Lets just say I'm at 1

Have been way too busy to post recently, between punctured bike tyres and 250 mile round trips to buy a campervan there hasn't been much time, oh and tennis elbow is still bugging me.

However managed an ultimate warrior last night so that's good.  Need to get something done as I'm moving house in a few weeks and will have to carry everything down from the third floor and up to the 4th

1

did nothing that could really count as exercise over the weekend and am not really bothered by this. My run of 18 days now has me in the habit, I hope, so it should be easier from here. I'm also trying to let my arm heal up a little before I start using it again. As such I will most likely reverse the UW this week and do lower body first and save the upper body for later in the week. Managed a few sets of intervals this morning on the way in.

Bike
Out - 23:41
In - 23:15

Also completed an UW lower body

3

UW with the upper body today. A good workout though I seem to have done some damage to my left elbow. There is some sort of tweak in there when I lift a weight on it. I'm thinking Tennis Elbow at this point. Going to back down on using it so a lighter weight and less chin ups. I think the chin ups are what caused it in the first place. I'm also going to chew on some ibuprofin for a week or so and see if that helps. If no change then it may be doctor time.

I also weighed in today at 90.08kg. This is an increase in general on when I started. I'm not too concerned however as I know I have a daily calorie deficit. The other thing is that with the UW workouts there is a focus on increasing muscle mass and that is something I'm beginning to notice. Its particularly obvious on the Lats (back muscles under the arm) as I've noticed less room there for my arms to move and the Pecs. An increase in muscle mass will lead to an increase in weight as it is heavier than fat. This is a course that should not continue indefinitely though, if it fails to begin decreasing then i'll have to have another look at what I'm eating.

2

Tackled another UW workout today, lower body set

16

Shattered, today I am absolutely wrecked. Didn't sleep well though which is why.

Todays exercise barely counts but was quite intense so I am counting it. At the start of each week in the Ulitmate Warrior programme there is a Warrior Challenge. It's a short intense burst of exercise that tests your physical ability in a particular area. This week was number of chin ups in 3 minutes. I didn't do as well as I would have hoped but I gave it everything, couldn't use my arms at the end of it.

15

An upper body set from the Ultimate Warrior. I also upped the weight on the bar to make it harder

14

2 straight weeks without a break. Sure there have been a few light days but I've managed something everyday. If I can make it through the weekend then I'll have a week of biking to work ahead of me. If I can keep this up then I may succeed in my aim of making exercise a habit in my life once again.

Today was another go on the Ultimate Warrior, lower body this time. I think I'll have to up the weight on the bars for the next time though, it was just a little too comfortable.

13

Hard session with the weights today. Another Ultimate Warrior set (upper body) though since I did the right amount it was much easier, also faster as I already knew what each exercise was. Also spent a 10 mins or so with the skipping rope. It is such an energeric workout, also really good for my martial arts.

In other news I got my new bike so will be riding to work again as of next week. I also picked up a chin up bar so that i don't have to hang off the door frame all the time. It doubles as a dip bar and a sit up bar and can be stored in the corner so that is really handy.

10 - Double Figures!

That's right, 10 straight days of exercise, quite pleased with myself for this one. I'm aware some folk view this as extreme but for years I trained every single day, the hardest part is getting the habit. As long as you train smart there isn't a problem (i.e. don't work every muscle group every time).

It was my first session of the Ultimate Warrior and it was tough. I made a slight booboo in that I did 2 days of exercise by mistake, oops. I'll fix this though by going for a run or something instead of UW later in the week.

I have a basic weights bench at home and to be honest I have never had a workout on it as hard as I had using this system. Its tough but just the sort of challenge I need.

My diet is slowly changing as well. Managing to break the takeout habit and avoid the work canteen. Friday night will remain as takeout but there is a Mexican takeaway at the end of the street that is quite healthy so we try to go there

9

Ouch. That is all I have to say. My students got me a book called Ultimate Warrior Workouts at the end of teaching. Very unexpected and totally awesome of them. I started the programme today with the first warm up and the benchmarking tests. Very tiring. the tests were:

Max bench press
Max deadlift
Max weighted chin up

This was followed by the 1st of the warrior challenges, the 4 minute push up challenge

My arms don't work any more!