Thursday, May 27, 2010

May 27, 2010

What a beautiful day it is. Loving the weather despite rains coming to damper our Memorial Day weekend but we're here to focus on staying positive and getting into great shape.

I received my Primal Cookbook in the mail and we're starting that quest this evening to see what goodies they have in store. Other good news, my wife after finishing her Masters at EMory and passing her Boards is now a licensed PA and will begin working next Wednesday in a non-surgical Ortho office. 2 incomes and the job of her dreams makes for a pretty good week so far.

Workout routines. Back on the charge with simpleFit. I love this workout b/c it is builds on the foundation and helps with functional strength. With my back injury it's hard for me to stay motivated in the gym b/c I am a competitor at heart so when I see some yahoo jacking up weights it makes me want to do the same even though I know I should't. Yesterday I did 25 sets of 2 pull-ups, 4 push ups and 4 squats. The numbers would change occasionally but I hit some pretty good numbers overall. I also incorporated some bowflex for an additional burn.

I am trying to get as organized as possible and really start tracking every aspect of my fitness goals. This wil keep everything in fornt of me and let me track progress to my ultimate goals. I need to locate an App for this kind of thing and see what I can do with it.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Primally your Day 2

Day started out a little rough with our "Get it off your chest meeting" but feel better afterwards. The workout I did this morning has been a lifesaver for days like this.

Workout this morning-
Hybrid Simple Fit/Bowflex

I love the simple fit concept of continuous reps until failure but for me it takes too long to get there. I like the idea of confusing the muscles and combining multiple exercises but I need more strength training to really get a good push. Of course there will be those who say this isn't the case but for me it is.

I did 25 sets of 3 push-ups, 2 pull ups and 4 squats. Totals- 75 PU, 50 Pull-ups and 100 sqauts. The pull ups are the biggest challenge for me but I plan on doing a minimum 15-30 per day to help build/rehab my back.

For the bowflex I added Incline bench ( and lower back.

I got a pretty good burn and still feel it a little but nothign too bad. I just need ot walk a little to keep the blood flowing, drink plenty of water and eat healthy to help recovery.

Breakfast- 3.5 eggs with 2 strips of bacon- Fish oil supplement along with multivitamin.
Lunch- Big ass Salad with tuna.
Snack- Almonds
Dinner- Tilapia with Broccoli and steamed carrots.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Primally Yours Day 1

The long awaited and much anticapted Primally your blog has finally taken shape. This is a project I have been thinking about for quite some time and it took me getting out of a rut to start it. Amazing what it takes to get the ball rolling.

Since Feb I have been making daily trips to MarksDailyapple.com where I have found a lifestyle that fits me. For years I've tried working out, eating what I thought was healthy without much success. Now I will admit I never truly dedicated myself as much as I should have and that all stops right now. No more wasting time, no more excuses.

Reasons: Last night while laying in bed I realized I needed to make more drastic changes. Since last Feb I changed my eating habits, my workout habits and now I am pushing them full speed ahead. The understanding of the body as a machine and the food we feed ourselves has taken new menaing for me. It sounds common sense but who actually thinks about what they eat anymore. We've created a completely different food chain then we're accostomed to by allowing only certain companies to slowly overtake our food Industrial complex. The plants we eat are laden with pesticides that are now being shown to have a myriad of health effects such as an increased liklihood for ADD or ADHD, DNA mutations, organ issues, etc yet we keep consuming as much of it as we can b/c it's easy. I don't want this blog to turn into a rant but it's freaking scary.

B/c of this my family and I are starting to take steps to ensure we have control (growing) over our own food supply. We planted a small garden with Red, yellow and Green Bell Peppers, Yallo Squash, Zuchinni and cherry tomatoes. If this goes well our plan is to gradually increase oue garden one section at a time which will give us the opportunity to grow a larger variety of veggies. We've lost the concept of sustainability and I plan on adding that as an aspect to our healthy living ASAP. It will take a little elbow grease and harwork but it'll pay off with cost savings and the fact that we grew it ourselves.

Fitness: Well I am cancelling our gym membership tomorrow but we still can use it through June. We went a lot at first but then life starting happening. Our baby boy is growing and playing so we want to spend as much time as possible with him, Michelle just now passed her PA exam so she doesn't have to study for 6 hours a day, work is extremely consuming and stressful and a ton of other excuses. It basically comes down to we didn't use it enough and it's expensive. I do plan on going 4 times per week until the end of June. We have a beach trip and I want to use that as a catalyst to get into shape.

I am doing a variety of workouts focusing on total body fitness. Functional exercises that hit large, small muscle groups while giving some much needed love to the stabilizing muscles that will help me get over my back/neck issues. I have let them render me helpless for too long. I know it's gonna to hurt so I might as well get some fun of it and push forward. It will eventually stop and get back in line with the right exercises, diet and focus.

Well this is Day one and the beginning of an experiment to not only see if I am capable of this but to see what all I am encapable of doing.