Workout/Weight Loss Update

Yes I know I have been slacking on keeping up to date on my workout blog here...Bad, Bad, Timmy. Anyway, I have done one slight change since I started my latest workout routine, Instead of going to the gym after work I'm going at lunch time. Why you may ask, well it's a lot less crowded at lunch time. Which is really nice considering it isn't a real big place to begin with and the locker room is tiny as hell. Also I'm not having to wait for people to get off a machine or finish using certain weights, and I get home a lot earlier after work. Plus there were a few days I skipped just because I didn't want to workout after a long day at work...Now I don't have that excuse, It's win/win baby :-).

Anyway back to my update...I am proud to announce that after 1 month into my workout, as of yesterday (July 6), I'm down 10lbs.. Yup thats right I'm down to a svelte 280lbs. LOL...Hey I know it doesn't sound like much, but you wouldn't believe how much of a difference just 10lbs. can make. I can already tell the difference in how my clothes fit, I can pull my dress slacks off without unbuckling my belt. So needless to say, I'm going to be wearing jeans to work unless I absolutely have to...

My Workout...

It's been a while since I last posted about starting my workout. Well, I finally got off my lazy ass and started it yesterday. I went kind of light since it has been over a year since the last time i saw the inside of the gym. (since looks the same by the way). I have decided that I'm going to use this blog to chronicle my weight loss adventure and keep track of home much I lose to my target weight and time. My goal is 260 lbs. by Oct. 1. I am currently sitting at 290 lbs.. I will also be posting my measurements on a bi-weekly process to help track my body fat measurements.
This should be pretty interesting considering I have never actually kept of how my workouts have progressed over a period of time. Hopefully that will help me reach this goal.

This is my beginning workout that i will be starting next week:

Monday, June 08, 2009

Body Part Exercises Weight Reps Rest (sec) Weight Reps Thighs Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squat 10 lbs. 8 0 Dumbbell Step Ups 5 lbs. 8 0 Chest Dumbbell Bench Press 65 lbs. 8 0 Shoulders Seated Dumbbell Press 30 lbs. 8 0 Biceps Standing Alternate Dumbbell Curls 15 lbs. 8 0 Back One-Arm Dumbbell Bent-Over Rows 25 lbs. 8 0 Abdominals Crunches - 50 90 Thighs Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squat 8 lbs. 8 0 Dumbbell Step Ups 5 lbs. 8 0 Chest Dumbbell Bench Press 60 lbs. 8 0 Shoulders Seated Dumbbell Press 30 lbs. 8 0 Biceps Standing Alternate Dumbbell Curls 15 lbs. 8 0 Back One-Arm Dumbbell Bent-Over Rows 25 lbs. 8 0 Abdominals Crunches - 50 90

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

CARDIO EXERCISES Target Actual Exercises Distance (miles) Time (min) Distance Time RPE/HR Max Sprint (RPE 10) max 1 55% Max Run (RPE 3) max 2 Max Sprint (RPE 10) max 1 55% Max Run (RPE 3) max 2 Max Sprint (RPE 10) max 1 55% Max Run (RPE 3) max 2 Max Sprint (RPE 10) max 1 55% Max Run (RPE 3) max 2 Max Sprint (RPE 10) max 1 55% Max Run (RPE 3) max 2 Max Sprint (RPE 10) max 1 55% Max Run (RPE 3) max 2

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

STRENGTH EXERCISES Target Actual Body Part Exercises Weight Reps Rest (sec) Weight Reps Thighs Dumbbell Thrusters 2 lbs. 8 0 Dumbbell Lunges 25 lbs. 8 0 Chest Dumbbell Alternating Bench Press on Stability Ball 5 lbs. 8 0 Triceps One-Dumbbell Triceps Extensions 45 lbs. 8 0 Abdominals Ball Crunches - 25 0 Shoulders Dumbbell Cross Punch 2 lbs. 15 0 Abdominals Reverse Crunches - 25 90 Thighs Dumbbell Thrusters 2 lbs. 8 0 Dumbbell Lunges 25 lbs. 8 0 Chest Dumbbell Alternating Bench Press on Stability Ball 5 lbs. 8 0 Triceps One-Dumbbell Triceps Extensions 45 lbs. 8 0 Abdominals Ball Crunches - 25 0 Shoulders Dumbbell Cross Punch 2 lbs. 15 0 Abdominals Reverse Crunches - 25 90

Thursday, June 11, 2009

CARDIO EXERCISES Target Actual Exercises Distance (miles) Time (min) Distance Time RPE/HR 95% Max Sprint (RPE 8) max 1 55% Max Run (RPE 3) max 1 95% Max Sprint (RPE 8) max 1 55% Max Run (RPE 3) max 1 95% Max Sprint (RPE 8) max 1 55% Max Run (RPE 3) max 1 95% Max Sprint (RPE 8) max 1 55% Max Run (RPE 3) max 1

Friday, June 12, 2009

STRENGTH EXERCISES Target Actual Body Part Exercises Weight Reps Rest (sec) Weight Reps Thighs Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squat 10 lbs. 8 0 Dumbbell Step Ups 5 lbs. 8 0 Chest Dumbbell Bench Press 65 lbs. 8 0 Shoulders Seated Dumbbell Press 30 lbs. 8 0 Biceps Standing Alternate Dumbbell Curls 15 lbs. 8 0 Back One-Arm Dumbbell Bent-Over Rows 25 lbs. 8 0 Abdominals Crunches - 50 90 Thighs Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squat 8 lbs. 8 0 Dumbbell Step Ups 5 lbs. 8 0 Chest Dumbbell Bench Press 60 lbs. 8 0 Shoulders Seated Dumbbell Press 30 lbs. 8 0 Biceps Standing Alternate Dumbbell Curls 15 lbs. 8 0 Back One-Arm Dumbbell Bent-Over Rows 25 lbs. 8 0 Abdominals Crunches - 50 90

Saturday, June 13, 2009

CARDIO EXERCISES Target Actual Exercises Distance (miles) Time (min) Distance Time RPE/HR 90% Max Sprint (RPE 7) max 2 55% Max Run (RPE 3) max 3 90% Max Sprint (RPE 7) max 2 55% Max Run (RPE 3) max 3

Who is that in the mirror?!

I'm getting ready for work this morning and I see myself in the mirror..."OMFG who is that fat bastard?" Well unfortunately that tubby bitch is me. I always prided myself on being in pretty good shape, and I'm not a small guy to begin with (6'3" 2andtoomany Lbs.). But lately I can feel myself getting more and more out of shape. Hey, what am I saying, Round is a shape. Ok maybe not the shape I was looking for but a shape nonetheless.
I however realize that as we get older it can be tougher to get back to the "fighting weight" that we so long to keep, but I did promise myself I was going to get to 250Lbs. by my 40th Bday in August. Oh yea, I'm a HUGE procrastinator. Did I mention this? Anyway back to my promise. 3 years I had a spinal fusion done oh my L5, I won't get into all the details let's just say it HAD to be done. At the time before the surgery I ballooned to 298 Lbs. I was happy with the fact that I didn't hit the Magic 300 mark (this isn't bowling ok), but I promised myself I wasn't going to let my weight get to that point ever again. I did real well for awhile, when I got the clearance from my Doctor I was back in the gym and got my weight down to 260 Lbs. . I felt great, I looked great (oh yea I'm a bit on the vain side also), my clothes fit better and of course I got those looks that all guys love to get. Then work (previous job) started getting stupid crazy and I just totally got off my game plan, ate like crap and totally disregarded my workout.
Now here I am, 1 year later, my weight is back up and I don't look or feel near as good and my clothes have gotten a bit on the snug side. I have become my own worst enemy, as my 3 yr old nephew likes to say "Timmy's Lazy". Yes it is true, I have become a lazy, fat old man AHHHH..., the 3 things I promised myself I wouldn't become. I need to get back to the gym, I need to start eating better again, I can't afford fat clothes and least of all the extra weight is not good for my back.
I will get back to the gym, I will eat better. I promise, right after I finish these Brats :-)

Is anybody out there??

While on Twitter today I see this post by Grant Friedman (Colorburned.com) "How many designers out there don't know the design blog community actually exists?" I had to think about this a bit and realized "Hey, he's talking about me"! I just recently just really got into following blogs/news feeds and completely throwing myself into the community head first. The only problem with doing that is you can get very overwhelmed with all there is out there and it can make your head explode just trying to keep up with them all.
When I finally got into the design field 7 years ago, I had no idea where to begin even looking for the design community on the web. I was left to my own devices at a small ad agency with really no one to ask or no where to go when I had questions (a really bad idea with my twisted little brain). Later on when I began working for the newspaper, I began looking for resources online and found a lot...but nothing the was relevant to what I was doing with the exception of photo formatting.
This was about the time I first got my membership to NAPP (photoshopuser.com), this was probably the best thing I did for my career at the time. A lot of tutorials didn't totally apply because of the out dated version of Photoshop (6) I was using, but it gave me a great base to start from. Some where in this time frame I broke down and bought myself a copy of CS3 and began to play with all the updated and new programs and it was like a whole new world opened up to me with all the tutorials/blogs/feeds for all these programs. I also thought my brain was going to implode with all the new information flooding into my cerebrum. Then came the descions as to what do I need to be watching and what can I cut lose of far as the blogs and such. I need a break, I was starting to spent more time reading and watching tutorials/blogs/feeds then I was actually designing.
Now I'm spending time looking for photography blogs/feeds since that is my next big challenge in my career and in the process teaching myself how to write (which is no easy task as you can tell). The best thing I can tell you in my experience with finding your place in the design community, start small, there is information out there for whatever stage and design discipline you are working with.

As I sit here going through all of the design feeds I subscribe to and I see what other designers are doing out there I realized something, I really need to step up my game.

I spent the last 2 years working for a small town newspaper using outdated equipment and very outdated software which really limited what I could do graphically and artistically. Now I'm not saying that what I did there wasn't any good. I did win a few awards for design and did a complete redesign of a newspaper that hadn't had a redesign in 20+ years (which unfortunately has reverted back since I left). But I was still restricted by what you can and can't do with newsprint.

Now I just started working for a design agency (www.admaxdisplays.com) and I am in charge of producing a bi-monthly business magazine. Probably the biggest challenge for me is the change from using QuarkXpress 4 (yes 4) to Adobe InDesign CS3. As I spent the first couple weeks getting myself aquainted with InDesign, I also had to become familiar with laying out a magazine vs. a newspaper. My first issue of the magazine will be going to print this week I will have my 2nd biggest challenge, Press checks. I have never had to do color checks and such working for the newspaper or even before when I worked for a ad agency or atleast not on the scale of which I will be now.

Am I up for these challenges? Yes I am, I just know that really need to step up my skills now. I need to learn photography be cause I will start taking photos for the next issue of the magazine which I will be starting in about 3 weeks. So I have set my profeesional goals for myself for 2009:
1. Learn the basics of photography
2. Learn Adobe Lightroom and Camera Raw
3. Start building a photography portfolio

Now I just need to stick to these goals and I believe this will ultimately help with my overall design skills.

Blogging

So i created this blog to post random thoughts that creep into my brain. But i'm sure like most n00bies to blogs, i am really have a hard time putting these thoughts into print. Partly because i'm afraid of either sounding stupid or not making sense. Maybe i'll have to checkout different blogs to see how and where i want to go with this and anyone who does read this maybe you can throw me a pointer or two.

well i think i have this setup to where i want it for now. now i must get cleaned up, taking my daughter out for her 21st birthday...yea father of the year for me...but i leave with a thought as i watch speed racer...how the hell did anyone never figure out racer x was rex racer? and how did no one ever kill spritle and chim-chim?!