Ready, Steady, Go!

Hiya Guys,

Recently the feedback board featured an interesting ‘suggestion’ around the new jukebox. Specifically:

‘A lot of the music on the new Jukebox is dance music and not really suited to working out.’

To which the Bodyworks team replied, in part:

‘The developer is increasing the number of songs and the ‘house’ music is being removed.’

Frankly I wasn’t too happy to read this. Music is a matter of taste, yet, where your correspondent sets out as an objective fact that ‘dance music [is] not really suited to working out’ your team seem to be in total agreement. Would a better reply not have been something like:

‘At Bodyworks our membership comprises a broad cross section of the community, we try to provide a broad cross section of music to suit all tastes. We’re adding songs regularly so keep checking back for new tracks.’

Your explicit agreement makes a mockery of your whole feedback system.  The customer is *not* always right- in this case the point is at the very least moot.

But, let’s take for a moment their statement that ‘dance music [is] not really suited to working out’ objectively and look towards some evidence.

Maybe we could start by consulting the various group training instructors at Bodyworks, experts surely in workout music selection. Based on my regular visits to the gym I would say that ‘dance’ music is a very popular format for their choreographies- disproportionately so if you compared their track listings against say the popular music charts. We’re not merely talking about more recent ‘house/trance/techno/…’ music. These guys use dance music from right through the past 20 odd years- remember the 80’s? Jazzercise? 80’s dance music?

But really I don’t even think that the argument as to what is good and what is not should really raise its head here.  Everybody is going to have different tastes- the whole purpose of the jukebox is to, as best one can, attempt to cater to all of those disparate tastes.

Maybe your correspondent was referring more generally to modern dance music, the electronic varieties (Trance, House, Breakbeat, Electro, Techno, Drum and Bass). Maybe they don’t like it? It’s certainly not to everybody’s taste. Maybe your team don’t like it? Ditto.  But, your capitulation really does make a mockery of the whole feedback system. Not all feedback is going to be right. On receipt and analysis you should be considering the, quite obvious, thoughts and opinions of other members. In this case you quite clearly haven’t.

If you must have your ‘perfect’ workout music then you should take an MP3 player with a decent pair of in-ear (noise blocking headphones). If you choose not to and instead rely on the jukebox then you should be prepared to compromise and show a degree of communal tolerance- others may have a different idea as to just what really suits their workout.

Anyway. Rant over. I do love my gym a whole heap. As someone who travels overseas a lot (the IHRSA membership is a real bonus) I still love coming back to my own gym and still sits at the top of my favourites list if only because of the whole sense of community. Let’s not spoil that community with this sort of feedback and response.

Regards

Chris

Phil, Tim and I went for a MTB ride @ Makara on Saturday afternoon. Had a blast.

Went up Koru, along Sally Alley, out onto the 4WD track then down the bottom of Ridgeline and Swigg. It was a pretty leisurely pace but we all had a hoot of a time and got filthy muddy.

Here's the profile of the ride- I really have to get myself a watch like Darryl B's... So it can talk to a wheel sensor.

If you're keento come on any of our rises do et us know!. Phil has some photos here.

Managed my first sub 100kg weigh in this morning.

Actually a bit surprised as I've had this week off exercise as I'm sick as a dog with some viral cough thing... driving me insane.

So I got onto the scales this morning expecting something ike 102kg and came it @ 99.8. I'm pretty stoked really!

There is this old lady @ my gym who wears entirely nasty gym gears... then I found ths picture in a shop in the Venetian in Vegas... I sooo thought of her. I've attached some of the other cool poster pics too.

I had forgotten that it was bike to work day. As I rode from the Gym (Thorndon) to the Office (Willis St) I stumbled upon the free breakfast (well the end of it) @ Civic Square.

Anyway- IU've got right back into riding to work having shifted to Wellington. Fuel is too expensive, m car drinks it (Turbo Subaru), and I'm really liking my new bike.

I think that Phil is keen for a Makara Peak MTB ride soon. So, if you are keen for a bike ride in WLG post a comment here and we should all heahis weekend sometime.

Been spending a decent chunk of time doing gym cardio recently and I’ve come to a conclusion for cardio equipment manufacturers.

Where you have a machine with variable resistance, say 0 to 20, the default when you jump on the machine should be 10, not 0. Seem to be so many people at the gym who think that doing 120rpm for 20mins at level 0 on the stationary bike constitutes a workout.

I stayed in Richmond Sat and Sun night before presenting at the Nelson .NET Users Group today. I stayed at the Destiny Motel and it did a pretty good job of meeting my essential home away from home requirements. It had CNN, Broadband and…. 50m down the road BJs Gym. I got a couple of sessions in, Upper body on Sunday (which kicked ass) and Lower Body this morning (which was a bit average- wasn’t feeling all that on game). But anyway. BJs was a great wee gym. Good free weights and machines. Cardio room was OK- gear was a bit old and all tended to be pro-sumer grade stuff which 100kg+ers like me tend to feel like they’re gonna break.

The staff @ BJs were really friendly, other gym bunnies were pleasant. I even met another whitewater kayaker (Rieds Farm T Shirt gave it away) who I was sure I recognised but I think it was recognition from a canoe polo tournament rather than slalom.

Anyway. If you’re staying or living in Richmond it’s a convenient gym. Off to Bodyworks in Wellington tomorrow.

OK.

So a wee while back I posted about moving into an Intensity phase.

Here is an update to that.

1. I've not managed to nail the 2 a day exercise. But, I have significantly increased my total exercise time. Mainly by getting to the gym early in the morning for an hour. I've been pushing my legs quite hard on Monday mornings which means by Wed morning I need to aquajog for some active recovery.

2. So that carries on to the more weights. I'm lifting much bigger weights and slightly lower reps. Have dropped back from hitting 20 reps in the 1st set to more like a 15,12,8 set pattern.

3. Supplementing is going well. The Thermogenics took a bit of getting used to again and the creatine has wacked on some serious water weight (like 4 kilos). But, I'm pleased with the supplementing regime. I fell like a million bucks most days and I'm nialing some hard morning gym sessions.

4. My eating has not changed a great deal. Slightly better at making my own lunches (generally Chicken breast and salad sammies). Have been MUCH better at eating fruit. Doing at least 2 pieces a day which is a major change for me- loving apples at the moment. Mmmmm... big juicy apples.

Weight this morning 104.2. Now this is up on pre creatine levels but given that when I started the loading phase I bounced up to almost 106kgs I think I'm still well on target for sub 100kg by Xmas. I really have been stripping it off over the past few weeks.

So, all in all good progress.

My recent training calendar.

My intensity grah showing much more time being spent in the yellow and red zones and less 'junk miles' in the grey zone.

So. I've kind of plateaued on the weight front but am still seeing pretty good body shape changes.

Currently sitting around 103.5 kgs.

I've decided to lift my intensity for a phase of about 4-5 weeks. This means:

• Twice a day, every day exercise. Ideally around an hour on most days. Trying to lift my proportion of time in my MAX heart rate band (170 bpm +)
• More weights. I'm focussing on pushing reasonably high reps still.
• Pretty intensive supplementing reigime*. I started a creatine loading phase on Sunday night. I'm doing twice a day protein shakes (Gymeez OEM stuff). I'm also back on the thermogenics (I know, I know!) but they do give you a kick in the pants.

Anyway. Will be trying to blog about progress a bit more. Eating well at the moment which is good. Probably still need to lift my fluid intake. Anyone got any tips to enforce good water drinking habits?

* In case you think I'm just replacing one breed of processed shit with another I am easting well for main meals.
Typical day:

Breakfast
4 Weetbix, Fresh and Fruity Yogurt, Protein Powder. (Need to add more fruit and veg here)

Lunch
Sachet of Seafood Chowder (not too creamy and fatty variety), chopped cooked lean chicken breast.

Dinner
Ultra lean venison, green slad, corn and bean salad.

Snacks
Nuts- Walnuts, Almonds, Hazlenuts, Pecans, Brazil Nuts
A bit of Gatorade Energy Bar

No not the ASX and NZSX dummy... my weight- in fact I ws up on the stocks I purchased yesterday but I've pretty much quit my NZX holdings (not they they were huge anyway).

Anyway, weight.
103.2 yesterday morning.

Tredning down and hopefully on target for sub 100kg before Xmas...... Still haven't quite saved the $$$ for my Lasik yet so I've got a bit more time....

OK. So the week started out pretty well for me with my first sub 104kg weigh in. But then it kinda didn't really spark. I didn't do a heap or exercise (Gym Mon, Canoe Polo Tue, Run Wed, Run Fri) and so come this weekend I needed a jump start!

I got up this morning, went to the farmers market, had an apple strudel and some yummy russian deep fried pastie for breakfast...... and then ran/walked up Mt Cargil 5 minutes faster than ever before.... that's like 10% off my best time!

Just to prove it, here is my chart....

Now I've blogged about this before. But this is really a follow up.

I currently cook about 80% of my meals on my Foreman Grill. It was a wedding present from Debs Aunt and Uncle.

It really kicks ass. Reasons:

1. All the fat runs off (Atkins can take a giant leap... fat is BAD BAD BAD....BAD!)
2. It cooks twice as fast becuase it's heated top and bottom
3. You can easily make dishes free meals with it.
1. Stick steak and veges on grill and cook
2. When finished place on sice of bread and eat.
3. While grill still hot wipe clean with kitchen paper.
4. VOILA... no dishes.

Over the next wee while I'm ging to post some of the essential bits of my get fit gears.

#1 Is Singapore Syle Running Shorts

Yes, the skimpy ones that show a lot of leg. Who cares what you look like, they are the most comfortable thing to wear if you're doing any running or decent distance walking.

P.S. Currently floating around 104. Have kinda leveled out a bit... need to step up the volume again soon but late August and most of Sept is travel mad for me.....

OK all..... for those of you in Auckland on the Saturday.... I'm going to organise a geek run... we'll probably go up to K Road, across through the domain, down through Parnel and back along the waterfront.

We'll meet at the bottom of the Sky Tower @ 8:30am on the Saturday.

This will be a slog jog.... so all bunnies are forbidden.

Here is the entry for ya Smartphone
Geek Run.vcs (.41 KB)

RSVP in the comments if you are keen.....

OK.... so I have reached my first milestone!

Today, for the third weigh in in a row, I registered under 105kg- 104.2 to be exact.

As a result I have earnt my new gadget. Fortunatly my credit card billing period ticked over last night...... so I both deserved it and could afford to buy it!

Haven't had a good play with it yet... but look out for some nice charts of my progress on here real soon.

Just one more sub 105kg weigh in and I can claim that I have reached my first goal

Actually had a pretty average weekend- only got 3/4 of the way up Flagstaff on Sunday as it was Windy and Cold.

Did knock 30 seconds of my Mt Cargill time though- currently stands @ 44minutes and 58 seconds.

Nuff said

...and I'm 105.1kg, a mere 100gms off my first target weight and thus almost able to get my first reward. Well, actually I'm making myself record 3 days under 105 before I'm claiming I've made it.....

1/2 way there..... 100kg here we come.

...with my exercise routine?

Well I have. but only in the last two days.

I've been kicking ass otherwise.

Weight was down to 106.9 last time I weighed in but it's much more muscle than flab now. I've been exercising a lot more- my fave trick at the moment is walking up big hills. I went up Flagstaff from Booth Rd on Sat in 42.26 minutes. I usually do Mt Cargill on Sundays but one of my staff memebers and a number of my paddling mates corrupted me with my own duty free grog on Sat night so I crashed on the couch with the dog for Sunday.

Had a bad day for eating today and yesterday- back on track from tonight.

Still eating well. Onto home made lunches again this week.

Decent activity levels last week.

Gyming and Exerbiking.

Jogged/Walked up Flagstaff and mt Cargill on Sat and Sun respectivly. Rolled my ankle on way back down Mt Cargill. Quiet day today- at GYM with Personal traineer this arvo.

Weigh in tommorow. Not losing weight particularly fast by defn. toning up.

Weighed in this morning. 108.2 Lost 0 kgs... oh well... patience I reckon.

No exercise last night. But 25 mins cardio and a weights circuit with Dave this morning.

Proteing shake for Bfast. BLAT for lunch.

Flying this evening... Must be strong and NOT much out on cheese and bikkies @ the Koru Club!

Yesterday was good. Until my little windows episode yesterday afternoon.

Got up and did 35 minutes up and 25 minutes down the Pineapple track. All in 130bpm to 150bpm.

Got home. ate some frozen leftover spagbol and pasta for breakfast. Had a sammie for lunch and conrded silverside with the in-laws for dinner.

Up this morning. Did 50 minutes at the gym- combination of arms workout and 25mins cardio.

Got to work- bit of cold thai chicken and veges from the other night and a protein shake.

Spilt my protein shake ALL OVER MY TABLET PC...... So I just rinsed it under the tap... gotta love those Toughbooks... More later.

Weigh-in defered till tommorow. Felling stronger/better though!

OK... SO yesterday was pretty average.

Poor eating, stressed, no exercise.

I ate rubbish (Chicken Roll with Hollandaise for lunch and kebab for dinner!... Bleh.) I had Thai Soup (takeaway) Thursday night too but followed it up with a good long bike ride and a session of Pilates with Zosha et al. Watched the rugby with Matt from Fortress and pigged out on cheese.... bleh.... altogether bad.

Not going to make excuses. Fell off the rails.

Back on track today. Did a 60 minute run with Toby (the Dog) this morning and then did a clean up of my bach. pad.

Protein shake with Bannana for breakkie. Going to head in and do some work soon.

Found a great new running circuit... need to know Dunedin to understand instructions...

It's a figure 8 loop around Ross Creek. You start at the entrance to Ross Creek on Cannington Road and take the track that runs along the edge of the golf course around to the lake. Run across the dam then up the hill and along the northern boundary. Run right along the northern boundary until you get to the booth road entrance right at the top corner of Ross Creek. Cross ver the road and head up the Pineapple Track. Keep climbing the track and you will go past the water tanks and treatment facility and eter into a closed in bush track. Head up this for about 200m and you will get to a signposted track for McGouns(sp) Creek. This is the apex of the run distance and climb wise.

Head down the McGouns track until you hit a 4WD track. Head left down this track back towards Booth Road but just before you cross over the bridge take a right onto another 4WD track. Follow this down until you hit the sealed road. Cross the road and you are back into ross creek. RUn down the southern edge of the lake this time and cross over the track you run up on. Run down the dam face, to the footbridge. Then down the creek for about 250m when you get to a stream crossing. GO across the stream and up the hill.... you'll be back at ya car.

The DCC says you are meant to have ya dog on the lead here... but mine preferes to be off and the fine is only $100 bucks or something so I reckon it's worth the risk. Not been caught yet and everyone else does it.

Having a crapy day today... more about it later.

No exercise this morning... didn't even eat breakfast..... BLEH!

Didn't make lunch... BLEH!

REALLY REALLY cld in the house this morning....

I've just gone and done it again!..... Body went on auto pilot and ate my muesli bar for lunch instead of afternoon snack..... GRRRRR.........

OK...

So since my post this time yesterday I've done pretty well.

Exercise.

Did a 20 min run with the dog last night @ 130bpm to 150bpm Heart Rate (Found the HRM in my sock draw). Got up this morning and did a 25 minute stroll with the dog- legs were sore from yesterday.

Food- I ate a light dinner last night. Steak and Salad. Went and watched the rugby with Matt @ TicketDirect. I managed to build almost an entire Pocket PC Ticket scanning application during the rugby match... which was pretty cool- look out for it in action at the Wellington match next week and the ABs Lions test in Welly early next month.

Today I had a protein shake for brekie. M bar for morning tea. Lunch was a chicken sammie with humus and lettuce. Had my afternoon M bar at  lunch.

Shopping for today:
Dinner for tonight

1. OK... Day one went pretty well.

Kept to a good eating schedule.

1. Breakfast
   Protein Shake
2. Morning Snack
   Muesli Bar
3. Lunch
   2 * Tuna Sammies
4. Afternoon Snack
   Muesli Bar (Ate this a bit too early... body went into 'autopilot' and just picked it up and ate it... whoops...)
5. Dinner
   300Gms Fillet Steak (Super Lean)
   Salad (With a little Asian Lemon Splash dressing from Zarbo)
   1/2 a Ciaatta Bread (felt like carbs as I had to play Canoe Polo last night) Splurged and had some Taramasalata on it as it was on clearance at super market- bit naughty but not too fatty and salmon fatty acids good....
6. Late snack after Polo
   Protein Shake

Got through a bit of water but not as much as I'd like. Not doing to good on that today either.  Note to self... DRINK MORE WATER

Exercise yesterday was a 40 minute game of polo. Did a few walking meetings during the day too.

As for today. Missed taking the dog for a run today. Do have a lead though- his grandma left him with one when he went to the groomers yesterday. I did by my Pilates mat yesterday but no dumbells.... instead I got a big rubber exercise band- trying that out tonight.

1. Exercise today so far has been a 40 minute PT session with my trainer dave. General upper/lower/cardio circuit session. Was good. I pushed out high reps for each set and I felt +ve. Planning on a run with the dog, some bike time and some Pilates this evening... Need to do some work too.

Food plan for today.

1. Breakkie
   Protein Shake (was gonna have Bannana but they aren't ripe enough yet) Had this after my PT session
2. Morning Snack
   Muesli bar at about 11am
3. Lunch
   Chicken sammie on 1/2 ciabatta with Taramasalata and lettuce. 6 Cherry toms. Eating this right now.
   I got a whole loadof lean chicken at supermarket last night and cooked it up for this weeks lunches.
4. Dinner
   Is steak again. No bread tonight. Just steak and a BIG feed of salad.

Stuff todo and get today.
Probablly OK todaMaybe some bread from the supermarket cos the other stuff might be getting stale. But should probabbly be OK for sammies tommorow.

General feeling of well being.... not too bloody bad Not been hungry at all which is good. My fod plan is really to not cut down too much on quantity (I'm upping exercise to deal with that) but I'm being much more careful as to when and what I eat. Less fat. bit more protein. Not ditching carbs altogether- I aim to lose via exercise not this stupid stick ya body into Ketosis mode that's all the craze at the moment. Progress thus far goo.d Just got to stay +ve

Things I need to work on:

1. Dragging my sorry ass out of bed in the morning to walk the dog. Anybody got any hot tips on how to make getting up easier? Especialy in COLD COLD COLD climates...?

OK. So this post has a bit of stuff about some of my plans as well as my first weigh in.

I weighed in this morning at
108.2kg
25.6% body fat

This is still much lightr than my peak weight (about 115kg) but my target is to go under 100kg- ideally to around 96-98kg. This was my weight when I was at the peak of fitness at the end of highschool. I am a big guy anyway- broad shoulders, 6'3” - so I'm never going to be a flyboy.

I'm going to reward myself for hitting my weight target with Lasik Eye Surgery So I really need to get it off before paddling season kicks in properly

I got all of my exercise technology sorted out last night. I have it all set up in my lounge.

• Diamondback Road Bike on a Magnetic Trainer
• Media PC running Snapstream (Set to record good stuff to watch on bike as well as the daily episode of Pilates TV on TV1)
• Pilates Mat - tried with my Thermarest last night- no good. Need a closed cell mat. To buy today.

I gave the system a trial last night. Did 25 mins on the back and an episode of Pilates (this week is Boy exercises week so all strength stuff- might save them away till a bit later) then off to bed by about 1/2 past nine. I had finished all my exercise by 9pm but then watched some Kayak Porn because I felt the need for a thrill.....

Up this morning and into the diet routine.

• Protein shake for breakfast. I'm going to add a bannana if I have exercised in the morning. I didn't exercise this morning because I couldn't find a lead for the dog- added to shopping list.
• I made some Tuna sammies for lunch- two sammies - white bread will get brown next time for more fiber - small squirt of Tartare sauce (soooo full of FAT!). I'm going to have a protein shake too as I brought some to work with me.
• Snacks over the day I have a Tasti muesli bar and a pams muesli bar- they were the low fat options at the supermarket. I also have a bottle of Gatorade made up from powder. Need to drink more water too. Will report back on how we get on.
• Dinner - Going to be fillet steak and salad with minimal dressing. Need to buy salad.

Exercise plan for today

1. Run the dog @ Ross Creek - about 30 minutes
2. Game of Canoe Polo @ Moana Pool - about 40 minutes

Shopping for today

1. Dog leash - Supermarket
2. Readymade Salad - Supermarket
3. Second hand dumbells from Cash Converters
4. Pilates mat from Para Rubber

General tasks for today

1. Find heart rate monitor watch. The alarm goes off at 6:30am every morning so it is somewhere in the house.

I'm going to lose some kilograms. Mainly because I've got back into kayaking and I'm too fat for pretty much every playboat (even the big boy models) on the market. I also realy want to look like a 'sexy beast' for Christmas

So. I'm going to blog about it. That way all you people who read this blog religiously can kick my ass if I fall off the wagon. I'm gonna try and do a sort of daily diary with my eating and exercising and all that jazz.

Please, Please, Please... if you find me slacking kick my virtual ass