Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Unhealthy Outdoorsman 9/14

If you missed it the other day, I had an epic struggle over whether to spend some extra cash I had on things I want (decent boots, a bunch of crap for deer hunting, save up for a new gun) or a gym membership.

Luckily, I found a place that let me join for $10 up front and $20 per month.  It seems pretty legit except there are currently no trainers on staff so I'm kind of on my own.  I got the membership last night, walked a mile then.  Today I went and walked briskly for 15 minutes and then went over to lift.

Well, I tried to lift.  I attempted to do squats but couldn't do them with any weight so I just did bodyweight squats.  I felt kind of dumb just doing bodyweight squats in front of the mirror but I have alot of body weight to be squatting I guess.  I'm the equivalent of a 185lb man carrying roughly 275 lbs.  My legs are already a little tender.

Then hit up the bench press, which is one of the few lifts I have experience with, albeit from a long time ago.  I started with an empty bar, then added 50 lbs (total of 95lbs) to start myself off slow.  I wasn't to failure at the end of the third set (which is good because I don't have a spotter) but I was feeling it pretty good.

After I wiped everything down, I went and weighed in...

-4lbs!

I've walked about 3 miles , did that little weight-lifting workout and was pretty on-top of my meals for the past week and it paid off.  

I have a buddy at work who is really big into working out, I think I might ask him to come workout sometime soon (Charter lets you bring a guest each and every time you workout, which is also cool since my wife will want to come walk on the treadmill now and then) and see if I can get some pointers from him as far as lifting goes.  I'm also reading a book called Starting Strength which is teaching me alot about the proper postures and what NOT to do when lifting.  I'll post a mini-review on it when I finish it.

There are a couple other outdoors bloggers who mentioned putting together a "fat fisherman club" so be on the lookout for it if things come together.

Anybody else start up a new workout routine lately?

7 comments:

Kim@Snug Harbor said...

High 5's all the way around today Mark! You have got to be on top of the world today. Nice on the 4 lbs. Nice on the gym sign up. Nice on the lifts and especially the brisk walking. I'm so proud of you. Until they get their staff trainers, try to get someone to at least show you how to work out on one new machine each time. The machines are great because you don't need spotters for those. Don't be surprised if you're sore for the first week or 2. Damn, I am so happy for you!

Clif said...

Good work!

I told my wife to be on the look out for a big guy checking himself out in the mirror.

Mark said...

Thanks Kim. Already sore. I'm sure I'll be crawling out of bed tomorrow.

Clif- Just tell her to look out for the Boba Fett tattoo. Or rather than big guy, you could say "biggest guy in the room". Either way, I'm confident either description would only fit me.

Anonymous said...

Hey man,

Great blog. Try out one of Ross Enamait's books if you want a cheap workout:
http://www.rosstraining.com/nevergymless.html

Mark said...

your Unhealthy Outdoorsman postings are hitting home pretty well here. I was just prodded by my wife to step on a scale, to get an idea of what our little boy currently weighs. Unless all the scales in teh house have conspired to F with my head, I've *gained* 8 lbs since my last weigh in, coming in at 305.5lbs. I've been struggling for ~2 years now to drop down in weight, and it's been a back and forth struggle. The first time the scale read 300lbs, I was determined to loose it. I got down as low as 280, but it's come back and then some :( I tried running, but shin splints killed that. I bought a weight bench and some free weight - then injured my shoulder. So I walk when I can, but it doesn't seem to be enough. I've also cut out soda from my diet, cut back on sugars, and eating more chicken than greasy hamburger. In fact, I've got the wife on board, and we've switched from ground beef to ground turkey - but it's a tough war. Keep fighting it man, keep fighting it.

Mark said...

Anon- Thanks, I'll check out the website and see if I can't learn a thing or two. Hope you stop back again sometime.

Mark- I've been there and done that. It was so frustrating for me to make the conscious decision to eat healthier and try to cut out soda and not have anything happen. The problem for me was the volume of food I was eating and even tho it was labeled "healthy" it wasn't healthy enough.

I can't speak highly enough about Weight Watchers. It really takes all the thought out of trying to eat healthy. No calorie counting. If you get the right app for your phone, you put in your weight, age and gender and it tells you how many "points" you get. A different part of the app calculates how many points each food is.

The best part about it is there are zero point foods you can eat as much as you want of. Fresh fruit, veggies, diet soda, lettuce salad (before dressing) can be consumed until you're stuffed. I usually take an apple and some pineapple or grapes to work to eat on breaks to keep me satisfied.

Let me know if you need any more info on it.

Kim@Snug Harbor said...

Other Mark: Please take a minute and check out the tab "Tonys Tips" on my blog at: http://snugharborbay.blogspot.com/

He offers tips and laymens terms information on diet and nutrition that you may find helpful. Also be sure to read his very inspirational story "A life changing experience" on July 31st.