Monday, April 9, 2012
April has not been a good writing month for me
Well everyone, April has not been a good writing month for me. Great for the workouts. Great for eating healthy and my gardening. Just not for writing. So here is what I am proposing. I will be taking a couple of weeks off and to regroup and come up with ways of insuring I can be posting like I want to. So I am going to call April a wash and look forward to May. Another big reason is that I will be without plentiful internet connection for a couple of weeks. Should be around here and there when possible but will be very limited in the online scene. I just am looking for some relaxing and much needed downtime. Enjoy April and I will see you again in May.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Proteins Does the Body Good
Exercise and Martial Arts
I really do not have too much to report on the exercise level today. I have been putting considerable time into researching my protein intake. I am continuing to use two 8 lb medicine balls for hand strength training. I am also using them at the same time to build and tone muscles in the upper body. I have been doing karate punches and blocks using these balls. This helps by making me exaggerate my movements and really pay attention to my form. At this time my fingers seem to be loosing strength but I feel that this is due to the rebuilding and tiring of the muscles. Soon however this should be turning around and I should be seeing positive gains.
Despite my best efforts I have continued to loose weight, which in most situations would be viewed as a plus. However in my cases not so. A year and a half ago I was reigning in at a solid 202 lbs. Since then I have managed to get down to 182 lbs average. Ten of those pounds came off since January. Why? I changed the way I eat. The problem that I face now is loosing too much weight. So what am I doing wrong?
I seemed to be doing everything right. I eat a balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains and seeds. I could not find anything that I was lacking, until I looked at my diet closer. What I found is that there was a lacking in my protein intake. Since I have a high activity level I find that I am burning off more fat than I am "building" muscle. In order not to wither away one must consume the proper amount of protein to allow muscle growth.
Searching for some formula that I could use to calculate what I needed to consume in terms of protein. I feel that I did find that. Through a web search I was able to find a formula from the AHA that can be used to calculate needed protein. The formula is as follows.
Thank you for stopping by and seeing what I have here. Please feel free to leave comments and to follow me if so desired.
I really do not have too much to report on the exercise level today. I have been putting considerable time into researching my protein intake. I am continuing to use two 8 lb medicine balls for hand strength training. I am also using them at the same time to build and tone muscles in the upper body. I have been doing karate punches and blocks using these balls. This helps by making me exaggerate my movements and really pay attention to my form. At this time my fingers seem to be loosing strength but I feel that this is due to the rebuilding and tiring of the muscles. Soon however this should be turning around and I should be seeing positive gains.
Cooking and Healthy Eating
Despite my best efforts I have continued to loose weight, which in most situations would be viewed as a plus. However in my cases not so. A year and a half ago I was reigning in at a solid 202 lbs. Since then I have managed to get down to 182 lbs average. Ten of those pounds came off since January. Why? I changed the way I eat. The problem that I face now is loosing too much weight. So what am I doing wrong?
I seemed to be doing everything right. I eat a balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains and seeds. I could not find anything that I was lacking, until I looked at my diet closer. What I found is that there was a lacking in my protein intake. Since I have a high activity level I find that I am burning off more fat than I am "building" muscle. In order not to wither away one must consume the proper amount of protein to allow muscle growth.
Searching for some formula that I could use to calculate what I needed to consume in terms of protein. I feel that I did find that. Through a web search I was able to find a formula from the AHA that can be used to calculate needed protein. The formula is as follows.
Weight in pounds / 2.2 = conversion from pounds to kg
kg * .8 though 1.8 = grams / kg of protien
The range of .8 though 1.8 is used and adjusted according your activity level. .8 is used by someone that has a fairly inactive life style. 1.8 is used for those that are highly active such as one who is a body builder or someone who pushes themselves at that leave of workouts.
For a example I can calculate my protein needs using this formula as listed below.
182 lbs / 2.2 = 82.73 kg
82.73 kg x 1.8 = 148.91 g of protein.
I will be using this formula and following closely my protein intake. Over the next few months I will be following this formula to see how much growth I obtain.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Today is a wonderful day.
Today is a wonderful day.
Exercise and Martial Arts
Today I added a "New Workout Log" to my links to the right of this posting. I have decided to do away with the old style that I had been using. The reason for this change is I hope that everyone can follow my workouts much easier. One of the benefits of the old spreadsheet was that I felt that it was easy to follow the progress each day. I think though that the new sheets are better at displaying how my workouts are set up. As you will see each exercise is listed on the left side of the sheet and across the sheet is the number of set that I perform each day. At the right side of the graph is a total of reps that are done for each day.
Another thing that I have managed to do is to start working on my hand strength. I purchased two 8 pound medicine balls. These are designed to allow for strengthening of my grip. I will be using them to perform may kata for my karate training. These take the place of the traditional jars that are used in strength training in Japan. I will use them to practice punches and blocks also. This allows not only to strengthen my grip but also my arm strength. By using kata I feel that the different movements will use muscles in ways that they would normally not be used. Possibly even uses muscles that I have not normally been targeting for my workouts.
Cooking and Healthy Eating
I have been well on track with my eating habits. In fact last week I was able to reach a weight that I have not see for many years. Now one has to understand that I am not trying to loose weight. In fact I believe that it would be better if I gained a little more weight. At this point though I am pushing very hard not to compromise my eating habits that I have been forming over the last couple of months.
Along with the chia seeds that I have been eating along with fruit and yogurt I have been adding more protein and calories to my diet. I managed to fit in more things like whole grain bread with peanut butter. I also eat several fruits that are not part of my breakfast diet. I eat healthy portions of oranges, apples and bananas. Most evenings I also squeeze in a large bowl or two of cereals. Not the sugary types that I use to eat buy more of the plain cereals. Eating 4 to 5 times daily still is not allowing me to gain weight and instead I am loosing weight. I have also noticed that my muscles are getting much more toned and I feel that I am getting in the best shape of my life. With that said, since muscle weighs more than the fat I am realizing that the fat is coming off faster than what would be expected. This I am attributing sole to my diet.
News
I am putting the final plans on creating videos for my blog. I still am not sure how much this is going to affect my writing. I have thought of just doing videos for my blog and forget the writing. On the other hand I feel that might be a mistake. I would like have both side by side. Some readers will want to read the blog and watch the videos. Others will skim the text and only pick out what they feel is important to them. Yet others might just focus on the videos and forget the text.
My plans for the videos are to do short ones that are maybe two to five minutes long. That way they can be categorized according to different topic instead of making people watch them all the way through to find the information that they want.
Any feed back concerning anything discussed on today's posting is welcome. Your input is welcome in my developing a blog that best fits your needs. Have a wonderful week and until next time take care and enjoy.
Exercise and Martial Arts
Today I added a "New Workout Log" to my links to the right of this posting. I have decided to do away with the old style that I had been using. The reason for this change is I hope that everyone can follow my workouts much easier. One of the benefits of the old spreadsheet was that I felt that it was easy to follow the progress each day. I think though that the new sheets are better at displaying how my workouts are set up. As you will see each exercise is listed on the left side of the sheet and across the sheet is the number of set that I perform each day. At the right side of the graph is a total of reps that are done for each day.
Another thing that I have managed to do is to start working on my hand strength. I purchased two 8 pound medicine balls. These are designed to allow for strengthening of my grip. I will be using them to perform may kata for my karate training. These take the place of the traditional jars that are used in strength training in Japan. I will use them to practice punches and blocks also. This allows not only to strengthen my grip but also my arm strength. By using kata I feel that the different movements will use muscles in ways that they would normally not be used. Possibly even uses muscles that I have not normally been targeting for my workouts.
Cooking and Healthy Eating
I have been well on track with my eating habits. In fact last week I was able to reach a weight that I have not see for many years. Now one has to understand that I am not trying to loose weight. In fact I believe that it would be better if I gained a little more weight. At this point though I am pushing very hard not to compromise my eating habits that I have been forming over the last couple of months.
Along with the chia seeds that I have been eating along with fruit and yogurt I have been adding more protein and calories to my diet. I managed to fit in more things like whole grain bread with peanut butter. I also eat several fruits that are not part of my breakfast diet. I eat healthy portions of oranges, apples and bananas. Most evenings I also squeeze in a large bowl or two of cereals. Not the sugary types that I use to eat buy more of the plain cereals. Eating 4 to 5 times daily still is not allowing me to gain weight and instead I am loosing weight. I have also noticed that my muscles are getting much more toned and I feel that I am getting in the best shape of my life. With that said, since muscle weighs more than the fat I am realizing that the fat is coming off faster than what would be expected. This I am attributing sole to my diet.
News
I am putting the final plans on creating videos for my blog. I still am not sure how much this is going to affect my writing. I have thought of just doing videos for my blog and forget the writing. On the other hand I feel that might be a mistake. I would like have both side by side. Some readers will want to read the blog and watch the videos. Others will skim the text and only pick out what they feel is important to them. Yet others might just focus on the videos and forget the text.
My plans for the videos are to do short ones that are maybe two to five minutes long. That way they can be categorized according to different topic instead of making people watch them all the way through to find the information that they want.
Any feed back concerning anything discussed on today's posting is welcome. Your input is welcome in my developing a blog that best fits your needs. Have a wonderful week and until next time take care and enjoy.
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