The Work Weight Loss Challenge is Over!

Well, the work weight loss challenge is over. A few updates before I get into the details of that....

I mentioned I had a weird schedule weekend, so I had to move my weight workout from Sunday to Saturday. And man oh man, I crushed Saturday's weight workout! First up was Total Body Hammer from Hammer and Chisel, and of all the total body work I'm doing right now, this workout is definitely my favorite. Something about the pace, the combination of movements...it's awesome! Also my legs held up MUCH better this time, so it's good to see they're getting stronger. The only problem this workout has is it doesn't have any bicep/tricep dedicated stuff. Fortunately, I also had....

Bulk Arms from Body Beast scheduled! And let me tell you, when you put these two workouts together back to back, you're in for a treat. I absolutely love Body Beast's style of workouts, and this one never ceases to amaze me with how well it's put together.

Now, that was it for the scheduled workouts, but my daughter was asleep and I didn't want to wake her, AND I was craving some extra shoulder work. I love working shoulders by the way. But, I didn't think I had enough gas in the tank for Build/Bulk Shoulders. Fortunately, I'd discovered last week that Tony Horton's put out a series of 10 to 15 minute workouts, and one of them is called Boulder Shoulders! I am still playing around with ideas for my summer program, these workouts being highly considered in that mix, so I decided to hit play o this one too. And WOW! I'll never say this is the end all be all of shoulders (Bulk Shoulders might hold that title actually), but as an add-on workout, this is the one! It finished off what I felt my shoulders were lacking, and we got a lot of work in in only 11 minutes. I was surprised.

So that, that was Saturday. Yup, three whole paragraphs dedicated to my Saturday workout. YES! Also I stepped on the scale Saturday morning after my workout and hit 191.0! Boom! Only a day late, so not bad. Unfortunately, I cheated a little bit during the day (three mini quiches plus some pastry wrapped hot dogs. More on that later. Sigh....).

Sunday was Mother's Day, and I want to give one final Happy First Mother's Day shout out to my beautiful and incredible wife. While she slept, baby and I made her breakfast, and while it was chilling in the fridge (it had to set, I made a fancy smoked salmon stack) I got some ab work in. I had Ab Ripper scheduled, but decided to do Abs 10 from Max:30, as well as Abs Core Plus from P90X+. I'd never done either of these workouts before, and wanted to give them both a try. And honestly, both were very well done. My focus wasn't completely there, I was too excited about the food in the fridge and to open presents with my wife, but overall I think I got some ab work in.

Kept the rest of Sunday pretty clean. I had a few licks of cinnamon role frosting, but other than that I mostly ate fish all day. We went to the same sushi restaurant as a few weeks ago, so I ate a ton of sashimi for dinner. It was good.

This morning was Cardio Challenge. Knowing I had my weigh in after, I pushed my ass as hard as possible. Easily, this was my best Cardio Challenge workout ever. I felt pumped and soaked. It was good.

Unfortunately, I stepped on the scale and clocked in at 192.0. Now, I guess there's some good things from this. This is the first time in a while my Monday weigh in has been less than my Friday (192.2, for those who don't want to look back). Unfortunately, this wasn't the 191.0 I saw on Saturday. Damn mini quiches and frosting licks!

But, nothing I could do, this is where I was. I hopped into the car and drove over to the weigh in. Now, after my workout, I made sure not to drink any more water or eat anything. I brought a bottle of water plus my usual protein drink to enjoy after, but I wanted to come into this as dry as possible. I also used the restroom the moment I got there. Again, I wanted to be as low as possible (as opposed to the first weigh in, where I intentionally ate a good sized lunch beforehand and came in about 2.5 lbs heavier than that morning).

So I stepped onto the scale. My starting weight during this competition was 216.0. And today, when the scale clocked in, it came in at....

191.4.

This is also when I found out they round, giving me an official weigh in of 191.0. A full 25 lbs! Hey, I'll take it! I guess the rest of my work team came in around the 5 lb to 15 lb range, so I did really well for my team! Only time will tell how I did in the overall individual portion of the competition (if that's even a thing, not sure).

So, 191.4. Not bad! Yes, I pushed that number down a bit with effort, but hey, I'm proud. And, with that in mind, I'm shooting for 191.0 on Wednesday now. Let's see if I can get that number locked in.

Alright, I need a new challenge. My personal weight loss is good, but I need more things to keep me on track. Not sure what that is. Possible a race prep, but not really decided. I'll keep you posted what I'm thinking.

Oh, final thought, and then I'll wrap up this super long post. Since I got to work out heavy on Saturday, I wanted to take the opportunity to reevaluate my summer program. A lot of people say an upper/lower split done 3x in a week is too much. Well, since I lifted Saturday, that means I'd be lifting today too, and right now I think these people are right. I'm not dead, not by a long shot, but after my amazing Saturday workout, I definitely don't think I could put in the same work if I were to try it today. So, with that in mind, I'm looking into a much more manageable split for the summer. More info on that as things get closer.

Onward and upward. Going to go for another walk today, and tomorrow is the return of Lucky 7 from Body Beast, which I'm really excited about.

OHHH!! Ok, final thought, I swear. I was reading old posts from earlier in the year, and remembered I used to also chronicle what I was reading and things like that. So, I started a new book two weeks ago called Smarter Faster Better. The author wrote an excellent book a few years ago about Habits, which I completely devoured, so when his new book came out and I found out about it, I got it instantly. I want to read it by the fire pit and/or hammock, but we haven't had weather permitting, so I'm holding off to really get into it. I also checked out a weight lifting/nutrition boom from the library, and another nutrition book by Bob Harper on audio. The last one I'm not going to finish - it's just not doing it for me. The weight lifting one is interesting so far, though it comes across like a giant giant blog that makes its money on PPC. So, still mixed feelings if I'll finish it.

Ok, that's my story. Talk at you soon Internet world.

Bring it!