The Bodyfat Chronicles

I've been doing more and more thinking & research into the theory
behind the composition of your body and whether it's made up of mostly muscle or fat? I used to think that weight was weight; 230 pounds was the same across the board. However, it's become obvious to me that this is not the case. You can be a soft and fatty 230 or a firm and trim 230. So, I've been fousing less on my weight scale and looking more at my bodyfat percentage.

I had my bodyfat tested in June for the first time in a long time and
I came in at 17.7% when I was 220 pounds. I had it tested again
yesterday (almost 2 months later) and I am now 234 and my bodyfat is
down to 15.5%. That means that while I've gone up in weight, I've
actually lost 1 pound of bodyfat and gained 14 pounds of muscle. I'm
also happy with this progress because I know that my trunk & waist
have never been this firm and even though I've put on 14 pounds, my
waist size is the same - I'm wearing the same jeans!

Finally, the increases in strength have been very welcome. I know that
I've been 234 before and I did NOT have the same strength that I do
now. I'm able to do proper push-ups, bench press so much more than
before and can do a few ab exercises that I could simply not do
before. Needless to say, I'm very happy that my training is paying
off!

Push-Ups

It has been one of my greatest embarassments in life to admit that I have never been able to do a proper push-up. I just have never had the strength to support my body weight in that way. My shoulder ache, my elbows shake and my core has never been strong enough to support my back & stomach while in the push-up position.

So, in all my recent weight-training and with the help of a personal trainer, I've been focusing on building my core strength and building up to a push-up. I recently reached a point where I finally felt comfortable trying them again.

There I was last Thursday and I was feeling pretty good about the set of bench presses that I had just finished. Feeling determined I went to a secluded corner of the gym and got down on all fours and into the push-up position. At this point, I didn't really think about it, I just went for it. I dipped down and before I knew it, my nose was on the gym floor! While I still felt some shaking in my elbows, I pushed back up. I went down again, this time I turned my head to the side to check my elbows and, sure enough, they wer at 90-degree angles at the bottom and I managed to get back up again.

I could only manage to do 2 push-ups, so on Friday, I was pretty anxious to try again just to make sure that my previous effort was not a fluke. I did the same thing and checked my position at the bottom and felt pretty good. This time, I was able to do a couple of "sets" with my longest set being 4 repetitions. Definitely not the most impressive numbers, but for someone that is just starting with push-ups, this makes me very happy.

I'm now a few days removed from that and I'm at the point where I can do some good reps and focus on my form. I'm incorporating some push-ups into my daily routine and feeling really strong. This is yet another step forward in all of the hard work that I've been putting in at the gym and building my overall strength.

5x5

Don't let the title of this post confuse you - 5x5 is not a new hamburger or something crazy like that.

I've decided to start using Bill Starr's 5x5 weight-training program to help me continue develop my strength and frame. It focuses on a lot of the core-strengthening exercises with an emphasis on whole body movements like the squat and deadlifts. Its called the 5x5 because you do 5 sets of 5 reps for each exercise.

I did my first workout with this program this morning and it felt great! The program has built-in ramping of weight during each set and it makes you push yourself. I know that I had some pretty good breakthroughs today. Sometimes, I feel like I'm running into mental blocks with my weight choices, so it's good to have a program that makes you move forward. Plus, the thought of only doing 5 reps is less intimidating than the standard 10-12 reps.

I'll post more on my progress, but right now I'm really happy that I made the switch to the 5x5!

Upcoming Events

So, I went a little crazy with my Active.com account and have registered myself for a variety of upcoming events. They just make it too easy to sign up for a lot of events at the same time!

• 9/10/06 - Los Angeles Triathlon: The LA Tri is doing something new called the "bike wave". Basically, you can just ride the bike portion of the full triathlon. The cool thing is that according to the schedule, the cyclists will start right after the pros, but before the amateurs. So, I'll have a chance to be on the course with some of the best triathletes in the world. I'm sure that I can't even hope to hold their wheel, but it should be fun nonetheless!
• 9/24/06 - Nike RunHit Remix: I'm not quite registered for this one because the registration opens on 8/1 (Nike - what's up with that?). But I'm going to register as soon as its available because this one is basically a running party. I'm really looking forward to this one. I'm not looking forward to the run because 5 miles is such an odd distance, but a finisher's medal is always nice.
• 10/15/06 - Long Beach Marathon - Bike Tour: I debated doing the Long Beach Half-Marathon as a warm-up for the Las Vegas event. However, I just can't pass up the bike tour. Any time you get a chance to ride a closed-course in Los Angeles, you just have to take it.
• 10/15/06 - Long Beach Marathon - 5k: Yes, you read that right, I'm going to attempt to do 2 events in one day! The bike tour starts at 6AM and the 5K doesn't go off until 8:30. So, I figure that gives me about 2 hours to do the bike and then 30 minutes rest until the 5K. I don't expect to put together a fast time for the 5K, I'm just doing both events for fun and as an endurance test. The LA Tri will give me a confirmation that I can cover 26 miles in 2 hours (pretty sure that I can do that). My only concer with this is that I'll have to find a secure place for my Cervelo during the 5K. I just love my bike and I know I have a desirable color, so I gotta figure something out that will let me run the 5K without fretting about the safety of my bike.
• 12/10/06 - Las Vegas Half-Marathon: What was I thinking? My hubris got the best of me and it had me thinking that I can run 13 miles. So, I committed to the Las Vegas Half-Marathon. It's a done deal - I paid for it, I have my vacation request in at work and I'm finalizing my travel arrangements. All of my friends are having the funniest reactions to me doing this. The best reaction was from my personal trainer, "13 miles, huh? Bring a magazine".

My first 5K!

Today I completed my first 5K! It has been more than 10 years since I've participated in an organized race and it felt great! One of the smaller cities in LA had a weekend festival with a decent 5K course to start the weekend. There was very easy parking and the registration was quick.

I ran with a friend until the 2 mile mark. At that point, I took off and managed to post an 8:52 for the last mile. I know that's not an impressive number, but I was so proud of it because it's probably been more than 12 years since I could post a mile time like that. Considering that it was 2 miles into the race and a little warm out, I might be able to go faster than that in a 1-mile time trial. My final time for the 5K was in the 34s, but the important part is that I finished and had a great time. The organizers didn't buy enough water, so they ran out of bottles in the finish area, but otherwise, it was a great way to spend a Saturday morning.