travis' brain dump

It never fails…

You finish off a holiday season and you come back to chaos! 😀

Actually it’s not that bad. It’s just been really busy since I got back to work. I had fully intended on writing this blog out a couple of weeks ago only to be delayed consistently with things going on. Anyway, on with the show…

I had mentioned prior to the new year posting up results and such on my latest rounds of working out with Andy. One of those ‘let the knowledge that others are watching drive you to complete the task at hand’ kind of things. Well, here I am. Granted we’ve been back on it for 3 weeks now but it’s never too late to start posting up the fun.

Before I get started on me, there are some funny observations to cover and some advice to hand out. Anyone who hits the gym on a regular basis will understand fully where I’m coming from here.

Do you ever notice how trying to hit the gym in January is like trying to go shopping on Black Friday? Not only is it completely impossible to work with your usual routine without constant interruption to your normal flow, but it’s usually interruption by the absolute worst perpetrator possible, the gym noob. Most of the time, these poor souls make desperate New Year resolutions to lose weight that only ends in their own disaster and embarassment. They seem to come into the gym and see everyone in there busting out workout routines that they have been doing for months and try to “fit in”. They only end up getting in the way or more often getting hurt. Seriously folks, you will experience first hand the EPIC FAIL that will end your resolution as quickly as you came up with it. You will not meet your goal, you will not lose weight and you will only get frustrated and continue to get larger if you rush into something for some stupid reason like a New Year’s resolution.

If you are truly concerned about your weight and would like to take steps to resolve those concerns, take some advice and do one of three things:

a) Get yourself a trainer, someone who can review your current fitness level and help you with a plan to meet your goals. This individual will be your gateway to a new, more fit lifestyle if you take to heart their advice and accept the structure they give you.

b) Get a workout buddy who has lots of experience and will help you start slow and ramp your way into a full blown routine. While this is not exactly using a trainer, if you have a friend who you feel can really help you, try it. If it doesn’t work, you can always choose another alternative.

c) Do some research. Don’t just show up at the gym expecting to dive right in and learn what to do by looking at what other people are doing. You will not figure it out the secret to weight loss and getting in shape. Go online, pick up a book, talk to people, etc… learn what it is you can do to meet your needs and create a routine that works for your fitness level and beyond. 

Most importantly, please go see a doctor if you have any health concerns.

Regardless of the method you choose remember two things when you are at the gym with other people around you. It’s not about the size of the weight you’re using or how fast you can move on a cardio machine. DO NOT get caught up in what everyone else is doing and try to ‘fit in’. You will fail. If you are weight training, pick a weight that works for you. It’s all about form and motion, not about how much you can lift. If anyone gives you a bad time for using a lighter weight or moving a little slow, ignore them. More than likely they will be the one to fail due to poor attitude and lack of intelligence in the first place and so long as you stay focused you can exceed even your own expectations when you come out on the other side.

Ok, enough with the advice column and on to my workout progress thus far. 🙂

Prior to heading out on vacation I had come close to hitting my previous goal of 230 (from 264). A little bit of a bummer but hey, I still lost 25 lbs coming in at 239 and hitting a bodyfat percentage of 19.83%. I can’t complain. Of course, like the holidays do, they added back some of that weight. I did pretty good considering all the fun stuff I ate and tallied in at 246.2 just prior to starting this latest round of working out. The more sad thing was having the bodyfat land at 24.31%. Oh well. That’s why I started another round. 🙂

So far so good, the results are as follows:

Week 1 -> 246.2 lbs/24.31% BF
Week 2 -> 245.4 lbs/23.46% BF
Week 3 -> 241.4 lbs/21.94% BF

I’m interested to see how this week will turn out, hopefully pretty decent but we’ll see. With a huge jump in week two I may be looking at something more modest this week. 2lbs/week is the goal though so as long as I stick to it, I should see 220 by April4th. It’s been hard to get in all the cardio I want but the drive is at least still there. I’ll actually post up some pictures when I hit the end of this round since it will give a good view of a year worth of changes. If that’s not something to motivate me to get this goal I don’t know what is, lol.

What lies beyond? Probably not much… lol 220 would more than likely put me back in a pair of 34’s with the rate I’ve been changing out fat for muscle so going beyond that may be futile. We’ll see though as I start to creep closer to my goal. Either way, 25 lbs down, 21.4 lbs to go. 😀

I will be posting up the weekly results to keep myself in check. Even if they are bad. *shrug* it’s not like I’m on “The Biggest Loser” and have Jillian or Bob in my face about not hitting a good number in a week… I just want to post losses in the form of wins, no matter how big or small.