Saturday - CT USA

Little exercise over Christmas other than body weight (press ups, pull ups, burpees etc).

Back in Norwalk, CT so we took advantage of the gym this morning.

Didn't write down weights or reps but did four rounds of the following

Pull ups
Leg Press
Bench Press
DB Bench Press
Crunches

plus plank.

Now watching the snow fall, and wondering if we'll get out for the trail walk we wanted to do: http://www.traillink.com/trail/housatonic-rail-trail-in-trumbull-(pequonnock-valley-greenway).aspx

Sunday.

9.5K run around amersham with Mum on her bike. Will upload route later.

No PB..

Friday

Lunchtime 10k run (will upload later) with new shoes courtesy of journo friend who works for a certain lads mag.

47min 57 seconds - new PB

Finished the day off with some body weight exercises.

Chin up - 6 - 5 - 5 - 3 - 2
Press up - 35 - 30 - 32 - 30

Update

Monday
Pre-work gym. Currently can't find the notes of what I did - but was a good work out.

Tuesday
Ran home 7.74km in 41min



Wednesday
Pre-work gym

Bike 5 min warm up
Bench Press 50kg 8 - 6 - 5 - 5
DB Benchpress 28kg - 11 - 9 - 8 - 6
Leg Press 79kg - 11 - 11
DB Thrusters 28kg 9 - 8 - 8 - 6
Row 2000m 8.30

Friday

Succeeded in making 3 gym trips this week to make up for last week.

10 min warm up bike (5km)

Chin Up
7 - 5 - 3 - 2 - 4

Leg Press
79kg - 11
89kg - 8 - 9 - 9

Bench Press
55kg - 4
50kg - 5 - 5 - 4

Lat Pull Down
63kg - 9 - 9 - 9 - 8

Deadlift
60kg - 12 - 13

BO Row
35kg - 15 - 16

Plank
1m29
59seconds

Lying Leg Chop
40

10 min warm down bike (5km)

Work vs Play - Wednesday

Morning gym sessions are definitely the way forward. Work is just as crazy this week, but it's good to still get to the gym and have a workout!

2nd different workout (keeping it different - may revert back on Friday).

Close Grip Bench Press
55 kg - 2
50 kg - 5 - 5 - 6 - 3

Dumbbell Chest Flys
20kg - 8
24kg - 8 - 9 - 5

Dumbbell Bench Press
32kg - 8 - 8 - 8 - 4

Deep Press Up 
10 - 10 - 7

Deadlift
60kg - 12 - 14 - 14

Lying Leg Chop
55

Work vs Plan - Monday

Massive fan now of morning work outs. I was in the Gym at 7.30 and at my desk eating breakfast at 8.30 having done my monday workout! Perfect!

I mixed it up to avoid repetitive workouts - although some guy was hogging the smith machine - so was unable to do chin ups until he'd finished, by which point my arms were shot - so not exactly what I would have wanted!

9 min on the bike to warm up 

Lat Pull Down

70kg - 9 - 8 

63kg - 8 - 4

DB Hammer Curl

2 x 8kg - 8 - 8 - 10 - 9 

Chin Up

2 - 2 - 1 - 1

Barbell Bent Over Row

35kg - 15 - 15 - 13

Barbell Standing Curl

25kg - 11 - 10

Front Plank

69 seconds, 61 seconds

Todays reading for you: http://paleolithicmd.com/2012/09/10/in-defense-of-paleo-no-words-needed/ 

Saturday

Nice day to stretch my muscles.

Chin ups: 20
Press Ups: 102

Nice walk over to East London

Work vs Play

I wish I had more time to play, to run, to go to the gym, to cycle, to swim. Unfortunately it's coming up to YE, and work is getting in the way.

Only had time to work out on wednesday this week - so it's been more of a rest week. Plan to spend Sat and Sunday doing some BW exercises, a run and a long walk.

Chin up	Weight (kg)	BW	BW	BW	BW
Chin up	Reps	8	3	5	4
Leg Press	Weight (kg)	79	86	86	86
Leg Press	Reps	14	12	12	10
Bench Press	Weight (kg)	50	52.5	52.5	50
Bench Press	Reps	8	5	4	4
DB Deadlift	Weight (kg)	60	60
DB Deadlift	Reps	12	13
Run		1km
		5min

10Km PB Run

With all the leg gym work recently and a perfect cold brisk, bright morning for running. I ran 10k in a really good time of 48m32 - with the last 2k really pushing to achieve at least close to a PB. Looking through my Garmin records, I'm pretty sure that is the best 10k time I've run.

Update

Friday Lunchtime Gym

Bench Press	Weight (kg)	50	50	50	50
Bench Press	Reps	7	6	4	4
Leg Press	Weight (kg)	72	79	86	86
Leg Press	Reps	17	12	11	11
Lat Pull Down	Weight (kg)	70	70	70	63	63
Lat Pull Down	Reps	11	7	3	5	5
Seated Vs	Weight (kg)	BW	BW
Seated Vs	Reps	51	54

Wednesday Gym

Bench Press	Weight (kg)	50	52.5	52.5	50
Bench Press	Reps	8	4	4	6
Leg Press	Weight (kg)	79	86	86	79
Leg Press	Reps	13	10	11	13
DB Deadlift	Weight (kg)	60	60	60
DB Deadlift	Reps	12	12	9
Chin up	Weight (kg)	BW	BW
Chin up	Reps	12	10
DB Overhead Press	Weight (kg)	32	32	32	24
DB Overhead Press	Reps	8	7	6	7

Tuesday Run Home

7.38km in 40min

Friday Lunchtime Gym

Bench Press	Weight (kg)	40	50	50	52.5	40
Bench Press	Reps	12	7	5	2	6
Leg Press	Weight (kg)	72	79	86	86
Leg Press	Reps	15	12	10	9
Lat Pull Down	Weight (kg)	63	70	70	70
Lat Pull Down	Reps	10	6	7	4
Dumbbell Thrusters	Weight (kg)	24	24	24	24
Dumbbell Thrusters	Reps	12	10	10	10
Swiss ball Sit ups	Weight (kg)	BW	BW
Swiss ball Sit ups	Reps	51	53

Thursday

Tried to not forget chin ups (which are hard to do in the gym at work - people don't like you using the bench press equipment to do chin ups!)

Chin ups: 6 - 4 - 5 - 2 - 3 - 5 - 4

Tuesday Gym

Didn't have a lot of motivation last night, but still managed to make it to the gym and have a good workout. I completed the deadlifts after the leg press, so had very little energy to do more than 11!

Bench Press	Weight	55kg	50kg	50kg	50kg
Bench Press	Reps	4	7	5	5
Dumbbell Deadlift	Weight	60kg	60kg	60kg	60kg
Dumbbell Deadlift	Reps	11	11	11	8
Leg Press	Weight	79kg	86kg	86kg	86kg
Leg Press	Reps	11	12	9	8
Lat Pull Down	Weight	70kg	70kg	70kg	70kg
Lat Pull Down	Reps	8	7	6	4
Seated V Sit up	Reps	54	50

There is a new gym opening up in Kilburn which is close and looks good & cheap. Once back from the states in March, I'll sign up, so I can deadlift heavier weights and do proper squats, rather than just using the leg press machine.

Still looking for a good swimming pool nearby that doesn't cost a fortune, plus trying to book a squash court can be a nightmare!

Running time

Ran home from work, and bumped into W at the station, so walked and talked for a bit before carrying on. Time therefore not relevant! 7.5km, felt ok!

Update

Friday to Sunday evening was a weekend away at Center Parcs. The beauty of going there means rather than just eating and drinking during the weekend, I played squash, went for a walk, went to boxercise, went bowling (yes I got a turkey) and went swimming - along with eating healthily all weekend.

Nice and restful!

Now back to running and gym time!

Weds evening gym time

Focused on form rather than weight or reps but completed 4 sets each of between 5-8 reps for:
deadlift
benchpress
lat pull down

Monday Night Ultimate

5-a-side astro Ultimate. Great run around!

Sunday Football

11-a-side football, lost 11-0. Shocker, but great run out for 90 minutes!

Very quick gym trip

Bench press
55Kg - 5
50kg - 8 - 5 - 4

Dumbbell Deadlift
60kg - 15 - 16 - 16 - 15

Chin up
5 - 5 - 4

Run home

Bit slow as taking it easy and wearing a bag but not too bad.

Rest Up

With the change in weather, everyone is coming down with something, and I can feel myself fighting off a cold or something! So worked from home today and avoided pushing myself too much.

Chin Up 6 - 5 - 5 - 3 - 4
Press Up 32 - 33 - 31 - 35 - 20

Astro Ultimate

Monday night has now become AstroTurf Ultimate night, where I play 5-a-side Ultimate, with very little stopping. Great for sprints and cardio.

60 min - sprints, throws and jogging!

Sunday

Was meant to be out playing ultimate in winter league today but rain stopped play... So some indoor core work instead, a roast chicken and lots of sport on tv!

Chin up 6 - 6 - 4 - 4 - 3
Press up 30 - 31 - 27
Plank 1 x 1m15

Swimming

First swimming session in ages. 30 min and the lights go off... Building evac'd .. Oh well, next time!

Update

Monday
Played 5-a-side Ultimate on astro with ABH for an  hour. Great cardio and sprints.

Weds
Lunchtime gym sessions

Deadlift 
60kg - 15 - 16 - 15 - 12

Bench Press
50kg - 8 - 8 - 6 - 4 (good form)

Lat pull down
70kg - 7
63kg - 7 - 8 - 5

Leg press
58kg - 11 (great form)
72kg - 11 - 11 (good form cdb)

Weekend Update

Sat
Chin up - 3 - 3 - 3 (focussed on form and not to go to failure)
Press up - 30 - 30
Pull up - 2

5km run - 23m48

Sunday
Watched skyfall - amazing!

Update

Weds night - Sunday night
@ Cley for long weekend - long walks and pub lunch.

Tuesday
Ran home



Wednesday
Burpee: 20 - 20 - 20
Chin up - 8 - 7 - 6 - 5
Press up - 25 - 24 - 25 - 25

Football

Played with the old team. Down 0-3 at half time, won 5-3.  Lots of sprints, felt good!

Sunday Restart

I hate red eye flights from the US - but they do serve a purpose. You get a whole day in the US, and then arrive back in the UK the next morning - clever use of time. However it does mean you do miss out on a load of sleep.

So I slept for 12 hours straight last night, no waking/tossing & turning, just straight 12 hours of solid sleep. Amazing. So with that under the belt - it was time to get back into exercise

Body weight exercises

28 minutes of:

Chin Ups - 7 - 5 - 5 - 5

Burpees - 15 - 15 - 15 - 15

Press ups - 20 - 20 - 20 - 20

5 min rest

Run

3.15 miles (5.06km) 26min 32 sec

Stopped a few times to sort out ipod and did 3x chin ups in the park.

Work trip #2

Ran for 30min, approx 6km

Work trip

Currently back in the us at a team meeting. Managed to get to the gym on Monday evening for a brief weights session, and will try to do at least one more.

Lunchtime Jog

Thurs gym

Bench press
55kg - 4
50kg - 8 - 9 - 8

Deadlift
60kg - 16 - 17 - 17

Rowing
2000m - 7.59.4

Chin up
6

Stratford to Stratford Cycle Challenge

Over the weekend, I cycled from Stratford in London, to Stratford-upon-avon in the midlands. Approx 60 miles a day (with detours), it was a fun way to get out on my bike.

Both my phone and GPS watch proved to have limited battery life (I could have charged the watch overnight, but forgot too.. and the phone was never going to last on GPS for the period of time we were out..) - so you'll have to make do with what the route was MEANT to be! We ended up doing 123 miles in approx 9 hours (cycling time, not inc. breaks/lunches).

I have been resting since, and plan to go to the gym later today and run tomorrow.

Day 1 (Saturday 29th)



Day 2 (Sunday 30th)

Post viral 2

Cycled to work to try new waterproof and lights.

Pull up
6 - 2 - 5 - 2 - 5 - 4 - 2

Deadlift
60kg - 16 - 16 - 17 - 16

Still recovering so wont overdo it.

Post virus

Nothing since friday as I came down quite hard with a virus that laid me out for sat. Weirdly feel fine today and wanted to get back to exercise, but in order to not over do it, I just spent 40min on the bike.

Ill

Have been ill since Friday. Managed 30 min of cycling in the gym on Friday to try and sweat out what I thought was a cold, but no exercise over the weekend as felt pretty awful yesterday with a temperature.

Getting better each day, but need to do some final training for next weekends trip!

Chin ups
7 - 5 - 6 - 4
Deadlift
60kg - 15 - 16 - 14 -
Bench press
55kg - 8 - 7 - 5 - 6
Leg press
86kg - 7
72kg - 10 - 10
Plank
1min15
1min5

Last weekend went kayaking down the wye which was great. Very busy at work with entertaining since.

Tues AM

Pull Up
7.5 - 6 - 6 - 5

Db deadlift
60kg - 14 - 13 - 13 - 13

Benchpress
57.5kg - 3
55kg - 6 -  4 -  4

Plank
60 seconds x 2

Press up
10

Out of time!

Sunday bike ride

Great ride out to M&Ds - thanks for a nice lunch!

Wednesday Update

Forgot to post that I played football on Wednesday after work.

Friday AM workout

Cycled into work - 22min 4.82 miles

Bench Press
62.5kg - 1
57.5kg - 4 - 3 - 3
55kg - 4

Dumbell Deadlift
60kg - 13 - 14 - 13 - 12

Leg Press
93kg - 11

Seated v crunch
70 - 74

Bike 
15 min (7km)

Had very little energy this morning but still managed something. Think I need more sleep!

Core Bore

Achieved / Target

Chin up: 40 / 50 (8 - 3 - 8 - 6 - 5 - 6 - 4)
Press up: 120 / 120 (25 - 25 - 25 - 20 - 25)

Update 24th Aug - 3rd Sept

So the last week and 2 weekends have been ridiculously busy.

Flew to Sweden for a wedding, and then directly to Istanbul for a week long HRLP seminar, before heading to Brighton for a party weekend. Needless to say exercise has taken a bit of a back burner whilst globe-trotting.

Sat 25th: Ran 7km round some Swedish roads and the coast. Then walked back up with W after breakfast and swam for 15 min or so in the icy waters.

Weds 29th: Managed to get to the gym in the hotel in Turkey, and ran 5km on the treadmill and then did 4x55kg bench press and 4x60kg deadlift. Felt better after that.

Mon 3rd: After having finally slept for more than 6 hours, felt much better so ran 8km in a good time (38min).

Need to start prepping for the stratford cycle challenge, although shouldn't be too bad!

Update

Thursday  

Completed / Target

60 / 60 chin ups

115 / 110 press ups

4 / 5 planks (1 min each)

Felt like a good core workout - but ran out of time to finish it as need to pack for Sweden / Istanbul / Brighton.

I'll be blogging from the road for the next 9 days. Lets see how much time I get for exercise!

Wednesday

Played 7-a-side football - good cardio, but could feel the strain on my legs from previous days leg press / dead lifts.

Tuesday gym

DB Deadlift
60kg - 13 - 12 - 12 - 12

Benchpress
57.5kg - 6 - 5 - 3*
55kg - 2* - 4

Leg Press
86kg - 11 - 12 - 11 -

Lat Pull Down
70kg - 10 - 9 - 6

Ran out of time.

Update

Monday: Rest Day

Sunday:
Cycled to squash and back (Played 4 games lost 3!, 11-6, 3-11, 10-12, 6-11)
Ran 7km once back.

Cycle:


Run - not great run, but good to get other either way. Walked a few times, as twisted ankle slightly playing squash, and it was HOT!


Saturday:
Pull up: 6 - 5- 5- 5- 6
Press up: 30 - 31 - 30 - 9


Friday:
Ran home - didn't log the whole route, as I turned it off once I stopped for the first time. Walked/jogged the rest of the way.





Thursday:
Gym at lunch time - interrupted by a fire alarm - so pretty annoyed!

Pull Up
8-6-5-5

Leg Press
93kg - 10
86kg - 9 - 8- 8

Fire alarm.

Bench Press
55kg - 5 - 6

Wednesday

Cycled to work, found a slightly new route and shaved off some distance / time.

4.83 miles in 20min and 28seconds. Considerably better than the train and bus in 50 min..



Your reading for today.
http://www.primalbritain.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Carbs-Are-Killing-You-Paleo-Infographic.png

Tuesday

Deadlift* 
56kg - 12 - 12 - 12 - 13

Bench Press
55kg - 7 - 6 - 5 - 4

Leg Press**
65kg - 15
79kg - 11 - 12
86kg - 13

Lat Pull Downs
70kg - 8 - 8 - 7

*Time to move up a weight..

**Different seating arrangements make it harder / easier. Trying to work out the best way to do this without getting an injury. Also need to remember to not put the seat too far back otherwise you don't get the full bend of the legs.

Weekend

Generally didn't do quite as much as I wanted to, but still had a relaxing weekend.

Saturday just walked to Westfield shopping in SB.

Sunday, cycled to Finsbury, played squash, cycled back and did a fair few chin ups and press ups.

Lots all 3 games of squash 2-10, 8-11, 10-12 but as you can see - I got back into it after having not played for 5 months..

10 miles cycled in 46min. Avg of 12.6mph but then lots of traffic lights and pretty sunny!

Thursday

Cycled in, 4.93 miles, 21.53min. According to new phone cycle tracker - endomondo.

Gym session

Chin up (wider grip than at home)
7 - 6 - 5 - 4

Leg press*
79kg - 8 - 10 - 10

Bench press
55kg - 6 - 6 - 4 - 3

DL
56kg - 11 - 11 - 12 - 11

See the cycling at the top - repeat for cycle home.

*leg press machine quite different from one at Norwalk gym, and 79kg was ok, but need to adjust position and make sure not straining knees or tendons.

Tuesday

Plan to head to Ultimate pick up tonight in Hyde Park.

Chin Ups: 8 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 7

Update: Cycled to Hyde Park, played pick up ultimate, played ok (except for some outrageous throw aways), good speed and defense.

Will have rest day tomorrow gym on thursday and friday.

Your reading for today

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19112549

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/health-benefits-of-intermittent-fasting/#axzz22kaabU1E

Plan for this week:
2 x Gym (wednesday & friday?)
1 x Ultimate (tuesday)
1 x running or cycling and/or squash at the weekend
1 x game of tennis with L

Update

Tuesday - rest day

Wednesday - cycled over to Clissold Park in Finsbury for a game of Ultimate. Cycled back. 12 miles and a good game of ultimate - legs tired.

Thursday - rest day but got through quite a few chin ups during the day - lost count

Friday - Struggled to get out of bed, but just about made it to the gym for a quick 30 min upper body workout. Gym packed so unable to do what I wanted. Did lots of random exercises, but felt good.

Weekend will be packed with olympics and grandparents wedding anniversary celebrations, so no exercise.. will make up next week!

Monday lunchtime

Bench Press
55kg - 6 - 7 - 6 - 4

Deadlift
56kg - 11 - 12 - 12 - 7*

Seated v crunch
65 - 63 - 65

Kneeling row
R 20kg - 11 - 12 - 12
L 20kg - 12 - 12 - 12

* ran out of time

SHOCK HORROR left my protein shake at home :(

Good news I brought my home made protein bar with me.

Sunday

Great Sunday morning run. Along regents canal, and park - stopped by some armed bobbies to let Michelle Obama leave the American Embassy. Back up through St Johns Wood and got soaked. Fantastic run!

10km 51min.

Friday

Cycled to work 5 miles 20min (and back again, 5 miles 23 min)

Bench Press
55kg - 6 - 5 - 3 (what?!)

DBTs
32kg - 6 - 4
28kg - 7 - 6

LAWC
10kg - 31
12kg - 28

SwBSU
60

Some light skipping and a few barbell bicep curls (not worth writing home about).

Update

Monday
Knew I wasn't going to make it to the gym.. so did some body weight exercises at home

45 chin ups
~60 press ups (maybe more, wasn't really keeping track)
~120 seated Vs

Tues
Played pick up ultimate in Hyde Park for approx 2hrs in approx 30C heat! Great cardio.

Weds
Lunchtime gym workout

Bench press
55kg - 6 - 6 - 6 - 4

Lat pull down
70kg - 8 - 8 - 6

Dead Lift
56kg - 10 - 11 - 11 - 10

Seated v
62 - 60 -

Ran out of time.. it was lunch time after all!

London Running

Back to it!

7.32km in 36min.

Lovely run down to Regents Park / Canal.

Friday

So first week back has been a little slow exercise wise, so yesterday and today set out to remedy that.

Thursday managed 42 chin ups throughout the day.

This morning cycled to work for the first time. Cycled about 70-75% effort and found it was pretty quick!. A 45 min terrible commute of bus and tube turned into 20min of nice cycling through london. Finished off with quick gym trip and breakfast in the restaurant.

Bench press
50kg - 10 - 9 - 8 - 7 (proper BP and good form. Will move to 60kg next).

Seated v crunch
62 - 60 - 58

As we all know - Wiggo is from Kilburn and proud of it. So with him all but crowned the tour champion - will Kilburn see a rise in cyclists? Who knows!

Cycled home (obviously) - took me a little longer - seemed to be mainly uphill!

(45 min total, 10 miles)

Update

Monday

Ran 6.5k in 32min.

Nice to be back in London and running the streets. Running an old favourite route reminded me why I love London and living in a city!

Wednesday

Haven't yet managed to get to the work gym - but cleaned my bike down (having sat on my balcony for 4 months) and cranked out 70 ish press ups.

Really want to sign up to the London Duathlon for the classic distance (10k run, 40k bike, 5k run) however I've been told I may need to be back in the US that week... so waiting to hear before I commit. Also is there ANY justification for entry being 70GBP... don't think so.

I think I will start training as if I am doing it. And then if I have to be away - then so be it!

Pre flight prep

Chin up
10 - 8 - 6 - 6

Chest press
58.5kg - 7 - 7 - 6 - 5

Leg press
127kg - 10 - 11 - 10 - failure

Seated v crunch
60 - 62 - 60

DBTs
60lb - 10 - 8 - 9

Thursday

Chest press
58.5kg - 6 - 7 - 6 - 5

Chin up
8 - 6 - 6 - 5

Deadlift
100lb - 13 - 15 - 13 - 13

Seated v crunch
90

Monday

Sat - picked up Lu (rest day)
Sun - sat in 31C+ heat to watch Yankees beat White Sox - awesome day! (rest day)

Back to gym this morning at start of holidays - pre breakfast to see how I fare with fasted workouts!

Chest Press
58.5kg - 8 - 8 - 5 - 4

Leg Press
127kg - 13 - 12 - 13 - 9

Chin up
8 - 7 - 6 - 4

Seated V Crunch
60 - 64 - 52

DBTs
70lb (35lb x 2) - 9 - 7

Seems like it was fine - although later sets seemed to suffer from lack of energy. Fairly good workout though. Off to walk long distances round NYC now!

Friday

Chest press
58.5kg - 9 - 9 - 8 - 8

Chin up
8 - 6 - 5 - 5

Weighted long arm crunch
25lb - 24 - 22 - 23 - 22

DB Deadlift
100lb - 12 - 14 - 13 - 13

Thursday

Wednesday was a long day at work and a rest day. Cooked this - really really amazing.

Thursday - ran 7.2km in 31C heat so SLOW and had to stop a few times to not pass out... Finished in the gym with some incline weighted sit ups, dumbell clean and presses and chin ups. Didn't record how many, only 1 set of each.

Last day at work here in the US tomorrow, before 2 week holiday and back to blighty for rain, miserable people, smelly gyms but on the postive side, longer nicer runs round the streets of london, back to living with L! and my bike! Good times.

What do you take away from this..

I eat fat

High Fat, Low Carb (no grain/gluten) diet. Seems to work for me.

http://www.ajcn.org/content/early/2010/01/13/ajcn.2009.27725.abstract

Abstract
Background: A reduction in dietary saturated fat has generally been thought to improve cardiovascular health. Objective: The objective of this meta-analysis was to summarize the evidence related to the association of dietary saturated fat with risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, and cardiovascular disease (CVD; CHD inclusive of stroke) in prospective epidemiologic studies.

Design: Twenty-one studies identified by searching MEDLINE and EMBASE databases and secondary referencing qualified for inclusion in this study. A random-effects model was used to derive composite relative risk estimates for CHD, stroke, and CVD.

Results: During 5–23 y of follow-up of 347,747 subjects, 11,006 developed CHD or stroke. Intake of saturated fat was not associated with an increased risk of CHD, stroke, or CVD. The pooled relative risk estimates that compared extreme quantiles of saturated fat intake were 1.07 (95% CI: 0.96, 1.19; P = 0.22) for CHD, 0.81 (95% CI: 0.62, 1.05; P = 0.11) for stroke, and 1.00 (95% CI: 0.89, 1.11; P = 0.95) for CVD. Consideration of age, sex, and study quality did not change the results.

Conclusions: A meta-analysis of prospective epidemiologic studies showed that there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD or CVD. More data are needed to elucidate whether CVD risks are likely to be influenced by the specific nutrients used to replace saturated fat.

Tuesday

Chest press
58.5kg - 12 - 9 - 8 - 7 - 6
Leg press
127kg - 12 - 11- 10 - 12 - 10
Chin up (hard after chest press)
5 - 6 - 5 - 4.5
Seated V Crunch
60 - 56 - 61 - 34

Can't wait to get back to UK, proper gym and my bike!!

Update

Saturday: Whilst cooking blueberry pancakes, did 120 seated v crunches on the coffee table, and 60 ish press-ups. Cycled round central park with M&D, and did a small amount of walking round manhattan.

Sunday: Attended final Ultimate practice in Westport - played a competitive game of open team vs masters team. We kicked their buts 18-5 (or something like that). Watched England get knocked out of Euro 2012 and then onto a great game of Mets vs Yankees at Citi Field.

Monday: Rest day

Paleo Blueberry Pancakes

By far the best 'healthy' cooking that I've done.

Ingredients:
4 organic eggs
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 ripe banana
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
20ml(ish) almond milk (could sub in coconut milk)
1/2 cup blueberries
nutmeg

Optional: raw honey

Blend eggs, flours, mashed banana, baking powder and milk together until you have a thick batter. Using a ladle/spoon, spoon into small ovals in a pre-heated nonstick frying pan.

Add blueberries on top and press down into mixture, and sprinkle some nutmeg over the mixture.

Leave for a minute or so, until it's cooked on one side, and carefully flip over to cook other side. Careful not to over cook on each side (like I did slightly on first two!)

For extra deliciousness (and carb content), add some raw honey or pure maple syrup.

This is not a low carb or low calorie breakfast. It is however, grain and dairy free. Enjoy!

(not the best photos - but I couldn't stop myself from tucking in... before I remembered to take some..)

Norwalk Heat

It's currently 33°C here in Norwalk, with 50% humidity, making it 'feel like 37°C' (according to weather.com). Basically, it's hot.

So no outside running tonight. Instead will try to get the to the gym with an aim of doing at least 3 exercises, 5 sets, proper form.

Update:

Chest Press
58.5kg
10 - 9  -7 - 8 - 6

Leg Press
127kg* - 13 - 12 - 10 - 11 - 11

Chin Ups
6 - 5 - 5 - 4 - 3

Seated V Crunch
62 - 60

Doing 5 sets with good form of just 3 compound exercises - seemed to give me a very good workout versus lots of exercises with fewer reps. Stuck the crunches on the end - as it always makes me feel good!

*I am reaching limit of the machine and want to move to proper squats or deadlifts, but I'm limited to the machinery in apartment gym. Back to the UK soon, so I will see if they've improved the work gym or whether I have to go back to the Fitness First in Kilburn.

Monday

Run 
7.22k 34min (ran first 5k in 23min, felt good!)

Chin ups (palms facing each other) 
7 - 6 - 5 - 5 - 4

Saturday Morning

Quick workout before a trip into the city with M&D.

Chest Press
25kg - 32 (warm up)
58.5kg - 8 - 4- 6 - 6 (better form)

Seated V Crunch
75 - 62 - 60 - 67

Long Arm Weighed Crunch
11.3kg (25lb) - 25 - 22

Dumb Bell Thrusters
31.7kg (2x35lb) - 4
27.2kg (2x30lb) - 8

Then proceeded to walk between 12-14 miles around Manhattan. Tired at the end of the day - had a little snooze on the train on the way back.

Quick Thursday Morning Workout

Tuesday and Wednesday = rest days

Thursday Morning:

Run 1 mile - 7m39 (warm up).

Chest Press
62.5kg - 3 (could barely lift this..)
58.5kg - 7 - 7 (need to work on better form to lower bar all the way down).

Leg Press
120kg - 15 - 11 - 12 (make sure to lower all the way down).

Chin Up (palms together)
8 - 6 - 5.5

Seated V Crunch
58-54-55

Deadlift
45kg (2x50lb) - 12 - 13

Time to go to work!

Monday

Knowing that there wouldn't be a lot of opportunity for workouts this week (M&D are in town from tomorrow) - a good upper body workout was needed tonight.

Chest Press
58.5kg - 10 - 10 - 9 - 5 (need to switch up soon)

Chin Ups
8 - 5.5 - 5 - 4


Bicep Curl
22.6kg (2x25lb DB) - 5 - 9 - 7 - 6

Long Arm Weighted Crunch
9kg (20lb DB) - 26 - 27 - 24 - 24


Seated V Crunch
51 - 54 - 53 - 53 - 46

Seated Overhead DB Press
27kg (2x30lb) - 12
31kg (2x35lb) - 8

Ran out of time.

Sunday

Legs a bit tired due to workout on friday and sprints yesterday - so went for a slow jog to loosen them up and test out new trainers.

6km in 32.52

Trainers good - seem to make me want to stride out - but that may be all the leg workouts I've been doing and increased muscle - hard to tell.

Seem to have have good mid-sole cushioning - lets see how it goes on a longer run!

HOT outside (approx 26 deg), so time to watch the Euros, and then soak up the sun by the pool.

Saturday

Bit of a lie-in after a 2.30am fire alarm evac. Still no word on what set it off - but thankfully not a fire. Imagine it's those interns late-night-drunk-cooking.

3 others turned up to Ultimate practice as it was raining. But despite the rain - we ran sprints and some killer drills that made me want to vomit. One of the others actually did. Nice.

Might slack off Ultimate tomorrow and just go for a run instead, haven't been on a nice long run in a while - so will probably do that!

Currently reading: Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. Only a little way in but very interesting. It's not a diet book (I don't stand by dieting, you should make lifestyle choices, not look for quick fixes) but a book about the controversy around diet, health and the science behind it.

Friday

Wanted to get out and try my new trainers - but given that I'm playing Ultimate tomorrow and and sunday, I figured that I'd be better off doing more weight work. Must remember what I promised myself though about doing a good balance of weights and cardio!

Pull Up
6 - 4

Chin Up
6 - 4

Long Arm Weighted Crunch
9kg - 22 - 22 - 23 - 18 (good form)

Side Crunch
Right - 48 - 52 - 56
Left - 52 - 51 - 54

Leg Press
120kg - 12 - 12 - 12

Bicep Curl
R - 13.6kg - 7 - 4- 6
L - 13.6kg - 4 - 4 - 5

Chest Press
58.5kg - 9 - 9 - 8

Press Up
25

Wednesday

Whilst I didn't quite get into the gym as early as I had hoped, I still managed to get a good workout in. Thankfully all the interns that arrived over the weekend, had either already quit, gotten bored, or were being romanced by Corporate America.

Chest Press

58.5kg - 10 - 9 - 7

Chin Up

8 - 6 - 5 - 5 (have made real progress here!)

Dumb Bell Thrusters

31kg (2x 35lb) 8 - 5

27kg (2 x 30lb) 9

Dumb Bell Deadlift

45kg - 10 - 10 - 11 (Can not do a heavier weight as they don't have any heavier!)

Seated V Sit Ups

54 - 52 - 50 - 38

At this point it was getting late - so decided to give it a rest and do some more on Friday. Went back to eat up some carbs, lean protein and watch Sons of Anarchy.

Baked some more choc protein cupcakes (with incremental increase in each protein pow that went in!) half with blueberries, half without.

Tuesday

Had very little time today between leaving work and continuing with more work. L was here for a long weekend, so needed to get to the gym given no real exercise (other than biking round central park and walking through manhattan) since Thursday.

Run
3 miles - 24min 45 sec

Press Up 
33 - 30

Bought new trainers at the weekend: Nike Lunarfly 3s so this was my first real opportunity to test them. Very different from the last few pairs of Asics that I've worn - but felt good. Will try them out properly / on the road later this week.

Will attempt to get a big workout in tomorrow and a longer run later in the week (if possible). Planning on playing Ultimate both days at the weekend, so not the end of the world if I don't get to run.

Thursday

Work is busy. Finished late, and then had to have a call with Asia (yes that's right, the whole of Asia, I am that important) so no Ultimate - still time to get a quick workout in though.

Run

1mile 7.27

Seated V Crunch

54 - 52 - 40 - 33

Dumb Bell Incline Overhead Press 

31.7kg (2 x 35lb) - 12 - 12 - 11 - 13

Dumb Bell Deadlift

45kg (2 x 50lb) - 11 - 9 - 9

Press Up

30 - 30 

Chin Up

6

Ran out of time! Finished off the protein choc cupcakes today - and came across the ones I put blueberries in - OMG they were good. Ate a whole pack of beef jerky as well. Good times. 

Tuesdays are the new Mondays

Monday was memorial day which meant 30 deg C heats, strolling through Central Park - and drinking copious amounts of water. Good times.

Tonight was my normal monday night work out then..


Chin Ups
8 - 6 - 6 - 4 - 4

Chest Press
58.5kg - 11 - 9 - 7 - 8

Seated V-Crunch
53 - 51 - 42 - 48

Leg Press
112.5kg - 7 - 11 - 9 - 8

I did 1 set of each, 30 sec rest and then the next exercise. Once through all, 2 min rest and then onto the next set of each. Great cardio AND weights all at the same time.

Finished off with some..

Dumb Bell Thrusters
22.6kg (2 x 25lb) 11 - 11 - 10 - 7

Had a couple of these today - they're awesome. Protein cupcakes with 50kCal, 1g Fat, 6g Carbs, 6g Protein.

Sunday Sun

Saturday = rest day. Watched the Eurovision SC at a european colleague's house. That was essentially it.

Sunday = an hour of throwing practice followed by 2 hours of Ultimate games, in 27 deg heat with 60% humidity. Suffice to say I was a little sweaty - v good cardio. Workouts are paying off as I played considerably better with better speed and height on my jumps.

Finished Sunday's exercise with a quick gym trip.

Chest Press

58.5kg - 7- 10 - 7

Long Arm Weighted Crunches

9kg (20lb) 22 - 19 - 23

Chin up

5 - 4 - 3

Seated V Sit Ups

40 - 36 - 42

Quick change and into the pool for some relaxation time. Nice day!

3 times a charm

It's friday night, so had little energy - and ALMOST didn't make it to the gym. But I DID make it, even though I just did 3 sets of everything.

Chest Press
58.5kg - 10 - 8 - 4

Chin Up
6 - 6 - 5

Cable Woodchop
49.8kg R - 11 - 10 - 9
49.8kg L - 10 - 9 - 9

Seated V-Crunches
50 - 54 - 50

Dumbbell Thrusters
27kg (2x30lb) - 12 - 9 - 9

Run Nick Run!

Thursday - 7km 34min58s

Tuesday night's alright for... weights?

I can tell that new 'strategy' is already starting to pay off.

Chest Press
58.5kg - 8 - 9 - 7 - 7

Chin up
8 - 5 - 4 - 4

Leg Press
112.5kg - 13 - 13 - 13 - 12  (I really should up this, but it's 2 from the heaviest weight on the machine, and   I don't want to ruin my knees - so will make sure form is perfect for the moment, and see if I get to the gym at work to do some proper squats).

Seated V-Crunches
52 - 41 - 45 - 44

Long Arm Weighted Crunches
11.3kg (25lb) - 23 - 21 - 22 - 23 (I should work on form here, this is tough).

SHOULD HAVE DONE DB THRUSTERS.. but too lazy / tired / already spent over an hour in the gym.. have things to do.

Update

Saturday: Rest day, trip into the city to watch the football and meet up with some work colleagues for dinner. Great football bar to watch CL final, West Village is NICE but pricey.

Sunday: Finally some Ultimate team training with proper warm up and drills followed by a game and then normal sunday pickup - awesome cardio.

Monday: Rest day.

45 min win

To finish off the week I wanted to do weights, legs, cardio, upper body, burn off some calories as we went out for lunch AGAIN (it's friday). That's all possible right? right!?! Despite the ache I had in upper body and legs from the week - it was necessary as tomorrow is a rest day in the city watching CL final, shopping, eating, drinking etc. So it's definitely possible, set up a circuit and did 2 sets on each.

Chest Press
58.5kg - 9 - 7

Chin Up
7 - 5 (struggled a bit with these as triceps ached from the workout on tuesday)

Long Arm Weighted Crunches
30lb - 16 - 17

Seated V-Crunches
30 - 40

Leg Press
112.15kg (!!) - 10 - 11

Cable Woodchop
Right 40.6kg - 16 - 22
Left 40.6kg - 16 - 21


Dumb Bell Thrusters (THESE ARE KILLER)
50lb (25x2) - 15 - 11

Cardio

Wednesday - 7km 36min straight up and down main avenue. BORING!

Thursday - Pick up Ultimate with the Norwalk group.

45 minutes of pain

To continue my work ethic I focussed on upper body today (Tuesday). Running tomorrow and then legs on Thursday or Friday.

1 mile run warm up
7min 52sec

Chest Press 
58.5kg - 8 - 8 - 7 - 7 - 5

Long Arm Weighted Crunch
9kg (20lb weight) - 16 - 17 - 20 - 23

Seated V-Crunch 
25 - 30 - 30 - 35

Chin Up
7 - 5 - 5 - 3 - 2

Feels good to push through to 4 or 5 sets! If I had had more time I would have done some planks, but left work later than I wanted, so no chance!

Weekend

Saturday: 4mile run (treadmill as boiling outside!) followed by 3 sets of leg presses at 106.5kg (up to 11 or 12 each time). BBQ in the sun with lots of meat and then into Stamford to check out a few bars.

Sunday: Pick up Ultimate in Westport for 2 hours, great cardio.

Five guys workout

Damn my team and the american dream of going out for burgers / lunch on friday's. What can you do .... work it off!

After a Five Guys lunch trip - and working a 13 hour day.. there was still a need to have a quick trip to the gym to burn off perhaps 1 small bite of the cholesterol choking cheeseburger I consumed earlier in the day.

Chin up
5 - 4 - 3

Chest Press
58.5kg - 8 - 7 - 7

Incline Overhead DB Press
32kg - 11 - 12 - 12

Front Plank
2 x 1min 15 sec (approx)

Right Side Plank
2 x 1min 05 sec

Left Side Plank
2 x 1min 15 sec

Crunches
60 x 50


Running and leg work tommorrow. Now to research healthy BBQ recipes. 

Restart

I was getting into a bit of a rut again with my workouts, so I restarted workouts and nutrition today with a few overarching goals. I need to nail down the goal specifics so I can track against them - but all in all it was a great workout today - and feeling good about the nutrition element!

Outdoor Run
6km - 32min (slow but had a massive stitch at 3km so not too bad considering!). Not an interesting route - straight down the road and back.

Chest Press
58.5kg - 8 - 10
52kg - 10 - 12

Leg Press
106.5kg - 10 - 10 - 11 - 11

Crunch
50 - 50 - 55 - 55

Chin ups
6 (!!) - 5 - 5 - 3
nb - massive improvement on previous weeks. 6 was amazing - felt really good all the way through. Second 5 set was 4 and then went straight back in anger and struggled through another.

Dumb Bell Dead lift
45kg (2 x 50lbs) - 10 - 10

Ran out of time at this point (needed to get some food on!). But a great workout.

Things to remember:
1. If I get to 10 reps, I probably could have used a heavier weight.
2. If I get to 10 - I can probably do 11 or 12 - push through, don't just stop at a round number..
3. 4 sets of reps is much better than 3 - why not 5 of heavier weights and slightly less reps?
4. Need to do some plyometrics at some point so that I don't lose any explosive power when gaining strength.

Monday Gym

Quick trip to the gym tonight

Chest Press
58.5kg - 10 - 10
52kg - 11 - 10

Chin ups
5 - 4 - 3 - 3

Leg Press
106.5kg - 10 - 10
100kg - 10 - 10

Crunches
50 - 52 - 55 - 55

Dumb Bell Deadlift
36.2kg (2 x 45lb DBs) - 10 (ran out of time!)

Dumb Bell Overhead Press
27.2kg (2x30lb DBs) - 7 - 10

Check out mynetdiary.com as well - it has a £6.99 ipad app that has pretty much all the food types you would ever eat pre-loaded. Tracks all your nutrition with a macro Protein/Carb/Fat gram level. It's great!

Weekend

Saturday
6.5km run ~34 minutes (a bit slow).
50 x 50 x 50 sit ups
4 chin ups

Quick trip to Walmart - picked up a cheap & small George Foreman - as I'm fed up of either frying or baking the whole time..

Went into NYC to meet up with some HRLP friends, had drinks at a rooftop bar on 5th just by the flatiron building, and quickly remembered why people think NYC is expensive. Weather was meant to be much nicer, but you get the idea of what the bar roof was like.




Sunday
Lazy morning watching football on Fox Soccer and then out to Ultimate in Westport. Great game, very good cardio! Need to stop hucking if there the receiver is clearly marked.. Met one of the guys playing for the new CT professional team - very impressed.

Back to Norwalk for chores and groceries.

20 x 25 x 20 x 20 press ups.

Have a slight burnt head from playing Ultimate in the sun (it wasn't sunny when we started..).

Tuesday

Harder gym session than normal, was great - slept amazingly! Need to do this more often.

Run 3 miles - 27 minutes

Chest Press
58.7kg - 7
52kg - 12 - 10 - 8

Chin Ups
4.5 - 4 - 3.5 - 3

Crunches
50 - 50 - 50

Leg Press
100kg - 11 - 11 - 11 - 10

Finished up with some box jumps (x15)

Rain stop play

Wednesday and Thursday last week were write-offs. Weds I worked late, and was too exhausted to do a run, and then Thursday not only did it rain all day and night (so no Ultimate) - I was again stuck at work til 9pm = no exercise.

It was therefore all about the weekend.

Saturday: 
Was meant to have Ultimate practice - but they canceled the training due to attending a tournament the weekend before - so after throwing around with a couple of guys, I headed back to the gym.

Run 1mile 8.09

Chest Press
52kg - 10 - 10 - 8

Leg Press
100kg - 11 - 11 - 10

Chin up
5 - 4.5 - 4 - 3

Crunches
30 - 35 - 35



Sunday:
Needed to get a run in so did a normal paced 6km (31min) just up and down the main avenue before meeting some friends for lunch at http://www.nicholasrobertsbistro.com/nicholas_roberts/about

After a delicious lunch, headed over to the Sunday Ultimate pickup game. We had 3 games of first of 7 which were great and a fantastic workout.

Slept well.

Quick Gym

I had planned to go to the Gym last night, but after a super long day, all I had the energy to do was eat scrambled eggs and watch Homeland...

So tonight was the night - but I had to fit it in, between leaving work and 7.30pm conference call.. it was close!

Run
1.5 miles - 12.18 min

Chest Press
58.5kg - 7 - 7 - 3
52kg - 8

Leg Press
100kg - 10 - 10 - 9

Chin Up
4 - 3 - 3

Inverted Sit Up
30 x 20 x 30 x 20

Plan for the rest of the week = run tomorrow, ultimate on thursday, friday = rest day.

Rain day

Last night I was in manhattan when I got caught in tropical type storm. Still about 18-20 deg C, but HEAVY rain. Since then the rain has not stopped, so no long run today, or Ultimate.

Gym time.

Run

2.5 miles 22min 04.

Chest Press

58.5kg - 7 - 7 

52kg - 10

Chin Up

5 - 4 - 3

Leg Press

100kg - 10 - 10 

(didn't get a chance to do more, as there was a guy hogging the machine next to this - and sadly you can't use the two machines at the same time..)

Leg Extension

52kg - 12 - 12 - 12

Inverted Sit Up

34 - 40

Ultimate

Rather than running or going to the gym, I went to an Ultimate Frisbee pick up game last night in Norwalk. There a few teams in the area, but only one actually IN Norwalk.

Good fun cardio.

If you don't know what Ultimate is (like my work colleague didn't, see my very quick and simplistic explanation to her below). I have posted about this before in January - but here is a further explanation.

Ok so here’s the deal. It’s a big college sport here, so surprised you’ve not heard about it at all!

A pitch the size of an American football pitch, maybe slightly wider, with 2 end zones (like American football).

7 people on each team (2 teams)
No running with the disc (Frisbee) – like netball, and if you drop it, or it touches the floor whilst your team is in posession - it's a 'turnover' and the other team get posession.
You score a point, by moving up the field by throwing to your team mates who are running into space (away from their markers) and eventually throwing it to your team mate, who catches it in the opponents end zone. (bit like American football). Your opponents are trying to intercept it the whole time, or stop you from catching it.

It’s Non-contact, self refereed.

Best way for your to understand is watch these youtube clips - it’s a pretty high intensisty sport.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhUays2ehyI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbIFg1cTX4Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiOqYYo0GuU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq3pg0JcJSI

And then read this: http://www.whatisultimate.com/

The evidence against soy

I find the nutritional side of training semi-interesting. I like eating healthy, and I can always tell by how my body feels if I spend too long eating 'crap'. I am a massive believer in exercise lots, eat (relatively) healthy and you'll do fine. Think high protein and complex carbs = me.

But then there are the 'specially good for you' food and drink items that you're meant to ingest. Superfoods, high anti-oxidants, metabolism boosters... etc etc. Some of these supposedly 'good' food and drink items taste terrible, but I get through that and can tell the difference. For example - I drink 6-8 large cups of green tea a day (not including decaf green tea in the evenings..), I hardly drink plain water due to the high consumption of tea. When I first started drinking green tea I hated it - but now I love it - and I can really tell the difference from when I used not to drink it.

However Soy milk is something I could never get into - according to this article, it may have been a good thing: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/10/07/the-evidence-against-soy.aspx.

Wednesday

9.2km 47 min. Not that far off normal pace, much better.

Inverted sit ups

40x20

Chin ups

4

Left over chili from last night, delicious!!!

[update] Just noticed my atrocious spelling of bananas in the title of the post below. I can only apologise.. (corrected!).

Are bananas as bad for you as cookies?

http://blog.massivehealth.com/infographics/bananas_vs_cookies



Great infographic - click the link above to see and read the whole thing.

Lift more weights, run more miles and eat fish, beef, eggs and all-bran. Works for me!

p.s not sure why they didn't include chicken & turkey in there...

Monday night gym night

Whilst attempting to regain my run run, I still wanted to go to the gym, so will switch it around this week and go running more than the gym, but still do both

Run 1mile 8min 16

Chest Press
52kg x 10 x 10 x 8 x 4

Chin up
4.5 x 4 x 3

Leg Press
93kg x 12 x 15 x 13 x 13

Front plank 65 seconds
Right side plank 60 seconds
Left side plank 60 seconds

The gym was busy and I was not able to get to any sit up equipment - need to do that asap!

American Dietitus

Having now been in the US for over a month, a few variables have all come together to result in a mild case of American Dietitus.

- No weekly 5-a-side football (I've looked but no local clubs need any players - boo!)
- More weights and less cardio work - I'm spending time in the gym, but not enough running, as routes round here seemed less than ok.
- Lots of dinners and drinks with colleagues and other HRLPs, have lead to an increase in beer consumption, and more burgers and hot dogs than I can remember..

SO! Back to it. Less beer, and less terrible food!

It's really nowhere near as bad as I'm making it sound, but really what has suffered is my cardiovascular fitness. Therefore I have been concentrating on more road running the last week. However you will see below what I mean about american dietitus - I must try harder!

Wednesday
Ran 7Km down to the very tip of South Norwalk (main town area) and then straight back again.  Given fitness had suffered, I did stop a few times to walk - but not so much that the time suffered massively.



Thursday
We had a day - long work out at work which meant that someone ordered pizza for lunch.. It did come with chicken salad, but I still ended up eating 2 large slices of pizza. So back to the gym!

Run: 1 mile, 8min20
Cross trainer: 6 min, no hands, level 10.

Chest Press
58.3kg x 7
52kg x 8 x 8

Chin ups
4 x 3.5

Leg Press
93kg x 11

At this point I decided it would be better to run more, so went for a quick 3km run - however the pizza really gave me very little energy and it took 17min!

Friday
Rest day - met up with HRLPs for after work drinks and dinner. Ate possibly the hottest burger ever at http://www.gingermannorwalk.com/ - A great evening!

Saturday
Given that I'd had beers and burger the previous evening, and that I was shortly off to see the Yankees at Yankee Stadium - I ran a 26.59 min 5.1km with a very similar route to the route above.

Sunday
Given Id spent the day eating hot dogs and drinking beer (it had to be done - it was the baseball!) - I set out this morning for a longer run. Same route as previously, but with the aim of going down further into South Norwalk (achieved). 9Km in 48 min. I'm actually quite happy with it, despite that it looks like it was a bad time. I had to stop a couple of times to drink water in the shade as it was HOT - which is why the avg pace looks so bad. The average moving pace is better.


Aim to run at least 10km this working week, and the gym at least once as well. Best case scenario, I manage to make it to the Norwalk Whalers Ultimate Frisbee - if they don't cancel this time!

Pounding the pavement

The beauty of Manhattan is that you can walk EVERYWHERE, and with the US city grid system, it couldn't be easier (honestly - it really couldn't) to navigate.

Easter Friday (off work) with L visiting we hit some of the main attractions in NYC including Battery Park, Wall Street, Brooklyn Bridge, City Hall, China Town, Little Italy, Chelsea Market, Broadway, Madison Square Gardens, Times Square, Central Park, 5th Ave, Rockafeller Center etc etc etc... ALL of this was walked which when mapped amounts to 13.45 miles. Good walking.

Saturday, back into NYC for a boat cruise and somewhat less walking, but (without mapping) probably still about 8-10 miles.

Sunday was mainly sleeping due to previous two days walking! Once L had got the shuttle back to JFK - a quick 3.5Km round the block.

Love NYC - possibly my favourite city!

MUST get back onto running though!

UKs a visiting

With L visiting tomorrow through sunday evening, I'm not going to get any gym/running time - so I knew I needed to get a session in tonight. Especially since I'm starting to feel the onset of the common american-dietitus.

Unfortunately I was knackered from work so it ended up being a smaller workout than I wanted.. but still good!

Run
1mile 8m02s

Chin up
5 x 3.5 x 2.5

Leg Press
93kg x 12 x 12
100kg x 15

Chest Press
52kg x 11 x 9 x 8

Sit ups
45

Back to the apartment for a massive rib-eye steak with the best home-made peppercorn sauce. Recipe: Cook the steak first, take out to rest. Add peppercorns with a bit of ground pepper. After a few seconds of roasting, add worcester sauce (copious amounts), and then low fat creme fraiche (or low fat sour cream - depending on what continent you're on..). Vary both ingredients until it's a brown colour, and a little bit more runny than you'd expect for a sauce. Pour in the juice from the rested steak. Stir over a medium heat to reduce the sauce. Put the steak back in at the last moment, to absorb some of the sauce, and plate.

Delicious.

Monday routine

After a week at West Point and a weekend in the City - I needed to get back to a routine and get in the gym properly! Wanted to get a run in first though!

Run

5.75km 27min

Bench press

58.6kg x 5

Chin up

4 x 3.5

Sit up

40

Press up

27

Update

A quick update. Thursday, 8km run round west point. Sunday, 2 mile run, 5 min cross trainer, 4 pull ups

West Point Bootcamp

Sunday lunchtime I checked into the Thayer Hotel - West Point Military Academy, New York.

Monday morning at 6am I was out on grass, overlooking the hudson river, doing burpees, pushups, sprints, jogging and throwing medicine balls.

Fun times!

Pre West Point workout

Last couple of days have been spent in the GE Capital HRLP Seminar, as a pre-cursor to the GE HRLP Seminar at West Point military academy next week. Given two days of food, drink and little sleep - it was a necessity to do some exercise this morning. Not to mention that I'm doing West Point boot camp on monday morning at 6am.

Cardio
Run 3miles 25m46

Chin Up
5 x 3.5 x 2.5

Bench Press
52kg x 9 x 8 x 7 x 5

Inverted sit up
30 x 30

Leg Press 
100kg x 12 x 12 x 12

do you ever get bored of thinking of blog titles. yes.

Decided to try and get in a weights session, with as many weights and reps in 30 min as possible. I rotated  round all the stations to keep heart pumping.

Warm up
Cross trainer 5min

Cross over cables
54kg (27kg on both sides) 11 x 6

Chin ups
4 x 3.5 x 3.5

Leg Press
106kg x 8
100kg x 8 x 8


Bench Press
52kg 9 x 8 x 6

Trunk rotation
27kg Right x 12 x 12
27kg Left x 12 x 12

Inverted Sit Ups (inc. medicine ball on some)
30 x 20

UNFIT!

Having not really gone for a proper run in over 2 weeks I set out to resolve this. Sadly two weeks does actually hamper your aerobic fitness.

6km 32min.

Not too bad - but not setting any PBs with that!

Need to remember to balance weights with cardio :)

Straight down Main Ave to Dunkin Donuts and back up and round the block - not an interesting route so will leave out the route upload!

Sunday Stretch

After a long walk yesterday I wanted to do a proper work out so went for a quick warm up jog before seeing how packed the apartment gym was.

3.22km 15min

GYM IS EMPTY! SCORE!

Bench Press / Chest Press Machine
45kg x 13
52kg x 9 x 8 x 5 (I think the bar in Hammersmith gym is 20kg, not 10kg!)

Chin Up
4 x 3.5 x 3.5 (.5 = didn't quite make it all the way up, so jumped up and then slowly lowered all the way down).

Leg Press
85kg x 13
100kg x 13 x 13 x 13

Inverted Sit Up
25 x 25

Friday and Saturday exercise

So after my first week at work - I was exhausted on Friday evening, but rather than chow down on some takeaway - I walked over to the stop and shop, before heading to the apartment gym for a 30-40 min quick workout.

1 mile run
5min cross trainer
2 x 3 chip ups
2 x 12 cross over standing cable chest press
2 x 20 inverted sit ups

That was enough for a tired friday night.

Saturday was St Patrick's Day in NYC - so I used that as an excuse to walk around the city and see some of the sites. Essentially walked from GCS up to Central Park, into CP, then back down via Maddison and 5th Ave to Times Square, down Broadway to Empire State Building, all the way down 6th Ave to Houston (south of 1st Street) and then back along Houston before walking back up 3rd Ave to 42nd Street (GCS).

Seems I walked approx 11.43 miles - which is why I slept so well last night! See map below.

Quick gym trip

The beauty of living next to the office, is when you leave at 7, you're home at 7.02, and in the gym at 7.05.

Quick 1 mile run, bench press, sit ups, lat pull downs and kneeling one arm rows. Look forward to having some time to do a proper workout and actually record what I'm doing!

First US gym trip

Last week was mainly taken up packing and preparing to move to Norwalk, CT for a short assignment in Capital HQ. Two great parts to this are my new commute (2 min walk) and the fact that not only as the office got a gym.. so does my apartment block.

So 7.00 pm apartment gym.

Didn't take a pen/paper so this is from memory

Run 1.5 miles 10.5min

Bench Press
38.5Kg x 13 x 12 x 6

Lat pull down
58.5Kg x 11 x 8 x 6

Inverted bench sit ups
32 x 20

Run 0.5 miles 3.52min

Not a massive gym, but some good machines. Will try the office gym, and hunt out some trail runs.

Birthday eve workout

Given I knew I wouldn't be doing much today (it's my birthday!) - I had a quick trip to the gym.

Warm up run
1km 5.11m

Bench Press
40kg x 9 x 8* x 6* 5* (I'm starting to think the actual bar is 20kg, not 10kg, so I might be pressing 50kg.. need to check!!)

Leg extension
70kg x 12 x 13 x 13 x 15* (can go higher..)

Lat pull down
63kg x 10 x 8
56kg x 9 x 7

Swiss ball sit up
50 x 25 x 30

I really should have done some deadlifts at this point, and a bit disappointed that I didnt. But I was not feeling 100% so didn't want to kill myself!

Onwards and upwards.

Run to work

To get enough exercise in this week(!) I ran to work (7.75km in 42m) before devouring a plate of scrambled eggs with a large coffee in the canteen. A great way to end the week!

Things I've enjoyed in the last 5 days:
- Muscles sore after good weights session on wednesday - reminds me that I did a good job!
- Running twice (approx 12-13km), playing squash once and a gym session on top.
- Refuelling with copious amounts of protein and complex carbs.
- The DEEP sleep you get when you've had a really good workout.

Things I've not enjoyed:
- Hill sprints (this morning up Ladbroke Grove hill and the back entrance into Holland Park).
- Deadlifts as the last part of my workout on Wednesday. I know they're good - but they're awful at the same time!
- Loosing squash game 3-0!
- Watching my newly ordered macbook pro making it's way through China, Korea and now Kazakhstan.

Last full weekend at home before I move to the US for 4 months. Perhaps a run on Sunday - depending on hangover after Saturday birthday bash!

Wednesday gym trip

Having not inflicted pain on my muscles recently, I thought today was as good a day as any.

Warm up

Run 1km 4m55s

Bench press

50kg x 3* (whoops - too heavy!)

40kg x 9 x 7 x 7 x 6

Leg extension 

56kg x 13 x 13 x 15

63kg x 14 (still not heavy enough - must put more weight on machine!)

Lat pull down

63kg x 9 x 7 

56kg x 7 x 6*

Swiss ball sit ups

40 x 40 x 40

Deadlift

50kg x 10 x 10 x 10

I did a number of these as supersets (i.e. whilst recovering from one, do another). Bench press and leg extension superset 1 and swiss ball sit up and deadlift as superset 2. Saves on time and keeps the heart pumping!

Tuesday tonic

Having felt over the last few days that I'd not gotten enough quality exercise recently, today was the day to solve that. Set to play Stewart at squash tonight, I ran a warm up 5km this morning before work to start the day on a good note.

Losing 3-0 was not the best way to end, but at least I had a good day of cardio.

Thursday Night Run Night.

As I hadn't done any longer distance running recently, and the football 'season' is over, I took the opportunity of being home at an early time to go for a run.

10km, 51m45s




Whilst uploading I realised that I hadn't uploaded the last run. This was weeks back - which is clearly why I felt I hadn't been for a long run recently.

Sat 4th - 10km 51m49s - nothing but consistency.


Now for the slow cooked pulled-pork that's been cooking for the last 10 hours.