Bronze Body: Week 2- Time for lift-off

So the time is finally here. Tomorrow is the first day of week 2. The exercises start tomorrow. Before I jump into what I am going to do tomorrow, I measured myself in certain important categories. Here are the results:


Weight: 176.4 lbs
Height: 5' 10.5"
BMI: 25.0 (normal should be between 18.5 and 24.9)
Body Fat Percentage: 21.1% (normal should be between 8.0 and 19.9)

Please note that though I have been using free-weights all this while, I shall be starting off on machines. The reason for this being that I have been off the weights for almost 2 months and the muscles need to get used to the strain of lifting weights. This is a sort of pre-conditioning for the muscles. After a warm up for 5- 10 minutes, here is a list of exercises that I am going to do this week.:

• Quads: Leg Press/ Leg Extension Machine
• Back: Rowing Machine
• Abs: Crunch Machine
• Chest: Pressing Machine
• Triceps: Triceps Machine
• Biceps: Biceps Machine
• Shoulders: Overhead-press machine
• Hamstrings: Lying/Standing Curl Machine

I shall be doing 15 reps / set in week 1 and week 2. There will be an rest interval of 30 seconds between sets. Performing the above exercises once will complete one circuit. I shall do one complete circuit in week 1 and 2 circuits in week 2. After completing this workout, I shall be walking/running on the treadmill for 55% of my MHR (Maximum Heart Rate) for 10 mins. Your MHR can be calculated as follows: 220- your age. So my MHR is 220-26= 196. So 55% of my MHR is 106.7 or 107.

This workout shall be done 3 times a week. Monday/Wednesday/Friday.

I shall post videos of the above exercises (courtesy www.youtube.com) later this week.

Keep readinng!!

Ciao,
KJ

Bronze Body: Week 1 Diaries

So here I was at the gym after a good one and a half months thinking tonight was the time I was gonna start my good old routine and get something done! But NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was wrong on so many counts. Well for starters having slept at 4am on a working day didn't really help! But it was a disaster. I was lacking energy, got hopelessly tired and felt completely out of place. What the hell man!!!

Another big mistake was to wear Nike Dry Fit workout shirt. Man o Man!!!!! I could not believe how FAT I looked! But all this provided me good inspiration for the battle that was to come ahead starting next week. I have another 2 workout days to get back into some sort of rhythm and damn it, I am going to make the most of it.

Ciao,
KJ

Bronze Body: Week 1

So today I spent some time going through the book. The book goes in great detail as to how you should make all preparations before you actually start working out. This includes throwing away unhealthy food in your fridge, re-stocking it with healthy alternatives. The book also tells you about different kinds of exercises and how they help you, namely resistance training and cardio-vascular. Basically the Platinum workout is a combination of resistance (strength) training and cardio. The exercises are planned such that you go through them with only a small break (30-45 sec) between exercises.

The book specifically has you get used to eating 6 times a day (basically splitting your 1800-2000 cal/day) into 6 equal portions. This helps you in a way that your body's metabolism constantly keeps working. So instead of having a extremely heavy meal in one go, you can have 2 or maybe 3 meals of smaller portions such that you are hungry. The key to this as mentioned in the book is to have portion control. You should only have so much food that you are almost full. Note the word "almost". The reason for this is to let your body have some space to burn the calories that you have just ingested.

The book also tells you to have atleast 8 glasses of water everyday. I guess the approx size of these would be 8-10 oz. totaling to around 80-100 oz. of water every day. This helps you wash away your toxins and excess proteins that the body may not need. Another important thing mentioned in this first phase is that the diet is going to be protein heavy. This is because, proteins help body build muscle and "muscle burns calories faster".

Now the book asks you to specifically lay off any workouts for the first week so as to let your body get habituated to the things mentioned above (6 meals, 8 glasses of water, healthy portion sizes and eating veggies and fruits of different colors). I am however going to workout for 3 days this week as I haven't worked out in almost a month and it would be good to jump-start my metabolism. Once I am back in the workout routine, I am planning to follow the routine to the T.

Later this week I shall post what kind of exercises are planned for the first couple of weeks and touch up on some nutritional aspects.

Ciao!

KJ

Finally time to start!

After a week of anticipation, I have the book in my hands. Tomorrow will be spent reading the book and planning the workouts for the coming week (nice way to spend Valentines Day, huh!). The book also has a ton of stuff about eating right and eating 6 times a day. More research on this part tomorrow.

Good luck to me :)

Introduction

Hello Everyone,

My resolution for the year 2009 was to work out 4 times a week and have a beach body by July/August 2009. That rarely happened. I even hired a personal trainer to help me get in the "Zone". That experiment yielded some results, but as soon as the trainer's services were done, I fell back to my old ways.

Then came August 2009. Looking at myself and the failed result, I decided to start again. This time, however, I took it slow. Starting at a measly 2 days a week, I started getting back into the habit of going to the GYM. Then slowly, I increased it to 3 days, then 4 days and finally 5 days a week from November 2009. I also started counting calories starting October 2009 to help me in my quest. The goal: My brother's wedding in December 2009. I had to get back in shape and show my parents that I was not a lazy ass who rarely exercised!!!I must say that I did achieve some great results. I dropped 10 pounds and was feeling a lot better, had a lot of energy and motivation.

The reason for this blog is that I am starting a new workout regimen and I wish to document it and share it with the world. This project was in part inspired by "Julie and Julia" and is on the same lines. The book by Julia Child helped Julie Powell become a better person. I hope that that what I am about to do will make me a more disciplined person. The regimen that I am about to start is going to be based on L.L.Cool.J's book:
LL Cool J's Platinum Workout: Sculpt Your Best Body Ever with Hollywood's Fittest Star that you can all buy at Amazon.com or any book store.

Whatever exercises that I shall list in the blog are completely based on what is in the book. All the routines listed are copyrighted to the authors and I am merely using it for getting into shape. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners.

Hope all of you enjoy my journey as I navigate through L.L. Cool.J's rigorous training regimen!!!

KJ