My time to get fit - stage 1 - The beginning.

[RimBlock]

My advice to people in these situations is ALWAYS simply eat less, exercise more. If you're looking to generally just be healthier and slimmer than you are now then you will achieve it by eating less and exercising more.

Good advice but very, very open to interpretation. Eat less could result in cutting out the good food and ending up with the junk and exercise more could be walking an extra 30 minutes a day.

Eating less could also have an advers effect if the diret is poor in the first place. Maybe eat right would be a better turn of phrase .

Anyway.

The first part of this week has resulted in my body proving the concept of what goes in must come out ........ usually after about thirty minutes unfortuntely .

Back to the gym tonight. Will try for Friday as well.

Diet is not as good as it could be, drinking water the same, exercise needs to be stepped up.

Looking to be going (coming) back to the UK around the end of October to see the family so that is the goal for significant improvement. I believe it is fully obtainable if I work at it.

We have a family photo coming up for Chinese New Year (15th & 16th Feb) and whilst I have lost some weight compared to the same time last year, it has regressed from the beginning of December.

Oh well. The path is clear. Points that need attention are defined. Now just to get it all going.

RB

 

[RimBlock]

Well 3 weeks in and I have only been able to get to the gym once a week.

Have been keeping with the day one from the three day split and have been keeping the squats in.

I was a little dissapointed yesterday as I really felt I could not work as hard as I would have liked and I would guess it is lack of sleep. The 2 year old is keeping us all awake more than we would like.

After completing a reduced program I went and weighed myself......

Just under 100Kg..... so have lost around 2 Kg since restarting.

Now I was feeling quite smug what with only doing one day a week in the gym and my diet was not that good..... previous night was all but one slice of a deep pan meat feast pizza for myself (at least it was lunch not dinner)....

That was until I suddenly though how much better it could have been if I had a fairly strict diet and managed the 3 times a week in the gym....

Well at least the weight is comming off. Even with the lighter weights, the 4*12 (48 total).

Also just out of personal challange, I tried the 1 rep max for dealift again at just over 100Kg. Yep made it but it was very difficuly lifting that weight up and even worse was getting it to the floor again safely as my back really wanted to bow outwards. Managed to keep it straight and was very pleased to still be able to obtain that weight.

As some of you will know, this week is Chinese new year which the closest thisng I can think to compare it to in the UK is Christmas. Families visit each other, red packets of money rather than presents are exchanged and there are two days national holiday (some other places have a week+ off).

So this coming week will be visiting the in-laws, eating a lot but fairly healthy food and taking the family photo again and hopefully looking a bit better in it this time .

So.... Gong Xi Fa Cai or happy and prosperous Chinese new year to you all (hey, every little helps ).

RB

 

[RimBlock]

Well it has been two months since the last post and unfortunately two months since I last went to the gym.

Just after the last post I came down with the flu and then just after that I came down some stairs...... sideways .

Upshot was that I damaged my knee on one leg, the calf on the same leg and fractured a toe.

The knee and calf are now back to normal, the toe is not bad and the achillies tendon on both legs also seems to have sorted themselves out finally.

I went to the gym a week ago and then promptly came down with a nasty cold and finally got back down there yesterday.

I have a lot of work to make up and although I am only up to 100.8kg, the body composition has not changed to my favour .

Back to the more rigid diet and 3 times a week at the gym.

I have two target dates;

28th May: Trip with the kids, wife and sister-in-law to Bintan.

Goal - Firm up a bit, better posture and loose a little fat.
​

October: Back to the UK for 3 weeks.

Goal - Loose another few Kg and have compliments rather than comments about putting on weight.

​

Lets get to work.....
RB

 

[RimBlock]

Thanks Tom,

Have also been working on a personal project so have been posting in the Linux forum a bit as well.

Looks like you have been getting some good results too. Well done that man.

Well, first week back is over with three sessions. The last two were at lunchtime and the gym was much emptier as I took a late lunch and will make an extra hour up each day I do that.

I am working back to the previous stopping point and am getting there which is good. Also had DOMS for the entire week so the weekend rest period will be nice as the body can rest and repair and I can hopefully catch up on sleep. The little one (2 1/3) is now sleeping around 9pm and so is the older one (11). THis gives a bit of time for my project although my brother-in-law dropped off his PS3 and FFXIII which i am now playing through. This is the first one I am playing since 7 and then 8. I am not getting to bed as early as I should.

Food is getting better but is not quite as strict as it was.

The May 28th deadline for the Bintan trip has changed..... well you try organising a trip with two sisters (my wife being one of them) who both have quite strict views on where and when to go. I ended up taking a step back and letting them both sort it out. Off shoot is we are going to Genting (Malaysia) by coach. Genting has a fun park like Alton Towers and shopping etc and is in the highlands so provides a welcome break from the hot humidity present in Singapore. I may even have to wear a <gasp> jumper .

Anyway, I am feeling pretty good and pumped up and like a ninja in the night, unfortunately I am still close to Mr Blobby .

Oh and I have taken to belting the punchbag at the end of my session to drain the last of that energy. I enjoy it although I had to get some boxing wraps and learn how to wind them around as the ones in the gym are for 'personal trainer sessions only' .

One other thing that happened on Wednesday is that 4, yes 4 personal trainers approched me to see if I was interested in personal training. At least two mentioned a weight loss program . This was not encouraging .

RB

 

[RimBlock]

Cheers FF,

Comes from having two kids who bring back whatever is going around at school and share amongst the family.

Adding to that I also injured myself again on Wednesday just after the gym..... and I have no idea how.

Grabbed a sandwich on the way back to the office, took a bite and my jaw suddenly became very uncomfortable when chewing on the left. Felt like I had strained something. I mean, really..... how on earth did that happen. more or less back to normal now so that is good.

Anyway, it is good to get back to it and I am looking forward to getting back to the previous shape which should come fairly soon I hope with the right food and decent effort in the gym.

I have some time until mid June and as I am doing volume rather than heavy, less chance of over stressing. My squats are also better with no pushing off from the toes. Not sure how it changed but now it is through the heals and feel natural that way.

I think it will be some time before I join the deadlift compo even at body weight . I rep max at he moment...

cheers
RB

 

[RimBlock]

So it is session 2 on week 2 and I have done my workout at lunchtime.

Moved on to session 2 exercises as I had done the previous week only on the session one exercises (squat, deadlift, bench etc). Session 2 has the military press, chins, dips etc and was very difficult.

Went on to the punch bag and there is now only one, the second one being broken (not me, honest). There were also 3 personal trainers giving clients kickboxing training. Just went in, got the nod from the trainer to use the bag and gave it a good going over (well for me at least). Think my wraps are getting better as I had less strain on the wrists so that is good. Came out covered in sweat so that was good as well .

I do have two problems though, my top two fingers extend out slightly further than my top knuckle meaning that the top fingers tend to impact the bag before the knuckles in some cases and leanding on from that, the skin on the second knuckles of the top two fingers is getting split down the crease. I would rather just stay with the wraps for now rather than getting gloves as this is only for fitness and not anything more.

Any ideas on the best ways to correct or prevent ?

Cheers
RB

 

[RimBlock]

Well I am starting to get a little used to my hands and feed hurting.

I finally relented adn get a pair of bag gloves (around half the padding of full boxing gloves) and tried them with another 'free' PT kickboxing session. They worked fairly well but my outside edge to my hand (little finger side) really started to ache after a while of keeping my fists clenched against the natural shape of the gloves.

My feet have bruses on the top as well as my shins. I have been giving the bag a good kicking though . The bonus side is that I am coming away soked in sweat so must be good for the cardio.

Due to the amount of time until I am back in the UK I finally relented to some PT sessions. 6 session with two free and at 1.5 hours each for around S$70 each (so around 32 quid). The PT has agreed to spread them out over 6 months so two sessions this month, one session each month for the following 4 months and then two sessions for the final month. Why I gave in and relented...... this is one of teh first PT's that without prompting started talking about diet and keeping a record of what I eat. We will see how it goes.

Oh, my 2 year old also loves the bag gloves. They come up to his elbows and when wearing them he then goes charging his older brother or mommy . He kicks up quite a big fuss if you want to take them off as well.

RB

 

[RimBlock]

Wow, 21 days later .

Well I am still pounding away at the punch bag, still getting painful forearms, wrists and shins from it but still loving it. I think I would find it hard to go to the gym and not spend some time on the punch bag now.

The good effects seem to be a slight weight reduction, stronger upper body, firmer forearms and better technique, flow and power. I now workout on the bag for between 30 and 60 minutes and then go on to do a 3 day split with the weights and much to my surprise am able to maintain roughtly the weight I was doing previously (with the 4*10 programme).

What with tomorrow being a national holiday, I guess I have no excuse for not putting some photos up. I don't see much difference from the last set but we will see. There has been the 2 month gap due to the fractured toe and damaged knee so that maybe why.

Unfortunately with tomorrow being a national holiday, no gym for me (my gym is by my office). Well a long weekend should be good to repair the damaged forearms etc so maybe not such a bad thing.

Oh, I also was having problems with situps . Barely able to do 10 in one go. I hate the burning pain with them and they are my least favorate exercise and so have been neglected. I have been doing some cycling (elbows touching opposing knees whilst on your back). Doing 3 * 20 reps now (left elbow to right knee and right elbow to left knee is one rep). Hard but getting better.

Regards
RB

 

[RimBlock]

Well here we go. Some more photos.

Apologies for the poor quality. Room is a bit dark and I really could not be bothered to pullout the studio flash kit for use with my D-SLR. They were also taken first thing in the morning with a wife and two screaming kids running around .

RB

 

[RimBlock]

Ok, time to try and keep this updated a bit more regularly.

Two sessions in to this week and have decided to try and leave the heavy bag alone. My forearms are not too bad but my hands are hurting a bit and after mondays session which was around an hour and left me with a nasty headache for the rest of the afternoon, the little fingers on both hands still hurt, two days later. The left forearm also is a bit uncomfortable twisting (hand palm down rotating to hand palm up).

So for today and Fridays sessions I have decided to concentrate more on the weights. Today went fairly well. I am still working out the base weights for the new routine but did just over 200Kg (450lbs) on the leg press. Not so impressive as it is a fixed lever machine but still not too bad. Deadlift is currently on 124lbs (around 50Kg) and going up. Grip is more of an issue than my back on this one. Wide grip Pullups (assisted) were pretty bad with 5 (30Kg assistance), 6 & then 5 (35Kg assistance). Need to work on that. Military press is 60lbs (around 27Kg), Bench press is 94lbs (42Kg), ezbar curl on preacher bench was bar plus 20lbs (bar plus around 9Kg), Ezbar overhead tricep extension 40lbs (around 18Kg). Most of the weights will be going up next session for these.

Other totals are;
barbell squats: 90lbs (40Kg), SLDL: 70lbs (around 30Kg), Lat pulldown (cable): 70Kg, Bumbbell bench press: 30lbs (around 12Kg), Dumbbell bent over row: 30lbs; alternating dumbbell shoulder press: 30lbs.

These all need a lot of work too although remember I am eating to loose weight and not to gain size. The body therefore is not being supplied the right volumes in order to build the muscle in order to handle larger weights although it can adapt and improve on what is already there.

Weight today was 99.25Kg so down almost 2Kg which is good adn feels about right as I am now back into around 4 weeks of training and the base conditioning phase has hopefully finished and the work I do now will be burning fat rather than just rebuilding the base fitness levels.

For my sins, I just couldn't leave the punch bag alone and so did 10 minutes on the lighter bag without straps or gloves. This was to practive technique and speed rather than power and it was nice to start getting a 'crack' on impact rather than a 'bumf' (i.e. an impact rather than a push). I am also keeping up with the 3*20 for the cycling for the abs. Hardish still but may try upping the volume again next week.

RB

 

[RimBlock]

Ok, so my attempt to stay away from the heavy bag has been failing badly.

Due to my hands feeling pretty sore around the little fingers and on the wrist above and behind the thumb (hooks and uppercuts seem to jar this area) I wanted to give them a reast and concentrate more on the weights while they heal.

Plan was good, execution was poor . One problem I am finding is that it is pretty hard to get on the free weights equipment or even the leaver equipment. As this is the case I often find myself wandering over the to heavy bag. Last wednesday this happened and I decided to just work on the bag for technique and speed but not for power and that went pretty well. Last Friday I ended up doing the same but deliberatly did not bring my bag gloves to make sure I went light on the bag.... I failed. Back to pounding away after a while. Upshoot, without bag gloves and just wraps, I managed to skin most of my lower knuckles pretty deeply (vinyl bag as leather bag was out of action again). They were pretty sore over the weekend. Also managed to split the skin on the tops of both feet.

The weekend was irritating with the stinging everytime I bent my fingers or put my hands in my pocket etc. The skin on the top of one foot was taking time to heal as well as the scab would become attached to the sock and pulled off each time .

Yesterday went for the 2nd PT session and had to do a short session as get stuck in meetings.

The jarring was worse hitting the focus mitts the PT was wearing and I beleave this is due to him pushing in to the punch so my fist connects just in front of where I am aiming for.

Now this is what happens if you get too cocky.....

What with all my bicycling to try and get some improvement on my stomach strength I was pretty happy it would be stronger and then the PT decided I should do full suitups, bent knees, wearing gloves and jab, cross the focus mitts at the top.

Set of 15 was difficult, second set of 15 I only just managed, third set of 15 failed after about 6 with me only being able to do 2 at a time before failure after that and laughing in between each pair at how terrible I was. My stomach hurts a little today which is good.

I explained again to the PT that I would like to train both left foot forward and right foot forward as I have no strong domminance on either side apart from for writing and like to keep my options open. He favors only left foot forwards and tried to explain why I should stay like that due to the right foot being stronger for kicks. We tried that out with the heavy back and both sides seemed to be pretty much equal. Only problem is the bag ripped the scab off the still healing foot which then started to bleed. I think the PT was more concerned than I was. Anyway, got a plaster and showered then back to work.

More short term goals;
Practice technique with the punches.
Practice ducking.
More weights with maybe punch bag cardio afterwards.
Restrict calorie intake a bit more with smaller portions.

Ever onwards and upwards .

RB

 

[RimBlock]

Well after doing a bit of posting in GD and trying to help others here I thought I better give myself a kick and update here.

I came down with a light flu and was advised to take the week off from the gym. This turned in to two weeks off as I could feel the benefit it was having in allowing my hands to heal.

Going back to the gym was ok and to my surprise the rest really seems to be doing me good. My hands were more or less back to normal although my wrists still hurt in the push up position (i.e. hand bent back with pressure applied). Weights were increasing a little at a time but steadily and I was enjoying it again more than usual feeling I was making progress. Unfortunately I used the gyms boxing gloves rather than my own bag gloves one day and must have connected with my thumb not tucked in and so have now had a pretty uncomfortable thumb for just over two weeks.

I also went for a long weekend with the family to the Genting Highlands which is atop a set of mountains close to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. They have an indoor and outdoor theme parks and great views of the mountains from the hotel. We has a nice break give or take chasing the little one everywhere . The day after my return I came down with the worst case of flu I have had in recent memory.... aching muscles, lack of sleep, swollen sore throat fever of 39.2, nausea and pounding headache for 3 days. The worst was the headache as I just couldn't get rid of it. It has eased quite a bit now although I am still feeling the effects 5 days on waking up with a headache every night. I plan to get back to the gym on Monday .

Oh it is not all sickness and doom though.... last weight in before going to Genting was 98.5Kg so the weight is still going down and now a little bit easier after a month of working to get the body in to weight loss mode. I have found that with a long break from the gym it is taking 4 weeks of training before I really start to see a shift in weight loss. The good thing is once the ball is rolling it is easy at this point to keep momentum give or take injuries.

Oh, and whilst in Genting I ended up playing the 'Shoot a hoop' type basketball games where you need to get as many baskets as possible in a set time to go to the next stage. Working with my older son we tried to win as many tickets from the machine as possible (ticket mean prizes ) and got a max score of around 140 (each basket scored was 2 points). What surprised me was after about 5 games in a row, the sweat was running down my face . Need some alternative exercise suggestions ??. Try playing 10 games of 'Shoot the Hoop' in a row . Oh, over the weekend we won around 1300 tickets which got exchanged for a windscreen teddy bear and two erasers which looked like motorcycles for the little one and a multicolour biro along with a teddy bear sized ENGLAND sofa with flag and England logo (which turned out to be a tissue box cover in reality) for our older son. This was of course before England lost to Germany. The cost of this, probably spent around 40 quid on the basketball game .

RB

 

[RimBlock]

Ok, some good and some not so good news (from my point of view of course ).

First the bad.

I have been getting twinges in my back which, from experience, generally indicate I have damaged it. Now the twinges are not so bad but enough to be felt and I also get pain shooting up and down one leg.

As I have mentioned before, I damaged my back as a teenager and have suffered with a bad lower back from then onwards. A recent x-ray shows the bottom two discs are 1/2 the thickness of the others and when my back goes, it seems the muscle around the nerves swells pushing on the nerves causing intense pain in a bad case. The first time it really went I was off work for around 3 months. Now days I can see the first symptoms and if I pop a couple of Nurofen (anti inflammatories) and take the weight off it and it will resolve itself. Rollercoasters at Universal Studios Sentosa probably didn't help but the tickets were paid for and my back was calm on Saturday. Well I have found they do sell Nurofen here but you have to ask for it so hopefully they will sort it out. No weights until it is corrected though. I will look at only using the punch bag until then and see how that works out.

Ok, the good news.....

I finally went out and got a new pair of jeans. Considering my current pair I am doing up with a belt until they are uncomfortable with the wrinkles at the top, I thought I better correct that. Well as the old pair claim to be 36 but are clearly not I was expecting a 38 or so to fit. Imagine my surprise when I tried a 36 (at least 1 1/5 inches smaller than the other '36') and it fit, comfortably, with maybe an inch to spare if I tighten the stomach muscles. I resisted the urge to celebrate with ice cream .

So today will be trying bag work again but being careful of my left thumb as it is still pretty uncomfortable.

Some people are kindly giving advise on minimising hand discomfort at another thread I posted to SA as there were no comments in here.

Gotta keep the roll going.....

Next stop 34" waist.

RB

 

[RimBlock]

go for it

Ninja edit per chance .

Cheers
RB

 

[RimBlock]

Punch bag only session last night.

Even though it must have been only around 40 minutes work with the bag, my hand wraps and vest were soaked. At the end of my session the hooks I was practising, with my body weight behind them we impacting hard enough to throw the opposite shoulder strap off my shoulder. I was fairly happy with the session and with the exception of a couple of jarring connections on hooks with my left hand hurting my wrist it all went well.

Today my hands are ok although the jarred section of my wrist is painfull to tilt in the direction of the jarring (i.e. if thumb up it will be trying to touch the shoulder with the thumb without moving the arm). It is not too bad though. The rest of my hands seems ok.

My upper back, shoulders, biceps and even the outside of my butt is aching as the day goes on. Must have been good... err not the butt aching .

The best news though is that on a quick weigh in after a shower... 97.7Kg now which I believe is the lightest since I put the weight on in the first place. This is also after a weeks rest and a medium pizza to myself the night before. Talk about bad food.... medium pizza all to myself an hour before bed. It goes against all I would advise although we had been out all day and it was late when we got home without any food in the house. I was a little worried but it seems to have been negated by the exercise and faster metabolism.

I have noticed that I have stopped drinking so much water so again I go to make a concerted effort to drink more.

I also found out that they sell Nurofen here which is what I would usually take to get my back sorted out but you have to ask for it, it is not just on the shelves like it is in the UK. Not sure why that is but now I know. My back is feeling better but I will probably just use the bag this week and go back to the weights next week.

Oh and finally got my sons exam dates so I can now book the family tickets for our trip back to visit my family in the UK. Will be coming back in November so got so have just under 3 months to go.

With the lower weight and the better waist size I feel pretty well motivated to carry on as I have been. I may post a pic or two for the progress record later tonight.

Cheers
RB

 

[RimBlock]

I must admit my diet is not as strict as it used to be but the weight is still coming off. Of course it is not as stupid as it used to be as well .

It is very much being in it for the long haul as they are no quick fixes, well that do not involve surgery anyway .

Yeah I think it shows you do not have to go 'hell for leather' but getting in to a reasonable routine will still show results and is easier to maintain.

One thing I have noticed though is if I miss the gym for over two weeks then I seem to go back to the weight gain mode and it will take 3-4 weeks to get the body back in to the fat burning mode again which can be really frustrating.

Thanks for the encouragement FF. It is nice to know people take an interest as the posts really just seem to be me rattling away . The read count is still going up so at least there is some more interest and hopefully others will benefit as well.

It will be nice when the weight loss has got there and I can bulk a bit.

I also need to sort out what I am going to do for exercise in the UK for my 3 week visit in November. My parents, where we will be staying, have a garage but it tends to be packed with my fathers tools and assorted junk. I may have to see about getting an external bracket for the garage and a bag to hang and practice on there. Putting it up and taking it down will be a real pain though.

Any suggestions would be welcome but really needs to be a punch bag or something rather than just doing some street running etc.

Cheers
RB

 

[RimBlock]

Sorry I didn't read through eight pages so don't know if it's been said before but one thing I suggest you do is keep a notebook, with not just your weight but what you can currently do, and write in your direct, short-term goals and tick them off as you reach them. That way you will be able to not only feel but see yourself getting healthier.

Yep, have been doing that with the last 8 pages . I do appreciate that 8 pages is really a lot to get through if someone has not been following from the start though. Maybe some sort of index when I get some time.

Skipping

What like running but not really going anywhere .

Still prefer the punch bag. My father has a bar (steel bar cut to lengh...old skool ), a few weights and a cheap bench. I think I have probably out grown the weight he had though and need to find the room for it. It is another idea though.

Cheers
RB

 

[RimBlock]

Ok a couple of normal photos from the weekends trip to Universal Studios Singapore. Can wear the weight pretty well now especially when compared to the starting photos.

Family with KungFu Panda.

Me with my older son in the New York section.

That will do for now. Will post some progress pics later this week, probably at the weekend.

Cheers
RB

 

[RimBlock]

Well after getting a bit of a sore throat last night, the doc has put me on antibiotics... Only 3 days worth but no gym until cleared. Got some anti inflammatories for my back too. Not too keen on the doctors reply concerning pain when bending my wrists back to do push ups with weight causing pain... "you just have to live with it and don't do push ups". Time to find another doctors for referral.

Over in a thread by Castiel, Freefaller has been kind enough to do a quick write-up on the bodies order of energy resource usage (carbs / fat / protein etc). Take a look here, it is good stuff . Thanks again FF.

RB

 

[RimBlock]

I've updated the supplement debate thread and linked to it from the main bodybuilding thread. Hopefully it'll add some useful information.

Great, that should be very useful. I must admit I have stayed out of the supplements thread as tbh it is really a bit much for what I am aiming for .

Nice pics! No idea what you looked like before, but certainly not looking too shabby!

Seems you have a lovely family unit there - good on you!

Thanks FF although there are a few pics of me in the thread , usually topless though . The hair is a problem as it is pretty wavey and thick so as you can probably imagine, put it in a humid environment and I am lucky not to have an afro. My wife prefers it though as in Asia hair = virility and as mine is receding around the temples (I blame the wife and two kids for that ), longer is seen as better. I personally prefer it short for easy maintenance. Oh, my wifes pic also appeared in the 'Post your girlfriends' thread at her request .

RimBlock, you're looking great. I have found this thread very informative. Thanks.

Keep up the good work. You are roughly where I want to be eventually.

Glad it is of help as that is really a good motivator for keeping the thread updated.

I still have a few Kg to loose yet, maybe around 10 or so an then I will look at bulking a bit to get a bit more size and definition. That's the plan anyway .

Doing this at 35+ is a bit of a challenge though. An earlier start, I am sure, would have made it all a bit easier and I would not have to juggle the time between the gym and my wife and two kids, but don't tell her I said that .

RB