Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Week Four - Gotta Keep Moving

Week three of my Body for Life Challenge seemed to go by in a flash. I got in some good workouts, was hit and miss on my diet plan, took thermogenics for the first time, got mixed results on my body fat and scale weight, but, in general, felt pretty good about the program. Week four is off to a good start. I'm trying to be patient about results. I realize that gains tend to be exponential in a program like this. In other words, the first gains are slow and then, as every success builds on the previous one, things start to happen faster and faster. I also know I'm walking a very fine line between my primary goal of fat loss and my desire to build muscle. I'm already thinking, if I can lose enough fat in the first eight weeks, I might emphasize muscle gain more in the last four. Honestly, I'm seeing results and I don't want to make any drastic changes. Just gotta keep moving forward.

I was at WalMart last night, buying some more protein bars, and I sat down at the blood pressure machine to check my stats. I know this is silly, but whenever I put my arm through the cuff on that thing, I start to tense up. This is partly because I get nervous about the results of the test and partly because the machine has to reach a starting point of something like 250mm to allow for the worst case person that might sit down there. So it pressurizes way higher than is really necessary for me. Well, even though I had the usual nervous reaction when the test started, I still clocked in at 119/79 with a heart rate of 56. I was happy with both those results, although the blood pressure is still a little high. I was amazed to see my pulse that low. I know my resting heart rate is getting better, but usually it's in the 60's once I get up and start moving. This was at the end of the day, after a lower body workout, a two mile walk at lunch, and a full dose of thermogenics.

On the bike this morning, I noticed that my fabled rest and recovery ability is back. After the first interval, my heart rate was barely 130. At the end of the second interval, I clocked in at more like 150 and I probably hit 170 at my high point. Three minutes later, during my cooldown, I was back down to 130. It was this cardiovascular efficiency that made me such a good distance runner and long distance athlete. My CV system never goes harder than it needs to. I wonder if this is holding me back a little. Part of the reason for the high intensity cardio is to kick your metabolism up a notch for the rest of the day. I'm wondering if mine responds less than other people's does. I took my workout to another level this morning, but I think my strengh and endurance is increasing faster than I thought, because this measurably harder workout seemed easier than the last one. I guess it's a nice problem to have.

I want to do four week pictures this Sunday. I don't think the results will be spectacular at this point, but I think they will be visible. I'll post them on the web site when they are done.

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