My Workout Program
The workout routine I follow was borrowed from the “Body For Life” book by Bill Phillips. It’s a very efficient program which allowed me to literally reshape my body in about 5-6 months! In short, this is the daily routine I’ve been following since the summer of 2006:
Day 5 - start from the beginning, e.g. repeat Day1, etc. |
I plan no days off, however they do happen due to work or any other circumstances. Nevertheless, I’m usually in the gym 6 days a week. You may think it’s crazy, but actually comes quite easy once you make it part of your life style. You begin to enjoy going to gym, and you get upset when you miss a day :)
Both Upper body workout as well as Lower body workout are described in details in my “Weight lifting” article. As far as cardio goes - I try to mix it up - my favorite cardio is road cycling at Flatwoods park. I ride its 11 miles loop timing myself, trying to improve constantly. Usually, it takes me about 38-40 mins to complete the 11 miles. If time/weather is not favorable for outdoors, my cardio comes down to 30 mins on elliptical (random program, level 13-15) or threadmill (running for 20mins at 6.0 speed and fast walking for the remaining 10mins at 4.0).
A little bit of history
If the spring of 2006 I “clocked” 200lbs (being 5″9) and decided it was time to get in shape. My waist was 36 and I was wider in my hips than in my shoulders. My belly was sticking out so much that I would never tuck in the shirts I was wearing and preferred my pictures to be taken from the chest up… I knew I could drop the extra pounds, but never thought I could change my body this much… hence I didn’t take any “pre” pictures.
I started out by doing cardio every day - I would cycle 3 times a week (40-45mins at 15-17mph - 12miles), playing tennis twice a week (singles, for at least 1hr, sometimes an hour and a half, two-three sets) and doing elliptical (30 mins, random, on level 15) whenever weather or time wouldn’t permit outdoor activities.
I ate less. Not a lot less, I’d say 75% of what I wanted to eat. But I made a pact with myself - I could eat as much as I wanted as long as I would start out with a bit smaller portion first, and then I felt like it, I would get more. There was just one caveat thought - I had to wait for about 10-15mins before going for more food. And what I noticed was that I almost never feel hungry after the initial meal. Apparently, the feel of hunger disappears slower than we ear. These days we eat so fast, that our body can’t catch up with us - by the time our brain gets the signals that “we’re full” - it’s too late, we overate. Eating slow, stopping while we still feel a bit hungry and waiting for few minutes does the trick.
Results achieved
In first two-three months I lost 20lbs. My goal was to lose 10lbs more. At that time I began weight lifting (switched to the “Body For Life” workout program. At first I lost 5 more pounds, but then I started gaining muscle mass. Two months later, I accidentally looked at the pictures of myself taken by somebody during one of the picnics I attended… and couldn’t believe what I saw - I got bigger in my shoulders, and few of my friends commended that I looked slimmer. Shopping at Express for a new pair of jeans I learned another news - my waist size went down from 36 to 32!
These days I sincerely enjoy going to gym - energy of other people recharges me while my owner progress inspires me to keep on going.