Intermittent Fasting

A lot of people I talk to don't get this Intermittent Fasting (IF) thing I'm doing

Why would you STARVE yourself?

Well it's not even close to starving, since the body can certainly do with a lot less food than we as a civilization shovel into our mouths every meal.

I started IF off and on before the Relay race in June, but really started my no eating breakfast and lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays schedule AFTER the race.

Remember how I lost 10 pounds of water weight the day after the relay? 2 weeks after that I weighed the same as I did the day after the race. I'd lost 10 pounds just from IF, and you could tell by the smaller excess in my lower abs. Suffice it to say I'm pretty pumped!

So until I make the time to write a more comprehensive post on how I look at IF, check out these awesome blogs with information on Intermittent Fasting:


Lean Saloon Simple Lessons from IF

Mark's Daily Apple IF How-To

Lean Gains IF Primer
Lean Gains Eat Stop Eat review
Brad Pilon
Eat Stop Eat

The IF Life

Some of them are looking to sell their product and I haven't had the chance to purchase any of them.
I am also not affiliated with any of them. So do whatever you would like to do!

Yoga!

It has certainly been a while since I did any yoga!

I figured that with a new fitness intern at work starting a Yoga class Mondays and Wednesdays, it would be a good time to get back into it!

Gives me a good workout for two days a week (although that won't be all I'm doing those days) and I think it corresponds pretty nicely with my running/abdominal workouts that I'm doing on my fasting days (and Saturday).

Hopefully work won't interfere too much to make me miss too often, because then it wouldn't be very helpful now would it?

It was very nice to have a yoga session that didn't make me angry. It didn't wake me up though - I am ridiculously tired today.

Maybe it relaxed me too much!

The First Goal - The Six Pack

 

Goal: The Six Pack

So I've decided that after 2 weeks of not running it was time to get back into running to prepare for the Vegas Relay I'm doing in October, and to work on my first goal. The abs.

warlordblade's Activities | RunKeeper

There has been a lot said about the value of abdominal exercises versus diet in six-pack visibility - with the clear winner being diet every time. However I feel that adding ab exercises a few times a week along with cardio and Intermittent Fasting (IF) I will achieve the results I am looking for.

Just for an idea - here are some not-so-exciting pictures of my abs while I was running almost 3 weeks ago.

I can definitely benefit from a lower Body Fat %

I think since then I've already seen a change due to IF along with the exercising I have been doing.

I've been reading some wonderful fitness blogs for a while now, and recently I've read these great ab workout entries which have helped me decide to start this now:

"A Simple Guide to Rockstar Abs" from Zen to Fitness: Part 1, Part 2
"The Manly 'Pelvic Muscle' That Drives Women Wild!" from Fitness Black Book

Today after running my 2.5 miles, I limped inside (forgot about a blister that was NOT happy with me) and did 10 Negative Chin Ups, a whole bunch of Stomach Vacuum exercises (those are painful in a way that feels like it will help, seriously!) a rough 2 minute plank, followed by a quick 25 pushups and some pullups to wrap it up.

It felt GREAT.

This is the first time since I've started my Tuesday/Thursday IF schedule* that I've done a REAL workout before eating, and I was amazed at the amount of energy I had throughout the run and the workouts after my run. It was awesome!

So I am very excited to see some progress.

I WILL achieve my goal.

(*Basically I don't eat Breakfast or Lunch, drink a good amount of water, and cheat with chewing gum!)

*Update* Found this great Stomach Vacuum Explanation - very easy to change this exercise around and almost do it anywhere! Nice!

A New Beginning

What a lame title for the first post in this, my attempt to better document and ruminate on my fitness goals and exploits.

Back on my other blog, I'm going to try to talk a little less about my fitness pursuits, as soon as I have this one going a bit I'll inform whoever cares on that blog what I'm doing here.

A little about my fitness background. I've always been what I call a fitness enthusiast. I enjoy working out, I enjoy reading about fitness, and while working out, I enjoy pushing myself to do things harder and faster. On the other hand - I am LAZY so sometimes it takes a bit to get myself going, but once I am going, I love it!

I have completed both Beach Body's P90X and Insanity programs and loved them, however I don't really consider myself a big fan of Beach Body as a whole. They have some really great products, but something about their business model I'm not a huge fan of.

I work for a Multi Level Marketing company specializing in Nutritional Supplements, and while there are many such companies who offer wonderful products and services - I could not be a distributor myself, and I think that's my main issue with Beach Body.

I may still document further rounds of P90X and/or Insanity here though, as I'd like to see what results I can achieve mixing it up a bit.

Speaking of achievements, what are my ultimate goals in physical fitness?

First there are the Aesthetic Goals:

1. Six Pack
2. Bigger Biceps and Pecs
3. "Shrink-wrapped" look (visible tight muscles) but not body builder

(Basically I want to achieve a look similar to a Lightweight to Welterweight MMA Fighter, such as Melvin Guillard, Roger Huerta, Georges St-Pierre, which in some(or many!) ways I realize will not be possible, as everybody is unique in many physical ways. Still an ideal to strive for can be a good thing)

Then there are Functional Goals:

1. Lower Body Fat %
2. Injury/Pain-free Movement
3. Ability to MOVE (Parkour/Free Running type stuff)
4. Improved Posture

There will be more.

But for now - this is the beginning!!