Day 7 - Last Day of Half Measures

Today
Last day of half measures in more ways than one... Went out to the grocery store armed with Patrick's food/diet list. I tried to estimate how much of everything I will need in the coming days/week so hopefully things won't spoil too quick. Will likely need to stock up on more fish this weekend... Planning to go to the farmer's market on Saturday morning too when Kim comes home so we can round out the list. Lots and lots of fruit evidently... Avocado is a fruit, right? Why do avocados feel like cheating? Someone tell me if this isn't right... because I love eggs and avocado!


Workout
Not much to say given that its my ol' arch-nemesis jump rope at 500 reps, although I did develop quite a sore right leg that ached for about an hour. Roughly from my calf muscle to just above my ankle. Really weird place to have discomfort, but that's where it was... First 300 weren't too bad. Standard occasional trip up, but 300-400 were really really tough so I took a bit of a breather before finishing up the last 100.


Tomorrow
Perversely looking forward to getting started on the diet tomorrow!

Day 6 - Trippin' the Life Fantastic

Today
Major hunger pangs this afternoon... possibly had too small a breakfast. Saw Patrick's email about the diet this morning. One of the benefits of being a day behind means I can see the diet before our day arrives. Should give me plenty of time to pick up what we need from the grocery store.


Workout
I am decidedly not a morning person so getting up to workout before breakfast was definitely tough. It sounds like its a pretty popular way to get started, not to mention a more effective way to burn fat. If waking up earlier turns out to be the most difficult part of the program I should count myself lucky... "Fat" chance...

1. Lunges: Not too bad, but lots of burn towards the end...
2. Pushups: Last set was a bit of a struggle. Had to stop half way through to catch my breath. Think I might have ended up using my arms too much this time as they are aching more than my chest ~10 hours on.
3. Leg ups: again, not to shabby, but the last set was tough... Quick form question: should we be floating our feet at the bottom or should they touch the ground?
4. Jump Rope: As both my past few days have indicated and the title of the post suggests, I continue to struggle with The Jump Rope. I can usually complete 1 or 2 sets clean, but the rest usually have a few trip ups marring the overall exercise. Still difficult, however not panting quite as bad as when I started. 

Day 5 - Sabbath Slumber

Today
Got up at 3:30am to take Kim to the airport and absolutely crashed out when I got back home, not waking up until midday. So I feel like I am a little off my game as my food schedule is a bit weird... brunch instead of breakfast and lunch. At least I'm not going to repeat our error yesterday and cycle downtown for the "Taste of Louisville". That was a mistake of greasy gaussian proportions. Every other booth on main street had deep fried sweets and meats, the smell of which wafting around Kim and I. Even writing this is making me salivate. So we high tailed it out of there and cycled to the grocery store which was yet another circle that Dante had laid out... May have to purchase blinders for future trips. Thankfully the local Farmer's Market has started up so we can cycle over on Saturday mornings and pick up heaps of cheap veggies as they come in season.


Workout
Stretched for longer again and that definitely seems to be helping. Rolling out with the PVC pipe is quite painful, but likewise appears to be lessening the leg pain. Details:

1. Squats: the now typical burn towards the end, but otherwise fairly uneventful
2. Pushups: Last set was quite difficult. Poor form on the final few...
3. Situps: Again, trying to do these slowly to protect the lower back, but doing them slowly also seems to make them quite a bit more difficult too. Last set was a bear, but I can feel the burn in my lower abs again.
4. Jump rope: gradually appear to be getting better. Skipping, rather than two footed hops appears to be far less taxing and I was able to make it through all the sets without being winded to quite the degree that I've experienced over the past few days. Still out of breath on the last two sets

OK, I know its not a numbers game and the goal is fitness over weight loss, but I couldn't help weighing myself this morning out of curiosity and am down 7lbs already from my 230lbs (104.32 kg) starting weight. I promise this is curiosity and not number obsession, but it was definitely nice to see!

Day 4 - Puck Luck

Today
Sweet... our group has been designated Puck from Midsummer Night's Dream. I'm blaming one of our members (Pete) for that label! An update from the bard:

Either I mistake your (obese) shape and making quite,
Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite
Call'd Robin Goodfellow: are not you he
That frights the maidens of the villagery (because you are overweight and out of shape);
Skim milk (better than 2%), and sometimes labour in the quern
And bootless make the breathless housewife churn (too many jump rope reps, perhaps);
And sometime make the drink to bear no barm (as long as it has 0 calories);
Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?
Those that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck,
You do their work(outs), and they shall have good luck (losing weight with PCP)...

Picture of me jumping rope?

So we are the trickster jesters of Oberon. In a completely uninteresting note, I actually played Oberon in a high school production, so this might be a step down. Still, being a fairy in high school, let alone king of the fairies was definitely tough so Puck might be a step up. And a little sprightliness (or spriteliness) in my jump roping wouldn't go amiss.


Workout
So much better today... Stretched for quite bit longer and rolled out my legs with a PVC pipe this morning (loosely defined as we got up at 10:30 am). Possibly helped as, while the gams still feel a bit rubbery post workout, the burning sensation was limited more to the workout than after:

1. Lunges: not to bad... definitely still burning towards the end
2. Leg ups: nice. I felt like I must have been getting the form fairly well since I could really feel it in my lower abs especially in the last set
3. Push ups: that extra set was no cakewalk (mmmmmm... cake walk....), but I can definitely feel it. Had to restrict my motion from going too low in the last set though so I could keep better form.
4. Jump rope: sooooooo... more skipping and less jumping. Is that cheating? Rather than jumping with both legs at once as I had been doing, using more of a one legged skip definitely made this, even considering the extra reps, a much more palatable, less exhausting workout. The hops are definitely far far more difficult than skipping.

Hope all the PCPer's are enjoying themselves thus far. And a special shout out to all my fellow Pucksters!

Day 3 - You be trippin' instead of skippin'

Today
Half meals aren't too bad so far. Sure, the occasional pang still hits, but I've oddly found that drinking boatloads of water seems to be working to placate my belly. Historically, given my wont for working long hours and the fact that I actually enjoy my work I tend to get very involved in a project and actually forget to eat (usually breakfast and lunch), so those two meals don't seem to be too bad. So if/when I get cravings its almost always in the evening. Actually being conscious of the half meals has oddly been a good thing with respect to reminding me to actually eat. But the massive, gorging meals for dinner are definitely out...


Workout
Its the tale of the legs. Wobbling around all day like an old maid... Really did not expect the legs to be bearing the brunt early on, but its good... a regular reminder both that I am out of shape and that the exercises are having some effect. The workout:

1. Squats: again, despite the shakiness, not too bad. Definite burn towards the end...
2. Pushups: I really like these. Its possibly mental, but I would certainly love to come out of PCP with a little less chicken chest and a little more thickened chest (pity my poor Kim, she has to live with this nonsense day in, day out). Seriously though, for as long as I can remember I've had a fairly featureless, flat chest. Hoping to change that.
3. Situps: not bad again. Just taking it slow and deliberate, making the most of each sit up and trying to not jerk my back.
4. Jump Rope: I keep telling myself I will learn to love this... I will learn to love this. But not yet. I'm just terrible at it. Not as bad as day one as I have a bit more of a sense of the rhythm, but still occasionally losing the beat and missing skips. And by the last two sets I am really panting. After reading Patrick's Day 4 admonishments I really hope I'm not ruining it for myself. I'm definitely having to stop and catch my breath at the end of the last 3 sets, the last 2 being pretty bad.

Next!

Day 2 - Slightly Sore and Stiff

Today
No particularly bad food cravings... yet. Little twinge mid-afternoon but a half tin of tuna on a half salad might be the cause. Walked out to pick up the mail with Kim and one of our neighbors started talking about his bumper crop of veggies using unusually florid language to describe their lusciousness. So of course Kim and I immediately started salivating, made excuses and beat a hasty retreat to the house. We may have to time our mail retrieval differently to avoid him in the future. Legs and chest a little sore and stiff (presumably from yesterday's workout).


Workout
Yikes... I know I am a cow because my calves are burning! Legs are tiiiiiiiiight. Need to stretch them more before and after methinks. Workout details:

1. Lunges: not too shabby. Definitely burning towards the end there...
2. Push ups: better than yesterday but still a strain for the last 2 reps
3. Leg lifts: slow and a bit sloppy. Again, perhaps restraining/straining myself a bit just as I am a bit gunshy about the back.
4. Jump Rope: way better than yesterday but still very difficult. By the fourth set I was dry panting... Kim had some great advice to shorten the rope and that seems to have helped a great deal (granted this was after I was done already... I suspect she was enjoying watching me suffer). Doesn't feel like I am fighting the rope too much and I can get a better, more consistent, more rapid cadence. Also, I've found that rather than gripping the handles tight like one would a stick or bat, that holding them more loosely, closer to the end of the handle and by the tips of my fingers allows me to swing the rope more effortlessly. I think I can apply greater torque by changing the polar moment of inertia. Actually, I have no idea what that means except that an angular frequency Ω looks suspiciously like a jump rope. And it really did seem to work. So if you are having a bit of trouble getting the rope to come round fast shortening it and adjusting my grip definitely helped in my case.

Off to enjoy a half meal of tacos while I still can!

Day 1 - Business Lunch... Figures

Quick intro
Hello fellow PCPers! My brother, Alexander (see his PCP Blog), did this program ending this past December and had truly phenomenal results so it wasn't too difficult for him to convince my fiancee Kim (see her PCP Blog) and I to get signed up. I'm a graphic designer (just wait until I start screwing with the fonts in the blog) working for myself out here in Colorado so my day should logically largely be my own... but as today showed, while that is not always the case, my hope is that I will be able to bookend my schedule with PCP pretty nicely. And having my brother as a fitness role model (seriously, check out those PCP pec pics! OK, that was just an excuse to say "PCP pec pics") I feel really enthusiastic and very hopeful for some awesome results!


Today
Well, it was bound to happen... client calls and needs to do a lunch meeting on the first day of PCP. Murphy's Law meets Patrick's Law? Thankfully, being that this is crunchy healthy Colorado, folks are very understanding and constantly dieting so my sheepish half eaten meal was not a cause for alarm or public humiliation. Actually, I imagine a sheep would have eaten more, but you get the picture. Besides, it was sushi so it was easy to do the math and only eat half. And I can eat the other half for dinner.


Workout
Being a colossal and irredeemable nerd I've loaded my PCP Workout Sheets to Dropbox and synced them to my iPad and iPhone. This way I can always have access to the workouts if I find myself on the road for work or with access to the internet on a computer that isn't mine. Also, I can access them via the TV or computer on the home network if I want to pull them up on a larger screen to reference (so I don't pour sweat on my precious gadgetry while I work out). OK, workout:

1. Sit-ups: not too bad... definitely straining a bit towards the end. Was able to do max reps for the sets though. Got to be careful with the back trouble history... slowly slowly
2. Push-ups: again, not too bad. Last set I had to do less though...
3. Squats: not to shabby... not perfect at the end again but probably the strongest overall exercise
4. Jump Rope: Oh now I remember. I'm not in shape. First set wasn't too bad, but each progressive set became worse and worse. Until the final two sets which were laughably bad. In fact I would have laughed if I had the breath to do so. I can see these being tough moving forward. As I get tired out, I am also losing a clean 1 skip/1 rotation and sometimes doing one small interstitial skip and one full skip for each rotation so that may be aggravating things somewhat.

So that's it for me and the first day! Hope everyone faired well... and good morning Day 2 folks on the other side of the world!