I will fully admit it: I didn’t ride my bike as much as I should have this past year, but in my defense, I’ve been extremely busy with all the extra duties that have been thrust upon me since my Father passed away. Unfortunately, the lack of extra physical activity has taken it’s toll… and I am no longer as light as I used to be.

That’s where the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine comes into play. On the recommendation of Simon, I sought out this wonderful device, and purchased it for winter use. Sure, I could go to more spinning classes (read: go back to spinning classes), but I find that I’d rather do more physical activity at home, listening to the music that I like, and not have to spend $20 per class, and also ride the TTC home afterwards being all sweaty and looking wiped out.

One thing though: my bike has off-road tires. They’ve come in handy over the few years I’ve had this bike, as I’ve never had to worry about sticking to the road when riding on the unbeaten path would be faster, yet the treads make a HELL of a racket on the Road Machine, so I decided to switch to the Tioga City Slicker tires I bought last April and never got around to putting them on.

And that is where the fun began.

In the entire time I’ve ever owned a bike, I’ve never had to change a tire. I count myself as lucky in this regard, yet it left me completely clueless as to what I had to do should I ever need to replace a flat tire. No idea where to start. I should have been able to figure it out, but didn’t feel up to some trial and error, and thankfully I had my Macbook nearby and found a video showing how to do it. Ahhhh, the power of the internet.

So, with all that out of the way, and the new City Slicker tire on the rear, and now connected to the Road Machine, I now have yet another exercise device in out apartment. Which I can ignore and procrastinate using. Money well spent.

This morning when I weighed myself, I didn’t like the number that came back. 186.5lbs. What the FUCK happened…?!

I’ll tell you what happened. I got LAZY.

Over the last few months, I have been eating like crap, been lazing about and not doing much in the way of exercise (sure, the CN Tower climb and camping are something, but still), and this needs to change. I rode the bike to work today, and even the 5.4km ride that I used to be able to do in my sleep left me winded. This ain’t cool… especially with the Becel Heart&Stroke Ride for Heart coming up. I’ve been looking forward to doing this for years, and finally got around to signing up, so I refuse to let myself and others down by not being in shape to pull it off!

Beer, I love ya, and we have great times, but I need to reduce the amount of times we hang out. That goes for you too, Chinese food. I’m sorry to say that this also includes you pub food, and also you too, pizza. Don’t worry, we’ll all hang out again soon, but in moderation for sure. Too much of a good thing can be bad for you, and in my case, I’ve got the gut to prove it. Oh yeah, freezies and popsicles, you’re on that list too.

My question is this:

Why does almost everything that tastes good have to be so bad for you?

Frak.

Recently, I’ve been concerned about my gut, and have been trying to incorporate more sit-ups into my usual workout routine. However, I’ve been feeling that it wasn’t enough, and decided to leaf through some of the old Men’s Health magazines I’ve got kicking around the apartment. That’s when I found the following three exercises, and while I’ve only been doing them for a little bit, they’re definitely helping out. They look simple, but I challenge you to do them first and then tell me they’re simple:

Side Bridge

Lie on your side with your forearm on the floor under your shoulder to prop you up, and your feet stacked. Contract your core and press your forearm against the floor to raise your hips until your body is straight from ankles to shoulders. Hold for 15 to 45 seconds, then repeat on the other side. Contract your abs and butt muscles forcefully to keep your body straight.

Plank with Diagonal Arm Lift

Assume a modified pushup position with your feet shoulder-width apart, forearms on the floor. Keeping your torso steady, raise your right arm for-ward and to the right, so that it points to 2 o’clock. Hold for 2 seconds, then lower and repeat with your left arm, raising it to 10 o’clock. That’s one rep. Your elbows should be bent 90 degrees and directly under your shoulders.

Single-Leg Lowering

Lie on your back with your legs extended straight up. Keeping your legs straight, lower your left leg until your foot is 2 to 3 inches off the floor. Return to the starting position, then repeat with your right leg; that’s one repetition. Think about pushing the bottom of your heel away from your hip as you lower your leg. Don’t point your toes; keep your foot flexed toward you. Lead with your heel.

- source -

Personally, I find the “Plank with Diagonal Arm Lift” exercise to be the most difficult and most rewarding. Doing 10 reps at this point is pretty much good for me, but it’ll increase as time goes on, I’m sure.

Check out the rest of the exercises on their site. The “Swiss-Ball Knee Tuck” uses a Swiss ball, but I can’t have one of those as the cats will slash it, and the “Cable Kneeling Chop” uses a machine, which I don’t have access to. I haven’t gotten around to adding the “Glute-Bridge March” yet, but we’ll see; as it is right now, I’m usually pretty tired after going through my routine, and don’t really have a desire to hurt myself… too much. 

I’ve been waiting for this moment: I’ve hit 169lbs!

It’s been four and a half months, and since I started at 199.8lbs, through exercise and a change of my eating habits, I’ve managed to lose 30lbs. I recently picked up two of my 15lb weights to see what that felt like… and wow. That much less for my poor ankles to support.  

This is the first time I’ve hit 169lbs, so I’m sure to go up, but just looking at my graph is inspiration enough to keep this going. Just as the 189-180lbs range became common for me, and recently the 179-170lbs range as well, I hope that I’ll be able to keep things within the 169-160lbs range. If I go below 160lbs, I’m sure I’ll look like a toothpick, so I think I’ll stop the weight loss at that point and start building on top of it.

Thanks again for all your kind comments, encouragement, and support. Couldn’t have done this without you, my friends.

So, here I am at my lowest weight so far: 173.9lbs. That’s frikkin’ awesome.

But then I decided to look up what my healthy weight should be based on my height. I am 5′7″, and while there really isn’t a “normal” that I should go for, most sites provided the same average weight range. This was one of the better charts:

So, according to the above, with a medium to large frame (hey, I have broad shoulders!), I should be weighing a maximum of 168lbs. Going further, and finding the actual number, I’d take the highest number of the two ranges, add them together, and divide by two:

154lbs + 168lbs = 322lbs ÷ 2 = 161lbs

Looking at that number, I recalled that I used to weigh around 160lbs when I worked at Interlog. Back then, I was younger, and got a LOT of cardio due to the fact that I used to… uh… “rave”. Can’t do that anymore, but getting back down to that weight is my new goal. 161lbs is close to 160lbs, so why not round that down?

…and so I have. I’m approaching 170lbs, and so I figured I’d stick with it. We’ll see how long this takes.