Might be an idea next time you see it hitting 190 is to just stop what you're doing and manually check it. Would be interesting to see if you're a freak of nature or just have a faulty watch

Maybe I'll throw my wife's iwatch on as well next time. She claims that it is the most accurate and best device ever made, so it has to be right.

April 26 – forgot to step on scale, left house without my watch, wallet and coffee. Remembered watch and wallet at end of the driveway, went back. Remembered coffee at 2nd last stop light before office. Mourned loss. Checked to ensure pants were on. All good.

Rest day. Rested by working 7am to 9pm. Managed just shy of 8k steps throughout the day and that was it on the exercise front.

1698 cal/141 carb/59 fat/155 protein

April 27 – 151.0 lbs

Mobility work and stretching done between exercises.

Alternated between pushups and squats:
Pushups target– 12/17/13/13/17+ (scaled back to beginning of week 3 for a deloady week)
Pushups done – 12/17/13/13/20

Goblet Squats (16kg KB) – 18/18/18/17/17

Alternated between pullups and single leg rdl’s:
Pullups target – 3/5/3/3/5+ (scaled back repeat)
Pullups done – 3/5/3/3/6 (used a different grip for each set, pullup/chin/neutral)

Single leg rdl’s (2x12kg KB) – 2x 8/8/8/7/7

Scaling back on pushups and pullups this week but continuing to microprogress 1 rep on the goblet squats and rdls. Balance is still pretty craptastic on the single leg rdls.

1720 cal/147 carb/63 fat/151 protein/32 fibre

April 28 – 150.8 lbs

12 min mobility and stretching.

Cardio – Elliptical – 30min including a couple mins warmup and cool down. Went pretty steady around 150-160 strides per min with chunks of 170-190.

1704 cal/141 carb/53 fat/173 protein/32 fibre


April 29 – 150.8 lbs

Mobility work and stretching done between exercises.

Alternated between pushups and squats:
Pushups target– 14/19/14/14/19+ (scaled back to beginning of week 3 for a light week)
Pushups done – 14/19/15/14/20

Goblet Squats (16kg KB) – 18/18/18/18/17

Alternated between pullups and single leg rdl’s:
Pullups target – 4/6/4/4/6+ (scaled back repeat)
Pullups done – 4/6/4/4/6 (used a different grip for each set, pullup/chin/neutral)

Single leg rdl’s (2x12kg KB) – 2x 8/8/8/8/7

Scaling back on pushups and pullups this week but continuing to microprogress 1 rep on the goblet squats and rdls.

1896 cal/149 carb/56 fat/171 protein/33 fibre

April 30 – 151.0 lbs

12 mins of stretching and mobility work.

Cardio – revisited the Brutal kettlebell HIIT Cardio Tabata Workout last attempted March 15
Three 20 second sets of each of the following with 10 seconds of rest after each set.
KB Halo
Mountain Climbers
KB Snatch Right Arm
Squat Jacks
KB Snatch Left Arm
Burps
KB Swing
Push ups
KB Goblet Squat
High Knees
KB Crush Curl
Jumping Lunges
Used the 16kg kettlebell for the KB work this time and left push ups in instead of replacing with bicycle crunches this time. Wasn’t able to work the full 20 seconds on every set but it wasn’t as brutal as the last time.

1822 cal/157 carb/60 fat/179 protein/26 fibre

Updated pics Apr 30, 2016.






My wife says there has been a pretty significant transformation in my back. I don’t ever see my back so I have no idea and never thought to take pics of it along the way.


Bonus pic of my 2 wheeled friend I recovered from storage on Saturday. Gorgeous day, bit cool in the morning though, took the long way to and from work.

May 1 – 150.8 lbs

Mobility work and stretching done between exercises.

Alternated between pushups and squats:
Pushups target– 16/21/15/15/21+ (scaled back to beginning of week 3 for a light week)
Pushups done – 16/21/16/15/21

Goblet Squats (16kg KB) – 18/18/18/18/18

Alternated between pullups and single leg rdl’s:
Pullups target – 5/7/5/5/6+ (scaled back repeat)
Pullups done – 5/7/5/5/6 (used a different grip for each set, pullup/chin/neutral)

Single leg rdl’s (2x12kg KB) – 2x 8/8/8/8/8

1896 cal/149 carb/56 fat/171 protein/33 fibre

3 months down. Pleased with the progress so far. Really pleased that I was able to keep up with a regular exercise schedule while being swamped at work. Almost time to switch gears and actually learn how to lift heavy stuff. Sort of looking forward to it and sort of dreading it. Was targeting getting down to 150lbs by May 1st. Came close, missed by under a pound. I am going to slowly add some calories up towards maintenance but plan to hit 149.x before I level out.

3 month summary:

Week	Avg Wght	Avg Cals	Avg Carb	Avg Fat	Avg Pro
1. Feb 1-7	162.2	2268	223	75	183
2. Feb 8-14	161.3	2245	191	82	184
3. Feb 15-21	161.8	2019	192	64	173
4. Feb 22-28	160.5	1781	169	54	161
5. Feb 29-Mar 6	159.5	1823	151	58	178
6. Mar 7-13	158.1	1793	147	58	169
7. Mar 14-20	157.9	1865	164	59	174
8. Mar 21-27	157.1	1795	144	56	180
9. Mar 28-Apr3	155.2	1768	153	53	178
10. Apr 4-10	154.3	1781	152	54	179
11. Apr 11-17	153.2	1790	136	60	184
12. Apr 18-24	152.1	1827	142	66	170
13. Apr 25-May 1	151.0	1800	142	62	169

I ate at maintenance for the first 3 weeks and then started aiming for a 20% deficit late in week 3.

Going to have a major cheat day tomorrow with buckets of empty alcohol calories tomorrow night. Taking my first day off in over 45 days on Tuesday and then back to the grind.

Took a flex pic tonight. All previous flex pics looked absolutely identical to my relaxed pics. Still not much difference but there is starting to be some at least.

May 2 – 151.7 lbs

No exercise. Many drinks. Got delivered home at about 3:30am. Cal total might be light, I lost count at 11pm and just added a few drinks to the total to that point. Pretty sure I got roofied too but no one took advantage of me.

3291 cal/235 carb/61 fat/134 protein/39 fibre

May 3 – too hungover to stand on a scale

No exercise other than walking to my kid’s school to pick them up at the end of the day (~15min walk there and at least double that on the way back). Hung out on my couch for most of the day.

1526 cal/129 carb/60 fat/134 protein/49 fibre

May 4 – 149.3 lbs

Mobility work and stretching done between exercises.

Alternated between pushups and squats:
Pushups target– 14/19/14/14/19+ (repeat)
Pushups done – 14/19/14/14/19

Goblet Squats (16kg KB) – 19/18/18/18/18

Alternated between pullups and single leg rdl’s:
Pullups target – 4/6/4/4/6+ (scaled back repeat)
Pullups done – 4/6/4/4/6 (used a different grip for each set, pullup/chin/neutral)

Single leg rdl’s (2x12kg KB) – 2x 9/8/8/8/8

1968 cal/151 carb/65 fat/186 protein/40 fibre

May 5 – 151.6 lbs

Got home pretty late, flipped a coin between doing nothing and next to nothing. Next to nothing won.

C2 Rower – 18min nice and easy with small bouts of semi-effort – 3,650 m.

2008 cal/158 carb/65 fat/209 protein/47 fibre

May 6 – 151.3 lbs

Mobility work and stretching done between exercises.

Alternated between pushups and squats:
Pushups target– 16/21/15/15/21+ (repeat)
Pushups done – 16/21/15/15/21

Goblet Squats (16kg KB) – 19/19/18/18/18

Alternated between pullups and single leg rdl’s:
Pullups target – 5/7/5/5/6+ (repeat)
Pullups done – 5/7/5/5/6 (used a different grip for each set, pullup/chin/neutral)

Single leg rdl’s (2x12kg KB) – 2x 9/9/8/8/8

1872 cal/142 carb/64 fat/194 protein/46 fibre


May 7 – 151.1 lbs

Relaxing in a hot tub for a while was as close as it got to exercise for the day. Got home after 10 and crashed immediately.

2113 cal/141 carb/90 fat/198 protein/49 fibre

May 8 – 151.8 lbs

Mobility work and stretching done between exercises.

Alternated between pushups and squats:
Pushups target– 18/22/16/16/25+ (repeat)
Pushups done – 18/22/16/16/25
Felt super strong on the first three sets and then struggled with the last two.

Goblet Squats (16kg KB) – 19/19/19/18/18

Alternated between pullups and single leg rdl’s:
Pullups target – 5/8/5/5/8+ (repeat)
Pullups done – 5/8/5/5/7 (used a different grip for each set, pullup/chin/neutral)
Was feeling good right up until the 6th rep on the last set, finished the 7th with my fingertips and didn’t come close on #8. Just a little more WIM and I had it.

Single leg rdl’s (2x12kg KB) – 2x 9/9/9/8/8

1943 cal/175 carb/65 fat/172 protein/36 fibre

May 9 – 151.9 lbs

Rower – 8 x 500m / 1min easy row in between – did the 8 x 500m in 17:34, no clue what distance I covered in the 8 min easy, estimated 1350m. Used the interval mode instead of just row, not sure if there was some way to capture the total distance at the end. If there was a way, I didn’t figure it out.

I slapped my wife’s iwatch on my right wrist and tried to catch my heart rate during some of the later rest periods. The iwatch and the fitbit were fairly consistent when I was able to check. Highest heart rate I saw was ~185 and I wasn’t really pushing hard. Rower kicks my ass.

Haven’t been able to sync my fitbit through my archaic blackberry the last couple days, so I am finally giving in and getting an iphone. My phone is long overdue for an update and I can get whatever through work so it should be no muss no fuss. Famous last words. No muss no fuss probably isn't that famous actually.

No progress on setting up a home gym in the garage yet. Still a pile of crap in my way and I haven't come closing to touching it. Maybe June if not May.

1965 cal/163 carb/68 fat/180 protein/35 fibre

There's some setting like "Workout: Variable Interval" where you can toggle between distance and time intervals as preferred. Pretty much the programming setting I always use.

Awesome, thanks very much!

No problem; the only pain is that you have to go into the memory setting to get your total time and distance at the end, but the plus side is that it gives you exact splits for your different pieces. Even if you're doing a session with something like 6x4 minutes on/2 minutes easy, I still enter it that way, because it allows for more precise tracking than just figuring out the total amount of time the piece would take and changing pace at the appropriate time, if that makes sense.

Yeah, that makes lots of sense. Up until last night I just went with "Just Row" and had notes on the rower about what I wanted to do for different times/distances/paces. Variable Interval sounds like the way to go. I am more and more impressed by your rowing numbers every time I sit on mine - it completely kicks my ass.
Thanks again!

May 10 – 150.2 lbs

1 hour warm up raking and cleaning the front yard.

I went to see a personal trainer/powerlifting coach for an initial session for the purpose of setting up some training on form and technique for the main lifts. This guy has his own gym within a 5 minute drive from my house, is pretty close to my age (old) and has a background in Javelin > Olympic Lifting > Power Lifting. He has been in the industry for over twenty years and I found some youtube videos of him squatting 725 pounds without one of those fancy shirts (he says he never really figured out how to lift with gear and only managed 750 pounds in gear). He is due for a knee replacement in a month and has blown out both of his shoulders, the first one ended his javelin pursuits and started his Olympic lifting and the other benching. He is very very passionate about lifting and is really big on safety.

Anyway, I just went in for a chat about what I was planning to do with a home gym and whether it made any sense for him to work with me to get me started in the right direction and ended up spending two hours listening to Bulgarian Weightlifting stories.

He did not seem to be the biggest fan of Ripptoe’s Starting Strength program as a program for one with a case of the olds and suggests doing a lot more volume with lighter starting weights. Volume is king. Time under the bar rules. Volume, volume, volume. He suggests 3 sets of squats for reps of 20 and other stuff for reps of 10. Other stuff being bench, rows, military press, pulldowns got scrapped in favour of chin ups, dips leaning forward. He threw curls in at the end but seemed hesitant and mentioned something about adding them because everything else would take a long time to see physical improvement on.

He had me do a set of 20 squats with just the bar and noted that my depth is close but should be a bit deeper. I narrowed my stance a bit and did a second set of 20 with better depth but my balance felt bad and it felt a bit like I was doing good mornings at the end of some of the reps. He felt that with more weight on the bar the good morning issue would go away. So, whatever that was is a new PR, as was anything else I lifted all night.

He had me do a set of 10 benches, again with just the bar (anything I did was just the bar). I was told to focus on placing the bar on my chest and was to squeeze the crap out of the bar.

Then he had me do a set of 10 rows. Rounded back, couldn’t get it flat. Tried to get my butt back and shins vertical. None of this was happening. Felt it in my hamstrings more than my shoulders. Worked on this for a bit and it will obviously need a lot more work. Setting up for the rows was the only deadlifting I did.

Started to do pulldowns but I’m not sure how well I’ll be set up for these with just a pulley so he suggested trying chins. He was reluctant to just start with chins I think because I look like I can’t do a single one. I managed seven with a dead hang big stretch pause at the bottom of each. May have left one in the tank. Maybe not.

Did a set of military presses and was landing a little lower on my chest than I should have been.

Did some dips leaning forward as much as possible. Was told to do these almost as if I was doing push ups. Apparently these will improve quickly and leaning forward should activate the chest more and triceps less. A couple sets of four felt rougher than I thought they should.

That was it. Going back next week to run through everything again. He thinks that will be about all I need. Will ask about deadlifts and will have to figure out what I will actually do for programming once I get started. SS, GSLP, this guy’s program, a billion other programs…too many bloody options. His main advice on programming was pretty much not to overthink it and just do something. Don’t get injured and keep adding weight - ego-free lifting does people good. Do this for years and years and years and things will be good.

Overall, not exactly what I was looking for (and not sure if that is a good or bad thing, leaning towards good based on his passion and sincerity) but I will definitely be going back and I feel like whatever he is suggesting is with me in mind first, not in selling me additional sessions or memberships.

2139 cal/213 carb/68 fat/182 protein/55 fibre

May 11 – 150.4 lbs

Mobility work and stretching done between exercises.

Alternated between pushups and squats:
Pushups target– 16/21/15/15/21+ (repeat)
Pushups done – 16/21/15/15/21

Goblet Squats (16kg KB) – 19/19/19/19/18

Alternated between pullups and single leg rdl’s:
Pullups target – 5/7/5/5/6+ (repeat)
Pullups done – 5/7/5/5/6 (used a different grip for each set, pullup/chin/neutral)

Single leg rdl’s (2x12kg KB) – 2x 9/9/9/9/8

Started to feel the impact of the little bit of lifting last night towards the end of this workout.

2302 cal/242 carb/66 fat/195 protein/48 fibre

May 12 – 150.1 lbs

Did almost 3 hours of light yard work tonight which took me well past 10pm.

12 mins of stretching and mobility work.

Cardio – Rower – 5000m in 22:17.4. A solid 1.6 second improvement on my last 5K. Given how late I started tonight and all the yard work, I’ll take a 1.6s improvement.

2373 cal/178 carb/100 fat/189 protein/11 fibre

May 13 – 151.0 lbs

Mobility work and stretching done between exercises.

Alternated between pushups and squats:
Pushups target– 18/22/16/16/25+ (repeat)
Pushups done – 19/22/16/16/24

Goblet Squats (16kg KB) – 19/19/19/19/19

Alternated between pullups and single leg rdl’s:
Pullups target – 5/8/5/5/8+ (repeat)
Pullups done – 5/8/5/5/7 (used a different grip for each set, pullup/chin/neutral)

Single leg rdl’s (2x12kg KB) – 2x 9/9/9/9/9

Struggled from the 8th rep onwards on the last set of push ups. Thought for a second that I might make it. Was going strong on the last set of chinups and just came up short on the last one.

2155 cal/226 carb/56 fat/194 protein/35 fibre

May 14 – 151.5 lbs

Did a pile of yard work today, mostly moving and stacking wood. Did that for 8 hours and took a pass on any other form of exercise. Cleared 20k steps in the process. Celebrated by eating bits & bites when I woke up at 1am.

2524 cal/246 carb/70 fat/197 protein/50 fibre

May 15 – 150.8 lbs

Did another 8 or 9 hour stint of yard work with a lower dose of moving/stacking wood and more other random stuff. Cleared 22k steps. Celebrated by having a rib eye, sweet potato and green bean post-workout dinner after my chicken thighs, rice and green beans pre-workout dinner. I am bagged.

Mobility work and stretching done between exercises.

Alternated between pushups and squats:
Pushups target– 20/25/20/20/28+ (repeat)
Pushups done – 20/25/20/20/24

Goblet Squats (16kg KB) – 20/19/19/19/19

Alternated between pullups and single leg rdl’s:
Pullups target – 6/9/6/6/8+ (repeat)
Pullups done – 6/8/6/6/7 (used a different grip for each set, pullup/chin/neutral)
Barely missed the last reps on the 2nd and last sets. Barely made the last rep on the 4th set.

Single leg rdl’s (2x12kg KB) – 2x 10/9/9/9/9


2399 cal/254 carb/61 fat/203 protein/34 fibre

May 16 – 150.4 lbs

17 mins mobility work and stretching. Was going to take a complete rest day but convinced myself to do a really short stint of rowing.

Rower – 3 x 500m with a couple mins rest in between each - 1:57.6, 1:54.8 and 1:54.8. Did a 1 min warm up and a super light 1 min cool down.

2325 cal/210 carb/90 fat/178 protein/41 fibre

May 17 – 150.5 lbs

17 mins mobility work and stretching.

Went for another session with the trainer.
Squats – 65x20x1
Bench – 55x10x3
Bent over row – 45x10x3
OHP – 45x10x3
Chin ups – 8/8/7
Dips – 6/5/5
Curls – 45x10x3

2253 cal/214 carb/82 fat/183 protein/59 fibre

Is that 65 reps of 20kg squats or 20 reps of 65kg squats? Either way seems pretty weird and old-school. Is there any particular reason he doesn't subscribe to the heavy weight/low rep methods that is generally recommended these days for strength gains?

20 reps of 65 pound squats (new PR btw, lawl). Total baby weights, but at my level I still felt it. He has a completely messed up knee and two messed up shoulders which I suspect plays into him being super cautious about lifting well within ones limits. He is kind of weird and old school and all about patience, going slow, just add a bit of weight every week and keep on trucking. He thinks this is a "Blue Chip" program for me based on my inclination to do Ripptoe's program, my age and my time availability. I am probably going to continue to go see him once a week until I actually get my own gym set up and will do body weight stuff a couple times a week as well in the meantime. Once I get set up I will have to decide between his program or SS or GSLP or Other. I find the program a bit confusing but still have no doubt he actually believes this is best for me based on what he knows about me. Not sure how he is in business as I have had two one-hour sessions, each of which lasted two hours and he is not charging for the additional. He hasn't bothered charging me yet and will do so when we are done.

I did 13 (or some random number) of warmup squats with a broomstick and given that I was lifting just the bar in most cases, no warmups on other stuff.

Aaah yeah I always forget you guys over there work in pounds.

I understand where the guy is coming from, however I'm not qualified to say whether it actually is the best thing for you or not. It's probably not the most efficient way of training, but it's still gonna work.

As he keeps stressing patience, I suspect that it probably is not the most efficient way of training as well. I'm sure doing anything will work over time but I'll still have to figure out which way to go when I actually get started. I'm in no rush but I am also not big on going down an inefficient path.