Greetings and welcome to the online workout journal of the Big Tiger! A new year has arrived, and a new decade despite what everyone said last year, so I'm ready to revive my determination to take this body and do something awesome with it.
Any longtime fans and friends know that 2021 is not the beginning of my story. In fact, it began a decade ago in 2011. But I go through waves of consistency and enthusiasm, at times going weeks without a solid workout or a healthy diet. And that includes regularly blogging my efforts. This journal has existed in the past, only to fade into oblivion. However, right now at the start of this new year, I feel great, I feel motivated, I feel zealous, and I feel downright beasty! Maybe even a little sexy! So I am launching this blog with the full intent of keeping it updated for your education (through both my successes and my failures) for as long as I pursue my goals.
For a more entertaining look at my fitness journey, be sure to check out my YouTube channel, A Body in Progress. For the cold, hard data about my adventure, keep reading here.
GOALS:
OVERALL: The overall goal is to get healthy on the inside, aesthetic on the outside, as much as my body at this time in life will allow. I have lofty goals in my head, but I probably should have started in my teens for that. However, I will pursue the goals as far as I can and see what I get. If nothing else, I will be a healthier man for trying at all.
YEAR 2021: My overall goal stated above is vague and incalculable, as well as being so long-term that focusing so far into the future would actually foster defeat. Breaking it down into shorter goals with more objective standards is the best way to attain the greater goal. The following are goals I have had for at least two years now, 2019 and 2020, but having never attained them in both of those years, I will keep repeating them until I succeed!
• Drop my weight below 200.0 for one weigh-in – I once got all the way down to 211.0. I know with diligence I can do it again. Since I am interested in adding muscle weight in the long run, I want to hit this weight "just once!" to say that I did it, then I will ignore the scale and work my way back up to Muscle Monster.
• Drop my bodyfat below 10% for one assessment – Since the scale measures everything, both lean and fat mass, it is important to reach my weight goal in tandem with this one: I want to be lean, not just light. So my goal here is to have a caliper measurement of below 10% just once in these twelve months. After that, I will be free to bulk back up a little to a more reasonable and healthy level.
• Set new Personal Records for charted exercises – I have a list of exercises that I have tracked over the years as a way of measuring progress, both in cardio-vascular ability and resistance strength. I want to set new Personal Records for all of those exercises. I did improve on a couple of them in 2020, but I intend to improve on all past Bests this year.
• Execute one rep of each powerlift at 315 pounds – A few years ago I received a few weeks of introductory training in powerlifting, and learned that reaching 315 pounds (three 45-pound plates on each side of the bar) is considered a milestone called "The 315 Club". And so I want to hit 315 on the Bench Press, the Deadlift, and the Squat. I am aiming for reaching this goal much earlier than the end of the year, but I do have all year if I need it.
• Execute one Pull-Up – I haven't been able to do a Pull-Up since junior high school. Weight gain combined with a life of little physical exertion has led to the complete inability to do so. Now I want to get that back, even just once. A few acquaintances saw footage of my best attempt last year and assure me that I've done one, but I personally was not satisfied with the height I attained, so I consider this still a goal yet to be attained.
ADDED FUN: I am not one of these guys that thrives on simply working out. That in itself is not fun for me. So to add a dash of enjoyment into the "daily grind", I have these additional informal goals.
• 50 x 50 x 50 – Inspired by a college peer, I want to perform fifty Push-Ups in each of the fifty United States by the time I reach my fiftieth birthday. This is a long-term goal that started on January 1, 2019. I have already completed Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Idaho (in that order I think). Right now I have a little less than four years to complete the rest of the states.
• 2021 Push-Ups – My online friend "UK Harry" in Wales has presented what is now an annual event, where I attempt to log the same number of push-ups as the number of the year before a pot of money runs out; so this year I am logging 2021 push-ups as soon as I can.
• A Dozen Guests – I want to get twelve guests onto my YouTube channel this year. Whether those people are trainers, nutritionists, other health experts, or just friends who lift, I hope to include them each in their own episode.
• Powerlifting Competition – On the condition that I can find a local competition and do not have to wear a freakin' mask while performing the lifts, I will enter a powerlifting competition this year regardless of my strength capacity, as recommended by the owners of a powerlifting gym in Bend who say, "For your first time, just do one no matter whether you're competitive or not."
JANUARY: And specifically for the month of January, I am breaking it down even further.
• Log an opening entry for all charted exercises – I want to make sure that in January I perform each of the exercises I track to give me a starting figure to work from, for reaching the larger goal by the end of the year.
• End the month below my starting weight – Whatever my weight on January 1st (see below), I want to weigh less than that on January 31st. It's simple for now; I'll get tougher on my weight goals as the year progresses.
WEIGH-IN:
Weight: 223.2
This starting weight represents about 12 pounds down from a year ago, which is a good feeling. It's also 12.2 pounds from my lowest weight on record as an adult, so it is entirely realistic to expect to set a new low weight early in 2021 and hit 200 long before December if I pay attention to my diet.
FOOD INTAKE:
I will call this section "Food Intake" because it is not my "diet", meaning it is not necessarily what I should eat, but a journal of what I do eat, as often as I can remember to write it down. (It's amazing how fast the memory fades on a daily basis regarding mundane details.) Do not read this section as a guide to what you should eat! Proper nutrition is my biggest weakness and I am by no means the example for you to follow.
9:30 a.m. :: Redmond, OR – Home
• Sausage patty : 3
• Granola bar : 1
• Banana bread : 1 slice
11:15 a.m. :: Redmond, OR – Home
• Cookie : 2
1:45 p.m. :: Redmond, OR – Church
• Pizza : 1 slice
2:15 p.m. :: Redmond, OR – Home
• Granola bar : 1
5:30 p.m. :: Redmond, OR – Home
• Pizza : 3 slices
• Breadstick : 2
8:30 p.m. :: Redmond, OR – Home
• Cookie : 5
• Pepsi : 1 can
The new year is never the best time to renew my diet lifestyle. In addition to kicking off a dozen New Year's Resolutions, my son has his birthday (Sweet 16 this year!) on January 1st so there's always some kind of birthday meal and party food. I controlled myself around lunch when he and several friends had pizza, but by dinnertime the leftovers called to me and I had three more slices.
I don't make a habit of listing everything I drink, but when the fluid has a high and obviously substantive caloric effect I do. So there's that one can of Pepsi.
EXERCISE:
Exercise will include both cardio and resistance exercises, both formal gym workouts and informal sessions at home on busy days. To be counted as exercise, cardio must last a minimum of 30 minutes; and any resistance training must have at least three sets.
2:30 p.m. :: Redmond, OR – Hugh Hartman Campus
• Cardio: Walk Test
– Time: 32:55
– Distance: 2.5 miles (10 laps)
– Walk Test: 12:04
2021 Push-Ups: +10 / Total: 10
I kicked off the year with my traditional Walk Test for a basic cardio-vascular assessment. Simply, I walk a mile as fast as I can. It's part of a larger test called the Rockport Walk Test that involves taking one's pulse and entering the data in a formula that gives a number that goes on a chart that tells you how healthy you are. I just do the walk, and figure that if I can go faster than before, then my overall physical capabilities have improved.
This one was actually slower than my times in 2020; possibly due to not doing much jogging during the cold months of November and December.
And that is probably the longest journal entry you will read. I have an unstoppable compulsion to be thorough on such things, setting it up for any readers wanting to follow along. See you tomorrow!
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