New data / weigh ins

measurements for the week:

body fat:

P: 22, 20, 20, 25, and 18; keepers: 22, 20, and 20.
S: 63, 61, 61, 60 and 60; keepers: 61, 61, and 60.
T: 15, 4, 3, 5, and 4; keepers: 4, 5, and 4.

BODY FAT: 25.84.

(Incidentally the test that measures body fat with a wrist and elbow circumference and some other body measurements comes out to 29.2%. . . basically, 26% vs. 29%. . . which is probably close enough for my purposes).

(But, these measurements are a bit skeptical; particularly the thigh ("T") measurement -- which just is either 17 or 5, because the caliper always slips.

Body measurements:

N: 17.50
B: 15.00
C: 49.50
UW: 49.00
LW: 44.50
T: 24.25
H: 45.75

* * *

there are always hiccups in measuring something -- that's just the scientific method. While I strive to take measuring error and subjective elements our of a scientific measure, I think i sometimes fail. This may have been one of those days.

Interestingly, the actual circumference numbers of my body measurements went up; while the body fat measurement using calipers went down. Nonetheless, there is an emotional component to always wanting to see increased and enhanced performance levels. I do know that so long as I keep measuring from week to week, the numbers will go down so long as I eat a bit better and exercise a bit more.

* * *

REST DAYS

It definitely worked out better this week for the rest days. I have decided to move my rest day from Mondays - this week it was a forced rest day on Wed (and thu) due to work demands (I was in the middle of a trial and ended up staying late and working on a brief.

ROWING

I had a nice row this evening after a movie. I decided to just go for 30 minutes and do the best I can. I created a new PBest in doing so. . . which is great. Thrilled to have that athletic feat now captured in my life.

BIT DOWN - MEASUREMENTS
I do admit I am a bit down over the measurements. I almost never look at my prior week(s) measurements until after I've measured for the current week. I figure if I do review -- I'll be too tempted (even if it is subconsciously) to measure lower numbers. Perhaps I was too aggressive with the measuring last week? I doubt it -- the error rate for measurin with a measurin tape is really ~0.25 inches.

Nonetheless, I **DO** notice that my shorts seems to be getting mroe and more loose :-).

c

One Step Back

"Frankie liked to say that everything in boxing was an unnatural act. Sometimes the best way to deliver a punch was to step back . . . but step back too far -- you ain't fightin' at all."

Six Million Dollar Baby. (Narrative by Morgan Freeman).

* * *

I ended up taking Saturday off. I can't decide whether I did it out of pure laziness, or whether it was done for self-preservation -- or, somewhere inbetween, indeed, perhaps a rest day.

HOURS

My work hours are crazy at times. I think my hours were:

mon: 830a - 6p -- 9.5 - 1.5 = 8.0
tue: 830a - 11p (1.5 hours of driving); -- 14.5 - 1.5 = 13
wed: 830a- 1a -- 16.5 hours
thu: 830a-6p -- 9.5 - 1.5 = 8.0
fri: 830a-5p - 9.5 - 1.5 = 8.00

That was a 54 hour week. So, I was a bit sleep deprived by the end of the week (like usual). . . while I don't want that to be an excuse. . . I slept like 6 hours tuesday evening and like 4 hours wednesday evening. less than the required sleep under "healthy" norms. I tried to feel ok about it -- but I'm actually quite conflicted by it.

Measurements and thoughts

First the data:

N: 17.25
B: 15.00
C: 48.00
UW: 47.50
LW: 44.00
T: 25.25
H: 46.00


COMPARED TO 03.29.08

N has dropped 0.5 inches; biceps remain the same; chest is down 3 inches; upper stomach has dropped 2.5% while lower has dropped an inch; thigh is down 0.25.

COMPARED TO 04.11.08. . .

I can also note a .25 drop in neck; .25 drop in biceps; 0.75 drop (from last week) in chest;
a 2" drop in waist and a .5" drop in lower waist; hips were teh same; and thighs are actually 0.25% larger (probably from increased cycling and rowin).


Calipers:
P: 26, 27, 26
S: 59, 57, and 59; and
T: 15, 13 and 14.

Result: 29.03%

I suppose that's a drop of about 1% from the prior 30.19%. Or, perhaps it's only a rounding error.

NEW WORKOUT PRODUCTS

I have considered the purchsae of two new potential workout products. Ultimately, though I think I reject them. However, I did recently buy some rollers from Performance. They Rock --

Rollers
I did also purchase one new product : Rollers (for riding on the bike indoors). I owned rollers (and used them quite frequently in the midst of really loud rock music) for a few years back in Boston. However, while I moved them out to California, I rode more outdoors than indoors, so I sold them off. Now that I often work late, and I don't like to ride my road bike in the dark -- I bought another pair of rollers (incidentally, about $100 bucks on sale, so it was a pretty good deal too!).

The P90x
I did look into the P90x, since it had rave reviews. Apparently it's put out by Beachbody or Beachbody fitness.

The p90x seems to have a rabid followin (e.g., Tom (a hockey player-cyclist, looking to build more muscle); and Kyra's review; a more lackadaisacal review here; and Tamson and Sara talk about it too [though I think they're runners and home workout enthusiasts]; and Rich Bilson has one of the better posts (an avid cyclist who did p90x in his offseason).) And Rich gave a nice shout out to cross-fit. . .

new measurements fri 04.11.08

here's the data for today:

n: 17.50
b: 14.75
c: 48.75
us: 49.50
ls: 44.50
h: 46.00
t: 25.00
wrist: 7.50

P: 23, 30, 30, 23 and 21: keep 23, 30 and 23
S: 58, 63, 60, 65 and 64: keep 63, 60 and 64
T: 16, 17, 16, 15 and 16: keep 16, 16 and 16.

SKINFOLD BODY FAT: 30.19%

279.6 pounds;
36.5 % body fat (per tanita)

COMMENTS:

Less than ideal results, but sometimes one needs to take the good with the bad. I did have pretty good exercise this week. I also thought the exercise worked pretty well. However, very poor sleep habits this week.

measurements

N: 17.50
B: 15.50
c: 49.25
uw: 49.50
lw: 44.75
h: 46.00
t: 23.75

Data from measurements. . .

P: 23, 20, 19, 21 and 26
S: 68, 67, 60, 64 and 61
T: 3, 17, 11, 3 and 11

Body fat: 28.63%

[Note, I checked my data against a site that estimates given forearm, wrist, hips and largest waist. It comes up with 30.47%. . . less than a 2% difference. see, http://www.healthcentral.com/].

Running, Rowing and Cycling - trying to find the groove

I'm still trying to get my groove back in all of this.

I went out on a windy 20 mile ride today. Then I followed up with 4k on the rower (which, incidentally, I don't think I even recorded the data. . . uh oh).

I like data. I like keeping track of things. It looks like I lost about 5 pounds the first week (roughly). But from 278 to 273 (back to 275) -- it's all basically a rounding error. I intend to take some measurements today as well.

I actually swam and ran yesterday. On Thursday -- after my trial tanked -- I came home and did 10k on the rower. That was pretty satisfying as well. I had no workout on Tue and Thu., because I was stuck at work putting on a trial (which always results in 14 hour days).