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JD’s Health Journal

Age: 34
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 270
Bodyfat: >17%

Overall Goals:
Lower Body Fat
Reduce/eliminate aches and pains due to being so over weight
Better Nutrition
Improve Conditioning
Lower cholesterol level

About me:
I'm a regular guy who has a sedentary job sitting in front of a computer and phone. I’ve watched my body go from generally athletic to one that has overtime slid south with gravity. Guilt has a taken over a few times over the years to get myself back in shape but a life changing event always side tracks me in mid course. But I’m back now with a renewed motivation. I've done a lot of searching on the internet lately about weight lifting / cardio/ nutrition etc and have found I like exrx.net the best. So I’ll use this site and the folks that contribute here as my main information source as I steer myself back on course to a healthy life and better conditioned body.

Beginning workout:
I’ll start a 12 week cycle with a Two Day Split Push / Pull Workout - 4 days a week Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri off Wednesday Saturday and Sunday. I’ll try to keep the workout at 60 minutes to ensure I get in and out while staying focused.
Main goals in the first 12 weeks:
Increase my rep weight in all sets by 25%
Noticeable decrease in overall body fat
Increase in cardio capacity.


Warm up
About 5 minutes on the Life Cycle Elliptical Trainer at a good pace to get my heart pumping and to break a sweat.

Stretch
I’ll spend 5 minutes stretching out the muscle groups I intend on hitting when I lift.

Weights –
I will start out with a warm up set of 10 reps at 50% of the max weight I’ll use in the set.
Middle set of 8 reps with 75% of the max weight
Last set to muscle exhaustion or 10 of 100% of the max weight

Monday / Thursday Push Routine
Bench Press - I’ll alternate between dumbbells and lever
Leg Press – Sled Lever 45° Leg Press moving to Street machine to a barbell squat
Dumbbell Shoulder Press – Also mix in some Arnold dumbbell presses.
Calf Raise- Seated Calf machine.
Triceps - Dumbbell Triceps extension and cable push downs



Tuesday / Friday Pull Routine
Back – Lever Incline Row / Cable Pull down using different hand positions and attachments
Hamstrings – Cable Lying Leg Curl then moving to barbell or street as I get stronger
Deltoids- Cable Upright Row moving to dumbbell lateral raises
Abs – Crunch / sit ups using the ball and using the seated lever machine
Biceps – Preacher curl and dumbbell


Cardio-
I’ve decided on a HIIT cardio regimen on a LifeCylce Elliptical trainer. Using revolutions as the indicator for speed
Warm up 2 minutes

Interval 1a – 50 revs – 30 seconds
Interval 1b – 80 revs – 45 seconds

Interval 2a - 50 revs – 60 seconds
Interval 2b – 80 revs – 45 seconds

Interval 3a – 50 revs – 60 seconds
Interval 3b – 80 revs – 60 seconds

Interval 4a – 50 revs – 90 seconds
Interval 4b – 80 revs – 60 seconds

Interval 5a – 50 revs – 90 seconds
Interval 5b – 80 revs – 60 seconds

Interval 6a – 50 revs – 90 seconds
Interval 6b – 80 revs – 60 seconds

Interval 7a – 50 revs – 75 seconds
Interval 7b – 80 revs – 80 seconds

Cool down 2-3 minutes

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Duration - about 60 minutes
Cardio - good first go at HIIT, great sweat after 5 minutes, will move cardio at the end of workout as I was to sweaty during weights
Stretch - Good stretch , more upper body stretching
Weights
Dumbbell bench press 8x25 / 10x45
Leg press sled 10x180 / 10 x 270
Standing shoulder press dumbbell 8x20 / 6x25 - shoulder pain
Seated lever calf raise 15x 80 / 10x135
Triceps - missed get on Friday

Overall - - Good first day, move a middle set in next week, watch diet

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Journal for 8/4 and 8/8

Duration - about 60 minutes on each day. Missed Monday couldn’t fit it in with work and family in town.

Didn’t warm up, I need to make sure I get this in next time

Decent pre workout stretch both days and mixed in stretches during the weight workout.

8/4 Weights - Pull
Back – 10x80 10x120 10x140 – struggle
Hamstrings – 10x90 10x120 10x180 – move to 200
Deltoid – 10x20 10x30 10x50 - move to 55
Bicept – preacher and dumbbell mix 10x25 10x25 7x35 – exhaustion
Abs – 4x10 ball sit-ups / crunches needs to work this harder might move it earlier in the routine.

8/8 Weights - Push
bench - dumbbells 10x25 10x40 10x50
shoulders - dumbbells 10x15 10x20 10x25 - move up to 30
calves - 10x80 10x125 10x170 - move up to 180
Triceps 10x40 10x60 8x90
squat 10x180 10x225 10x270


Cardio - I had two great HIIT elliptical training sessions, I got my heart rate up to 170 on each of the 6 intervals both days. In 20 minutes including warm up and cool down I am burning 300+ calories according to the machine. Not sure how accurate the calorie counter is but I was in the 300 calorie range for a 30 minute “regular” elliptical session. So the intensity is way up.

I really like the HIIT sessions because it’s fast, intense and I really like the intervals so I can push myself during the workout.


Overall - Good workouts both days, need to watch diet, warm up before weights.

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What a few months... My mother -in-law was diagnosed and passed away from Cancer in a span of 9 weeks. Needless to say my workout plans. I haven’t been to the gym since the first week of August. That changes today. Look for a post later today.

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