Hitting a Fitness Plateau

I’ve been lax about updating here, but that doesn’t mean I’ve slacked off (as much) in the real world. I’m still pushing forward with my pushups, still rowing, and still using the elliptical. The latter two have been a bit less regular than I’d like, but it is what it is. Soccer season has started. [...]

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Slim down, or pay the piper

The State of Alabama isn’t taking its workers’ obesity lying down.  The state’s 37,000 employees have been given an ultimatum:  Slim down, or pay an extra $300 per year.
Obesity has become a bit of an oversized target for cost-shifting.  With over 30% of the state’s residents obese, Alabama will be the first state to assess [...]

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It’s my own fault that I’m fat

A report issued this past Tuesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Trust for America’s Health blamed a bunch of things for the rising obesity rate in thirty-seven states, including:

Federal, state, and local governments
School cafeteria meal planners
Long commutes
Longer work hours
Exclusion of obesity treatment from health coverage
High cost of health [...]

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How to get a 403% burn rate on Wii Fit Basic Run

I’ve been a slacker on the pushups but I’ve been keeping on with Wii Fit, mainly with the aerobic workouts.  I enjoy the Basic Run Island Lap.  It doesn’t use the Wii Balance Board but it does use the Wii remote: just hold it or stick it in your pocket and it registers your steps [...]

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One Hundred Pushups - Week 5, Day 1

This week, I’m embarking on Week 5 of the one hundred pushups challenge.
Required: 30/24/22/20/30+
I breezed through the first 30, had no problems with the next 24, started feeling it in the 3rd set (22), and managed to make it through the 4th set (20). Throughout the early sets I stuck tightly to the 60 second [...]

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Setting Goals: Body Weight

Over on my body weight log page, I noted that I’m 6′5″ and (currently) far from what I would consider “fat.” Nonetheless, I could stand to lose a few pounds, so I thought that it was high time that I formalized a goal. My approach thus far has been to simply focus on leading an [...]

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Catching Up - Recent Fitness Progress

Long time, now write… We’ve been quite busy around here, and I decided that it would be best to focus on things like actually working out as opposed to simply writing about working out. The most noteworthy occurrences over the past couple of weeks have been a short, end-of-summer beach vacation and then the kids [...]

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Aug 5th Weight Watchers Update

It is 3 days until my first weigh in and I am doing pretty good.  I did eat through all my flex points (weekends are my downfall) so I have to stay within 28 points each day until Friday weigh in.  It really isn’t too hard though as long as I am careful about not [...]

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Back in the swing of things a bit

I’d fallen off the wagon a bit with my hundred pushups workout so I dropped back to Week 3 tonight.  (We were without air conditioning for a week, and doing much of anything physical was a chore.)  At the suggestion of Fit36 I tried tightening up the rest periods between the levels, and ended up [...]

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Article: Banish Belly Fat For Better Health

We would all like to have the perfect body, but getting there is hard work.
Think sit-ups, crunches, and aerobics along with dieting.  It seems to be a
never-ending battle to reach our goal.  Getting there is a battle, but the one
thing that appears to be extremely important in achieving this goal to obtain
better health seems to [...]

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Sunday Aug 3rd Update

Today is day three and going pretty well.  I think it is helpful that I started this on Friday because I have been really good this weekend (usually I do really lousy on the weekends).  I am determined to really follow the weight watchers plan as it is supposed to be done this time and [...]

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August 1st Weigh In 210.5

OK so I have had this blog well over a year and haven’t been losing any weight.  I don’t know why it is so hard for me to stick with anything, especially knowing that my health depends on it.  Today being August 1st  I thought this would be a good day to get back on [...]

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Silver Fit Bank, following dogs, and taking it easy

I just crossed the 20-hour mark in Fit Credits on Wii Fit. My Fit Bank got an upgrade to silver. It’s all shiny and stuff.
Tonight I put over an hour on Wii Fit because my wife found out how to take different routes on the Island Lap run. We had wanted to [...]

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A Couple of Alternatives for Timing Your Workouts

Time is a key aspect of most fitness routines. While my ergormeter and our elliptical both have built-in timers, when I’m doing other things (such as the 100 pushups routine) I have to keep time on my own. Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done…
Over the years I’ve grown dependent on my cell phone and computer [...]

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Thoughts on Consistency, Loopholes, and Slacking Off

A few weeks back, I wrote about my personal workout rules. Rule #1 was to never skip more than one day in a row without doing some sort of exercise (typically rowing or elliptical), whereas Rule #2 was to always finish what I start (barring injury). Unfortunately, life sometimes gets in the way and I’m [...]

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Mix up your exercise with some volunteering

This weekend I participated in our Lions Club’s highway cleanup.  We have a stretch of road about a mile long that we walk over every couple of months and clean of any trash we find.
It’s great to provide some community service.  It’s also good exercise. Bending over, going up and down inclines in the median, [...]

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My Week in Fitness (July 13 - July 19)

Here’s a quick look at my fitness exploits this past week:
Weight
As usual, I started out the week by weighing in. For the second straight week, I weighed 236.4 pounds. I’ll be interested in seeing what tomorrow brings. I suspect it might be up a bit, as lived it up all last weekend and early in [...]

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Seven things I’ve already noticed since I began exercising again

I’m very thankful that the positive feedback that comes from beginning an exercise program comes quickly. Here are seven little things that my wife, myself, and others have noticed already about me since I began exercising again:

I feel better. This happened almost immediately. Just the act of finally doing something about my weight [...]

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Americans Fatter Than Ever

Well, it’s official… According to a recent report from the CDC, the obesity rate (i.e., the fraction of population with a BMI of 30 or more) in the United States has increased to 25.6%. This report makes the nationwide push to reduce obesity rates to less than 15% by 2010 almost laughable.
Overall, 45 states saw [...]

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Military Physical Fitness Standards: U.S. Army

The other day I ran across the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT), which is a test that all soldiers in the Army, Army Reserve, and Army National Guard have to pass twice a year. The APFT is made up of three components (pushups, situps, and running) and performance standards vary by sex, age, and enlistment [...]

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Hundred Pushups, Week 4, days 1 and 2

Two days’ worth of updates:
Week 4, Day 1, Column 1: 16, 13, 13, 11, max = 21 (total 74)
Week 4, Day 2, Column 1: 16, 14, 14, 12, max = 20 (total 76)
I’m still being pretty generous with the breaks in between the different levels but I cut them down a little bit [...]

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Working Out at Work

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve started doing my pushups at work. The benefits are twofold. First, doing this provides me with a nice break during the day to clear my mind and get my heart pumping. Second, it allows me to squeeze in my pushups earlier in the day such that I have [...]

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My Week in Fitness (July 6 - July 12)

Busy week, busy weekend. I’ve been meaning to get this update written, but just haven’t found the time.
Hundred pushups
First and foremost, I successfully completed Week 3 of the hundred pushup challenge. I previously posted my Day 1 results. On Wednesday, I successfully completed Day 2 with the following numbers:
Required: 16-14-14-12-Max (at least 15)
Actual: 16-14-14-12-16
And then [...]

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One ounce at a time

Someone passed on a copy of Fred Brooks’ software classic The Mythical Man-Month to me. The introductory page to the chapter on progress tracking has this question and answer:
Question: How does a large software project get to be one year late?
Answer: One day at a time.
Small slippages here and there add up, [...]

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How Much Does a Pushup Weigh?

That’s a bit of an odd title, I know, but I’m not sure how else to word it. Given the recent fascination with pushups, I got to wondering about how much weight you’re actually moving when you do a pushup.
Asked another way:
What’s the bench press equivalent of a pushup?
Of course, these are rather different exercises, [...]

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Carnival participation

I appreciate the inclusion of my article on working out with Wii Fit in the Carnival of Weight Management and Fitness #20 over at Weight Master!

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Hundred Pushups, Week 3 wrap-up

Got through another week!  I thought week 3 would get me but I squeaked by.  Here’s my progress so far:

Date
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Maximum
Total

06/18/08
Initial test
8

06/21/08
7
7
5
4
12
35

06/23/08
9
8
6
5
10
38

06/25/08
10
8
8
5
11
42

06/28/08
9
8
6
4
14
41

06/30/08
11
9
7
7
12
46

07/02/08
10
10
8
8
15
51

07/04/08
Exhaustion test
19

07/05/08
15
12
12
10
15
64

07/07/08
16
14
14
12
16
72

07/09/08
20
15
15
12
17
79

One thing I did find myself doing is “powering through” the pushups more (meaning I did them faster). That and I continued to take a little extra time in [...]

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My biggest health or fitness vice

Nickel at Fit36 tagged me to post on my biggest health or fitness vice.
I just plurked on this:
I love beer, but beer doesn’t love me back.
Beer might have some health benefits but for the most part it’s empty calories, and any health benefits I might have gotten from it are offset by the extra pounds.
One [...]

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Monday Pushup Success!

A week after failing miserably on the first day of Week 3 of the 100 pushup challenge, I’m pleased to report that made through W3D1 this afternoon (while at work, no less!). After failing last Monday, I fell back to Week 2 and focused on obeying the time limits for the rest periods and really [...]

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Monday Pushup Success!

A week after failing miserably on the first day of Week 3 of the 100 pushup challenge, I’m pleased to report that made through W3D1 this afternoon (while at work, no less!). After failing last Monday, I fell back to Week 2 and focused on obeying the time limits for the rest periods and really [...]

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What is Your Biggest Health/Fitness Vice?

Over the weekend, I got to thinking about what my biggest vices are when it comes to staying healthy. All in all, I’d have to say that my number one weakness is eating out at lunch time. For whatever reason, I really enjoy escaping the office and grabbing some lunch. Unfortunately, this often translates into [...]

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Ouch! I Tweaked my Back

Friday afternoon, I decided to head upstairs for a nice Independence Day row. I did my usual 5 minute warmup (light rowing, roughly 1 km) and then got off the erg to stretch. Unfortunately, I got distracted (by what I can’t recall) and ended up coming back to the erg for my workout without actually [...]

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Hundred Pushups, Week 3, Day 1

This one was tough, and I thought I may have pulled a muscle in my right arm doing it. Powering through sixty-four pushups isn’t a good thing to do if I injure myself in the process.
Week 3, Day 1, Column 1 (based on my exhaustion test result of 19): 15, 12, 12, 10, [...]

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100 Pushups: Back on Track

As I noted earlier in the week, I experienced a setback in the 100 pushup challenge when I passed the Week 2 exhaustion test, but failed on Day 1 of Week 3. I think a couple of things factored into my failure.

I didn’t really push myself on the max rounds during Weeks 1 and 2. [...]

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Hundred Pushups, week 2 summary

Well I just managed 19 pushups for my post-week-two exhaustion test. Here’s the progress so far:

Date
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Maximum
Total

06/18/08
Initial test
8

06/21/08
7
7
5
4
12
35

06/23/08
9
8
6
5
10
38

06/25/08
10
8
8
5
11
42

06/28/08
9
8
6
4
14
41

06/30/08
11
9
7
7
12
46

07/02/08
10
10
8
8
15
51

07/04/08
Exhaustion test
19

My 19 pushups will put me in column 1 for week 3, which is just fine with me since I think that will be plenty. However, it’s really nice to see that I [...]

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The killer hidden cost of weight-loss programs

BankRate.com had this article on MSN Moneycentral:
What does it cost to drop 30 pounds?
The article runs down the costs associated with well-known diet programs like Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, Weight Watchers, and The Zone Diet. These programs aren’t cheap. The cheapest of the four for losing 30 pounds is under $100 (for online registration [...]

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What is the body mass index?

Each time I do a Body Test on Wii Fit my body mass index (BMI) is computed and displayed for by viewing (dis)pleasure. Mine hovers in the 36-37 range, which is off-the-scale obese.
My ideal BMI according to Wii Fit is 22, which would put me at a sleek 140 pounds.
But how the heck is [...]

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I’m Tired: Sleep Deprivation and the Internet

As many of you are aware, we were on vacation last week, returning this past Sunday. Upon our return, I promptly fired up the DSL modem and checked in on things. Unfortunately, an hour or so later my wife reported that our Skype phone, her e-mail, and the web weren’t working. Upon hearing this, I [...]

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Hundred pushups, Week 2, Day 3

Still managed to get through my workout tonight. Week 2, Day 3, Column 2: 10, 10, 8, 8, max = 15, for a total of 51 pushups.
On Friday I’ll do the exhaustion test to see which column I start in for Week 3.

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Article: The 5 Best Fat Loss Secrets

by Wendy D Hearn
If you want to lose fat you probably also want to learn what the secrets are to doing this. The secret is to ensure that you’re doing the right things to burn your burn and not use any quick fix methods which don’t work for fat burning and [...]

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100 Pushups: Success and Failure

When last I wrote about the Hundred Pushup Challenge, I was two-thirds of the way through week two, and hoping to finish strong. Week 2, Day 3 (completed this past Friday) was challenging, but I made it through. Upon our return from vacation on Sunday, I flopped down on the floor to do my “exhaustion [...]

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Hundred Pushups, Week 2, Day 2

I’m confident one of these workouts is going to get me, but I still managed to get through tonight. Column 2 of Week 2, Day 2: 11, 9, 7, 7, max=12 for a total of 46 pushups.
Thanks Steve Speirs (creator of HundredPushups.com) and everyone else for stopping by the blog!

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The Challenges of Living Healthy While on Vacation

We just got back from vacation, and boy was it hard to maintain any sort of healthy routine while we were on the road. As I noted previously, just about the only workout “equipment” that I had at my disposal was the floor and the great outdoors. Given that rowing is the centerpiece of my [...]

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Hundred Pushups, Week 2, Day 1

I rested for two days in between Week 1 and Week 2, and did 41 pushups for tonight’s workout. I’m in column 2 at the moment: 9, 8, 6, 4, max = 14.
I’ve heard anecdotal evidence that even as early as the first day after starting a new exercise it’s possible to outperform [...]

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Article: Finding The Right Program For Losing The Belly Fat

by Teresa Brown
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all? Not feeling too
fabulous these days?  Well, that’s not the question to ask a Mom who is
struggling to lose the pregnancy weight.  But the good news is that you can
overcome the lingering “spell” of Mother Nature’s pregnancy weight and re-claim
a toned and lean [...]

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My three year old daughter is a great coach

She works me hard!
During dinner tonight she asked me to “do boxing” on Wii Fit. This is the Rhythm Boxing cardio workout. She really likes the fast punching at the end, and informs me that I’m “going to go fast later.”
Then, she wanted me to run the Island Lap. Ten minutes of [...]

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More Pushups (and a Blister)

Since we’re still on vacation, I’m not going to do much more today than put together a quick workout update.
Here’s the executive summary:
Short run on Sunday, pushups on Monday and Wednesday, and a three mile walk on Tuesday.
As for the 100 pushup goal, things are still going well. Monday’s schedule called for 9-8-6-4-Max (at least [...]

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Hundred Pushups, Week 1, Day 3

Done with Week 1! I got through the first week’s workout on Column 2. Here it is:

Date
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Maximum
Total

06/21/08
7
7
5
4
12
35

06/23/08
9
8
6
5
10
38

06/25/08
10
8
8
5
11
42

Oh, I’ve created a worksheet so that you can easily log your progress on the Hundred Pushups Challenge! It’s a free download, and you can share it with as many people as [...]

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Hundred Pushups, Week 1, Day 2

I actually did this one last night but I made it through the workout in Column 2: 9, 8, 6, 5, and a max of 10, for a total of 38 pushups.
I’m being generous with my rest periods in between the levels. The sheet calls for 90 seconds (or more if necessary) and [...]

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My Fit Bank on Wii Fit got an upgrade tonight

Tonight I passed the ten-hour mark on Wii Fit and my “Fit Bank” got a bronze-color upgrade along with a brief fanfare. These little touches are nice and remind me that I’m sticking to this pretty well.
If you don’t have a clue what I’m talking about, here it is in a nutshell. The [...]

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