Books, Bikes and More

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Another Short Ruck

2.5 miles this morning with 50 "get up, get downs." Think of them as a slow and not explosive burpee. They still get the heart rate up. Especially with 35 pounds on your back. This morning there weren't a lot of clouds so I had a pretty good view of stars from the field where I did the PT. My old friends, the dippers, Orion, Cassiopeia, Cancer, and Taurus were out to say hi. I'm at 9.5 miles in total. Got some big miles coming at the end of the week.

Monday, October 7, 2019

Quick 2 Miles with a Water Jug

As part of my preparation for my GORUCK Tough challenge on the 25th, I did a couple of miles today, one of which I was carrying a 20L water jug, aka jerry can. I took a picture at the end with my ruck and the jerry can. If you're looking for a great grip strength exercise, walk around with a jerry can full of water.

Also, on Saturday Serena and I did a 5k obstacle course race. It's not really a race since it took us about an hour, but it was a blast. It was between 45-50 F, windy at parts and the ground was super muddy as it had been raining all morning. Serena and I both attempted all the obstacles and we crushed it! I'm most proud that I made it through the rope swings without taking a break or falling to the ground. Go us!

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

UWVC Ruck 1 - Marching for Veterans

This October I'm doing the official GORUCK challenge and pledging 75 miles (which translates to $75) for their collaboration with the United War Veterans Council (https://www.goruck.com/marching-for-veterans). Along with other ruckers across the globe, I'll be rucking in support of this great organization that helps veterans in a variety of ways. Today was the first ruck of the month. Stats below.

Wednesday, December 26, 2018

My New Year's Resolution for 2019

After school and the post-school doldrums, I decided it was time to lose the extra weight I gained during school and to shake off the cobwebs of physical inactivity and get back into shape. I started doing Insanity again and eating better. I didn't weigh myself before I started all this. My thought was, "I'm not doing this to lose weight, but to feel better and be able to do the things I used to do like play Ultimate Frisbee for hours."

Over the next 6 weeks, I was able to lose 15-20 lbs. But my foot started hurting and I couldn't continue with the higher intensity portion of Insanity. I started looking for other methods of exercise that wouldn't hurt my foot. As it got cold, I knew I wouldn't be riding my bike outside so I brought it in and started using it in my trainer. I also started looking into calisthenics and using some of those exercises. I checked out a couple of gyms in the area to see if they could offer a pretty inexpensive option. In the end, after reading some of the 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss, I decided to make my own modified plan as follows:

Diet Plan:

Breakfast:

2 egg whites + whole egg scrambled
A handful of spinach (1 ½ C)
½ cup black beans
2 tbs salsa

Lunch 1:

½ C Chicken breast
2 C steamed broccoli and cauliflower or asparagus

Lunch 2:

3 oz roast beef
2 C steamed broccoli and cauliflower or asparagus
Some other options to give some variety:
1 C Lentils
2 C Butternut Squash
Or
½ C Chicken Breast
1 C black beans
1 C green peas

Dinner:

Whatever we’re eating at home for the night, going for eating more vegetables than anything else on the plate.

Exercise Plan:

Every Day Warm Up:

Jump rope 30 secs on/off, 45 secs on/off, 60 secs on/of
Stretch for 5 minutes

Monday:

75 reps of kettlebell swings with 53 lb. bell
10-15 slow myotatic crunches

Tuesday:

45-minute bike or insanity pure cardio

Wednesday:

3 sets of:
Push-ups – slow pushups (with resistance bands) x5 then wait two minutes
Bent rows with resistance bands, 45 lb. resistance x5 then wait two minutes
2 sets of:
drag curls 45 lb. resistance x6 with 3 minutes rest.