Tuesday, February 26, 2008

"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.

Friday, February 22, 2008

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.

Monday, February 18, 2008

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!

Sunday, February 10, 2008

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.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

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!