OK so I have some measurable objectives, but am I actually doing here? Why bother doing any of this strength and fitness business at all?
Here are my reasons.
1: Life and longevity. My life is great and I want to live it for as long as I can. Heart disease is the biggest killer for Australian men and poor diet and insufficient exercise is a major factor. Sure, something is going to take me down someday, but if I can cross heart disease off the list, then whatever's next may be a long time after that.
2: Functional strength. I don't want to be a weakling. I want to be able to look after myself if I need to. And most importantly, I do NOT want to be old and frail. I want to be able to run around with my kids someday. I'm obviously going to decline in strength and vitality when I get old, but if I'm declining from a really high point, that will mean I'll be in better shape for longer as I get older, which is great.
3: Headspace. I find that the better my body is working, the better my brain works. In fact, I don't think the two are really very separate at all.
4: Plain old nerdy curiosity. I like Tim Ferriss' attitude to his body as a vehicle for experimentation. I like testing things, trying different approaches, learning about my body and how it works.
5: I like me. I like having self-respect and self-confidence, and being proud of who I am and what I've achieved. It's a good place to be.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
What I'm trying to achieve
I'm finally doing what so many people recommend: setting myself some specific, measurable goals, as opposed to "get fitter" (which is a worthy goal, but rather vague).
I am setting myself the following goals and will be reporting my success or failure herein at the appropriate time:
1) I will run the City to Surf footrace (August 12th) in under 75 minutes. This will qualify me for one of the leading groups in the race the next year. In fact, I will run it in 72 minutes or under. I ran in it last year for the first time and got about 77 minutes.
2) By that time (the week of August 12th), I will be able to complete a set of 10 reps of barbell bench press with 40 kilogram plates on each end of the bar, for a total weight of about 90 kilograms (including bar). I currently weigh 73 kilograms.
3) By the end of 2012, I want to be able to do 70 pushups, and 20 wide-grip palm-forward pullups.
Those are my objectives. They include cardio, functional and non-functional strength. I'm confident I can reach these targets.
A quick aside: here is an example of the sort of healthy meal my wife and I make for weekday dinners. This is a prawn, vegetable and buckwheat noodle soup that I made tonight. It took about 30 - 40 minutes and seeing as we get four meals out of it (2 dinners and 2 lunches to take to work tomorrow), probably comes to about $6 a serve. It was super tasty and healthy.
Very rough recipe: shell 600g prawns, keeping shells. Put shells plus a slice knob of ginger and sliced birdseye chilli into 1L of chicken stock. Simmer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, chop 1 head broccoli and 200g button mushrooms. When broth is done, drain it, discarding solids and keeping liquid. Add vegies and 1 tablespoon of fish sauce to broth. Simmer for 2 minutes. Add prawns, simmer for 2 more minutes. Serve with cooked and refreshed buckwheat noodles. Easy! It's also crazy healthy; we used salt reduced stock, prawns are low calories, no oil used in anything, buckwheat noodles are low GI and high in fibre and protein, and ginger and chilli are so good for you its silly.
I am setting myself the following goals and will be reporting my success or failure herein at the appropriate time:
1) I will run the City to Surf footrace (August 12th) in under 75 minutes. This will qualify me for one of the leading groups in the race the next year. In fact, I will run it in 72 minutes or under. I ran in it last year for the first time and got about 77 minutes.
2) By that time (the week of August 12th), I will be able to complete a set of 10 reps of barbell bench press with 40 kilogram plates on each end of the bar, for a total weight of about 90 kilograms (including bar). I currently weigh 73 kilograms.
3) By the end of 2012, I want to be able to do 70 pushups, and 20 wide-grip palm-forward pullups.
Those are my objectives. They include cardio, functional and non-functional strength. I'm confident I can reach these targets.
A quick aside: here is an example of the sort of healthy meal my wife and I make for weekday dinners. This is a prawn, vegetable and buckwheat noodle soup that I made tonight. It took about 30 - 40 minutes and seeing as we get four meals out of it (2 dinners and 2 lunches to take to work tomorrow), probably comes to about $6 a serve. It was super tasty and healthy.
Very rough recipe: shell 600g prawns, keeping shells. Put shells plus a slice knob of ginger and sliced birdseye chilli into 1L of chicken stock. Simmer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, chop 1 head broccoli and 200g button mushrooms. When broth is done, drain it, discarding solids and keeping liquid. Add vegies and 1 tablespoon of fish sauce to broth. Simmer for 2 minutes. Add prawns, simmer for 2 more minutes. Serve with cooked and refreshed buckwheat noodles. Easy! It's also crazy healthy; we used salt reduced stock, prawns are low calories, no oil used in anything, buckwheat noodles are low GI and high in fibre and protein, and ginger and chilli are so good for you its silly.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
What this blog is and is not
As of tomorrow I'm starting on a self-designed and self-inflicted program of fitness, exercise and nutrition. I'm going to write a blog about it and this is it. This first post will just be explaining what the blog is and is not; I'll later explain what I'm doing and why I'm doing it, and why I'm blogging about it.
First, a little about myself. I'm a 36 year old man living in Sydney with a beautiful wife and a fulfilling IT job at a major bank. I was always one of the nerdy kids at school who wasn't strong, fit or good at sports. I did some years of kung fu after I finished high school which gave me a lot more strength and confidence. In my late 20s I pissed it away a bit and put on a bit of weight. Starting in my 30s, I started getting back into exercise and semi-regularly going to the gym for a bit of weights and cardio. That's where I've been for the last few years, though my interest and fitness level has increased a bit more recently.
Starting tomorrow, I'm going to ramp it up. I'm going to start taking it more seriously, applying a fairly strict diet and exercise program, to see how far I can take it. I've been reading a lot and doing some experimentation and research and am confident of what I can achieve. I will use this blog to outline my program, and record my efforts and results. This blog is therefore going to be a combination of a diary and a program outline. I'm not going to record every detail of every exercise, but at the end of each week I'll put up a brief rundown of what I've done, how I'm feeling and what results I'm achieving. Although I'm going to describe the plan I'll be using and why I'm using it, this blog is not a general guide or program on how to exercise or become fit. I've read some books and some internet research but I am not a physical trainer and this is not an exercise program, so don't try it at home etc.
Finally, a quick note on my main influences. I've read a bunch of books on this stuff, some great and some not-so-great, but my two main influences, and books I can unequivocally recommend that anyone with a slight interest in this stuff read, are In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan (nerdy looking guy to the left) and The Four Hour Body by Tim Ferriss (other nerdy looking guy to the right). 
In Defense of Food is probably the best book I've read on food and nutrition, and The Four Hour Body is probably the best book I've read on fitness and exercise. I'm certainly not treating them as bibles (in fact there are some chunks of each book that I will disagree with and/or ignore), but both are still excellent books and major inputs into my plan.
Over the next week I'll be explaining more about what I'm trying to achieve and why.
First, a little about myself. I'm a 36 year old man living in Sydney with a beautiful wife and a fulfilling IT job at a major bank. I was always one of the nerdy kids at school who wasn't strong, fit or good at sports. I did some years of kung fu after I finished high school which gave me a lot more strength and confidence. In my late 20s I pissed it away a bit and put on a bit of weight. Starting in my 30s, I started getting back into exercise and semi-regularly going to the gym for a bit of weights and cardio. That's where I've been for the last few years, though my interest and fitness level has increased a bit more recently.
Starting tomorrow, I'm going to ramp it up. I'm going to start taking it more seriously, applying a fairly strict diet and exercise program, to see how far I can take it. I've been reading a lot and doing some experimentation and research and am confident of what I can achieve. I will use this blog to outline my program, and record my efforts and results. This blog is therefore going to be a combination of a diary and a program outline. I'm not going to record every detail of every exercise, but at the end of each week I'll put up a brief rundown of what I've done, how I'm feeling and what results I'm achieving. Although I'm going to describe the plan I'll be using and why I'm using it, this blog is not a general guide or program on how to exercise or become fit. I've read some books and some internet research but I am not a physical trainer and this is not an exercise program, so don't try it at home etc.
Finally, a quick note on my main influences. I've read a bunch of books on this stuff, some great and some not-so-great, but my two main influences, and books I can unequivocally recommend that anyone with a slight interest in this stuff read, are In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan (nerdy looking guy to the left) and The Four Hour Body by Tim Ferriss (other nerdy looking guy to the right). 
In Defense of Food is probably the best book I've read on food and nutrition, and The Four Hour Body is probably the best book I've read on fitness and exercise. I'm certainly not treating them as bibles (in fact there are some chunks of each book that I will disagree with and/or ignore), but both are still excellent books and major inputs into my plan.
Over the next week I'll be explaining more about what I'm trying to achieve and why.
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