Operation Boot Camp (OBC) Day 5

They said its one week down. But in my opinion its not. Sunday will be one week down.

And what a grueling week this has been. I am sore I am in pain. I need to find some more sleep in my day... I could not be happier.

Today's fun filled activities involved a lot of upper body exercises along with some bicep work. Also plenty of running and running and more running. MOST exercises involved animal names. Inch worms, bear crawls, and crab walks. Yeah I think I hate worms and bears and crabs.

When I was a yungin' I hurt my right wrist. I'm not sure what happened but I have a small scar and I have some limited flexibility. I can use it most of the time but my wrist gets tired. And the crab walk definitely takes it's toll on my wrist. I'll survive but I think I will make a point of wrapping that wrist in the future.

I see a little progress in myself everyday. My legs truly hurt but they hurt a little less everyday. I also need to work on core exercises. Exercises that work the muscles in our lower torso, abs and obligues and lower back. I admit I am week in this department. I will add some additional ab work to my day outside of Boot Camp to improve my core and get that 2 pack... and then maybe a 4 and then... I can dream of a 6...na I'm not going there...YET!!!

There is an optional workout Saturday mornings at the late hour of 830. Weekends are homework days. I have not decided if I'll go to Boot Camp Saturday or do my normal upper body routine at the gym. If I go in the morning I will move my upper body routine to Sunday.

The food plan is going well. However, I do not agree with some of the basic ideas that the Instructors are taught. Iceberg lettuce seems to be hated. And you know Iceberg has nutritional value but it also has no calories. Well there are 15 to 20 in a 1/4 wedge. Some things I eat are for filler. So I won't be hungry. I do feel that my knowledge of food and nutritional values makes me much better in tuned that the average camper. I have to remind most people that lettuce in general has little value. Iceberg, Romain, Red Leaf--- Very little value. It's a filler. I eat it to keep from being overly hungry. Green beans are pretty empty as well.

I'll let you know what I decide about Saturday's workout.

Thanks for your support.

Afatboynomore.com

J Brian

Operation Boot Camp (OBC) Day 4

You know I don't think I will ever get the smell of grass and mud out of my nose.

This morning I woke at 5am I took my motorcycle to the park. That's the bast way to wake up in the morning. Wind in your face. The smell of the engine and oil and gas as I'm riding to Piedmont. Once I was there I had to finish my food log for Wednesday. I think I'm doing well with the eating plan but I was reminded to include a protein with all carbs. Some of my snacks are half a sweet potato. Maybe I'll boil some actual eggs to have with my snacks. I normally use eggbeaters.

Today we did Guts and Guns. That's Boot Camp talk for Abs and Biceps. We spread our workouts thru-out the park. Running from place to place. I bought insoles for my shoes yesterday but forgot to cut them down for this mornings workout. I will be more prepared tomorrow. Crunches, sit ups, leg raises and oblique crunches made up a significant portion of the GUTS workouts. By the time this is over, I may have a two pack at least.

The GUNS portion of the workout involved the use of bands. I have never been a fan of bands, but I am very impressed with the workout they gave me.

I saw a number of other groups today in the park. Some were other OBC groups and others were similar programs.

Tomorrow (Friday) is the end of week one. There is an optional workout saturday at 815. I have not decided whether or not I'm going to go but I am considering it.

Thanks for your Support

Afatboynomore.com

To my facebook friends, There seems to be a problem with the feed from blogger to facebook. So there may be a delay in my notes updates if you are following this on facebook.

Day 3 of Operation Boot Camp

Today is a homework day... so I slept in a bit and did my homework. Homework in Boot Camp is some physical activity of our choice.

My homework days will be used for lifting. I have a fairly large chest and I love resistance training. So I will continue working out my upper body on those days. You get plenty of lower body work in Boot Camp. My chest and back workout today was intense and lasted about 80 minutes. Not a lot of cardio activity.

I'm following the food plan which is eating 5 to 6 small meals during the day versus a fewer larger meals. If you look back to the beginning of the blog you know I have no problems doing that. I'll post some of my food snacks/meals on my next homework day.

My calves are sore as hell.

Day 2 of Operation "Fat Boy" I mean Boot Camp

As I sit here and write this I can smell the wet grass on my hands and body; and I feel the aching in my calves and sides starting. And I feel accomplished today and it is only 7:30 AM.

After yesterday's disappointing results I am happy to say that today I got my ass kicked by the instructors and not by my stomach.

This morning was the first day we met in Piedmont Park for Operation Boot Camp. Well for the 7 or 8 virgin campers at least. There are about 40 people in our overall group.

Today's exercise started with a run from the Charles Allen gate to the large hill that overlooks Lake Clara Meer. Once we were there we did some "really gay looking" warm up movements. After you've done the warm ups you have had a workout that most don't do in a normal day.

We proceeded to our stations to do relays... yes you remember relays you did them in Phys Ed, with that masculine looking coach that had a butch haircut and really big legs and you know she played softball, from elementary school. But these exercises were not nearly as easy and no you could not just stand. I am not a runner and yes I hate HATE HATE to run. But that's what I did.

The first set of relays involved running back and forth between cones, then repeat, then the second set involved lunges and pushups, and repeat, the last one involved "mission impossibles" essentially squatting side steps and mountain climber jumping jacks and repeat.

There is no down time. NONE. You get a full 45 min to and hour of work out.

I remember training for Football in high school. I played less than a season due to a shoulder injury. At the time I could not imagine why in the hell anyone would want to work out as we did then. Today I was happy to revisit those feelings especially at the end of the workout the only difference was I was not doing blocking drills with a guy that was twice my size. How fun would Boot Camp be if it was full contact? HMMMMM

I feel great.

Hurah!!!

Operation Boot Camp Day One

I am about to die. LOL

OK so this is how today should have gone for my first day PT test.

I went to bed at a reasonable time of 1030 after having a nice but light dinner. I slept comfortably and woke up at 4:45 to get to the orientation for boot camp at 5:30. I was active and attentive in orientation. I completed my run without walking...I did 45 push ups in 60 seconds 30 plus sit ups and a large number of dips and felt worn out when I left...

But this is what actually happened.

I went to bed at some time after 1130 after eating a Ponce Picnic (a cheese burger, chili cheese dog and fries) at the Majestic Diner... after having a few two many VO and Ginger ales. I have no idea how many...I woke up at 2 am with glitter in my chest hair-don't ask I have no idea. I was on top of my covers in full clothes I could not go back to sleep... My stomach was having none of that.

At 5 am I got dressed and went to orientation...my stomach hates me by the way. I knew a number of the instructors. So I felt worse about the fact that I was not good last night. It was supposed to be a drink or two before my 30 days of a liquor free life. Yeah that did not happen. So we started out the warm up with a bunch of squats and exercises that seemed overly gay at first... but they kicked my ass. And did I say My stomach hates me...

And then came the run... I hate running. I can't breath thru my nose easily. In Atlanta there is a road called Miami Circle which houses a number of designer showcases. The road itself has a horrible incline. I would not want to walk it much less run it. But I did. One mile. I ran down the hill and back up. One mile in 9min 25 seconds. Not bad for a fat boy that hates to run and really could not run until a few years ago. Oh and did I mention the war my stomach started with me...

Then on to the other tests... there are three. Each is how many X can you do in a minute. Push ups--not usually a problem...Sit ups... HATE them worse than running, and triceps dips. I can normally do a bunch of dips. But the stomach had other plans. I did about 36 push ups. I've done better before. I did 21 sit ups/crunches. And then all hell broke lose with my stomach... No dips for me. I'll have to time myself tomorrow after Boot Camp so I have a decent starting point to compare.

Day one I will grade myself a D. Mostly because I was STUPID and did not do what I know I should have done. I am happy about the running results. Other than that, I did not set myself up to succeed. That is all my fault. Tomorrow I'll give you some information about the log book and the eating plan... Food sounds horrible at the moment. Damn stomach and damn yummy Canadian Whisky.

And by the way the stomach is still waging war.

Boot Camp is around the corner

Monday May 10th I will start Operation Boot Camp. (link is on the blog).

I am really excited about this addition to my workout regimen. I get easily bored with any cardio program. Running has got to be the most boring thing I can do. Its really good for my "trim ness" as long as I take it easy on my knees but I cannot seem to stay focused when it comes to running.

The campers that are already involved with boot camp seem to love it. The variety is what I look forward to.

I've signed up for morning boot camp. For me this will work best. Personally I try to workout with the smallest amount of food in my stomach. I seem to have better workouts with all the blood flow going to my muscles versus going to my stomach. So the morning workouts will work best for me. The biggest adaptation will be getting up at 5 am.

I am trying to adapt my sleeping habits this week to make it easier for me next week.

Have a great day.

afatboynomore.com