in kg, 30 sec rest between all supersets

A1 Lat Pull Downs: 39.5 x 8, 44.5 x 8, 49.5 x 7
A2 Seated Shoulder Presses: 34 x 8, 34 x 5, 34 x 6F

B1 Cable Rows: 49.5 x 8, 49.5 x 7, 49.5 x 7
B2 Chest Presses: 31.5 + 2MPs x 8, 31.5 + 2MPs x 7, 31.5 + 2MPs x 6F

Minor rotator cuff exercises: 20 reps each

in lbs

A1 Adductor Machine: 90 x 8, 100 x 8, 110 x 8
A2 Abductor Machine: 90 x 8, 100 x 8, 110 x 8
(1 min rest between each superset)

B1 Glute Ham Machine: 50 x 8, 50 x 8, 50 x 8
B2 Abdominal Machine: 112.5 x 8, 112.5 x 8, 112.5 x 8
(30 sec rest between each superset)

C1 Leg Extensions: 87.5 x 8, 100 x 8, 112.5 x 8
C2 Lying Leg Curls: 80 x 8, 80 x 7, 80 x 6
(1 min rest between each superset)

D Calf Raises: 128 x 8, 128 x 8, 128 x 8
(30 sec rest between each set)

BTW - the gym’s closed tomorrow…

Since I want to lose some weight and become healthier, I figured I would start logging my training each day. Feel free to join me and tell me how you’re doing with your fitness goals.

Today was the first day the gym re-opened. Believe it or not, gyms in Japan close for about a week from December to January (for New Year’s Day).

What I want to accomplish in January is the following:

• Get stronger
• Go to gym regularly
• Lose 1-2 lbs

So this is what I did today. Usually I use free weight, but doc told me to use machines for three months. Weights in kg (1 kg ≅ 2.2 lbs)

I always seem to have an overly ambitious list of goals but not achieve many of them.

So this year, I decided to make a list that I can conceivably achieve.

• Complete Nine. ETA: end of June. Spend 5 hours a day on it.
• Enter Shomi Contest with Nine. ETA: end of March

• Query agents with Nine. Once the project’s completed, I should send queries out. I already have a list of agents I want to target.
• Complete a historical fantasy (untitled; 100K in length). ETA: Dec 31. It’s always smart to start a new project as soon as I’m done with an old one. Keeps my mind off queries and other matters. Spend four hours a day on the project.
• Read four how-to and/or inspirational books. I have a ton of those. I also want to re-read some I have since I always get something new out of them.
• Read fifty new-to-me books. Must I state why? It’s so important for me to read read read. BTW - does anyone have any recommendations? No guarantee I’ll actually read them, but I would like to get some. For example, May told me to try Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, and it was one of the best books I read in 2007.
• Lose six pounds. Yes. I’m not as young as I used to be, and I need to be more careful about what I eat and so on.
• Get a part-time job. I think it’ll be good to have something that’ll force me to get out of the house and meet people, etc. And money’s always nice!

Do you have any resolutions? How are you going to meet them?

Lori’s doing a shrink-o-meter to track her weight loss progress this year. I’m going to join her since I want to lose about 10-15 lbs. And I’ll also be logging my progress this year as well. Just for fun.

The biggest challenge for me is being consistent and keeping the weight off once I lose the poundage. Wish me luck. (And feel free to join me and Lori.)

I went to the gym on Monday to work on my chest. After four days, I’m still in pain. Note to self: Don’t do every set to failure, especially after months of inconsistent effort.

Thankfully, I wasn’t dumb enough to do it again on Thursday with my legs. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to move at all today.

I think I’m going to die from the pain. My god, it was so hard to lift. I wasn’t even doing a lot of weights for my incline dumbbell chest press — just 15 kg (about 33lbs) — and I failed the last reps and had to ask Morito Sensei to spot me.

Perhaps I’m just not used to lifting a lot of weights. After all, I haven’t done any heavy duty lifting for a while now.

It’s gonna hurt so bad tomorrow.

I’ve been very lazy about working out and dieting. It’s been mostly psychological, more so than physical. So this year, I’m going to aim to lose just 10 lbs and maintain. It’s not impossible or even too difficult. It’s not easy, don’t get me wrong, but it doesn’t take some ridiculous feat to do it, either.

The reason why I only want to aim for 10 lbs now is because I want my body to reset its set point. That takes a while. Once it’s done, I’m going to lose another 10 lbs.

So starting tomorrow, I plan to hit the gym four times a week. Wish me luck.

OK, some of the stuff from Monica’s blog post made me think of the entire cultural mindset around thin-fat.

It’s not nice to discriminate against fat people just like it’s not nice to discriminate against thin people. Most people are sensitive — or at least I’m sensitive enough to not make any comments about people’s weight in general unless I’m specifically critiquing their bodies for some reason (like when I went to a few local bodybuilding shows where some of Chris’s gym buddies were competing at). However, many people think it’s OK to criticize thin people for being thin. “Eww…look at that anorexic model / actress, etc., etc.” How would they feel if someone said, “Eww….look at that fat girl / guy, etc., etc.” Just like they think they can’t do anything about their excessive weight, maybe those thin people can’t do anything about their thinness either.

But what really bothers me the most is people talking as if being overweight is a normal and/or healthy thing. Because I don’t think it is.

Nor do I think it’s nice of them to say that thin people aren’t “real” or something snide because real men want women with meat on their bones, etc.

Because for every comment they make, I can always think of exceptions.

Yes, some people are just born big and there’s nothing they can do about it. Sometimes it’s just their genes. Or diseases or health conditions, such as hypothyroism, diabetes, poor insulin sensitivity, etc.

The biggest and the strongest argument for “OK to be overweight” is that overweight people are healthy and fit. What percentage of overweight people are indeed healthy and fit? Can they sprint? Can they move fast? Can they jump over a wall to escape in case of fire?

What about excessive wear and tear? Their overworked joints? Heart?

People claim they have to eat so little in order to lose weight. Why? Because they screwed up their metabolism systematically over decades. Insulin insensitivity can be inherited, but it’s almost always something you create. Eating crappy food will do that to you. (Insulin insensitivity makes you hoard fat like you wouldn’t believe it.)

When I first decided to diet several years ago, I ate about 2,200 calories/day six days/week and I ate whatever I wanted for one day/week. I exercised for about 30 mins to an hour / day, six days / week. I leaned out a lot, dropped two dress sizes. Mind you, I didn’t start out big — about size eight/ten. (Consulting Fifty…don’t ask)

So I dropped to size six.

Then I quit dieting (work reasons and I was happy with where I was more or less and a car accident created some problems).

I can still eat about 2,500 cal/day and maintain my weight as long as I eat good whole food and exercise about two to four times/week. When I want to lose weight, I eat about 1,500 - 1,800 cal/day and exercise about four times/week. If I eat less I don’t do too well unless I get to do frequent refeed. If I want to eat more and still lose weight, I need to sprint and/or run at least twice a week. (Note how I did that a few years ago)

Here’s the thing — people don’t generally weigh 200-300 pounds naturally if they eat healthy and are moderately active. Those who do are either very tall or (and in some cases) athletes who have a lot of muscles, which weigh more and are denser than fat.

BTW — if you think what I’m saying here is irrelevant because I’m not a big chick, let me tell you about my friend who’s a plus size girl and started to eat healthy and exercised. She lost weight even with weekly cheats. She wasn’t starving either — ate quite a lot of calories — 2,350/day on her normal diet days.

I think I proved my point.

I did some lat and shoulder work and jogged for about 20 mins @ 8kmph. Felt really good. I couldn’t even walk much yesterday because of stiff muscles and joints, but my legs felt fairly good. I plan to continue at this pace until next week when I plan to increase the speed. I want to eventually reach 10kmph.