Today at the gym

Today was my first day back at the gym, so I thought I would weigh myself to test the damage I had done to my good work.  I knew it was bad, but to what extent I was unsure.  I’m 120Kg at the moment, 4Kg lower than in January, but 9Kg higher than when I was my lightest a couple months ago.  I blame myself, as that’s where the problem lies.  Illness, injury and holiday aren’t reasons or excuses.  They may be contributing factors, but ultimately it is me who takes the blame, and myself who is to blame.

I started off my work out with a 2Km row to warm up.  Took my 9 minutes 5 seconds.  I used to be able to go faster than that, but I will lower that time as I progress.

That was followed by 30 minutes of walking on the treadmill through different inclines.  I started off with walking back in January, and I still find that if the pace is high enough, you get one hell of a work out!

Weights next: 3 sets of 15 x 30Kg tricep extensions; 1 set of 15 x 60Kg chest press; 2 sets of 52.5Kg chest press after I realised I would never make another 2 sets at 60Kg; and 2 sets of 12 x 10Kg bicep curls after I did my core work.

My core work consisted of 3 sets of 15 sit ups using the ab cradle and then 2 sets of side sit ups, 15 reps each.  I should maybe have done more, but I was really flagging at this point and thought it was a good re-entry into the gym.

More tomorrow!

Flying in a new direction

So after a weekend of research in to the type of career which will not involve me working all day every day in the same room and with no exercise, I narrowed my choices down to the police, or one of the armed forces.  Upon further research of that, I narrowed it down to the police or the RAF.  Both require a basic level of fitness to be accepted, though one is much higher than the other.

After much though, consideration, reading and quizzes available online I decided that I will work towards a career in the RAF.  Not a fighting front line one, but a more sensible one where I will be managing people and resources.  I’ll still have desk work, and I will still get out and about.

What does this mean for my fitness and weight loss plan?  Quite simply that it needs a radical overhaul to meet the needs of the assessment.  The basic requirements for what I want to be doing are:

• As many 20m shuttle runs as possible, in time with an increasing timed beep
• As many press-ups as possible in 60 seconds
• As many sit-ups as possible in 60 seconds

Having spoken to someone today about a career in the RAF, they told me that the press-up minimum standard is around 15, and the sit-up minimum is around 20.  Whilst this may not seem like much, I can’t do more than 2 press-ups at the moment, let alone go for a minute.  As for the sit ups, they aren’t much better, though I am half way there with 10.  I can, however do 23 half press-ups in a minute, so I am going to work on those and build up from there.

The shuttle run beep test they said is around about the same level of fitness required to run a mile and a half in about 12 minutes.  That seems fine as I can do a 5 minute 30 second mile.  This means I should be able to get through a mile and a half in around 10 minutes.  That is something I will test at the gym this week.

I’ll be at the gym tomorrow night after work, as usual, so I will see if I can get in for a program re-assessment to help me build my fitness quicker, build my muscle a little to do the weight bearing exercises, and also strengthen my core muscles to help support my growth and prevent injury.  I’ll post my new plan on here when I get it.

I know these are some big changes for me, but there is no specific time frame for me to do these.  I won’t formally start my application process until I can meet the minimum requirements, or get very close to them.  That way I won’t have to be rejected and wait 3-6 months before I can try again.  I’m hoping I can submit an application form in late May or early June, and take everything from there.

It isn’t going to be a quick transition.