I feel that every time I write these blog posts I am the ‘naughty child’ that has some explaining to do. What have I done this week? Well, it’s a fair question.
Equally, I feel as though I lead some sort of extravagant life, always partying and travelling. Things really have fallen all at once, which has made this experiment that little bit more interesting.
Upon returning from Berlin I was immediately rushed into my first 5 a-side game of the season. I seriously underestimated how different the muscle groups are from running. Coupled with the miles of walking we did in the German capital, my legs were done for the week, there was to be no more running.
The exercises however, continued in strong fashion, but not until Wednesday. See, on Tuesday was my birthday, and I had to, of course, had to, have a beer. I also begrudgingly had a McDonalds. I know, yes, I know, it was a very low point, but hey, if there are serious differences over the ten weeks, at least I can say you are allowed a Big Mac!
See last week’s exercises right.
I found all of them ok, apart from one, the V-Ups. Laying on your back, with your arms above your head, flat, you simultaneously raise yours arms and legs, almost as with the intention of making them meet in the middle. It’s a killer, get to 10 and you’re in real pain.
Doing the flutter kicks straight after is a pain and with the now increased time of 60 second reps for the plank, the exercises now seem a lot harder than when I first started.
Throughout this experiment I was keen to keep as normal life as possible, stay away from things such as ‘calorie counting’ and engrotiate the plan into normal everyday living. Which I like to think I’ve done to a certain extent, but to really monitor nutrition, it’s hard to not count your daily intake to make sure you’re hitting certain targets.
I had another chat with MaxiNutrion nutritionist, Gareth Nicholas, who monitored a three day food diary of mine. He came back with the news that I wasn’t eating enough, much to my enormous relief because I was always starving. He looked at my calorie, protein and fat intake and set me targets.
See the jpeg right. This was one of my days last week, I am now eating around five times a day, but even more so than before. As much as I was against calorie counting, it’s become rather useful at seeing how much protein I need to get in my body to effectively improve. It’s not something I want to continue throughout, but what it has done is allow me to learn what I actually need for my body. I wouldn’t have known it without having to count.
At the weekend it was my brother’s girlfriend’s 50th birthday bash, an 80’s vice theme. I was on the vodka, soda water and limes. I felt good at the end of the night, I’m not sure whether that shows I really can’t handle my beer or whether it’s the change to low cal spirits.
After three weeks I can definitely say that my belly feels a lot tighter, less flabby and I feel better in myself, fitter and stronger.
There are no major partying plans for the next couple of weeks, so I’m going to try and nail the nutrition as best as possible and bring the workouts up to four times a week.
Let’s see how I am when I reach the halfway point in two weeks time.
