Great Ladder Workout on Treadmill

If you are like me, you get tired of just running on the treadmill and want something to do to change things up. My wife told me about a ladder workout to do on the treadmill that I am addicted to now, so I want to share it with those that are looking for something new to do on the treadmill.

There are all kinds of "Ladder" drills that you will find out there. I remember running these drills during both cross country and track during high school. The days that I would be able to do the same workout that Coach Becker would have us do, are way out of my ability right now. I have done a couple different variations of the drill, and you will probably change it up to fit what your abilities are as well. The key to running these drills is to run/walk at a consistent pace both up and down the ladder. The workout takes just under 35 minutes, and I average about 400 calories burned. I change mine up, where I add an incline from 1% incline to a 2% incline. As you start to get stronger at it, bump up the speed for both the walk and run.

Good luck, come back and let me know how it went for you!

Don't Go Over the Physical Cliff with Holiday Eating

With all the talk of the fiscal cliff that our country seems to be moving towards, it makes me think of years past when I would go over the physical cliff with the holiday foods and treats.

My family is really big on tradition, from holiday activities to holiday foods. That is one of the things that I love the most about spending the holidays with my family. Unfortunately, in the past for me, it has lead to over-eating and weight gain. The holidays don't need to lead to either of these choices. Instead we just need to focus on a healthy balance of activity, food and fun. With all of the success that I have been experiencing, I have a few things that I am going to work on to help me through the holiday eating traditions.

1. Plan time for some physical activity. I am planning to add regular exercise into my daily routine, which will help relieve some of stress, and hopefully curb the gaining of weight. Some of my activities that I am planning are; basketball, running/walking and some swimming (since I am starting to train for a triathlon).
2. Don't skip any meals. I find that when I miss a meal, I tend to overeat during dinner. If you find that you experience the same thing, eat a light snack 30-45 minutes before your meal or before leaving to a party. A light snack doesn't mean something sweet, try some raw veggies or some fruit.
3. If you overeat at one meal, try going light on the next. It takes 500 calories per day above your normal caloric intake for a day to gain one pound.
4. Don't eat until your stuffed. Eat until you are satisfied. Savor your food/treats, but in smaller portions. One thing that has helped me by being on the WIO diet, is by eating smaller portions, I tend to eat a little slower, and savor the taste more. I can't believe how the food seems to taste even better now that I can't overindulge when eating meals, and knowing what is on my plate, is it making me want it to last.
5. Be realistic. Don't try to lose weight during the holidays, instead try to maintain your weight. For me, I lost weight over Thanksgiving, and I plan to for Christmas as well. If you follow the steps listed here, it will help you maintain where you are right now.

Good luck with the holiday eating, and come back and let me know what worked and what didn't for you!

December 6, 2012

Today was a group workout day at Elevate. I was supposed to do the VO2 Max test to figure out what my heart rate zones should be while I work out, but it didn't happen. That was ok though, as it was good to workout with the rest of the group and get a good hard workout in.

I think that Rich really likes to work on the legs, because for the second time this week, we were working the legs a ton.We do a lot of core work as well, which is desperately needed, as I usually cramp up half way through the core workout. Better than when I first started though, nearly a month ago I would last about 20 seconds and then cramp up so bad that I could hardly breathe.

Looks like the VO2 test will be on Tuesday afternoon during lunch. Not sure that it is going to be the way that I want to spend my lunch break, but it will be worth it in the end. If you don't know what the VO2 Max test is, it is a test that measures the aerobic power in a person. They basically hook you up to an oxygen and carbon dioxide analyzer, and you perform an exercise such as running on the treadmill, cycling, etc...While you are doing the exercise, you go from a moderate to a maximum intensity. The analyzers measures the oxygen consumption, and gives you the measurement of maximum heart rate by recording the heart rate during the test. There is a really great article that was written by a guy named Pete Williams back in 2009. To read the article Click here.

December 5, 2012

I had a great workout today! Originally, I was planning to take it as an off day, as tomorrow I am doing a VO2 Max test. But, I got a Garmin Forerunner 610 GPS and heart rate monitor. It also came with a foot pod that tracks my cadence if I am running on a treadmill or running indoors and it can't connect to the satellites. So, because I got this new toy, I needed to go and try it out.

Since the watch would tell me elevation, as well as time, heart rate, cadence and other data, I didn't want to run inside today. I talked with April about some of the places that she goes for walks with Ellie and checked her app Map My Walk to see the distances, etc... I found a course that she walks that was about 2 miles and decided that was the one for tonight. I felt great! For the first time running outside in probably a couple of years, I admit I was shocked about how I did. Since most of the beginning is down hill, I decided that I was going to try to run the first mile without stopping. I went nearly 1.25 miles before I got stopped at a stop light. I was happy that I hit the stop light as I was pretty tired. My legs were starting to get kind of heavy and I knew that the hills were coming up. When I finally got to the hills, I knew I wasn't going to be able to run the whole thing, so I decided to count out my steps and go 40 steps running, the 40 steps walking. This was great, as it kept my mind off of me being tired, as I had to count the steps out. Right at the end of the run, as I was about to turn the corner to run onto my street, a dog jumped out at me! Freaked the heck out of me and I am sure that my heart rate graph will show the spike in my elevated heart rate as it was racing!

In the end, I was really happy with my run tonight. Minus the warm-up walk around the block, it only took me 21:44 minutes to do the two miles. That is almost a 10 minute mile, which is my goal pace to run a half marathon in. The data that the watch and accessories captured were awesome to look at (check out the image below for a sample), and will be a great help to me in my training. Now I just need to save up my money to buy the accessory for the bike...

December 4, 2012

Today was the Elevate WIO Group workout. I told Rich that I was definitely leaning towards doing the Ironman in St. George in May, but would want to get the VO2 Max test done and continue discussing it over with April. The race is expensive, nearly $300 plus whatever stuff I am going to need for it.

The workout went well. There were only a few of us there, which I don't mind as it almost makes it feel like a one-on-one workout. We did a lot of lunges, squats, core and medicine ball exercises. I can tell that I am getting stronger, but it still kills. I am sure that I will feel it tomorrow, but the pain will probably go away within a day or so.

My weight loss has slowed down quite a bit. I have been breaking one of the rules of weighing myself this past week. I have stayed at the same weight for the last few days. I am sure part of that is due to gaining muscle and water weight, but it is a little frustrating. If you are reading this blog and you are participating in the WIO diet, and you are weighing yourself, STOP! It will only eat you up. During the measurements today, I lost a ton of inches, and overall the weight loss that I have experienced are phenomenal, and that is all that matters!

December 3, 2012

I went to Elevate today to participate in a marketing photo shoot for the WIO diet and for group workouts. Since I was going to be there, I decided to get a quick workout in while I was there.

I got about 20 minutes into the workout, which was the 30 second ladder run. I got to the point of coming back down the ladder when I was called over to start the photo shoot. During the workout, my legs felt incredibly heavy. I don't think that my legs were quite recovered from my Saturday run.

Stats

Distance: 1.25 miles
Incline: 0
Vertical Feet: NA
Warm-up Speed: 3.5 mph
Walk Speed: 3.5 mph
Run Speed: 6 mph
Higher Interval Speed: NA
Calories Burned: 175
Time: 20 minutes

Also, over the weekend, I had decided I was going to run the Provo City Half Marathon in May. I had put together a calendar of my workouts starting in January so that I could be ready for the race. I brought it into Rich for him to take a look at. He told me that I should just consider doing the St. George Half Ironman instead. It seems crazy enough for me to try it out, so I think I will. Rich is going to help me get a training program together so that I will be ready. Not to sure when it will all start up, but I hope that I can at least get started soon, even if I don't do the Ironman and do the half marathon instead.

5th Week on WIO

November 26th - December 3rd, 2012

Another week down! I am not even sure how many more weeks I have left, and it is probably best that way. I am very pleased with the results that I am seeing by doing this diet and changing my lifestyle when it comes to eating.

I traveled again for work this week. I went to Rawlins, WY. I can't say that there was a lot there in the sense of places to eat. This week I felt that I broke down a little due to the lack of places to eat and the choices that the places had. I did bring up some of the hamburger buns that WIO came out with, but only brought two of them. The last day I ended up eating at Subway and eating a 6 inch sub for lunch and for dinner, along with the bread. What a mistake! It felt like it was sitting in my stomach like a rock. Since I had driven to Rawlins, I brought a cooler with my milk, but I should have packed more rolls and buns so that I wouldn't have eaten the bread at Subway. I am just so tired of eating salads, but it is still no reason to have eaten the bread and not following the protocols.

I did get one workout in during my stay in Rawlins, but I didn't capture any of the details of the run. I will say that my knee was really bothering me during the run, so much so that I only did 30 minutes on the treadmill. My knee hurting isn't anything new after a run, but it hurt a lot more than usual this time.

December 1, 2012

I felt great during today's workout. I had decided to change up the 30 second ladder workout a little bit by adding a few intervals that were 1 minute long and higher speed at the beginning and at the end of the workout. My knee didn't bother me at all during the whole run, like it had when I was in Rawlins, WY. My energy levels were great, and I felt like I probably could have kept going for another 30 minutes or so before really running out of energy. I am going to start keeping track of my stats from my runs and including them here.

Stats
Distance: 4.172 miles
Incline: 0-2.0
Vertical Feet: 216
Warm-up Speed: 3.5 mph
Walk Speed: 3.5 mph
Run Speed: 6 mph
Higher Interval Speed: 6 mph - 8 mph
Calories Burned: 525
Time: 60 minutes

1 Month....

November 30, 2012

It has been one month since I started the WIO Diet! I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I think the most important thing to mention, is that I am still doing it! I have had great results through this first month. I can't take all of the credit though. My wife April has been such a huge support to me during this process. I have also had great support from Rich and all of the great staff at Elevate Fitness, and from some of the people that I work with at eFileCabinet. Thanks everyone for being there for me and supporting me.

Today I had April take some photos of me since I am now a month into it. We took some pictures on the 3rd of November (about a week after I started), so that I could see the difference in the way that I look. It is amazing! I will post the pictures of my face for both so you can see for yourselves. It is pretty funny cause I look really tired or something in the picture from a month ago. Another thing to look at is my ears, you can barely see them in the picture on the left, but they are peeking out in the one on the right.

The other pictures will get posted after Christmas.

4th Week on WIO

November 19th - November 26th, 2012

Almost a month has gone by since I started the WIO diet. I won't lie, this week was a challenging week. If you read my post about Thanksgiving you will know why.

One thing that I hadn't mentioned in the Thanksgiving post was that I got a little frustrated and irritated. This is the first time that I have noticed myself getting that way. I feel that it was more that I wasn't able to eat the same foods as everyone else. A prime example was Thanksgiving night or the night after, when someone in the family came downstairs and they had two delicious looking turkey sandwiches and a plate full of sour cream and onion Lay's potato chips and drinking a Dr. Pepper. I literally could smell it all and I had to leave the room, only to go upstairs where everyone had made more food and I thought I was going to break.

As for my energy levels, I feel like I am right where I was at before the diet began. I am excited that I got some workouts in this week and didn't feel like I was going to fall over due to lack of energy.

Overall though, I felt like it was a break through week for me. I felt I made big strides in fighting the internal battles and winning all of them even when I felt like I could rationalize why I should break down and eat with everyone else.

Thanksgiving in Farr West, Utah

November 22, 2012

Thanksgiving was, let's say, different. Normally on Thanksgiving I am gorging myself on all the fixins'. The turkey is always great, but I love piling those potatoes and gravy right on top of the turkey. And let's not forget the rolls, oh the rolls! Well, this year, there was turkey, broccoli, deviled eggs and pickles. The people that started the WIO came out with rolls that are low carb, but I forgot to bring them to the place we were having Thanksgiving dinner, so bummer for me. They also came out with a pumpkin pie! Each slice only had 52 calories and it was amazing! I could barely tell the difference between the stuff I normally have and what they came out with.

One of the other things about Thanksgiving that was tough, was the family eating all of the time and at times where I was not able to eat. I am glad to report that I stuck to my guns and didn't break. But I do think that we should all take a look at Thanksgiving and remember it is about time with family not all about food. Even if the food is amazing!

One great thing this year though, was that I didn't feel like I was going to burst because I ate too much. I am looking forward to next Thanksgiving when I will be able to eat the foods that I want, but with better portion control.

3rd Week on WIO

November 12th - November 19th, 2012

The third week is here! Time is flying right by. I am grateful that I was traveling for the bulk of the week, as it took my mind off of not eating my normal foods that I love so much.

During the week, I made my way up to Kodiak, AK to doing some consulting for a company called F/V Icy Mist. I was really excited to go up and eat some good seafood, as it is hard to come by here in Utah, plus April doesn't like seafood. I stayed at the home of the Gunderson's there in Kodiak. They were incredibly nice and very generous people. The didn't have Hood's chocolate milk, and I wasn't about to try having my shakes with just water again. Thanks to Jennifer, as she had coconut milk, which is one of the approved milk's to use. It was actually quite good, not as good as the chocolate milk, but I would definitely buy it to use if you can't find the Hood's milk. I had great tuna and crab legs while there. I wish I could have stayed a little longer and would have seriously considered it if April and Ellie were there with me.

I didn't really do any exercising all week, as I was gone. I probably should have done something in the sense of core workouts, but didn't think about it until now. From here on out, if I am going to be traveling any where for work, I will at least do some core exercises.

My energy levels have been great and I feel like my body is starting to really get in shape. I haven't seen any mood changes, but that is probably cause I don't see it. I had been asked by Rich at Elevate Fitness and some others if I had been having any headaches or anything like that. I hadn't thought about it until then, but I haven't had any headaches. It is common if you drink as much soda as I had been that you will go through withdrawals and get headaches. I don't think it happened to me since I was drinking so much water and staying hydrated.

This coming week is Thanksgiving, should be interesting. Come back and check on how it went!

2nd Week on WIO

November 5th - November 12th, 2012

The second week has gone a lot better than the first. I have serious cravings for chips and salsa, and cafe rio! I am feeling great and have been fitting into some of my clothes that have either been really tight fitting or haven't fit for awhile now. I had a trip to Wisconsin that started on the 4th and came back on the 5th. The worst part about it was trying to suck down the shakes with just water. I usually use a chocolate milk (Hood's) which is a low carb/low calorie milk, in my shakes. The shakes are almost impossible to drink, but I am trying really hard to make sure I am following the plan as much as I can. Traveling sure doesn't help with the eating though. Unless you go to the grocery store to buy your own stuff to eat, you are basically telling the waiter/waitress what you want to add or subtract from your meal.

This week I have had a lot more energy, not as much as I would like since I would like to start working out more than just Tuesdays and Thursday nights. I have my on and off days on being good at drinking my water, it is hard to drink more than 120 oz. in a single day, let alone that you are running to the bathroom constantly. It is definitely getting better though, and if you are reading this and doing the WIO, don't get discouraged, keep plugging along, you can do it!

This coming week should be crazy too, as I am heading off to Kodiak, AK for work. Good thing I should be able to eat a lot of good seafood while I am there!

November 6, 2012

Tonight was my first workout with the WIO group at Elevate. I thought I was going to die! Since my body was still going through the morphing process from using carbs as the primary energy source to consuming fat,  I had no energy to do anything. Part of it was probably due to the fact that I am so out of shape. We did lunges, squats, medicine ball workouts, core workouts, etc...Before I even left, I was already sore. I have a feeling that this week I am going to have a hard time moving around.

1st Week on WIO

October 29th - November 5th, 2012

Here we are at the first week mark of the WIO diet. I am glad that it is over! I have been told that the first week is the hardest week, then it starts to get better. Essentially, I have a meal replacement shake for breakfast, another for lunch along with a salad, then for dinner I have another salad with 5 oz. of beef, pork or chicken or 7 oz. of seafood, then end the day with another shake. I can't have any bread or other things that I enjoy. I just have to keep reminding myself of my reason why I am doing this. I was given a sheet with all of the items that I can eat, and it doesn't include much other than veggies and what meats are good. I am also supposed to drink 1/2 of my weight in ounces in water, that is almost 150 ounces a day. That was incredibly tough the first couple of days, but has been a bit easier in the last few days.

Surprisingly, I have been in a good mood, which is much different than the HCG diet that I had done last year. I have absolutely no energy, as the diet is rebooting my pancreas, liver and digestion and putting my body into a state called Ketosis. As you are reading this, you are probably thinking that I am crazy, but there have been over 600 clinical studies on the most important health issues that we face as Americans today. Those include: being overweight, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, high glucose levels or diabetes, and fatty liver disease. I have all of them but the high blood pressure, and so it was worth trying out, and if in a month things haven't panned out, then I will figure something else out.

Well, that's it for now.

November 3, 2012

Wow! It has been a long time since I have posted anything here. I am getting started again with keeping a journal as I am trying to take back the control of my life, eating habits and exercise. Keep your eyes open, as I am including links to different sites in my posts to help educate myself, as well as others.

So, it all start a couple weeks ago, my brother Scott and his family came to visit on their way home from a vacation in Southern Utah. We were out in the yard playing around, and I noticed that I got really winded after just a few minutes of chasing his kids around. With my own daughter getting ready to start walking, and soon running around, I knew that I needed to do something about it.

I had a doctor's appointment to get a refill on my Metformin (got diagnosed with Type II diabetes in January, 2012), so I planned to talk with Dr. Steve Berry about some options. I also took a look at place called Elevate Fitness that a friend of mine owns. I saw some things on his site that really caught my eye and intrigued me enough to call Rich and see if I could meet with him before or after my doctor's appointment. After meeting with Rich, that next week, I ran over to meet with Steve. He was concerned about my weight, said that my heart, and lungs sounded good, but he couldn't promise that in my current condition, that it would last long. We took some blood tests, and got the results back about a week later. The tests showed that my A1c number had gone back up after they had improved in the first 5-6 months. Some other results weren't that great either, but after discussing it with Steve, we felt they could all be reversed.

Luckily I had already started working out at Elevate Fitness, and participating in a weight loss program called the WIO Diet. When I weighed in at the Doctor's when coming back for the test results, I had already lost nearly 7 lbs. in less than a week!

At this time, I am not going to be posting many results in the way of weight loss and inches lost, as I want it to be a surprise to my family when I go home for Christmas. But, I will say that in the first week I lost 15 lbs. and lost 15.5 total inches. After I go home for Christmas, I will start to post my results that I receive when I go in for my measurements on a weekly basis. Periodically, I will also post things about the actual diet and how I am doing/feeling throughout the process. The WIO protocol has three different phases, and the first phase is going to be 126 days. Right now, I am not sure if I started the diet at the right time, as Thanksgiving and Christmas are going to fall within that time frame.