"Spotlight" Exercise: Shoulders

I'm thinking of occasionally shining the proverbial spotlight on a particular exercise that I find fun and challenging and this is my test run.

In a perfect world, we wouldn't need anything other than the Press, Bench Press, Squat, Deadlift, and Bent Row (not counting bodyweight exercises), but we're human and we get bored!

This exercise is an example of Compound Training, which is basically a Super Set for a single muscle or muscle group, and is also referred to as a "Tri set" because there are three alternating exercises. The goal is to do 6 reps of upright row with the barbell, 8 reps of dumbbell lateral raises (each arm), and 6 reps of dumbbell side raises, without resting between exercises.

The Upright Row (images courtesy of ExRx.net)

In a controlled motion, raise the bar up to under your chin. Think of having strings attached to your elbows and pulling from there. This exercise is probably the best at targeting the lateral deltoid - that's the larger, central head. I use a closer grip than pictured in the example.

Front Raises

Keeping your elbow fixed, raise the dumbbell until your arm is parallel with the floor. Alternate arms until you have 8 reps for each. This will focus on the Anterior Deltoid.

Lateral Raises

Elbows slightly bent, and hips and knees slightly bent, raise the dumbbell to the side until it is shoulder height. This primarily works the Lateral Deltoid, but if you bend more at the hips it will focus more on the posterior.


This will have you pouring sweat after the 3rd set!

Enjoy, and let me know if this is a positive feature.

Dear Mount Southington...

What a time we had, eh? I know Wednesday was special, for both of us, but I'm writing to say I just can't see you anymore. Actually, I'm writing to say "Go to Hell." Go. Straight. To. Hell.

Let me tell you, making snow is not the same as making ice. Remember those old, crappy, snow cone machines that made granular ice in a cup? That's what was covering your fucking mountain. Top that off with your trail being cambered in a manner that makes every fall line head right to the trees, and quite frankly, you suck. The only chance you have of seeing me is next season, after or during a snow storm (at least 8").

All my love,
Dave.

Getting Athletic!

Well, I'm doing one of the things I wanted to lose weight for - snowboarding! I went for the third time yesterday and I was actually able to stay upright for a couple whole runs (down the 'learning' area, but hey - it's something!). Next time it's a whole mountain pass and I'm looking forward to tackling the green and blue trail, and trying to start linking turns.

I'm feeling good, though still wish this weight would start coming off faster! I'm at 259, and have been for a few days. Almost 40lbs down, and I can almost taste my half-century (247). I'm also really frustrated with the smoking - it is a tough habit to quit! Anyone reading this that's never smoked; keep it that way. I've been smoking for 12 years now, and have quit off and on, but it really grabs a hold of you. I'm 'gearing up' for another quit (read: putting it off), but it has to happen soon so I can feel good running again. My lungs are definitely giving up before my legs.

Other good news, I joined a new challenge on Traineo - 8lbs in 4 weeks. I know I can do it, but I'd like to see it in 3 weeks and I wouldn't be upset if I was the first one as I'm a little bit competitive :)

Also, in the gym today, I kicked ass on the abs, I'm definitely getting stronger. If this damn fat wasn't in the way I just might have a decent 6-pack! Also did legs, and couldn't get the squat rack so had to use the Smith Machine. I didn't like it, but was able to isolate my glutes a lot better - perhaps this would be a good supplement to an already full routine.

Thanks for all the support!

Gotta Get Back on Track!

Well, it's been a bit of a tough week on the cardio! I'm still smoking, so that's kicking my ass when it comes to trying to run, and I've been SO tired that I just haven't felt like rolling out of bed at 5:30am...

I have, though, been going to the gym regularly. My workout partner wanted to try a new split; Chest/back, legs, shoulders/bi/tri. It's pretty good, but our suspicions were correct - make sure to leave a day between the C/B and S/B/T... We didn't do that and did S/B/T Thursday and C/B Friday and it definitely was a lot tougher.

On leg day I also added in the adductor and abductor exercises in order to incorporate more muscles into my squats and improve balance. Boy was I sore ALL week! That means I need to be doing these though, so I'll keep it up.

So, next week: getting to bed by 9:30, getting up at 5:30 and either going to the gym or going for a run around the block (well, several blocks, but going for a 20-30min jog). I know I'll be lifting 4-5X/week now, but I still need to keep up the cardio so I'm dropping those lbs of fat for the summer.

Before and... well, During :)

I figured I would post some photos to show my progress along the way. They're not so great yet, but if I do this every month or so, I think I'll like what I see a lot more!

The first is from a bit ago, and I'm not even sure what weight I was - just that it wasn't good! Here I am in a bar, of course, wearing huge, over-sized clothes thinking it might hide how big I was. That is apparently not the case! I'm not so fond of this picture, but I think I do look a bit better now (please someone tell me I do!) :)

The next picture is from the October/end of October time period. This is a trip to a winery with some friends, a good time all around. Still not proud to show off pics, but I think a definite improvement over the previous. At this point, I am probably around 280-285. This is in the range of 15lbs lost since I weight myself and started this in mid-September.

This final picture is from recently (last week), around 265lbs. I mustered up the courage to take the shirt off! From now on, that is how I will take pics so I can see better what kind of progress I am making.



I'll try to do this monthly!

Who I Am...

Made an interesting observation tonight... I went out for a few drinks with friends, and because of the weight lifting and exercising I've been doing, my posture has improved so that my back is straight and my chest is out, my arms look muscular, and I feel good.

I looked like an ex-linebacker that was just a little out of shape.

There I was, 80lbs overweight, standing next to some guy taller than me that's 20lbs overweight, and I looked better! It felt great to be the confident guy. I come across as who I am - the 180lb guy in good shape, not who I was - the over-eater who was fat and lazy. I felt great, and had the attention of the people in the bar.

The observation is that perception is largely based on how YOU feel, and that defines how others see you.

So here's to the real me :)

Is it Possible to Miss Despair?

Nostalgic of the angst-ridden hero of my own dark, indie film... Thinking of the despair and self-pity that surrounded the time spent wallowing in my failure, abusing my body and any substance I could get my hands on. Is there a sort of romanticism surrounding the embrace of failure and escape from any sort of expectation? The tinge of memory was brought on by NIN Hurt, and it's not healthy or reasonable, but for a moment I was thinking that it was an interesting time, bit of a self-made martyr sort of romantic situation. Is that easily understood?

Now I'm embracing my own success - I am what I want to be, intellectually, physically, extrinsically me. What a change! Sometimes I guess it can be overwhelming, not sure if that's the possibility of success or failure, but being in control is a powerful feeling. I like the new me, and I can't wait to look in the mirror and finally see myself :)

Work Harder For Less...

Generally when you get better at something, you get more efficient; you are able to get more done in less time with less effort.

Not so with this exercise stuff!

I just recently tracked down my HRM strap so I could keep better track of my heart rate during my cardio - I really want to get my heart rate up over 160 and preferably over 170 at least for short periods of time. This used to not be so hard! Now, I'm pushing so hard on the elliptical that the muscles in me leg are fatiguing before I can get my HR much over 150 (I did pop over 160, but not for long). I know I need to get in better shape in terms of endurance, but it seems my heart has gotten in better shape a bit quicker than the rest of my body :)

So, looks like my running type exercise 3X/week will be my real intense one for now, and I will use my other 2-3 sessions as conditioning and somewhat intense cardio.

Fat Man in Running Shorts...

As a fun way to incorporate a new kind of cardio into my routine and to help lose weight and get in shape, I decided I wanted to be able to run! I don't know if I'll be the 5 miles every morning kind of guy, but I want the skill and I want to reap the benefits.

So, I started the 'Couch-to-5K' program over at the Cool Running website a couple weeks ago. Starting it may be a stretch, I was technically able to do their first workout properly this morning (Yay me!). Basically, after warmup, it is 20 minutes of 1 minute run/jogs followed by 90 seconds of walking. It sure isn't easy, but I've progress from being able to do 4 of these intervals to completing all 8 this morning, and running for another minute a few minutes after that. The big stick was that I would sometimes need to extend my walk an extra minute.

So, over the next 9-12 weeks, I'm going to become a runner!

I also want to compete in a 5K this summer, and a sprint triathlon later in the summer/early fall. I'll get more deets on that later.

Who is this guy?

Uh, yeah; sorry... I haven't been here in a while and since Tim lived up to his word and commented on my poor blogging, I must live up to mine and actually start being somewhat consistent :)

In regards to my last post and dips, I did two sets of 12 from the edge of the bench yesterday, and then moved to the assisted dip machine with my workout buddies and did 3 sets to failure there (with 100lbs assist, though I will be dropping that amount at every workout from here on).

So, a bit has changed! I haven't lost much weight since my last post (in scale terms), but I have made progress. I put on a bunch of muscle by training exclusively with weights for about six weeks. I'm now past that routine and am working primarily cardio, with 2 days per week set aside to do a modified Stronglifts 5X5 program; more on that another time.

So, welcome back ME, and look forward to more updates here!