1

Well  I am back to 1. I fell ill in the middle of last week and decided to take the rest of the time as recovery. Gave me an opportunity to catch up on some stuff and enjoy a 4 day weekend. I have new tyres for my bike which is great as they are puncture resistant though my riding time to work has taken a bit of a nose dive. This one is much heavier than my old bike and I can really feel it, especially in the mornings. I head to work at about 6:45am and the 1st part of the journey is 1.1 miles uphill.

Bike
Out - 24:52
In - 22:08

18

managed to get in maybe 15 mins of cardio, certainly no more than that

EPIC WIN UPDATE!!!!!!!!

I've just made a fabulous discovery. My resting pulse rate has dipped below 60! It's now at 57/58. This is fantastic news and I see it as proof that something I'm doing is working.

To put this into a perspective, before I tore my knee apart rock climbing my resting pulse rate was sitting at around 42-45. A long way to go but this has just made me morning.

17

Back on the bike!

My new bike is now functional and I'm back to riding to work. The hope is that this, combined with running, will help me shed the fat while the Ultimate Warrior stuff will generate larger muscle mass.

I forgot to start the stopwatch this morning but it was over 30 mins to get here. The reason is below:

A period of exceptionally windy weather is expected to cross the northern half of the country during Monday. Wind gusts of 60 mph are expected widely with gusts of 70 mph probable across parts of northern England, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Some very exposed areas may see gusts as high as 80 mph. Winds will start to ease from the west by evening.

That's the weather warning from the met office. I'm in the effected area and it was, of course, a headwind.

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.

12

very light weights session. Was going to take the day off but my body wanted to do something.

11

Not a huge amount today, quite a gentle session by all accounts but still a good one. Was stiff as a board so headed into the garden to practice some Tai Chi, it can give a really good workout (done properly) and I find it a great way to loosen off stiff muscles.

I wasn't able to go fast at it as the grass was only seeded recently and I didn't want to shred it. Its the back of a tenement block and was recently a patch of mud. I spent a lot of time and effort making it into a lawn (mostly because my wife asked me to) so don't want to kill it.

In other news I'm getting a new bike on Thursday so will be back to cycling next week. YAY!

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!

8

That's right. 8! New record!

Heavy weights session today. Upgraded to a larger storage locker so had to move everything to the new one. Quite a workout. Then there was the weights bench. It came out of storage and into the living room (the futon is going into storage). This meant carrying the bench and weights up to our place on the 3rd floor.

7

Bike to work!

I did it. I managed an entire week of biking in. This is even more impressive as my bike died today. 3 spokes on one wheel need replaced making riding it somewhat dangerous. The nail in the coffin though came on the way home. The crank for the peddles broke so forward movement is impossible. I need a new bike

6

bike to work (monster headwind - 17mph)

In - 22:25
Out - 26:51

my slowest time yet but thats the wind factor, this not an excuse. Im merely acknowledging that I need to man up and pedal harder!

I'm also on par to break my record. The number in the titles is the number of days I have of unbroken daily exercise. I have yet to make it past 7 but stand a really good chance if I can cycle in tomorrow.

5

Again with the bike:

In
Out - 24:46

In additional news the weights bench is coming out of storage this weekend

4

Bike to work

Out - 25:35
In - 24:38

Resting Pulse 60 (middle of the day)

3

Bike to work

Out - 25:55
In - 24:35 (headwind)

2

Training

1

Training

7

again with the light weights and many flights of stairs

6

Light weights

5

Training again, though as always I don't get much exercise from that since I'm teaching