workout on Mondays. Last week I tried this Cyclo-Core class and it kicked my ass, but after a few days I felt the difference. Now I am training 5-6 days per week: Indoor Cycle on Trainers 3 days, Spin on Sat, Cycle-Core Monday, Yoga Monday and Wednesday Morning, and I have also began to swim again twice a week after riding. The swim has helped me lengthen my muscles and use different muscles because I do the breast stroke which is a lateral movement (ad and abduction of the legs). I do need to find one more ab workout somewhere though.
Today I feel great! No more Fibro and I can bend down to tie my shoes and whipe my butt on the toilet. NICE! A trade off from Fibro to Muscle soreness from working out is welcomed and feels normal to me.
Although I feel I am about 3 to 5 months away from my goal, this all would not have been possible without BIKING!
So get out there and ride. If only for 10 minutes at first like I did, the journey is well worth the effort!
Keep Pedalling!
T
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