Can you do these push ups?

Jan28-185,jan29-810

total push ups/chins 155,783

weight 203.2 bf%21.5

If you think you can't get an adequate workout doing mainly push ups check out this video:

http://fittron.wordpress.com/2009/01/28/no-gym-no-problem-see-if-you-can-do-these-pushups/

The graph above (fitday -weight goal graph) indicates that I am still on target for meeting my goal of reaching 185 by New Years. The squiggly line is my actual weight.Obviously there are day to day fluctuations,but basically I am trying to keep below the straight flat line. So far so good-however you can see there are a few days where I have pushed the envelope-or the line so to speak. I got a little nervous this morning when the tanita said my weight was going up,but I did the math and the drop in bodyfat percent suggests I gained 1.86 pounds of muscle and lost about a quarter of a pound of fat. Do I believe I gained almost 2 pounds of muscle overnight-well not really. Probably just one of those daily fluctuations -but it makes a pound or two gain easier to swallow.

New Links

Jan23-319,jan 24-465,jan25-331,jan26-615,jan 27- 105

total push ups/chins 154,788

weight 201.6, bf%21.8

I added a few links to the sites I access fairly frequently over to the left. Fitday is pretty cool as you can track on a daily basis how many calories you are burning versus what you are eating. Dragon door will tell you almost everything you ever wanted to know about kettlebells and training with kettlebells. Crossfit is one of my new favorites. The daily workouts or WOD are pretty extreme.-Lots of variety so keeps things interesting. THe workoouts have lots of push ups ,chins and handstand pushups (not to mention some kettlebells thrown in to boot) so I like them. The site has what they call brandx workouts which are scaled down versions of the WOD. For right now the "puppy' version of the workouts is sufficient for me-looking forward to working up to the "big dog" workouts.

Crossfit

Jan 18-540,jan19-240,jan20-505,jan21-500,jan 22-457

total push ups and chins 152,958

weight 202.8 bf 22.6%

Every once in a while when I do an internet search on something like kettlebells-I inevitably come across somebodies crossfit site somewhere. I hadn't really paid a lot of attention to these sites until a little over a week ago. The main site is:

http://www.crossfit.com/

Each day they post the daily work out or as they refer to it WOD . Kettlebells are one of the frequently used peices of equiptment. The site and organization claim to be focused on functional fitness. For most of this week I have been trying out some of thier workouts. Not the WOD -I think those would seriously whip my a**. The site has a few of the standard workouts -brand x -that they have scaled down into four levels of fitness. The regular length and intensity of the workout is the Big Dog and the beginner version is the Puppies. I have been doing the puppies version of these workouts for about a week (in addition to the push ups and chins-although most of the workouts have a lot of chins). I would say I kind of like and hate the workouts at the same time. Each workout has a slightly different focus, sometimes you are focusing on gymnastics, then olympic weightlifting, cardio curcuits-lots of variety in general. Anyway the website is worth a check out, and I am definately continuing to work on the push ups and the chins-but these workouts will add some variety for a while.

500 a day

Jan16-505,Jan17-535

Total push ups/chins 150,716

Weight 203.0 bf% 20.7

Since New Years I have been averaging 496 push ups or chins a day. My daily average for last year was 222-so January has been a good month. It used to seem like doing 200 or 300 in a day was a big deal-but now that I have determined to try to do at least 500 a day- I just seem to get them done somehow before the day ends. If I haven't got my 500 in a day I end up doing sets of 10 by the side of my bed until the 500 are done.

Attempted a maximum effort for chin ups last night-got 13-almost got a 14th.

50 straight

Jan13-445,Jan14-610,jan15-400

total push ups/chins 149,681

weight 203.6 bf%22.0

Well if this is the first time you stumbled on this blog site-I'll give you a bit of an update. I have goals in my personal life,goals in my professional life. Once you hit your 40's your body starts being able to do less of what it was able to do in your twenties. Somehow that doesn't seem quite fair and part of me thinks it doesn't have to be true. I figured I needed some kind of goal-aimed at proving it didn't have to be so. I stumbled across the blog one million push ups (link over on the left). Jack wanted to do a million push ups in his lifetime. Perfect goal-I could do that. It was a goal that would not quickly or easily be accomplished-it would take some persistance. The total above is where I am at in the quest for one million. Every chin ups I do counts as one, every push ups I do counts as one. So unlike Jack's blog where he is counting only push ups-I am counting push ups or chin ups.

On another note I tested my maximum for push ups( in a row). Yesterday I did 50 straight. Around New Years I thought I could probably do about 40-but when I tested myself I could only do straight sets of 30. 50 straight-halfway to one of my New Years goals.

Goal Graph

Jan 11-550,Jan12-586

total push ups/chins 148,226

weight 202.2 bf%23.6

Here is my fitday weight goal graph as of today. It is a little hard to read, but the straight line represents the trendline I will need to maintain to hit 185 by next New Years. The squiggly line underneath is my actual recorded weight to date. As you can see by the graph even with the ups and downs-I am apparently ahead of schedule to make this target. Of course the challenge is when I reach the sub 200 lbs point -but knock on wood. Haven't tested myself for maximum chins or push ups in a while-but my total daily numbers are going okay

Fast Food Friday

JAn8-120,jan9-330,jan 10-728

total push ups/chins 147,090

weight 205.6,bf%23.5

We have a little ritual at our house. After a long week of work and/or school-it is fast food Friday. Had KFC with the family last night-results-immediate weight gain. Note to self -no more fast food Friday. We can get a fast food treat for the rest of the family-I will try to have something more reasonable. Or at least eat the FF more moderately. I did come across an interesting site. It is called the IFLife. :

http://www.theiflife.com/

A couple of interesting articles, a few on intermittent fasting as a strategy to promote health, longevity and weight loss. As I was reading the article, I was thinking about everything I had read about letting your metabolism slow down, by not eating frequently enough. Surprise ,surprise there is an article on the site that suggests the advice to eat 6 meals a day is a myth. It is an interesting read.

500 push ups minimum

Jan 5-500,Jan6-500, Jan 7-550

Total push ups /chins 145,812

weight 201.4, bf%24.6

After reading the article below about the 53 year old guy who does a minimum of 500 or most days over 1000 push ups I am feeling a little bit like a panty waist. Shamed into feeling that if I really have a goal of doing a million chin ups/push ups -I better up the volume a bit. If a 53 year old can do 1000 push ups a day I can surely match his daily minimum. I have read the Jack LaLanne set a world record at 45 by doing 1000 push ups and 1000 chin ups in an hour and 22 minutes - so at 44 I suppose there is lots of hope left. Jhoon Rhee the man credited with bringing Tae Kwon Do to North America is reported to have been doing 1000 push ups a day when he was 71 ( I don't know how old he is now-the guy will probably live forever at that rate). Here's to lots of push ups for years to come

Weekend weight

Jan3-515,Jan4-570

total push ups/chins 144,262

weight 203.8 ,bf% 24.3

So far this year three or four days in I am hitting some decent push up/chin up numbers. Typically I loss weight all week long and then spend the weekend pigging out and puttin the weight back on. This weekend I went down in weight overall. Not a bad new trend for the New Years. On the quest for 100 consecutive push ups and 100 consecutive chins. On the good news side of things I was able to do 12 consecutive chins yesterday. The bad news is I thought I could do about 40 consecuvtive push ups -I tested myself yesterday and was only able to do 30 in row.

More on New Years Goals

Jan 2-560

Push ups/chin ups total 143,177

weight 205.4 bf%24.8

Just after Christmas I bought one of the new Tanita scales. We had one of the first ones they made (I think it was one of their first models) had it for about ten years. The new one measures bodyweight to a tenth of a pound instead of a half pound. BF percentage is the same-measures to a tenth a percent instead of one half a percent. The scale also measures bone mass, hydration, metabolic age. Pretty handy and accurate way to obsess about your weight and bodyfat.....

Further to my New Years goals, I figure to make the goal of 100 consecutive chins is going to take quite a bit of work. The good news is I tested myself yesterday and I figured I could do 10 straight. Well I can actually do 11-a ways from 100 -but better than I thought. I am assuming if I get my weight down a bit I will be more likely to make the goal (less weight to lift -equals more chins ups). Fitday has this cool feature where you can create a target weight and a goal date and it will help calculate the calorie deficit you need to make the goal. Above is an example of the graph it creates to help you track your progress. You can't quite tell on this image, but the graph had a second line that indicates your actual weight relative to the trend line you need to match to meet your goal. Part of the reason you can't see the second line on this chart is that I only set the goal up yesterday and there are only two data points visible (barely). My goal is to get to 185 by the time I am going to do my 100 chins ups, 100 push ups test (next New Years). Each day I only need about a 200 calorie deficit to make the goal-however to be honest I haven't been at this weight since University (maybe High School). The 200 calorie a day deficit shouldn't be any big problem-the consistency will. That is the possibilty of having one of those "what the hell days" where you eat 1200 calories more than you burn.

New Years Goals

Dec31-220, Jan,1 -335.

total push ups and chins 142,617

2008 has ended and I have added a total of 81081 to my push ups/chin ups total. That works out to an average of 222 chins/push ups a day. Both of these numbers are an improvement on last years total of 61,201 or average of 167 per day. This is definately an improvement to be proud of buy I know I can bring both the yearly total and the average up-and will this year. This year at New Years dinner (Cathy had told us in advance that she was going to have us each do this) we all had to list a goal or several goals for the year. Not a resolution a goal , and the goal had to be measureable. Two of the goals I chose that relate to the goal of doing a million push ups and chin ups was to "be able to do 100 consectutive chin ups and 100 consectutive push ups. I figure 100 push ups is hard but achievable. ( I can probably do sets of 40 consectutive push ups). The chin ups will take some serious work as currently I can do sets of 10 consecutive-100 is a long way off.