Day 53: Moving on

I've had a lot of fatigue this week because of the Chalene workouts and martial arts training plus the cycling. Coupled with the fact that I've had the odd tweak of pain in various places. Last week, the calf muscle, this week the neck and shoulders. I've decided to stop doing Chalene Extreme. Not because I dislike it or anything (although the fake acting on the videos made me grind my teeth and hurl obscenities at times). I have decided to move on to something that I've been wanting to do for a while. The burning desire to get back full-time into martials arts has been slowly increasing inside of me until last night I went to visit the Brazilian Jiu-jitsu dojo.

The people were really cool folks. I'm used to zombified clones at my workplace who greet eat other in the form of growls and guttural utterances that sound like a veteran sailor clearing his throat. So it was a pleasant surprise to be greeted with a smile and to be genuinely asked (like a real person) where I live and if I'd done any martial arts before. There was no word of english, the sensei told me he speaks none, but he is studying Portugese (cool!). I got a good impression and felt that I could probably fit in there well. The dojo was clean and well-equipped, I saw a few kettle-bells, a punch bag, a crap-load of rope and a squat rack. Many of them had tatoos which is a good sign that they are not the stuck-up Japanese types and are less adverse to talking to foreigners. So my first lesson will be Wednesday and to make sure that I have a good lesson without any worry of injuries holding me back I am going to rest for the next 3 days. Just saying that makes me feel better. I plan to train 3-4 days a week in BJJ and use the 1-on-1 and Insanity workouts. That means I will review those workouts over the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

Day 51: Rest or not

Today was the 3rd martial arts workout this week so doing that plus Chalene Extreme has left me exhausted. From next week the beachbody workouts will take a back seat while I concentrate more on MA training. I have felt exhausted over the last 2 days, especially yesterday because I woke up at 7.30 am, weight trained for 40 mins then cycled for 4 hours. I had a "bad cycle" day yesterday. Before setting off I had to fix a puncture (a puncture that almost made me miss my train a few days earlier) and while I was riding the pedal shaft starting to work itself loose. I looked everywhere for a suitable Allen wrench and finally find a really cheap set, unbelievably cheap actually at 150 yen in a big home center store. They will stay in my bag for future mishaps.

I will go see the BJJ dojo tomorrow. Just called up and I think the guy's wife answered. Funny because I'm sure I read in his profile that he was divorced so it sort of surprised me.

The eating has been ok-ish. Still lots of meat (kangaroo and chicken breast) but not enough vegetables and too much carbohydrate. It's funny how my body and mood can change yet so much. A couple of days ago, I looked in the mirror and thought I looked gaunt, my abs were protruding and I just felt skinny and I was ravenous on that day so I ate a ton of food. Today I feel bloated, my stomach feels like I need to keep tucking it in. The more the amount of exercise I do increases, I can feel my body craving for food. It's just getting the right food inside it that matters. I have a Rich Tea biscuit addiction right now. Whenever I eat them, I feel 10 years old again, dunking each biscuit in my tea while reading the newspaper at my great grandmother's house. mmmm. biscuit, tea-dunking...mmm.

The offending item!

Day 48: Get Lean Intervals, Abs and Grappling

Woke up later than usual because I didn't sleep so well last night despite doing yoga for a chance to give my body a rest. I started off with the Interval and I've got abs Chalene workouts. Really sweating a lot during those but I felt so much better than I did at the start. I wanted to nap a little but had no time. Went out in the car to meet Michael for grappling at Chikusa sports center. Walked in to the 2nd floor room where they have a tatami mat, thick throwing mat and a bare wooden floor and saw a real mix of people doing different activities. There were a couple of old geezers doing Iai-do which is sword drawing and attacking, real slow movements and quite graceful. There were some old ladies (maybe their wives) waving fans around in a sort of "kata" dance in kimono. They had some music going which was shamisen or koto I think. Then right in the middle a couple of kids doing breakdancing with hip hop music coming from the tiniest ghetto blaster ever. They were good, too. We set up on the mats and worked out for about 2 hours going over Gracie Combatives, chokes, americana, arm bars and other stuff. Later the breakdancing kids came over and pissed around on the mat, doing back-flips and shit with shoes on! I was a little pissed off by that and Michael lost his concentration. I should have confronted them and told them to get their fucking shoes off while on the throwing mat but didn't. Maybe I've lived here too long and prefer to keep the peace. Instead, I told the guy on the reception to give them a warning - cowardly, I know.

Was a good 2 hours well spent but I am really drained now. All I have to do is keep doing them a thousand times more so that they become second nature. On the way home I picked up a car tyre to use for training. Gonna have to go pick up a sledge hammer so that I can do some hammer training. See cool video below for what I want to do.

Day 46: A hard day

I feel in a great mood tonight. That's mainly because I did martial arts (boxing and grappling) for 2 and a half hours this morning from 9 am. When you do something you were made (dare I say born) to do, then you always feel satisfied with life. That's my theory. I remember at 13 years old going to my first Karate dojo, my legs and back as stiff as a board. Within 3 months the black belt instructor, a guy called Tony Eglin, said he wanted me to jump up 2 belts to green belt. He even sold me his old Gi which eventually got ripped during a rough class when I was much older. I remember kicking people in the head, sweeping them to the floor and giving black eyes and being smacked in the teeth so that tears filled my eyes.

I can only thank Power 90 and the beachbody people for getting me back into shape so that my mind and body craves this kind of activity. It's like the workouts have turned on a switch that I had never completely turned off. I have the fitness now to do jiu jitsu and I think keep up with guys younger than me.

After a short nap of about an hour I woke up watched "Renzo Gracie - Legacy" which inspired me a lot. Then got to work on Circuit 3 using 17.5 kg for all moves. I finised with an ab workout using an ab wheel which I have to say is one of the hardest core exercises I have ever tried. Watch this guy here making it look easy.

Day 43: Push Circuit 1

It was good to lift those heavy weights tonight after getting home from work. Just over 16 kg dumbell curls and I felt strong. My grip seems to have improved because of the Push phase of the workout. After the weight training was up I went outside do so some rope work (skipping - I just didn't wan't to say it because it sounds girly). I only got 30 seconds into it when I felt the muscle shift in my left calf. I could feel it tearing a little, I've had this problem before and I should know better. I stopped immediately because no calf = no exercise for a long time. I used some menthol gel on it, massaged it a little and used the foam roller to work out any tightness. Hopefully, it will recover in a few days. It was just a reminder that I need to stretch more because the weather is getting colder now and I'm not as young a I used to be. No matter how strong I feel, I have to remind myself that my body is not as durable as a teenagers and it doesn't recover fast.

Notable mention for me doing pushup with a 10 kg medicine ball on a bag strapped to my back. I did 10 really slow then finished with the even slower 3 reps. It's definately the way to go. This weekend I'm gonna take a trip to the local home center and see if I can pick up some cheap rope, a sledgehammer and maybe find an old car tyre for some real primal training. I love my medicine balls oh..err..missus and really want to collect stuff I can use to train with.

Day 37: Boxing and Push Circuit 2

I keep going to bed too late because there is just so much to watch on Youtube, especially martial arts, you click on one and see another that catches your interest. I woke up had breakfast and biked for 50 minutes to the gym where the 3 of us do martial arts. The dojo was full of kendo and karate folks, we could hear the kiai from a fair distance. That meant we couldn't use the matted room so we went into the main hall downstairs. There was a group of volleyball girls going through their stuff there and I just could have sat there and watched them all day. They were so tasty mmm. Michael who was teaching us the boxing that day decided to move us to a different room, much to my chagrin -- No more staring at your University girls.

We started the session going over jabs and hooks. Also many of the defences to these hits. I've done this a long time ago with Michael so it felt familiar but I still am not comfortable getting hit, it has been a while. I'm just out of my comfort zone is all. We finished with some weighted hand punches to work the shoulders then neck strengthening stuff. I felt fit and strong through the workout but the neck stuff was just evil. I haven't worked on my neck muscles for a long long time and am definately gonna suffer tomorrow for it.

After biking home I was completely beat. I ate some spinach soup (made the previous night by moi) and then had a nap for nearly 2 hours. Woke up and did the Chalene workout. I have 2 painful locations now. The left hamstring and left shoulder so had to be careful with those. Maybe I am pushing too hard. I'm gonna put some menthol gel on those areas to relieve the pain.

One thing I am really into right now of course is BJJ (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) but to go along with it I discovered Gimnastica Natural which is hard to explain but seems to accompany the martial art and be a very natural warm up at the same time. I practice it a little at home and it really loosens you up.
Check out the youtube video below to see what it looks like.

Day 27: Tabata with Recharge

Wow did I have a kick-ass workout after I got home. I did 3 sets of Tabata intervals. The first was the same as last week, squat medicine ball throw, then I did punches and knees for the next. The thing is, I really wanted to try push ups but knew that I'd never get through the entire 8 sets so I did them on my knees like a girl. There I've been brave enough to say it. You are probably laughing and thinking that it's easy, I know I did at the start. In fact, it was really difficult even on my knees and I have total respect for anyone who can do a full push up during a high intensity Tabata workout. I started with 24 push ups and thought "wow, this is gonna be too easy" but I tell you, by the time I got to the last set I was gassing so bad and barely managed to do 10. It was very humbling.

Anyway, since I have finished the first phase of Chalene I decided to take some pics. I'm not much of a photographer and my wife was busy cooking so I apologize for the quality but here is one of them. tada.













I must admit I was pumped after the Tabata workout. Looks like my abs are starting to appear which Im happy about. I seem to be slowly shrinking and my serratus muscles (the ones on the sides under the armpits) are making an appearance. I still have some stubborn fat around my navel which I know will only probably shift during Insanity.












And another with different lighting. Mr Serious face!

Day 23: Burn 2 plus other stuff

The diet was quite bad yesterday. I was very active, taking my son to the river and getting out but on the way back home we ate at a greasy Chinese restaurant and I ate some gyoza and fried rice. I haven't eaten this kind of stuff for a while and after I finished it I really felt it. I was just queasy.

To make up for that, I cycled for over 500 calories worth today and worked on some martial arts stuff for over 2.5 hours with a couple of friends. We did mostly Aikido style self-defence moves and it was so bloody hot in the Dojo but I enjoyed it so much. Kind of took me back to how I was in my 20s. I need to get back into this stuff more full time because I am very rusty.

I came home, ate, took a short 30 minute nap and got to business on the Burn 2 workout. Using 15 kilos, just a simple 35 minute routine can really stress the muscles. I must have sweated about 10 litres worth of water today and I feel drained now but it was so worth it. Oh, bought a big bag of kangaroo, too. Cant wait to tuck into that for my omega-3.

Day 20: Recharge

Tip of the day: It's no surprise that because your body is made mostly of water that it needs lots of water throughout the day. Avoid carbonated drinks and alcohol. Try to drink at least 3 litres/13 cups (men) and 2 litres/9 cups (women) of water each day.


I went home today feeling a little under the weather, picked up the 10 kg medicine ball at home and decided to do some Tabata medcine ball throws before I started the Chalene stretch. Now, Tabata was some clever guy over here in Japan who searched for a method of increasing overall athletic ability in as short a time possible. What he discovered was that doing a cardiovascular activity for 40 seconds (Edit: actually it was 20 seconds but it felt longer!) with high intensity followed by 10 seconds rest then repeated for 8 sets produced amazing results in V02 max and muscular endurance.

I decided to apply his technique to the medicine ball. The move was simple, hold the ball, squat down, come up, then throw the ball in the air and catch it for 40 seconds (Edit: 20 secs), rest, repeat. It sounds easy, I know but it was a hell of hard workout. I started off really strong, ball going up, ball coming down, boom boom. By the 3rd set I felt it, by the 5th set I wanted to stop. My heart rate was really high. The great thing is, you can apply the Tabata technique to any exercise and improve your ability in that exercise. I dare to think how pull ups and push ups would feel doing Tabata.

The stretch afterwards felt real good.

Day 18: Burn Circuit 3

Had a decent evening workout and used 15 kg for some of the sets. I didn't really find it hard, especially calves. These muscles can take a hell of a lot of punishment and there is no way they are gonna develop in such a short video with such small weight. Let's face it, the calves carry you around all day--and that's a lot of weight.

I had a back twinge all the day and I've been like a bear with a sore tooth. Still, that didn't stop me making a second medicine ball which is just over 10 kg in weight. I tried throwing it and catching it and it really feels like more. I took a sneak peak at the medicine ball workout of Tony's 1-on-1. He only uses 4 and 6 lbs for his balls - ohh err misus! That is much lighter than mine, which are 4.4 and 10 kg. Damn, I think I made my balls too big!

Day 17: Burn Intervals and Abs

Tip of the day: Take care of your liver (you only have one) by cutting down on sugars, fried food. alcohol and caffeine. To improve liver function, take an omega-3 supplement such as fish oil, drink lots of water, eat onions, garlic and lots of green vegetables.


Almost week 3 over now. Wow, time flies so fast. I had a good workout today. I have to say that Burn Intervals really makes me sweat and the transition from cardio to weights is a killer. I can feel my heart thumping in my chest as I go to pick up the dumbells and it hurts, oh boy, it is tough. My mind tells me to stop and rest, sit down, have some cake and a cup of tea or something ... but I don't, I can't. I'm here to get fit and strong so that I can live my life to the fullest; no crutches or wheelchair for me when I'm in my 60s. I don't want to have to depend on medication to lower my blood pressure, hell no.


I must confess though, that I have one pet hate of this video. The guy in the back. He grunts and shouts and wheezes but I watched him all the way through and he lifts the same damn weight throughout. What is that? 5-10 pounds? The girls are doing the same as him and he is grimacing? I think he is faking and that annoys me. I was using 5 to 10 kg in this workout, busting my ass, taking mid-set breaks when needed. I would much prefer to see a guy in the video take a break now and again because he is pushing himself hard. The guy in the P90X videos, what's his name? Dave? Much respect for him because I can see he is working his ass off.

I made a medicine ball yesterday and it was hell to put the sand into it. In the end I had to make a bigger hole and just scoop it into the ball. It weighs 4.4 kg and I used it today as part of the ab routine. Much better than using a dumbell because there is less twist on the wrists because you can hold the ball more naturally. I'll post a picture of it when I take one.

Calories 1952

• Fat 101.8g (46%)
• Protein 116.9g (24%)
• Carbohydrate 154.4g (30%)

Edit: Here is a shot of the medicine ball with a 10kg barbell for comparison.











In an attempt to eat more vegetables, I made some curried korma bubble and squeak tonight. Ingredients: 1.5 carrots, half onion, half sweet potato, half head of brocolli, small amount of yellow and green pepper, 2 eggs and 3 teaspoons of curry powder, dash of black pepper. Yum.

Day 12: Burn It Off

Tip of the day: Have a protein drink immediately after your workout. Ideally, it should be something with Whey protein because it is fast acting. Eating fat with protein slows the absorption.

Back to work today after 10 days off. The workout was tiring because of that but I kept the intensity high. Finally, I wore my heart rate monitor and here is what I got for the workout.

Total time: 27m 18s
Avg pulse: 146
Max. pulse: 176
In zone: 15m 44s
Above zone: 7m 30s
Below zone: 4m 03s
Calories: 318 Kcals

Pretty damn good workout for less than half an hour. My heart rate was really high so getting put through its paces. The calorie burn was decent too coming in slightly behind Cardio X or Kenpo X plus but more than 10 minutes less in the workout.

The creatine I took yesterday had no adverse affect on me last night. I did wake a couple of times but that was due to the heat.

Calories 1992

• Fat 89.1g (39%)
• Protein 136g (27%)
• Carbohydrate 183g (34%)

Hmm, not good. Carbs still dangerously too high for my liking.

Consult the chart below for an idea of where I want to be.

Day 11: Burn Circuit 3

Tip of the day: Eat oatmeal for breakfast (it's filling and is a much better start to the day than any sugar-insulin-bombs that kelloggs can come up with).

I'm keeping the weights heavy and really feeling the burn now. I looked over at my right shoulder today while doing military presses and there was a ridge of veins sticking out of the skin and I just thought "woow!". I think it's a sign my body fat is going down. I did a pm workout today after taking a nap. The afternoon is so hot that I just have to take a siesta.

I have a few additions to my family of workout gear now. I bought some tennis handle wraps and fitted them to my dumbells because they were ripping the callouses off my hands and it was painful. After talking with a friend who said that out-of-date creatine is not good for your liver, I decided to go out and buy some. It did indeed go down better and hopefully I will not get as much reaction to it tonight (i.e. up every 10 mins to pee). Also, I was astounded to actually find natural peanut butter in a shop here and damn did it taste so good. Much better than Skippy which I've unfortunately had to suffer because it has saturated the market over here. Koeze peanut butter: real peanuts and a little sea salt say the ingredients. mmmm.


Calories 1841

• Fat 59g (28%)
• Protein 187g (33%)
  
• Carbohydrate 155g (39%)

Too many carbs yesterday!

Day 10: Burn Intervals and Ab burner

Had to stop a few times during the workout because I started with 10 kg. Half way through I dropped to 7.5 then 5 kg because it was killing me. The cardio intervals really get my heart going high. Wish I had my heart rate monitor but the battery is going and I need to go buy one today.
My abs have got weaker since P90X or maybe it's just that I always struggle with lying down ab exercises. Maybe I've just got a low pain threshold in that area of my body because I tend to give in sooner than I should.

Yesterday's calories were:

Calories 1901

• Fat 102g (47%)
• Protein 113g (24%)
  
• Carbohydrate 146g (30%)

I went to bed feeling really hungry last night. I've discovered though that I can mix some cottage cheese, yoghurt and chocolate protein together to make a really yummy treat as my last meal. It is high in protein and fat but low in carbohydrate. It should give my body the extra protein it needs while I am sleeping.

A friend of mine is leaving Japan. I haven't seen him in over 5 years but quite by accident bumped into him yesterday while I was bike riding in an area of the city I never ever go to. He has a crap load of weight training gear and I asked to buy them - he agreed. Hopefully, that will quell my woes of changing weights half-way through the video. I want the adjustable weights as you know but will easily settle for a range of dumbells in my room. Maybe it's time to get a weight rack ..hmm..

Day 9: Burn Circuit 2

Worked with heavier weights again today and felt it. It was much cooler last night and today so I had a much better workout. The 3 extreme reps on bicep curls hurt a lot and was really good for hitting those last fibers of muscle.

I'm using fitday to calculate my food intake now. Figures for yesterday were:

Calories 2219

• Fat 117g (46%)
• Protein 140g (23%)
  
• Carbohydrate 174g (31%)
  

I'm trying to hit around 2100 calories for weight loss so I think that was a good day. Although, protein was way high because I ate a lot of lamb in the afternoon. I really want carbohydrates down below 100 for optimal fat loss but it is so damn hard to get it low. hmm.

I rode my bicycle for about 3 hours today in the blistering sun. Not only did I get a Vitamin D shower but must have burnt over a thousand calories. Wahey.

Day 8: Burn Circuit 1

I knocked up the load a few notches today. Used 14.4 kg for most of the exercises and 7 kg instead of 5 kg for the shoulder workouts. Felt it a lot more. I cranked my neck this morning stretching though so that hindered me a little. Always seems to pull a muscle now. I suppose it's the years catching up on me. I am enjoying Chalene Extreme. The workouts are short enough so that I don't feel like I am climbing a mountain. I just discovered last night that the course is actually 4 months or 105 days or so. I suppose I could stop after 90 days but there is a further month that people can use to keep on going and I may try it unless I feel ready for Insanity. I'm kind of worried that there are no pull ups and that my max-reps will go down. I guess I should incorporate some pull ups on one of the days.

I stayed up late last night just steaming a ton of vegetables. Brocolli, Cauliflower and Brussel sprouts. I was thinking of making a mash potato thingy with the cauliflower. So far the low carbs in my diet have kept me sharp and I've experienced no sudden fatigue (apart from the heat-inducing kind). I've also noticed that my skin (I have a little eczema) on my elbows has gotten better. Perhaps I have a mild allergy to wheat. I'm taking dha too now and feel that my memory is improving and my focus too.

Day 6: Recharge

Woke up around 5 am because the ground was shaking. Earthquakes always make my heart beat like a tribal drum. I grabbed my daughter who was sleeping but the quake quickly subsided. It's the first strong one I've felt for a long time. Anyway, I went back to sleep for a few hours then woke and did Recharge which is a 20 something minute stretch video. Chalene Extreme basically has 2 rest days and on the last day you do Burn it off and Recharge together but I decided to split them. The stretch was good, lots of hamstrings. I could have gone on and will probably do so when the weather cools a bit.

Took my son to the pool today and felt fairly good that I am in better condition now. I wish though that I would stop thinking of looking good in front of others and do it for myself. I suppose everyone is like that.

Had a kangaroo burger for lunch followed later by some tuna. Thing is, I had some bad snacks today. I weakened. I need to stop that. Ok. From now, I am going to work harder on my diet. I am currently using the P90X portion plan but still looking around and thinking of making a detailed list of meals for the day. I don't mind eating the same thing each day if it will get me the results. I looked around on Youtube for some ideas and read the Insanity Nutrition plan. While on Youtube I found this guy who was talking about eating and training. Really inspirational and each video has me glued to what he says.

To burn off more calories I'm going to walk for an hour each day. Need to get some good stuff on my walkman. Wish I had an Ipod *sniff*

Here is a link to Bazblog.

Day 5: Burn it off

Today was a 27 minute cardio workout. I saw the clock and though "hah, no way is that gonna hurt me." But I was sweating buckets at the end and one exercise had me gasping for air. It was like running inside an oven with the weather today. I hate August in Japan, it's stifling hot and my energy is low until I go into an air-conditioned room. I am enjoying Chalene extreme, got the stretch tomorrow and that is week 1 done. It feels like a vacation after P90X but that's not to say that it's easy.

Difficulty: High
Fatigue: High
Heart rate: Very highe
Fun: Tiringly fun
Sweat: Everywhere!
Hardest exercise: Burpees (a plyo knee tuck followed by a push up position where the legs go back and then in again - repeat) My heart was beating like a drum!



I've been cooking a lot so that I can get a high vegetable intake. I made Ratatouille and spinach soup over the last couple of days. Lots of aubergine, zucchini and other stuff. The spinach soup which was really damn good unfortunately was left out over night and spoilt. I had a couple of bowls of it but the next day it had soured. It's hard to eat bags of spinach and so soup is the best option. Gonna make some more and find some more recipes for veg. soup.
My protein intake is still not high enough. Im eating full eggs and chicken but I need to get more.

Just saw that Beachbody have a new workout coming out next year called RevAbs. Looks interesting.

Day 4: Burn Circuit 3

Did this one before breakfast. It was mostly legs and shoulders. I struggled a little on some of them because I was using 12.5 kg for shoulder exercises, which feels like a lot when you do them slow. The workout was 32 minutes and I enjoyed it. Felt annoyed that my wife woke me up this morning but that grumpiness evaporated 5 minutes into the training. Chalene extreme feels like a weight training heavy workout, which I like. Perhaps, it is the opposite to Insanity which is Cardio heavy. Maybe the last month (Lean) is more cardio, I will have to wait and see. I need an intermediatary weight, maybe 7 kg or so. Need to look around for some new bars.

Difficulty: Moderate
Fatigue: High
Heart rate: Moderate
Fun: High
Sweat: A few drops on the mat!
Hardest exercise: Squat with double overhead press (squat and the military press with dumbells - very tiring)

The only thing I would question about the routines is that some of the moves seem a little dangerous. For example, bicep curls while lifting one leg, or calf raises while in a squat position. I can see some people who are fatigued doing those and just falling flat on their faces.

Day 3: Burn Interval and Ab burner

Note to self, do not eat soy-based proteins. I did last night and I could have got the same effect from eating 10 plates of beans - omg! The stuff is just no good as a protein source. Sticking to Whey and Casein now.

Today's workout was a surprise. I had to actually take mid-set breaks. It was a worthy contender for a P90X workout. Lasting around 46 minutes with a 10 min ab workout at the end. I sweated a hell of a lot and my heart rate was really high. To describe it, I would say its a low weight high rep mix with cardio. Basically you use a low weight (I used 7 and 5 kg weights) and do meelions of reps then put them down and jump around to get your heart rate really high. Pity I forgot to put on my heart rate monitor but damn did I have a good workout.

Difficulty: High
Fatigue: High
Heart rate: High
Fun: High
Sweat: Lots!
Hardest exercise: Touch the floor and jump up on one leg (Plyometric burn baby - ow!)

My lower back muscles are tight today after the previous workout so I got tired fast. One thing though, I refuse to use those little pink bands to work out the legs. Perhaps, if there was a blue one, I'd oblige.