Burn that Fat!

I hit the gym this mooring for a good hour. I have a new goal. My hot wife Crystal wants a hot man on her arm so here we go. I am going to hit the gym get some private training and get hot for my wife. She has been busting her @$$ at the gym lately as well as mine. So I did my squats today, some dead lifting and then I started on cardio. I did some steps like Crystal showed me for about 5 min. After that I started on a ball circuit with the with the cable machine. I was shaking after the whole circuit. After I went thru all this I decided to hit the heavy bag for about 5 min. I was shaking on the way home. Feel the burn!!!!!!!! That means the years of many cheese burgers are burning!!

Later!

Posting? I almost forgot how!

Well I have to say sorry to everyone who has been reading my posts over the last 6 months. I know I should be continuing to post but I have gotten lazy. My weight has maintained the same at this point but I’m ready to kick it up a notch here again to bring it down further. It’s easy to find some motivation again when I start looking at the amazing differences in Crystal. What a trooper honey, keep up the great work! I love you and you are an amazing wife and unbelievable dedicated to changing your life and supporting me in my changes too. I also look over at Chad, the man. Any guy who can start up a cause like he did then go thru with it like that to raise money is one tough cookie. Awesome job Chad thanks for giving me some new motivation without realizing you did.

To catch everyone up to speed I have been at the gym pretty faithfully over the last two weeks. Crystal gets me up at 4:45am, and while I’m still groggy I drive to the gym where she proceeds to kick my ... repeatedly every morning. Way to go hun, I need a little ... kicking sometimes. Unfortunately my eating has not been where it should be, not that I have reverted back to where I use to be at one point, its still way healthier. This morning I decided to let Crystal do her own thing and I hit some of the heavy weights. I focused on squats today. Oh man did it feel good to have every muscle in my body tight and working for me. I pushed and pushed and pushed this morning while Crystal did her grueling workout. I worked my way up to a 455lb squat, only one but still it was clean full bend in the knees, back straight, and core tight. I went down then back up, a little slower than I wanted but no stalling. I tried to do 475lb but I stalled at the bottom. I’m getting closer to my 500lb goal! Keep watching for it! Over the next couple weeks I will be blogging for sure! And I have some surprises for you all so keep reading!

5km chalk that up on this years list of done!

I did my 5 km run today and you know it was better than i figured it would be. They counted down and guess what, I was running ( in the words of forest gump!) I was crusin pretty good then i got a little tired around Richard road, but i kept plugging away. As i got more and more tired i started getting passed, first by people in the same shape as me, then some older 60's dedicated runners, these weren't so bad. At one point when a woman in her 50 -60's with what seemed some sort of limp from a stroke or injury passed me i started feeling just a little ticked. I figured i had better add a little motivation into my run before seniors with walkers start passing me. I pushed pretty hard and was feeling better then i saw a sign coming, this was exciting as i was thinking i had gotten a significant distance by now. I sped up towards the sign and as i was getting closer i see 1km. I almost drooped to my knees i thought we had gone further than that?! I pushed and pushed up hill and down hill thru rain, snow, sleet, thought desert and swamp till i saw the 2km sign then i look over and Chad passes me, oh yea he reached the half way point and was turning back when he passed with with his leisurely stroll. I smiled at Chad and give him a thumbs up but he didn't get it, he thought i was doing good, but i was hitch hiking. I pushed for what seemed another 15 minutes to get to the half way point and was feeling a little better till all these volunteers were smiling and saying " Way to go your half way!" I was thinking to myself oh crap I'm only half way. The nice thing about the second half is i knew where to expend my energy. So i ran for quite a ways until i hit the bottom of the bridge then i walked to ketch my breath. About 50 feet before the crest of the hill i started running knowing that i could make it to the top then flop my way down the other side till i hit flat road surfaces. Before i knew it i was about a half a km from being done! I was getting excited or blacking out from loss of oxygen I'm not sure which but either way i was getting some kind of euphoric high. About a 1/4 of a km from the end i was pushing pretty hard for a fat man and feeling like the kool aid pitcher running down the street ( fat and sloshy ), and i saw Chad, Leslie, and Alan standing there cheering me on. What an awesome feeling, good friends, great support, and thank God the finish line. You know all kidding aside it was a pretty easy run, and my time was not fantastic but it was pretty good for what i have achieved in the last 4 months. I ran the 5k in 46.23 min averaging a speed of 7.2km/h. I have to say thank you to Chad for helping me to accomplish this goal, Leslie for teaching a whole lot about nutrition, Alan for introducing himself to me, clapping and not laughing, and everyone who has taken the time to read my blog. I appreciate you all and am thankful to have great friends and family. Next year ill do this again but I'm going to shoot for being under 30 minutes next time

All things are possible to him who has faith.

And remember these three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the best one of these is love.

Sexy and tough, yea thats my wife!!!

Well today didn't quite get off to the start we wanted. Crystal and I both got up later than we wanted, and that got Crystal hurrying me a little. So i wanted to get moving as this was really the first time i would see what Crystal really does. We ran on and off sprinting for 20 min then we went right over to the elliptical for 10 min at level 6, then core. Now core for Crystal today was 20 crunches, then 20 side crunches, oh yea both sides, then 20 reverse crunches. Lastly we did this thing I'm not sure what the machine or exercises is called but you hold yourself up with your shoulders and bring your knees to one side and up then down to the other side and up. So we did that for 10 times each side. We did that core of exercises two times. All i have to say is wow its not a Chad workout but my wife is defiantly a trooper. She has great balance in the areas shes training her body and amazing dedication. I like this morning routine and i look forward to doing this with her till I'm in a wheelchair on the treadmill.

To the love of my life and my best friend keep up the amazing work you will only grow from here on out!

Earlllllllly days!

Wow life is early, well in my beautiful and getting really fit wife's life life is early. I have been working on something called Dare to love, all i have to say is its unbelievable. Anyways this dare to love is to help me reconnect with God and, Crystal on a whole new level. I have been interjecting myself into Crystals life in a way i have never done before. So i have been spending mornings at the gym with Crystal lately and many more to come. I have been learning who my wife is in the morning and how positive she can be at 5 something in the morning. I'm pretty sure she wakes up the sun, but ill tell you i love it when she wakes me up. I love spending some time with her in the morning. When shes done at the gym i drive her to work and i find we get to talk for a while in a good way. Then i head back to the gym and spend some me time before work, I have been running longer and longer at the gym lately without pushing my body to hard. After i run for a while i figured out i like hitting the heavy bag upstairs. I worked over that bag for about 15 min and thought how can i kick this up a notch and i started hitting the bag while kneeling on the ball. That's a cool feeling, balance, strength, and endurance all in one exercise. I think this week i will pull on Crystals strength and have her train me.


I am learning so much everyday get healthy in every way check out dare to love!

Fairly good gym day!

Today was a fairly decent gym day! I walked about 10 km this morning but that was a different story! So i didn't have to do any cardio at the gym today. I decided to work on the 3 most important things in life, squatting, benching, and dead lifting. I squatted 455lb, benched 265lb, and 365lb today. To me that felt good especially after a day of estimating and other crappy things. I'm starting to find that i haven't been at the gym much lately and i need to start going more often. Its great to talk to the people there, they take an interest in helping one another, and its a great stress relief after a long day at work or play! I'm also thinking that if i go to the gym more often ill have more to blog about!

Go figure huh! Get pumped, get ripped, and leave the little plates for the girls!

445 lb Squat!

Well ladies and gentlemen that's 4 plates, i know its not a great picture but its the best my photographer gave me. This is 405 lb i understand, but i did do 445lb today unfortunately that's not the picture i got. I was pretty happy and have decided that next year, after lots of training this year, and working on the technicalities of all 3 lifts, and pushing myself like mad I might consider trying a competition. On the same note i pushed up my goals on the right hand side to substantial goals for June and July! If i keep pushing things to the max maybe ill even get a participation ribbon next year!

On another note I have to learn to use my belt properly. I was squatting today till i got to about 3 1/2 plates then i put on my belt, i know i can do 3 1/2 plates but for some reason i went down and when i went to push back up i found the belt seemed to be stopping me from coming up. Now from what i understand the belt is suppose to help you keep tight and help you come up better. I don't know.................. but i have a feeling I'm using it wrong. I'm looking forward to learning to do it properly.

Take it easy and push like a mad man!

Yea Friday!

Wow today was hard. This cardio stuff can really make you sweat! It over all was a good day 2 hours at the gym doing cardio giving it all i had and then pushing thru for just a tiny bit more. I can tell that I'm getting more flexible and the endurance is building up this week. But tomorrows Friday so i have one more big day of cardio then i can treat myself with a hardcore core workout called squats and dead lifts oh yea then benching on Saturday! I'm feeling like a kid in a candy store! Crystal promised she would take a picture of me and my 4 plate dead lift, so i can amuse you guys in my blogging fan club!

Till then ill call it TTFN till Saturday night!

I got my new powerlifting belt today kick @$$!

I got my new power lifting belt today kick @$$! Normally that would be enough all on its own for the blogging today as all i did was cardio crap, but i got my belt today. I even felt like putting it on during cardio to look like a dork with a new toy, but Crystal would have gave me crap ( frickin women i tell ya ) So of course i didn't. Today was depressing but really hard i did ......yea .........( prepare for lots of run on sentence's )........................ 30 min on the elliptical at level 8 and a min speed of 7 not that i went below 7.3 but 7. I did a 30 core cardio including: 20 crunches on the ball then all the way up the stairs to look at the ladies 3x in a row running, then 20 push ups ( chick style, cause that's the only i can do it on the ball and most women are better than me at it ) with my knees on the ball, and repeat all 3 activities 3 times. The i went to the amazing stretching band and got on the ball grabbed the band with both hands and pulled as far to the left as i could 30 times, and then? Oh yea grabbed the band with my left hand starting from my right shoulder i pulled it as far the the left as i could without bending my elbow, and then? Let us not forget the right arm starting at the pillar stretch it as far to the left as i could without bending my elbow. Next i did something so shocking it freaked me out i changed sides and did the whole thing on the other side of my body. All of these were done 30 times an exercises. And in true fashion i noticed i still had 10 min left in my hour so i thought of something else to do! 10 min at level 10 on the StairMaster oh yea that is a wonderfully toy especially if you listen to Chad and do not let the paddles bottom out or touch the top. Gotta tell you thinking like Chad makes me want to make me workout till i get ill again! ( what?, yea Chad made me ill the one of the first couple time i worked out with him, that's a hell of a mentor! ) I saw Crystal hop on a treadmill and figured if everyone else in the gym has to see me melting like frosty in July and deal with the smell my wife should get the brunt of it, so i took the treadmill beside her. I walked and ran for 30 min and was pooped out. I finished everything off with a stretch for about 15 min and took a shower for everyone's benefit!

Did i mention i got my belt today!

Cardio Sux

Today was my first day of cardio! That's pretty much how i feel on the left. I kicked my butt with 30 min on the elliptical trainer for 30 min at level 7 and a minimum speed of 7. After that horrible half was finished i went over the the stair climber for 2 min on level 7, then 20 crunches on the ball, and 20 squats on the stairs. I did that 3 times increasing the level on the stair climber by one every time. The next circuit was 20 planks with my feet on the ball then, 20 ball raises with my feet, and last pulling the ball to my rear end with my feet 20 times, for 3 circuits. I finished off with a little running but mostly walked for 45 min, and 15 min of stretching. It was a Chad workout i felt like getting sick at the end of my own workout. Unfortunately this is going to be the hardest phase of the gym for me, but the most important. The whole cardio thing leaves me mentally ruined and my body is really tired. but 1 hour later i feel like i did nothing. When I'm hitting the racks with big boy weights its a tough workout and boy am i sore. My body yells then adrenaline kicks in and i kick it up a notch and feel like grunting, then my body hurts, again adrenaline kicks in..... and it repeats. At the end of the day when i go home I'm a little sore, then i sit for an hour, now I'm really sore. I feel every muscle every joint, that's what the gym means!!! I'm already missing the weights, hey only till the race ( maybe ill hit the big weights on the weekends to keep me motivated ).

Till next time Cardio sucks!

4 Plates!!!!

That's all i have to say 4 plates! squats 4 plates ( with bar 405lb ), been there done that. One more day on heavy weights Sunday upper body, that wont be four plates but hey, that's OK with me ......... for now! Set goals break them time to set more!

That's all folks!

BELT IS COMMING!!!

Yea i know pretty cool huh?! That is a competition spec belt, 4 in tall 10mm thick and way to big around, but its coming and i cant wait.

Today i did upper body just like Monday and Wednesday, today and Sunday. Tomorrow i will be doing lower body as i did Tuesday, Thursday. As of Monday I'm going to try and shred fat for a good 3 weeks. I figure if I'm working hard on my cardio and running, and can loose another say 10 lb of fat it should make it much easier for my 5km run at the end of April.

I'm going to start playing with that incredibly insane workout for p90x or at least get some ideas from it. I got all the disks and have started watching some of them, and those are NOT BEACH BODIES they all belong to navy seals. If you guys don't believe me watch a few min of the videos! I'm thinking of sticking to the stretching, yoga, some of the beginner exercises, and if I'm feeling bold maybe plyometrics. ( i think I'd have to be really brave. ) So this weekend I'm going to take a bunch of that stuff, lots of core, multi muscle / multi-joint exercises, and horrible things like stairs ( 99% of these i learned from Chad ) and put together a workout Chad would be proud of and hopefully fear himself! I will spend minimum 1 hour everyday on this work out and 1 hour cardio on the treadmill or outside ( hopefully) running. On Saturday and Sunday i think ill do some mancercise upper one day and lower another. Boy do i have my work cut out for me! If you guys have some really good ideas or exercises feel free to let me know ( no burpies though, that makes me cringe ) I'm open to all suggestions. Guinna pig me!

Have a good weekend all!!!!

Good week!

Well its been a really good week. I am always pushing my goals, bigger better benches, deadlifts, and squats. I'm starting to find that i want to workout more and more a couple hours at the gym seems short sometime ( sometimes it is when I'm chatting ), or like i didn't get everything i wanted to done. I guess i can chalk that up to being stronger and healthier. My ankle has been buggered up for the last couple weeks so i haven't been running, and my 5.6 k run is coming up at the end of next month. This is starting to make me kinda nervous so i think Monday I'm going to start pushing myself a little more because I'm thinking by the middle of the month i need to start getting myself use to running outside. Unfortunately i am not quite as outdoorsy as Leslie and Chad, I'm by no means a puddle jumper, i don't like getting wet or muddy. Lets hope for some sun and lots of melting. Today i was squatting, deadlifting, and doing some cardio, i felt really good but i think i need to start changing things next week. Next week i think I'm going to push myself to do at least a couple hours a day and push myself to do 2/3 cardio and 1/3 weight training. Like i said i feel stronger and healthier, i want to start trimming down again, and getting more flexible. What this means is i have to dig thru the crap Chad jammed into my head and start on my muscle confusion again. The dreadful things that are going thru my head are things like stairs, lunges, raising the ball between my feet. Oh man maybe its better to be fat....... maybe not! So just push my body till i get ever muscle confused and then i can go back to the things i have learned to like to confuse them again lol!


maybe i can drop another 20 inches in the next 3 months!

Stop thinking fat and get fit!

Time for a belt, for sure!

Today went really well actually, i was really happy. I started working with Crystal today because she has a weigh in on Thursday that shes really pumped for. That started out really crappy as we started with a cardio workout, and Crystal didn't like some of the exercises as she was planning to do those with her Jillian Micheal's work out. So after being frustrated without wanting to express it as i have to live with my wife. I had to regroup and think of something i could do with Crystal that would not be repetitive in her next workout. We started working on a heavier circuit, heavier weight shorter reps. This kinda beat her up and solved the dilemma I was facing. Now shes sore :)

As for me well i had been told if i was going to work out my legs and really build strengthen and endurance, i should burn out my legs or get them close to that point. I started working on the machines to burn out my legs for the first half hour, till they were feeling kinda sore and a little week. I walked around the gym for about 5-10 min stretching them out then went to the rack! I setup the rack to about 2 inches below where i bottom out on my squats and decided to start warming up. I did 3 sets of 20 on the disgusting wall with just the broom handle. I find that this helps me to focus and get into the proper form. I started on the rack with 1 plate and did 15 for a warm up. I moved my way up to another half a plate then dropped reps to 10. I moved up to 2 plates and dropped my reps to 5. From there i worked up to 2 and a half plates and dropped to 3 reps. I kept pushing till i got to 3 plates (yup 3 plates) then i did 3 reps. I could have and would have gone further but still no belt. There doesn't seem to be any suppliers in Calgary and not many if any serious suppliers in Canada. So ill have to order from the States grrrrr.....


I decided since i still had some time i would work on some deadlifts. I started at 1 plate and worked my way up 10 lb at a time with 6 reps at a time till i reached 2 and a half plates. I kept busting my butt and reached 3 plates with 5 reps. From there i worked my way up to just over 3 and a half plates that's 3 x45 + 25 per side and the bar giving me 365lb for a 1rm ( that felt good so good) again more than what i should be doing without a belt. Soon ill have one, once my visa arrives since the last one was stolen at the gym, nope WOW doesn't get to live that one down!

Tomorrow should be a good day i will see what i can get to on the bench!

Till then keep reading and start blogging!

325 and counting

Things are rising well my dead lift weights are rising that is. I went to the gym with my wife for a couple hours today, since i didn't make it to the gym yesterday. I was working on dead lifting and squats today. I worked my way up to 2 plates today in clean squats. I haven't had a spotter in a while so i don't work more than two plates, till i feel really comfortable. But dead lifting i don't need a spotter and i can lift as much as i want without worrying. If i lift clean and strong then there should be no problems. I have a goal of 350 lb by the end of the month so I'm thinking its time for chalk and a belt. I'm going to look for one today so ill let you know if i get one today!

TTYL!

33.97 % of the way there!

Huh? I know your thinking it! Well lets just put it this way my goal is to loose about 78 lb of body fat!

Today i did my work up with Chad to figure out where i have succeeded and where i need improvement, i think over all i did very well. I'm sure i could have done better but like i said i still did very well. Over on the right i have posted ( that sent a shiver down my spine, the fact that i did post what im about to say shiver ) the before and after pictures for the last 3 months. Yes there are differences slight but differences never the less. Below that i have my updates with weight lifting and all the other mambo jumbo, inches, bmi, fat mas etc. Take a look as i will be updating these again around this time in June.

But as for today i stepped on this scale that gives you this big print out telling you everything and way more than you want to know about your body. The couple things i was interested in finding out was FFM change (Approximately 75% of weight that is lost by dieting is composed of fat and 25% is fat-free mass (FFM) [1]. Adding a physical activity program to dietary therapy can affect the composition of weight loss. ) My FFM stayed the same for me that kicks ... well you know. Reason being is probably 25% of the weight i lost was Muscle, but working out the way i did I put that 25% back on again ( in muscle for you funny people ) meaning every pound i lost so far is fat, fat, fat, and oh yea fat! The second thing i wanted was TWB Total body water this includes everything in your body that has water organs blood everything. Mine was exactly the same so that to me means that i kept the variables in the test the same as the previous test! This brings me to the last piece of information i was interested in how much fat did i remove and what is my goal from here on out. Last time i started at 78.01 lb of fat on my body to loose, today i was at 51.51lb of fat on my body to loose. this means i have lost 26.5lb of fat specifically meaning i am 33.97% into my goal just 66.03% left to go lol. Lets get it done!


Boy oh boy that's a heck of a lot of blabbing and technical jargon, thanks for making my life just a little more complicated Chad!

For Better or for Worse?

Hmmmmmmmmm for better or for worse? Everyone likes good news, and no one likes the bad so good news first. It's been a really good week eating has been excellent! Motivation has been really good! Work outs have been intense! (Except for that Chinese food i had today) I went to the gym for a couple hours today and decided to work on upper body. I did a bunch of warm ups and laid down on the rack press and dropped a plate on each side to start off. It felt really good to get back on the free weights. I did a set of 15 core was nice and tight, feet stayed planted, chest was full of air ( probably hot but air never the less) and nice and big. Everything was really clean and easy. So i kept working on my rack press in sets of 5 raising the weight by 10 lb for a couple then by 5 at a time till i hit 2 plates. When i put on 2 plates my mind went for a mindtrip, and i started thinking its heavy now, this is getting heavy. So i took a few minutes and got a drink and relaxed my mind. I laid down on the bench, didn't look at the weight, just the bar, i wound up like a spring, planted my feet and pushed 3 reps up while locked tight and brought them down nice and controlled. Then i said to myself, hey Chad's at 235lb and he wouldn't let me get there so if i just add 5lb on each side that would be good, right? Right I popped 5lb on each side, gave it 2 min and pushed that bar up.................... once................... twice .......................and .............threeeeeeee times. I broke my record and brought myself up to 235lb 3 times rack press. Oh yea baby!!! I spent a little more time on my core ( good core = good press, squat, and lifts ) then about 20 min on the treadmill. Wow that was an awesome work out. I felt amazing, so i walk to the change room to go have a shower if the place didn't smell like urine that is. I got to my locker and found my lock busted off my wallet in the wrong pocket of my jeans, and my visa missing! After such and amazing work out it makes me feel great about my gym when I'm not sure if i can take a shower cause someones pissing on the walls, and someone else is stealing my visa! So there's the bad news! Needless to say i canceled my visa, now i have to give Leslie a new one again! So ill be bringing this up to Robs att this week if i see him. Maybe something can be done about the state of the gym?

We'll see. Till then push, pull, and lift till you drop!

3 plates been there done that!

I think I'm starting to figure out what my problem has been over the last little while. Winter, that's right winter is what my problem has been. Once we started getting good sun as of Thursday and the weather started warming up my energy and motivation levels started to raise. When everything started to fall into place with the weather well my eating is falling into place this week as well. I cant thing of anything i ate that was really bad, or not in line with what is in my nutrition plan.

I went to the gym with Crystal today, she went to step class and i didn't stand a chance with that so i went on my way. I worked my upper body yesterday so i figured i would work my lower body today. I started off with a nice brisk walk on the treadmill for about 15 min, and went over to the man side of the gym. I went to the sweaty, greasy, disgusting, wall and worked on squatting form, ( a wall like that will keep anyone motivated to keep your form so you don't drag your lips on it when squatting try it!) Then moved over to the rack. I was trying to keep my form really good, elbows back, lift get into position with the least amount of steps and no swaying, back straight, keep my knees back behind my feet, and spring back up and lock. I worked my way up to a plate and a half, anymore than that without a spotter i didn't feel was a good idea. Its all about form anyways. I took a few minutes break and started working on dead lifting. I felt really strong today so i worked my way up to 2 plates and did a working set at 2 plates. I still had lots of energy so i thought i would push a little more, so i started working on a 1rm. I got up to my 305 like the last time i lifted with Chad, it felt pretty good and clean so i thought why not and i put 3 plates on. I took a couple minutes to breath and focus on something else other than the weight. I wound up my arms with lots of tension, dropped till my legs burned, taking a deep breath on the way down. I grabbed those 3 plates and pulled them up without a bounce locked admired the weight in my arms for a sec, then i came down, and back up, and down, and back up, and brought it down with control for my third rep. It was a little shaky but i know i could have done more. ( not without a belt for a while ) I also figured as i keep dropping weight ill be able to lift more. I'm pretty happy about my 3 plate lift, ill see if i can post a pic soon! Till then I'm gonna keep working on that core and loosing more weight so i can lift cleanly before getting heavier.


Tuesday is my final weigh in, measurements and photos with Chad for a while come back and check it out!

Training Done?

Well today was the last day with my trainer ( good friend ) Chad. Its getting to the point where my stucco season is about to begin and i need to dedicate my time and money to that. Not that I'm saying I'm not going to focus on the gym, I think ill be focusing on the gym even more. I was thinking I should bring Chad on the work site so he can tell me how to lift my buckets, bags of cement, and other equipment. He could yell at me don't put that cement in the mixer yet hold it, hold it, hold it, good Marc really good! now dump it in! Get another bag! No time for a break you have people waiting for mud! But i think i would only last 1 hour at work maybe 2 if i have Advil! So now comes the challenge to show Chad that he has taught me well, and i can get the wight off, and keep it off. Then next winter i can have him train me to beat all his powerlifting records.


See you around the gym, hopefully you'll see more of me and yet less!

Another session over another goal achived

Today was good overall!

I made it thru another workout with Chad goals were met and new goals have to be set. All my lifting was much better than last week, but reaching the goals i had set didn't feel like a big deal like last time. I think the whole workout was kinda bland, and i think Chad seemed to have that look in his eyes too. It didn't feel like the much anticipated Mancercise today, but I'm sure we all feel like that sometimes. On a good note i did do my 305lb lift today a couple times but not a working set as of yet. I also benched 215 trying to make it a working set but i did not make it a full set either, but i did lift it as a 1RM!

After working out with Chad I decided to try and run for a bit i think i lasted 15 min on the tired mill and only 5 was running, my body would not co operate with what i wanted. So i just walked out for 10 min after and worked on Core. I am really beginning to enjoy working on and testing my core. I got the the point where i felt really stable kneeling on the ball today even after working out with Chad ( that made me feel pretty good ). I worked out on some equipment with the ball and, did 150 crunches, spent 10 min on the ball working on balance. I even tried to get up on the ball ( standing ) but i could only get to the point where i had one foot on, one knee on and 2 hands. I think for the end of March i will set the goal of standing on the ball! You guys can hold me to it!

I think i will run for a while tomorrow if my legs feel good if not Saturday!

Till then everyone eat cheese, lots of cheese, then ill live vicariously thru you!

Nutrition update

Well i went into see Leslie today all being said she seemed fairly happy with everything i have done this week. We talked and i found that she had some good advice and was very supportive with everything we talked about. I have been taking my fish oil ( omega 3 ) and apple cider vinegar and its not getting easier but its amazing for you i keep telling myself, she told me it gets easier and to try and take it with food. I think ill try that more this week, swallow then eat something quick! After it was all said and done we weighed me in at about 272 so that's about 6 lb down from last week. I'm not happy about that because that is where i was at before Valentines day. I cheated for a bad weekend and worked to get things down to fit into a healthy diet bringing me back up to 278 - 279. This didn't really clean up until i met with Leslie and change the way i thought about food and how to eat healthily. Only over the last week I have finally back down to the same weight i was before Valentines. I am really happy as i am noticing a lot of changes happening in the way i feel and crave food.

Tomorrow i will be meeting with Chad, which i have been craving a 300 lb dead lift all week. This is something he made sure i craved as he stopped me at 295 lb last week, but i can hack it maybe he'll let me do it maybe he wont. I want to do bad but not if i lift like i was last week, i want to earn it! So you are hearing me Chad don't give me my 3 plates until i lift with good form!

Today was a really light day as i know Chad is going to kick my butt tomorrow and i want to run tomorrow. So in the advice of my trainer i did nothing. I walked on the treadmill sllllllllloooooowwwwly and felt like a tortoise for an hour, then i stretched out on a ball for about 10 min. Pretty sad huh, but muscles don't grow or heal if you don't rest! Tomorrow i will go hard, really hard, probably like i did Tuesday, and take a light weekend.

To good workouts, good trainers ( Chad and Leslie ), and supportive family ( love you honey )!

Another running success!!

Today was a really good day. I have been squatting with Chad over the last week, but finding the track i needed to be in was really hard. I have felt a person on a unicycle instead of a train on a track. Some of my squats were OK but none were not really good. This week i have really been working hard on form, balance, and a lot of core. It really paid off today I heard lots of " good " and " just like that " today, which is really nice as i have not found that my previous attempts were poor. Then Chad had me doing filler exercises on my core and shoulders. I gotta say it really tore a strip out of my energy level today. Then i missed lunch and my afternoon snack, which sucks cause i really found a huge energy drop before i started running. I know Leslie wont be happy after reading that, but i will make sure i fix that problem on the days i am working out with Chad, and Crystal!

After my hour with Chad i thought i needed to work on my 5km goal coming up in April, so i hopped on the treadmill and was working on intervals walking at 3.0 for 2 min and jogging at 5.0 for 5 min for a total of an hour. This worked out to 10min walking and 50 min of running destroying any of my previous successes. The breakdown is about .3 miles or .5 km walked and 4miles or 6.4 km run. This means i can definitely run the 5k, but this means i can run it almost 2 months ahead of time and i didn't like that. Now that i see what i can do i wish i had signed up for the 10k or even half marathon. Now i guess ill have to work on running 6 plus km nonstop and increasing the speed to help me place closer to the front till the race begins. There will be more races as time goes on and bigger goals to achieve.

I worked on core for about 20-30 min till Crystal arrived at the gym today. I was to burnt to do anything else on my body today so it was a great chance to invoke what Chad teaches me on others. I had Crystal working on her core today, and she was tough! She pushed thru everything i gave her, complained a little but not a lot. She took everything i had to give her and gave herself a little more than i pushed her to give. I am really impressed with Crystals fitness and dedication. I think that working out with Crystal and achieving goals its probably the more fun thing i have done in years, i believe it is bringing us close and will even more so over the next few years and into the future. The best part is i think she will push me more over time and ill do the same with her, but we'll become amazing athletes together!

Tomorrow i get to see Leslie and show her the progress i have made and that's pretty exciting as i have really been working hard to follow Chads guidance and Leslie's Nutrition plan to help me achieve my goals.

To steady progress and amazing results!

Running is improving!

Today was a good day i hung out with my wife alllllllllllllllllllll day.Wow it wasn't as bad as i thought it might be, i might have even said it was fun, just don't tell her or shell be expecting more time together . We started of at church, then off to Amethyst's classes, then finally to the gym. The gym was cool as yesterday i spent all my time on squats and dead lifts, so today i worked on rack lifts for 30 min and after my arms were falling off, Crystal and i spent 30 min on the treadmill. I decided to change the way i was teaching my body to run. I'm going to run for as long as i can without stopping then walk out the rest of my time. Yesterday i ran for 10 min non-stop, a huge improvement from 5 min last week. Today though i ran 12.5 min that's over a mile that means i just need to keep my body going for approx 3 times that to finish the whole 5km running. Its not the goal but its a good start! Sunday April 26th, 2009 seems like a very doable goal. The best thing is that Crystal was right beside me to see me break thru the 10 min mark, when 2 months ago i had a hard time walking to the fridge! After the gym crystal wanted juice so we went to jugo juice. I looked at the menu and thought wwls ( what would Leslie say ). While reviewing the menu i was reading, nope i don't need yogurt, don't need protein shake stuff, so i told my self we don't drink our calories, then i saw the max veg! The max veg is 14 oz of juiced carrots, beets, celery, and spinach. I thought i don't know a trainer that would not agree with that, and i thru in a shot of wheat grass to make sure i got plenty of veggie goodness in me. We took the kids to choir practice and we went shopping while walking around the mall for an hour getting Crystal more Stephen King books so 11 books later i got a work out the the truck! We went and picked up the kids and came home for super, shes a busy lady and boy the day made me hungry. I cooked up the SFL (Simply for life) chili recipe, it hit the spot, and is defiantly making a difference in the way i look at food and how my body is reacting. The weight is not adding back on anymore its coming off again, but i will post that on Wednesday or Thursday after my weigh in.

Till then TTFN, and get your family involved in your healthier lifestyle to make things better and more fun!!!

Blog Blog Blog!

I'm blogging lots lately but i guess that means I'm doing lots! Today was a good day it was a mancercise day! Bench Press, and Dead Lifts, and i love that, its like a release. Now that I'm talking about dead lifting again its amazing to do and i feel great but, i don't know who possessed my body today but some of my lifts looked like total SHIT! At one point i had to walk away, cause i was so frustrated with myself. This week I'm gonna spend a lot of time on core and form to clean up some of the carp i gave myself and poor Chad who had to see it. I am also going to get my mind off the fact of what i am lifting or that i expect it to be heavy and just look at it as if it were 20lb. On a good note i did do a on time lift of 295lb today, Chad kept me under 300 on purpose to keep me wanting the 300 lb next week. I am really glad that he did too, it will make me think about 300 lb all week then i will also remember how bad some of them were this week.

I was really impressed with my benching today i kicked it up a notch and finished off with a working set of 205lb. Without realizing it Chad kept bringing up the weight till i got there. My last bench with Chad was 175lb and that was a 1 x rep of 6 not a working set and i was struggling. I hear Chad is at 235lb ( paused ), so I'm ketching up! By next winter ill be up on him including pauses, but ill have lots of other things to ketch up on!


Keep bustin my butt Chad till I'm better at Squat, Dead lift, and Bench more than you are!!! *grin*

The Human Body Amazes Me!

I went and met with my nutritionist today. It was just a formality as i am just starting my dietary restructuring this morning, but so far it looks good. I had a 4 egg white and one yolk omelette, with lots of veggies and salsa, and finished it with a piece of fruit. At snack i had 2 kiwis, for lunch it was rice veggies and chicken. Super is a shrimp stir fry and for snack its a half cup of yogurt. So by no means am i starving, and its a lot more flavorful to keep my binging and cravings down! Lets see what it does on the scale over the next Wednesday!

After my appointment with Leslie i went to the gym and decided to listen to Chad and not workout today to let my body recover from yesterdays exercises. This left me with just cardio available, to work on. There was no way i was looking forward to force myself to jog today as i was having cramping and shin splints yesterday and the day before. Chad told me to try and stretch out my tibialis anterior muscles before and after jogging, and remove the incline on the treadmill. Well i tell ya the man's a genius, what a difference. I stood on the treadmill and walked for 5 min at 2.8 mph then 5mph for 5 more. I alternated that for 60 minutes without stopping! That means i jogged 4.02336 km and walked 2.2530816 km in intervals. This tells me i have completed the distance of the 5 k run i signed up for and now i need to keep working on it till i can jog 5km without stopping.

I account the amazing progress i have made with this goal to Chad. Every time i was running today and starting to slow down i was hearing him in my head chanting at me " Come on Marc buddy just 2 more minutes, don't slow down now just 30 seconds" or even when i did step on the sides for a quick second i could hear him in a very motivating voice saying " Come on Marc get back on, no excises get on, I'm gonna add time on! " But I think the funniest thing that came to mind was when i completed my 5 min jog interval i could hear him making sounds like a humpback whale, encouraging moans and groans, and finally ending with " Yea buddy! You did it! " When i finished up I almost expected Chad to bring over someone like Terry Fox and both telling me in true Chad fashion that i was a natural and they couldn't believe how well i was doing! Strange but he always has someone near by to motivate me in one way or another!

Overall i was thinking about how quickly the human body adapts, how well it endures, and when respected it will always amaze you. Test your body, bring it to the brink and think like Tony Horton when you think you can only do 5 more but your brain says you can do 10 do 10, its worth it!

Thanks to my team for motivating and supporting me!

Squatting?

I thought squatting was something you did when you were homeless and needed a place to sleep? But no its not, Its a painfully difficult and technical mancerise, in where you have a bar loaded with weight on your shoulders, and commence bending at the knees, and hips keeping your body and or core extremely ridged, then proceed to stand up while keeping everything ridged. So first thought that comes to mind is no I'm not interested in doing this, especially since this is how i hurt my back in my late teens. Then as always, and don't ask me how he does this, but Chad pulls out another, yes another world class athlete to compliment my form and skill to stroke my ego and make me feel like i may enjoy this. Not only did Chad use a world class athlete but he keeps telling me I'm a natural and he has seen people with many years experience with worse form. So of course the thoughts of complaining go right out the window and i fall in line just like the best solder, and before i know it I'm beginning to enjoy this. Where he gets these world class athletes ill never know, but its almost to convenient how there just there at the right time, and all the time! I think something funny is going on around there! I am as bad as Chad a little peer pressure and bam i fold!

Tomorrow i will be kicking my lifestyle into a new level of dedication. As i mentioned the other day i hired a Nutritionist. I received my new food plan today, and proceeded to the grocery store to load various items including fruits, veggies, eggs, and nuts ( all organic ) into my refrigerator and will be starting to eat appropriately tomorrow morning. I will also start weighing in every week to chart my progress. So tonight i plan on eating 3 lb of lard. This should be a good journey, just imagine who ill be this time next year. ( I still wont be granola don't worry)

Looking forward to the new changes in life thanks to Chad and Leslie!

P.S. I'm not eating lard i just wanted to shock the few that were falling asleep near the end of the blog

Nutritionist???

Well lets see today was fun i found out about something called nutrition I'm even told its something rather important. I down to a place called SFL and saw Leslie yes the same one as who sold me the shoes. I'm starting to think these people are conspiring against me and if there everywhere i go than i cant cheat on food or exercises. She showed me how the whole plan works and how it is amazingly specific to each and every persons needs. I learned how wrong some of the things i thought about certain foods were and how wonderful things like peanut butter really could be a part of my life. By that point i was sold! The she proceeded to sell me oil, not snake oil but fish oil that supposedly tastes like apple. OMG! Mistake the oil I'm sure is good but the people that developed this are sick, ill, it did taste like apple with the texture of canola oil blah!!!!! Its not that it was the worst thing i have ingested but, i was expecting it to be pleasant as it mentioned apple flavor, then boom that greasy apple taste, I'm still shuttering. So if anyone buys this just think of it as a shot to be washed down with something and you ll be just fine. Now i am really excited to see what happens over the next few weeks, and don't worry ill keep you all updated.

I went to the gym after my appointment with Leslie and banged out the same workout as yesterday but kicked up a notch on a few things. I was kneeling on the ball ( i know that alone is plenty cool ) then i grabbed a stick about the same size as a broom handle and started stretching side to side with it behind my shoulders! This was working my core in more than one way ( something Chad is always stressing multi muscle excesses ) and it felt pretty cool too. Then i kicked up my running a notch from yesterday. I walked at 3.0 and an incline of 5.0 for 3.5 minutes and jogged at 5.0 and an incline of 50 for 1.5 minutes and i kept alternating for 20 min that means 6 minutes of jogging! I gotta keep it up if I'm going to make that 5km run! So I'm heading back to the gym right away!

I'm Back from the gym and all done for tonight. I decided to do some walking and running tonight but nothing else. That means today i walked for about 45 minutes and jogged for about 15 min in intervals of course, but that's still a quarter of the time! After finished my treadmill time i played Chad and made my wife work, grunt, grown, and even grumble at me! Yes it was working out at the gym ( just in case some of you people read into things the wrong way! ), but what I'm saying is Chad has been holding out on me. I really like inflicting pain on others too! It was actually a lot of fun working out with Crystal, followed by some green tea and a few books on health and fitness at Chapters. While we were walking and talking Crystal was mentioning she might be interested in trying dead lifting, i know pretty hot huh?! So i told her to talk to Chad about working on technique and practice to see if its her thing. So i think that would be cool if we could do that together!

See you all tomorrow!

New Shoes!

I bought new shoes today, and like every kid i think they make me run faster than you!

Yea i bought new shoes, and i learned that you should not go to your avg shoe or sports store to buy them, unless you know what your looking for! I took a drive down the the tech shop today and was examined and had to do a runway walk for the nice lady then she brought me shoes and they feel great and very supportive.

Then i went to the gym today and felt really good about my work out i spent a good 2o min on the elliptical to warm up. I went over and started working on a full machine circuit. Pushing the bars and pulling plates etc, was good to work off some of my man energy! After i found i could no longer lift, pull or push I started some core work. I did about 100 crunches on the ball and 50 reversed to work my lower back. I spent 10 min doing squats on the half ball both sides of course, and finished off with about 10 min kneeling on the ball and falling off.

I figured after my body was all sore i would spend 20 min on the treadmill to loosen up all my muscles and relax a little before i went home. After about 10 min on the treadmill i thought i should try jogging ( as i have wanted to since i started the gym but felt odd about running on a treadmill ) and so i pushed the speed up to 5 and jogged for a min, then i got pooped out fast so i slowed down for a min or 2. I decided to try 5.5 for a speed and lasted for another min then back down to a walk for a couple. Then for the last to min i decided to finish strong before cooling down so i pushed it to 6 for 2 min, and in the words of Forrest Gump " I was running!" I think it was all about the shoes, especially since these shoes do not hurt my arches!

So this blog does not praise Chad it praises his better half Leslie!

Woooohoooo and uh oh !!!!!!!!!!!!

Well i went to the gym today. Chad and i did cardio, then he told me this was my last cardio session. I was to say the least ecstatic! I don't know why but unlike the weights i could not get into cardio. For me i find that i like cardio as a filler not as my main activity. Its like having all salad and no steak! Now i hear we are moving back to the heavy weights again ( steak ) and i just feel like a load has been lifted off me. I think this will help me on the days that i am not working with Chad to get my cardio done and even surpass what i have previously done. I get to work on my dead lift and benching goals you ll see down on the right! I almost died when i stepped on the scale and found a gain of 7lb since last Tuesday. ^&^#$%%^@#$^$#%&^#$%^!!!! But its all my fault, i didn't workout like i was suppose to and i didn't eat properly. Chad i think wanted to beat me i could see it in his eyes. So now i think i need a nutrition change....

Lets get it on, sweat it out and Mancercise!!!!!

Pain, Pain, and More Pain!!

So i want good over the Valentines weekend. I didn't go to the gym on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, oh yea and Monday. So Chad took it out on me he beat me like a red headed step child. I woke up yesterday with pains i never remember having before. I had to check out front that i had not crashed or rolled my truck and someway found my way into the house. I reluctantly went to the gym yesterday and did an hour of cardio. This morning i woke up and found i was less stiff and sore than yesterday but not much less. Now that brings me to today I have another session with Chad so i figured i would blog now before i can no longer blog, but if i want to meet some of my goals from now till the 28th I'm going to have to kick my own gluteus maximus to drop a few pounds off it. So I'm going to clean up my eating and work harder on the last stretch of the cardio phase with Chad!

Get r done!

Calgary Police Half-Marathon and 5km

Well I'm getting crap for using this blog from an unnamed trainer, who is to remain unnamed for using this blog to talk about my company. I guess he just wants to be the center of attention in my blog j/k. On a good note I noticed a few weeks ago Chad had some posting for races. I decided to sing up for the Calgary Police Half-Marathon and 5km. Now its time to get myself in shape to finish properly, not just finish but finish with a good time! The last two weeks Chad has had me working on fat burn blaaaaaaaaaaah! One thing i have to say about this fat burn is, its really helping me with my endurance and heart rate. I'm thinking this is going to be a good start but I'm going to shoot for a half marathon, but i would like to find one on a Saturday near or in Calgary. If its on a Saturday i believe i can get Crystal to join me, so if anyone finds one let me know!!! If anyone is interested in joining me on this run check out the website http://www.calgarypolicehalf.ca/register.htm.

Today Chad me working out on fat burn and intervals. What that means is 2 min each at level 9 and speed of 7 , 8 , and 9 on the elliptical trainer then 2 different core exercises for 2 minutes after each level. The next level was 2 min at level 11 at speeds 7,8,and 9, and then 2 different core exercises for 2 minutes after each level again. Finally the last time was 2 min each at level 13 and speed of 7 , 8 , and 9 on the elliptical trainer then 1 different core exercise and legs for 2 minutes after each level. We did the same thing last Tuesday at a level lower and i was yelling and moaning and barely worked thru it. When we kicked it up a notch today my body handled it just fine, don't get me wrong I'm sore but not half as sore as i was last week. maybe ill get Chad to kick it up an extra notch next week!

Maybe ill be in shape for that run a little sooner if i can keep adapt this quick!

The new addition to the Tuscan Stucco family!!

New Company Truck

Well I'm still sore thanks to that Chad guy so i only hit the gym on Saturday over the weekend. Mind you i have been keeping myself distracted from the pain. I saw a truck for sale yesterday a 1992 GMC 1500 for sale. The guy was asking 1900 and i got him down to 1400, not to bad of a truck but lets say its not cherry. so today i was sanding down flaking paint and rust, and spray bombing the sanded areas, it looks a little better. I think next week I'm going to get it all decaled with the company logos and services. The most important thing is this little work project is keeping my mind off Chad and his brutal mancercises!!


www.tuscanstucco.com
www.tuscanfogcoating.com

I was doing some searching for more great quotes and i found this gem. A man's health can be judged by which he takes two at a time pills or stairs. ****Joan Welsh**** now if anyone out there has ever trained with Chad you know for a fact Chad is all about the 2 stairs. When i saw that the only thing i can remember is the first day i was being trained and Chad pushed me up and down the stairs two at a time. Then got me working out with free weights till i was to put it in a nice way ill. LOL the good times. He worked me much like today just like Jillian Micheals, to bad he wasn't as pretty. As i said i have added some quotes you may want to see over to the right.

Thank you everyone who is reading and i will try to keep you entertained till I'm no longer fat nor funny!

Chadcercise is Mancercise!

So, yes I am blogging again. I am blogging again because I’m close to my computer and I definitely can’t move………. or thinking of what it’s going to feel like if I move, there’s no way I’m going to. Do you remember those old rocky movies with him beating the crap out of a side of beef? All I have to say is Sly you pansy, you whiney pansy, try chadcercise! I had a 1pm appointment today with Chad and figured it wasn’t going to be too bad, as I have been training 2 – 2 ½ hours a day all week. We start off doing squats, lunges, some kinda skiing motion, don’t forget the pushups with 10 rows one each arm, and lots of other unnatural motions that I wasn’t ready for and kicked the crap out of me. So after I completed the first hour of hell, as Chad called it while he laughed at me not with me but at me. I went for lunch and visited my father. While sitting on his couch I started to stiffen up and with another hour to go I had to get back to the gym. When I got back to the gym and changed I went over to his desk like a smart a** and said are you ready yet? I gotta learn to shut up! Chad took me over and put me on the elliptical for two min, then sitting and standing and some crazy ball thing (big core exercise), for 3 circuits then elliptical and 2 more exercises for 3 more circuits. Oh did I mention he did it to me a 3rd time with two more exercises and again 3 more times. I would have gotten sick after those work outs but HA the joke was on Chad I didn’t have the energy too! So over all Chad beat me like a rented mule and I took it barely but I did. As far as days go this was one of my best days as I didn’t die, and Chad made me stronger!

To end it all, all I have to say is:
IS THAT ALL YOU GOT CHAD!
(Got to learn to keep my mouth shut)

Motivational Quotes

As some of you have noticed some motivational quotes have been added to my blog. I believe I have been growing on this journey and have been adding motivational quotes to my blog for everyone to read, in hopes that they may encourage others who are or will be working to achieve similar goals. If you have any quotes I would be happy to look them over or post them if they will flow with my train of thought.

What I think my journey will teach me is found in 3 quotes on my blog:

The value of achievement lies in the achieving **** Albert Einstein **** meaning if I can push thru this I will look back at this as a great bonding experience with my trainer and my increasingly beautiful wife. Pushing thru this will make me a better person just for completing this task. Not that the weight loss will hurt either.

The second quote is winners have simply formed the habit of doing things losers don’t like to do. **** Albert Gray **** in this quote I focus in the tasks that seem monotonies or unbearable. This is helping me in the life changing journey Crystal and I have decided to undertake.

Overnight success is a fallacy. It is preceded by a great deal of preparation. **** Mark Twain **** Mark Twain is one of my favorite authors. While looking over his work I have found this quote teaching me immense patients with working on my goals. It has taken me 7-10 years to put on this weight and it’s not going to come off over night but Chad’s preparing me for being slim. Crystal is helping me with my focus as well with all the cheese she eats; she helps me work on temptation.

Chadcercise?

Wow 2 blogs in 2 days that’s pretty odd I have to say but here I am again. Today we started Chad's fat burn circuit, or as I'm going to refer to it as CHADCERCISE. Yes chadcercise is exercise where Chad beats me down till I can’t even pull up my pants cause there now to heavy, then proceeds to lift a plate ( 45 lb ) in front of my wife knowing I couldn’t even fathom lifting that much to make me look like a complete wimp. The goal of chadcercise is to burn off that fat layer I have, so its cardio and weights pushed to the breaking point. I’m still not sure that I’m really ready to do this or am I interested in doing it, but there are highlights (other than burning fat ) am I am finding I am recovering very quickly from it unlike the beginning of my introduction to the gym. When I look back at introduction to the gym I hated it, hmm when I look back at intro to power lifting again I hated it. I’m noticing a pattern here let me get back to you in a week and ill blog and we’ll see if I like chadcercise!

Blah Blah Blog

Well I figured it’s been a while so it’s time to blog again. I’m not really excited for the next 3 weeks. Ok let me rephrase that I’m not as excited about the next 3 weeks as I would have been a month ago. It’s all Chad’s fault; he got me hooked on mancercise, dead lifts, bench press etc, with bigger and bigger plates. For the next 3 weeks it’s time to put the grease in the pan, melt Marc's fat. Don’t get me wrong that’s why I joined the gym and even hired Chad but ......... you know! So now my blog is about to change from the weight of the plates to Marc's weight, inches, and pant sizes. I weighed in today and am now 274.1 lb from 300 around Christmas, and a 46 inch pant size just before Christmas to a painted on but never the less 38. I have some pre training photos and will be taking some mid way photos fairly soon. I will post them all when I have them all to show everyone what abuse Chad has been putting me thru! J/K

Let’s get burning fat so we can mancercise!!!

BAM 275 lb DEAD LIFT!!!!

Yea I said 275 lb, no that’s not what I weigh, but close, not that’s what I lifted today, yea 275 lb dead lift!
It stated yesterday with a huge disappointment, the weather got warm, my greed started to build and I called Chad and said I had to work meaning I needed to rebook today’s appointment. I was working my butt off today hoping to finish a little early allowing for some gym time. Work went really well and we finished by 2 pm, so I bolted to the gym and got there at 3pm. When I got to the gym I was talking to Chad and found out his 3 pm appointment canceled, how lucky can someone get? So I got to do my dead lifting! Chad got me to my working set which was 225 lb 5x for 5 sets that’s 25 lb more than my brag in the last blog. While we were working out today a guy came over and told me I should be working on power lifting, and I was impressed because he was pretty built. He complemented my form and told me I had a perfect build for power lifting. I was feeling really good by now, and then he walked away and Chad proceeded to tell me that he was rated the 18th best power lifter in Canada. That blew my mind to say the least. Anyways as we finished my working sets I asked Chad if he would let me lift 250lb to see where I was at, of course he said no. I was pretty disappointed and figured he was the trainer and he had a reason. Then Chad added some weight and told me I was going to do one more last lift. Curious about how much was on the bar I asked, to hear don’t worry about it just lift it. I was stretching and getting ready to lift and of course guess who walks around the corner Crystal. Then Chad smiles and says you’re just in time to watch Marc. With a big smile Chad looks at me and says lift and don’t embarrass your wife. So I get into form and I pull up 275lb, that’s right when I started dead lifting I was struggling with about 150lb ( 3 weeks ago ) and today was 275 lb.

Thanks for the best day yet Chad!

BOO-YAH!

Well I was given crap today because I’m not posting enough so here’s a good post for ya!! This being the second last day of strength training with my trainer Chad (before fat burn that is). Chad decided to push me a little today and tell me I was going to bench what he weighed 155 lb. I figured this wasn’t too bad but when I got to 155 Chad seen I had more so he was pushing me up to 165. While he was going to get the weight I thought to myself let’s do 175, so I mentioned this to Chad, he said no grinning of course. I swear he is getting into my head way too much, so I pushed back with a bet for lunch well... all I have to say is BOO-YAH! 175lb 6 x and free lunch!

Now that’s how a trainer plays the game and gets your brain, heart, and body working together...


Thanks for another great moment Chad!

20 lb - 200 lb!

Well it’s been an interesting week, and a pretty exciting one in my eyes. Thursday I went to the gym not that I have been feeling up to working out or doing much of anything. Never the less I went to the gym and spent some time working out with Chad. I knew we were going to be working on dead lifts and wasn’t looking for to it at all. I never really liked dead lifting and thought it was pretty much a waste of time. Anyways Chad and I were going thru the circuit and was working on my dead lifting and before I realized it I was doing 200lb lifts. After thinking about it over the weekend I think I might be starting to enjoy it. Now I think I’m going to have to add a bit more weight to the next goal and set a date to reach it.

Today being Monday I decided to head to the gym and do an hour of cardio or so. After taking a long weekend off a grueling hour on the treadmill was not what I was looking forward to but goals must be reached. I took 2 minutes and stepped on the scale and found out that in the last 30 days or so I lost 20 lb including a week off for Christmas gorging. After reaching a few goals and I’m feeling a little more rejuvenated, and am looking forward to the next month.

First post?

Friday Jan 16th 2009

About Me...

So this is my first post. I just thought I would try this blog thing as everyone is doing it now a days, and yes I would probably jump off a bridge. So I thought I would start this blog with a little info on why I’m doing this. This blog is hopefully going to keep a good record of all my success and hopefully not my failures on this journey with my wife Crystal, and my trainer Chad on how to shrink a fat man! I guess to start off I was really close to 300 lb when I started this journey and my goal is closer to 200lb give or take. Crystal and I joined a gym and hired a personal trainer named Chad. Now I watched all these TV shows like the biggest loser, and x-weighted and figured I have put it off long enough now it’s my turn!! So I quit smoking about 2 weeks before joining the gym, that was a treat but very necessary. Now Crystal and I joined the gym, and as always I wanted to go all out so I had to have a trainer. I asked the gym owner to set me up with the best I wanted nothing less! He signed me and Crystal up with Chad little did I know we were signing in blood. The first few days I started with Chad I was in pain......... oh boy was I, but I was too tough to show it... much. So I went home and died on the couch. I was unhappy with who I decided to become. I worked hard till Christmas but only till Christmas then I binged and gorged till about the 3rd of Jan at which point Chad called to make new appointments for the New Year. Fear hit me and I began to go to the gym again like a mad man! When I finally met with Chad on the 6th of Jan I was worried as our next weigh in was on the 8th, lucky for me I didn’t really gain any weight, and didn’t feel so bad. I cleaned up my act and diet since that day and have been really good minus the odd weekend movie night. Over the last ten days I have really found that working with Chad on changing my life for the better has become an amazing journey.