Jason Video: Week 7

Jason Week 7 Update

I'm now approaching the end of 7 weeks and things couldn't be going much better. Thanks to an increasingly intense combination of strength training and cardiovascular workouts (which you'll see below), I've broken through a weight loss plateau and am once again making great gains.

I took my first day off in 43 days since I started this competition on Tuesday...my body really needed it. As much as I love working out every day now, it's important to listen to your body and dial things down every now and again. Chad and the rest of the staff at Fitness Together have also been great at listening to my minor frustrations and have given me that extra encouragement on those days when I really need it. And they are always ready with a new workout to keep me off balance and challenged.

Planning

I think one of the reasons people fail to maintain a regular exercise program and follow proper nutrition is a failure to plan. I have instituted a number of things into my daily routine that make it easier for me to maintain my progress:

1. Planning my meals for the week.
If you don't have food in the house, it's easy to run out and get something quick, which is usually something unhealthy. I am lucky enough to have a wife that buys what I/we will need for meals for the week, up to 7 days in advance. We don't necessarily know what meal will be eaten on what day, but we have several options every day to keep things interesting.

Also, I watch my work calendar for anything unexpected, like a meeting that might fall at a time that I would normally eat my mid afternoon meal. I'll usually try to tweak my meal schedule to revolve around my day. I want to make sure I am anticipating any disrupting to my 5-meal-a-day routine.

2. Getting ready for my workout.
I don't know about you, but there are many times when I feel pretty tired after a day of work and don't feel like working out. And if I forgot to bring my workout clothes with me that day, the odds that I'll want to go home, put on my workout clothes and leave the house again are 50-50 at best. The couch starts to look inviting, I think about having a snack, there are other distractions (paying bills, tv, etc.) and the workout takes a back seat.

Before I go to bed each night, I pack up my gym bag with my clothes, shoes and my Physique (post-workout drink) and place it by my front door. I can't leave my house without stumbling over my bag.

3. Mental preparation
My trainers at Fitness Together have been great about providing me with a workout schedule an entire month in advance. I know what workout is coming on what day. I never go to the training studio wondering what we'll be doing that day. It gives me a chance to think about the demands of that day's workout in advance, making the workout itself a little less intimidating. I want to make sure that I have the level of energy and focus I'll need the second I walk through the door. Whether you're paying for personal training or are a lucky contestant like myself, your trainers (and you) deserve your very best every single workout.

4. Involving your family and friends
I have a very supportive wife that was onboard from the get go, but it was still important to explain to her what the demands of the program were to be. By sharing my schedule with her, she can also plan accordingly.

One of my passions is Milwaukee Brewers baseball (I have partial season tickets). My normal routine in prior years was to meet up with two of my friends 2 hours before the game, have some drinks and dinner and then head off to the game. I made sure that they knew that my workout schedule would require me to show up a little later than normal and that my drinking would be greatly subdued. It's much easier to stick to your goals if you have other people around you that understand what you're going through. And it's not a bad idea to have other people to keep your feet to the fire.

When I started this program, Chad at Fitness Together told me that one of my obligations in this program was to pass on the knowledge that I had learned. That sounded crazy at the time…what was I going to teach anyone in my condition? But as my fitness level and nutritional habits are improving and likewise improving my life, I feel like I do owe it to others to share the knowledge I have picked up and hope to inspire others to do as I have done.

Thanks for listening and don't wait to start your own "fitness transformation"!

Meal Plan

This week we did not go through an EAT session. After his cardio session we talked nutrition to make sure he is staying on track. He will continue to work on the hunger scale daily. It has helped him keep the portion sizes to the right amount. He said that he is noticing that he is really hungry 2-3 hours later and feels that he might need another meal during the day. I’m perfectly fine with him eating 6 times a day if it means that he is keeping the portion sizes right on. The more often he eats with those smaller portions the more regular he will be able to keep his blood sugar levels with will help him to continue to lose more weight.

Jason Video Blog Week 5 Update

Meal Plan

This week we went through sessions number 3 of our EAT nutritional series. Before we got into the information of the lesson we reevaluated Jason’s progress over the last week. He has been doing well with planning and preparing better for his day. I’m seeing at least 5 meals a day which is a goal he has been working on maintaining. He has also been doing pretty well with keeping the meals balanced like our basic balance philosophy. One of the goals that we are setting for him to work on for this next week is to use our hunger scale throughout the day and especially around his meal times. By doing this he will become more in tune to his natural ability of knowing when to eat and when to stop! Far too often the craziness of life and peoples lack of planning and preparation keeps them from being able to be successful at eating the right amount of nutrients the body needs.

Trainer Notes

Any time a client starts a new program there is a learning curve not only for the mind but also the body! Jason forgot what it felt like to his previous program for the first time and was reminded when he experienced this one. This program really puts a lot of demand on his improved cardiovascular endurance. There is no way Jason could have done as good of a job with this type of program when he first came here as he did this week. It looked like the perfect next step to keep raising the bar for him. This will keep him from hitting a plateau in his progress and speaking of progress after doing a few tests the following information was found. Jason lost 10 lbs of fat between March 10th and April 8th! He also has improved his resting heart rate from 68 bpm to 59. He improved by and inch in his hamstring flexibility and he lost a total of 7.35 inches already. His favorite measurement improvement was the inch and three quarters that he lost in his waist J

A few updates-week 4

I've attched a little video snippet that includes a few of the exercises that I'm doing regularly in my program. Right now, my program consists of:

1. An upper body day;
2. A lower body day;
3. A cardio only day.

On the upper and lower body days, we do 6 exercises each day, 3 sets of 20 reps each. At the conclusion of each day, we do 3 different abdonimal exercises in rapid fire succession, pretty much bringing me to exhaustion. In fact, I pretty much reach exhaustion after almost every exercise that I do.

On my cardio-only day, I've been running for up to 30 minutes at a time, varying the speed and incline at which I run to get my heart between 65-85% of its maximum range in order to maximize the cardiovascular benefits.

I'm also doing 30-35 minutes of cardio every day, usually on an elliptical machine., 7 days a week. The gains I have made in my cardiovascualr fitness in the past 3-4 weeks have been fantastic.

I'm looking forward to a new routine next week designed by my great trainers over at Fitness Together. I can't wait to see what they have in store for me!