Archive for BodyForLife
September 17, 2006 at 9:19 pm · Filed under BodyForLife, Diet
I have officially completed my first Body for Life challenge although I’m ashamed to admit that it kind of just fizzled out towards the end.
I made the most progress in the first 6 weeks and the second half saw me fighting to maintain this. Anyway I can’t complain, I managed to lose another stone in total.
I’ll definately start another challenge after I’ve settled at work and found another gym where I can shift some weights. In the meantime I’ll keep up the running and keep an eye on my weight so that I don’t move backwards.
Popularity: 23% [?]
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August 15, 2006 at 4:38 pm · Filed under BodyForLife, Running, Technique
I went on the treadmill this lunchtime and tried the Balke test for determining my V02 max score. This involves running as far as you can in 15 mins, I actually ran for 20 mins so I obviously wasn’t pushing hard enough, but I still managed to get up a fair speed. I actually managed to run at 11 km/hr (not for long) without being propelled off the back of the treadmill. I wouldn’t even dream of running that speed a couple of months ago. Things really seem to be coming together with this running malarky.
Anyway, back to VO2. As with everything else I do, I have to get thoroughly obsessed with the science behind my hobby. Hence the purchase of all the sporting gadgets, training software, books and whizzy excel spreadsheets. I recently bought Daniels Running Formula which aims to tell you exactly what pace you should train at, based on your VO2 max. So there would be a set pace for the long slow runs and another for marathon, 10k and interval runs. Trouble is I am too slow to even get onto his tables, so that was another waste of money!
The runningforfitness website is a techies dream. It is awash with converters and running calculators to tell you everything from predicted race paces to speed improvements associated with weight loss. I love it. The link I have given above enables you to determine your VO2 max figure based on the 15 min run and then tells you what pace you should train at.
Apparently I should do my long slow runs at a pace of 08.03 and it reckons I should complete the 10k in 69 mins. Not sure if that figure is based on me running the race tomorrow or after a training schedule. I would hope to be running slightly faster than that by October but we shall see.
I am so impressed by the runningforfitness site that I have taken up PHP programming to recreate some of the conversion tables on my website. Not that I need another project at the moment - I’m supposed to be submitting my thesis in 2 weeks, instead I am spending every evening cursing about some line of code that refuses to do what I want.
Popularity: 27% [?]
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August 4, 2006 at 11:01 am · Filed under BodyForLife, Running
I have committed to cutting back on the alcohol, in order to get the diet back on track again. Therefore this view of the brewery is the closest I’ll get to a beer for a while.
It’s the sight I get on the last few hundred yards of my run, just after I’ve crossed Barnes Bridge. Beautiful stretch of the river.
It’s a bit overcast this morning and the photo looks a bit dull but it gave me an excuse to try out this new photoshop tutorial I found on Photojojo. The tutorial shows you how to select areas of the photo based on their colour and then alter the levels to either increase or decrease exposure. Quite good fun, but I suppose the skill is in subtlety and I’m not sure I possess much of that.
I struggled on my run today, I had intended trying out a new variation on my route which would have come in around 9k. Once I’d set off though, I felt like a furnace and ended up cutting it short and finishing after only 3.5k. I don’t know if I’m still feeling tired after last week - I went a bit giddy and increased my weekly distance from a typical 13k to 25k. I’m certainly sleeping well anyway.
Maybe I’ll try my new route out tomorrow.
Popularity: 28% [?]
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Tags: Diet
August 3, 2006 at 6:30 pm · Filed under BodyForLife, Diet
Oh I feel like it’s time for a major confession. I have been slacking big time. I’ve stopped recording my meals and I’ve ignored the last note to self which required me to stop having alcohol. Everything is slipping badly, I keep drinking beer and port and there have been more than a couple of chocolate muffins making their way into my gut this week!
The only positive is that my running has increased pretty dramatically but even then I am guaging my performance on how many muffins it entitles me to eat.
Not good!
I’ve just been skim reading the life history of a blogger who appears to have started the Body for Life scheme (or similar) about 6 months ago and seems to have made quite dramatic fitness gains in the process. It’s quite motivating.
Popularity: 21% [?]
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July 28, 2006 at 9:52 pm · Filed under BodyForLife, Running
I ran for a whole 10k this morning.
Nearly crippled myself but I had to do it - that damn gym buddy of mine keeps setting new challenges.
It took me 77 mins which is better than I expected.
More details on the MotionBased site.
Popularity: 25% [?]
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Tags: motionbased
July 23, 2006 at 8:32 pm · Filed under BodyForLife, Diet
So I am about 5 weeks into the BFL - Body for Life challenge and thought it was perhaps time to drop in an update and outline my progress so far.
There have been a few changes, the weight has started to drop - 9lbs in total. I lost a bit in the first couple of weeks and then as usual I hit a plateau and then over the last few days its started to drop a bit again. Here’s the weight chart:
There also appears to have been some change to my body composition, with a small but definate (I think) increase in muscle mass and a decrease in the body fat mass - which is what I’m in it for.
I am probably not quite on target to achieve my high weight loss goals for this challenge, so I better start making more of an effort. I am spot on with the exercise, doing more cardio than prescribed and working hard with the weight training. I am mostly ok with the diet but I am allowing myself a drink once or twice a week, which I really ought to stop.
Generally I have found the diet ok. It took a while to fathom out what I needed to eat to get a portion of protein and carb at each meal but when that was sorted I find my six meals a day amounts to about 1800 cals a day. Thats not bad - all about portion control.
A typical days food intake will be:
Breakfast - Banana and protein smoothie
AM Break - Ham slices and 3 rice cakes
Lunch - Chicken fillets, couscous and carrots
PM Break - Myoplex Diet shake
Tea - Grilled Tuna, new potatoes, cabbage
Evening - Cottage cheese and 3 rice cakes
Initially I was sceptical of the protein supplements but they are a blessing. It’s hard work preparing so many meals with 1 portion of carbs and 1 portion of protein, particularly at breakfast. The protein powder means I can have a nutritious fruit shake and still get the protein I need. The myoplex diet is useful after my gym workout as its easy and actually feeds my sweet cravings as its basically the only pudding style food I allow myself.
I think the program has proved very positive so far. It has given me a boost on the fitness front again as I’ve joined the gym and go every day. Not only does this mean that I’m lifting weights but I also use the treadmill. My running has shifted up a gear as a result. Since I’ve started BFL, I ran my first 5k, this morning I increased this to 7k and I’m registered in a 10k event for October.
Popularity: 29% [?]
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Tags: Diet
June 22, 2006 at 2:02 pm · Filed under BodyForLife, Diet
Whenever I go on a new fitness buzz, I like to look around for inspiration that will keep me motivated for just a bit longer. This almost inevitably means spending money on either books or assorted gadgets, and this time round has been no exception.
So this time the book is called “Survival of the Fittest” by Mike Stroud who most famously ran with Sir Ranulph Fiennes on his 7 marathon runs, across 7 continents in 7 days. Flipping nuts!
I haven’t finished it yet but the most inspiring story so far is of a woman called Helen Klein. This woman is truly inspirational, she is a great grandmother, well into her 80’s and her motto is “I want to wear out, not rust out”. She started running when she was 55 having had a completely non sporting life. She is now a world record holding ultra distance runner.
I have taken the excerpt from a book called “Fitter after 50“, I don’t have a copy myself but I reckon its a must for anyone feeling a bit depressed about the advancing years. I provided the link if your interested.
“In 1982, at the age of 59, she entered the Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon (the epic swim, bike, and run-a-marathon competition). In 1989, now a 66-year-old grandmother of 9, she completed the Grand Slam of 100-mile mountain-trail runs (the Vermont 100, the Wasatch 100, Colorado’s Leadville 100, and the Western States 100); plus one more to grow on, the Angeles Crest 100, all in just a 16-week time period. In 1995, in her prime at 72, she ran the Marathon Des Sables, a grueling 145-mile stage race across the Sahara Desert in Morocco; then just 2 weeks later (with hardly time to catch her breath), she competed in AND finished the first annual Eco Challenge, in Utah, a 370-mile multi-sport, multi-day, race (including horseback riding, canoeing, and rock climbing — 1200-foot vertical cliffs) in which over half the competitors (most just half her age) could not complete this rugged event.”
I’d really like to know more about this woman, she seems like a marvel. I’ve seen pages on the web confirm she is still running multiple marathons back to back at the age of 82!
Wow!
Popularity: 26% [?]
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Tags: Triathlon
June 22, 2006 at 1:52 pm · Filed under BodyForLife, Diet, Running
I was told this morning that I was arsey, something that I attributed to my restrictive diet but it’s got to lunch time and I am now on a high!
No, I haven’t gone on a major blowout and gorged myself on bangers and mash. Nope I have been to the gym.
I went on the treadmill, and after my usual 20 min run I decided to keep going. For the first time ever I managed to run 5 km non stop! Yeah, my first goal completed already. It has to be said, I only managed this, because my occassional gym buddy came to tea this morning, boasting that he had run 2.5 km in 15 mins. I am so god damn competitive I had to find someway to top it. Lets hope he doesn’t do 10 km tomorrow or I’ll be stuffed.
Anyway, I now have a yardstick to measure my progress by:
5 km treadmill run: 40 mins
Popularity: 22% [?]
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Tags: Diet
June 19, 2006 at 1:43 pm · Filed under BodyForLife, Diet, Equipment, Software
As any casual reader of my site will realise - I am a terrible, gadget freak, come spendaholic. It is therefore no surprise that I have managed to find a purchasable product that will be absolutely invaluable /an absolute necessity in my latest project - the Body For Life challenge.
The product in question is a piece of software for my PDA device, called PocketBFL. [If I haven't previously mentioned my PDA device, it's a Dell Axim X51V, but the PocketBFL works on any PDA including the PALM variety.]
The program is by cellica, is sold as a companion product to the Body For Life challenge and enables you to plan your next days exercise and meal schedule. It acts as a reminder while at the gym and enables you to record body measurements and then displays charts of your performance. So far I have found it to be really intuitive, although there is a brief manual included. It is fairly easy to modify as well, so you can for example store details of your typical meals so that it can determine protein, carb and fat consumption etc. This is a real time saver, particularly as I seem to have a fairly short repertoire of acceptable meals at the moment.
It is early days but so far it is proving to be incredibly useful and I strongly recommend it to anyone on the program as it saves writing out your daily meal plans and updating stacks of excel spreadsheets.
Popularity: 22% [?]
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June 19, 2006 at 11:39 am · Filed under BodyForLife, Diet
Today is the official start of my latest fitness drive. Not content with the results I’m getting from cycling, jogging and kick boxing, I am now about to embark on Bill Phillips “Body For Life” regime.
The BodyforLife program is a 12 week challenge, which you can complete either privately or take it as part of a competition, requiring before and after photos and measurements. Some of the results seen by earlier challengers are truly inspirational.
The program consists an intense exercise program and a strict nutritional component. The exercise involves alternating your days with weight training and 20 mins of intense interval aerobic exercise. You can find out more on the Body for Life website.
The nutritional component requires you to eat 6 meals per day (whoa!), although they are relatively small, comprising only 1 portion of protein and 1 portion of carbohydrate per meal. It’s all about the portion control and for a self confessed carb addict, it is bloody hard to find enough protein to eat at every meal.
Given that there is only a 12 week slot to record my bodily transformation - enter the competition - and win loads of super prizes (PositiveMentalAttitude), I have taken a few weeks to prepare or to practice living with the regime. I have been trying out all of the weight training exercises and got myself sorted out with dumbells and a gym membership. I just didn’t want to waste time when the program had actually started and find that I didn’t know what weights I could shift to reach a maximum effort.
Also the food aspect is really novel to me, so it helped to practice here too. I’ve got a few recipes sorted out, things like protein smoothies for breakfast and tried out egg white omelletes. So today I can start out with a well stocked fridge and a clear idea of my weekly dietary routine. At least half of the key to success is ensuring that you plan well in advance.
Wish me luck!
Popularity: 22% [?]
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Tags: Diet
