I love watching baseball. Like most people from Boston, I particularly love watching the Red Sox. Currently they have a relief pitcher named Chris Smith who throws nothing but change-ups. He might throw three at a time. His fastball is his third best pitch. Where am I going with all this? Well, my Day 7 of my 100 pushups quest was a bit like a baseball game on Monday.
It started on Sunday night. My wife said, “Honey, I think I’d like to try that 100 pushups thing as well. We can do it together. Will you wait for me to do it?” I had suggested it to her way back when and this seemed to be a reasonable request, so I agreed. Monday came along, and I did my typical swimming routine in the morning. I got a little lost in my work and looked up to see my wife had come back from her Body Pump class at the gym. Now I knew she wasn’t going to be in any condition to do her push-ups, but I asked to make sure. I was right, she would have to start the program another day. As far as health goes, if you are going to skip exercise for more exercise, that’s hard to argue with.
So there was the change-up… I had switched my swim and push-up routine. That lead to the sinker… I had used up so much energy swimming that I couldn’t complete Day 7 of the program.
Maybe it wasn’t the swimming. When I look at the program I think there might be a flaw. At the end of week two, I did 34 push-ups in my exhaustion test. That set me up for a week three, where I start off with a set of 25. That 25 in the first set took it’s toll by the 4th set when I could barely do ten. There was no hope of me finishing off with another 25. It got me thinking. What if during my exhaustion test, I had been able to do 26 push-ups? That would have put me in the range to do 25 and the start end, pretty much the maximum effort I would give if I just had to do one set.
Where do I go from here?
It makes little sense for me to go to Day 8 today. Instead, I will repeat Day 7. If I get Day 7 down, I’ll move to Day 8 on Friday. Next week, I’ll restart this week again in hopes of doing days 7, 8, and 9. If successful, I’ll move onto Week 4.
I’m pretty disappointed have to repeat this week 3. At the same time, I realize the benefit of building up a stronger base that will help carry me through the rest of program.
Photo Credit: Doug Greenberg
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Posted by Lazy Man on July 2, 2008
in Exercise.
Next week, I’m going to be taking the show on the road. Specifically, I’ll be going from north California to south California. During the day, I’m going to be working and exercising as I normally would. At night, my wife and I will explore Laguna Beach and the surrounding area.
When it comes to my diet, I have a problem. The hotel we are staying at won’t have a refrigerator or a microwave. I’m trying to compile a list of breakfast and lunch foods that are healthy and won’t break the bank. So if I were to have cereal, I’d have to experiment with powered milk. I could get creative and warm something with hair dryer but that’s a little further than I want to take it.
Here are some items that I’m thinking of:
- Peanut Butter & Fluff Sandwiches - It’s not as healthy as I’d like, but it’s portable.
- Meal Replacement Bars - Power Bars, South Beach Bars, etc. These are not really cheap, but I can get them at a very good price at the local military base. I’m satisfied with the healthiness of this option.
- Cereal - I was thinking that I could have it dried. I’ve never had powered milk before. Is it an acquired taste?
- Edamame - I have to give a tip of the hat to Weight Loss Journal for this idea. I have no idea how much they’ll be, but I know they are healthy - as long as it doesn’t impact my hormone levels too much.
- Fruit - This is pretty straight-forward. Apples, oranges, etc. make for a healthy snack. I might bring a couple of bushels of these.
- Nuts - Good source of protein and good fats.
- Dried Fruit - It’s a good additive to cereal, nuts, or just on it’s own
- Beef Jerky - I know there’s a lot of sodium in beef jerky, but it’s a great source of lean protein.
So this is where you come in. What foods am I missing?
This post deals with:
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Posted by Lazy Man on July 1, 2008
in Ask The Readers.
US News reported some bad news for older women who want the HPV vaccine. Deborah Kotz points out that it’s arbitrary that once you celebrate your 27th birthday, it’s no longer approved. I suppose you have to have some age though.
I realize some of you might not know much about HPV - I know I didn’t until it affected the life of someone close to me - so I wrote up this little primer:
HPV Information
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 20 million Americans are infected with the Human Papillomavirus, or HPV, making it the most common sexually transmitted infection. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cites that over 50% of sexually active adults will contract HPV at some point in their lives. This is a particularly startling fact since different types of the virus can cause genital warts, cervical cancer, and a variety of other cancers.
Most people who have HPV are unaware of the fact that they are carrying the STI. This is because most will not develop any symptoms, or develop any adverse health conditions. Even years without having sex, it is still possible to have HPV and to pass it on to a partner.
HPV can be of extra concern to pregnant women or those who may become pregnant. In very rare cases, HPV can be passed to the child during natural birth, and appears in the child in the form of recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, or RRP. RRP manifests itself in the form of warts in the throat or larynx. This is a condition only occurring in about 2,000 newborns per year, but is another reason why women who are or may become pregnant should be screened for the virus.
For most people, a healthy body and immune system will clear the virus, and no other conditions will develop. Some women experience multiple infections and slow changes to the cervix that ultimately lead to cancer. Cancer development as a result of HPV in men is extremely rare. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that around 11,000 women develop cervical cancer annually, and around 3,700 of those cases become fatal.
There is an HPV test available today for women. Testing is usually only advised for women over 30, when it is most likely to contract cervical cancer, or in the event of an abnormal pap smear. The test detects high-risk types of HPV which are responsible for the development of cancer.
HPV Vaccine Information
The vaccine is recommended for young women, ages 11-12, who have not yet become sexually active. This is because the vaccine is most effective in women who have not yet contracted any form of HPV, and many adults contract the virus within their first year of sexual activity. The vaccine does not immunize against all forms of the virus. It does, however, protect against the strains that are responsible for causing 70% of cervical cancer cases and 90% of genital warts cases. In preventing for these strains that it covers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cite a nearly 100% effective rate.
Photo Credit: alicia.anne
This post deals with:
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Posted by Lazy Man on June 30, 2008
in Medical Thoughts.
Yesterday, I finished week two of my 100 pushup program (official site). I was able to the finish the last set until exhaustion with 25 strong pushups. I have been pretty pumped by my progress.
Today, I did the end of week two exhaustion test. I was hoping to pull off a 42. I figured that would put well on track to hit 100 at the end of week 6 (I’m figuring some diminishing returns will happen). I thought about taking a day of rest, but a friend mentioned that he discussed it with Steve and it would be okay to do the exhaustion test today. I was happy with that, because I wanted to stay on the same schedule, M, W, F. If I waited until Sunday to do the exhaustion test, I wouldn’t be very good at Monday’s next work out.
Perhaps due to some lingering tiredness, I was able to do only 34 pushups. I say only, but that’s a solid gain compared to the 20 initial ones I did.
Here are some links that I liked this week from the Fitness Health Network:
Looking For A Little Healthy Inspiration - NCN had a bad week and it looks like he broke one of his 99 Changes - Giving Up Sodas. It touched me that he drew strength from the rest of us.
Cut One Soda A Week - Jim suggests that you cut a soda a week. It amazes me how many people still drink full calorie soda. It makes sense if you are worried about the artificial sweeteners, but if not, at least switch to diet.
5 Tips to Prevent Elbow Injuries - Jim, meet WeightLadder… You’ve got problems, he’s got answers.
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Posted by Lazy Man on June 28, 2008
in links.
Back when I started this site, I measured my health progress every week… or at least I tried to. At some point life intervened and I found I couldn’t keep up with the schedule. I’ve found that I’m putting more work in my exercise of late, so I will look to start it back up.
Overall Body Stats
I woke up this morning and measured my body fat. As I always do, I used two scales - one that uses Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) from my feet, Tanita Body Fat Scale - and one that uses it from hands - Omron Handheld Fat Loss Monitor. I find that they give me fairly different numbers, so I average them together to get the best overall pictures. In the future, I hope to add my Wii Fit age in, but I find that it varies wildly depending on the exercises it gives me.
When I measured myself today, I had the following stats:
- Weight: 169.5 pounds
- Body Fat: 20.05%
Exercise
I had one of my best weeks of exercise in a long time. If I didn’t, I’m not sure that I’d be posting this. With my apartment fixing the pool, I got to experience the great exercise that swimming is. I swam Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday doing 20, 30, and then 40 laps each day.
I continued with my 100 pushup plan (official website). I already wrote about Monday’s effort. Wednesday, Day 5, of the plan, went better than I could have imagined. After the first four sets, I thought I was done. I didn’t see how I was going to get 15 or more in the last set. I decided to take a new approach. I picked 23 as my goal. Though I was almost done at 12, I found a way to reach back and get the adrenaline to hit 23.
As my “mentoress” would say: I just realized something… something that really never occurred to me before… I’m gonna win. I am going to be able to do 100 pushups.
Eating and nutrition
I tried to focus my efforts on low carb, high protein eating this week. I didn’t really focus on this until Wednesday after I got a chance to go shopping. I am aware of the dangers of eating too much protein, but I still believe it’s the best way to go. I had two very large chicken breasts throughout the day. Unfortunately my plan got derailed by headaches, which usually come whenever I try to limit carbs. Perhaps I need to ease into it a little bit.
I also remembered to take a multivitamin every day this week. It’s the first time I’ve done that in a long time.
It’s very much baby steps at this stage, but I’m making progress and being healthier than I have in some time.
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Posted by Lazy Man on June 27, 2008
in Weekly Review.
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