Health and Spiritualism – Page 13

#Transformation – Check-in for September 2021 (M21-09 / R21-002)

September 30 2021

Time to do my check-in for my efforts to transform my body. The big day is here!

Or is it?

I confess I spent way too much time this week thinking about my check-in, and how I wanted to hold myself accountable. Should I do it on the last day of the month, thus emphasizing the past month’s efforts and results? Or should I wait until the first of the next month so that I cover the WHOLE month and also trigger the start of the new month?

Any day I choose is arbitrary, but I am a great believer that what story I tell myself is as important as how I tell it. Retro results vs. forward planning? In reality, I know it doesn’t matter. I could do the measurements ANY day this week, and post on the last day or the first day, it doesn’t change the outcome, it’s just changing which day I took the snapshot in time. Yet it still bothered me all week. I was wondering, for example, if I would have time on the 1st (Friday) to get up, weigh-in, do all my measurements, take the accountability pics, and have time to run Jacob to school before I started work. I do want to do the stats in the morning, same time every month, but does it matter if it was today (Thursday) vs. tomorrow (Friday), or could I even wait until Saturday when I generally would have more time? Should I aim more for the first Sunday following the end of the month?

Holy squirrels. My brain KNEW it didn’t matter, but part of me was trying to get it “perfect” somehow, like “perfect” was even a thing in this case.

In the end, I decided at least for this month to take advantage of the day off to do all my measurements and posting today. Next month? I’ll see.

A. TL;DR

I have lots of “noise” this month around getting set up and going, which was the primary focus for almost all of the last 2+ weeks. I have a full dashboard to track everything, I’m taking pictures I hate, I have achieved 15 mini-milestones, and for the most part, there aren’t any discernible changes to point to as a success. I’ve increased overall weight per workout, but I feel more like I’ve been right-sizing the workouts so far. This month will be the real test.

After 15 exercise sessions (weightlifting, stretching and walking), I’ve lost 1.2 lbs, which is 7.8 lost in total this year. And I’m feeling pretty good about the workouts and after the workouts. My body isn’t screaming at me to stop.

B. Overall dashboard

I created a Transformation Dashboard to keep track of my stats, and to be honest, I put WAY too much time into it this week. Sure, I won’t have to do that NEXT time, it’ll be a simpler update, but still, it took some time.

The dashboard has a number of components spread across two pages:

The “accountability” photos;
My physical measurements showing the original high of 350 lbs with my revised baseline in mid-September when I started the big process + last totals, new totals, incremental change from last time, and total change from the original;
A pseudo-bar graph to show my progress towards my eventual weight target of 185 lbs, which I aim to reach in 2028;
My Bowflex stats in terms of Maximum Weight that I can do 10 reps at, as well as my standard workout totals;
My fitness sessions, sense of my body (negative and positive), and psychological; and,
General milestones along the road, spread across commitment, measurement, workouts, and differences that I see as time goes on.
I’ll also go through each of those areas below.

C. Accountability photos

The front, side and back photos are a work-in-progress to figure out how to show enough detail to make it worthwhile to take them for any other reason than to fat-shame myself. I like to delude myself that it is “accountability”, but there is a masochistic component in there somewhere. I struggle to do things like selfies in any situation, as I don’t normally take pics of myself. I could have others take it, but the whole point is personal accountability, so I’m trying to do them all myself.

For this month, there’s not much (hah!) to see in the way of progress, not that I expected to see anything yet. If I was harsh with myself, I’d say they actually look WORSE, not better.

D. Physical measurements

The big one, of course, is my weight, and since mid-September, I basically dropped 1.2 lbs, meaning my weight is 7.8 lbs less than my high of 350 lbs. I have an extra indicator to add for the future on this, a “time reference” so to speak, but I haven’t got to filling that out yet. It was a bit weird choosing my weight total, as there is some differing views out there as to which weight you should record. Here’s a small graph of my weight in the last two weeks showing minor fluctuations (it seems big because the graph is scaled differently):

I chose the one right on the prediction line, i.e. from today, but for example, earlier this week, my weight reached a weight that was a full lb even lower. I’d love to use THAT one, of course, and some people advocate taking the lowest measurement of the last week. Others suggest averaging the last two or three readings, depending on how often you record your weight. In the end, precision and perfection is not the goal. It’s a simple snapshot, so I went with the weight I registered this morning.

With such small changes, there is no change in BMI. I had to drop the calculation for the % of body fat as the app doesn’t seem to want to update properly for that heading. I show the first five lbs lost in green (locked in) and the next bit as yellow (pending) in the progress towards target.

For the remaining measurements, there’s no good news yet. My neck seems to have gone down a bit, while three others seem to have gone up, and five are bigger than my original refs. I think I’m doing that a bit wrong, as the “original” should probably be the largest I was at any one of those measurements in the year, as opposed to the measurements I was tied to the weight, but I’ll leave it for now.

E. Weightlifting exercises

Back at the beginning of my routines just over two weeks ago, I was doing 9 exercises, two of which were a bit cumbersome. I did a raw calculation at the time of my maximum weights at all the exercises in the batch, but I kind of messed up.

There are two general philosophies about calculating maximums. The first is the standard weightlifting competition idea, i.e., how much weight can you do on each exercise with only 1 rep (which is what I registered previously). The second view is one that I like more, namely that your maximum should be the weight you feel comfortable with and in control of moving for a set number of reps. For me, ten reps seems like a good control number, and today, I reset all the max rates with Andrea’s help.

If I was to do 10 reps of the 7 remaining exercises, at my maximum, I would move about 7800 lbs of weight. And if I was trying to simply increase muscles, I would do that type of routine once a week while doing other sets of about 80% of max elsewhere in the week.

But I’m actually trying to shed weight and improve overall tone. Which means I do lower weights, more reps and more sets. For the 7 exercises on the list, I’m actually moving 18300 lbs of weight per session. And, to be honest, I can do more. The only real challenge is not adding to the existing ones so much as needing to add three new exercises too (2 are for legs, as replacements for other ones). But as I add those and try to add reps and sets, plus 45s rests between sets? It all adds time to my work-out.

My title in my app was simply a 20-minute full body workout, but if I do what I’ve got planned, allowing for proper form (3s out, 3s in), 45s between sets, and perhaps a minute between exercises, it comes to…78 minutes. And now you see another reason why people do alternate days for some exercises. If I add in my stretching that day, and walking, I’m easily at 2h.

It’s not sustainable, I know.

F. Physical fitness sessions

I managed 8 formal workouts, plus 5 stretching routines, and 2 formal walking outings. The WOs and stretching are likely close, but the walking is off. I forgot to log a bunch of quick walks with Andrea or Jacob, and I’m not really calculating distance yet. I need to get my FitBit going again. But at least I’ve got my MapMyWalk account reset so I can pre-plan distances, and hope my knees hold up.

G. Body sense

I don’t know if that is the right title for this area, but I was trying to capture the idea that there are a series of “negative” or “positive” indicators for how my body is doing or responding, or perhaps just “working”. The two negative ones that stand out in the last month are headaches (they’ve been more persistent in the last month) and my blood pressure (it’s been higher at night, a common problem when my allergies kick in, and contributes to my headaches). I’ve taken more Tylenol in the last month than I would like to be taking. Other than that, I’d say sinuses were next on my list, but overall, nothing noteworthy.

On the “positive” side, I don’t feel there have been any improvements in my movement/flexibility/agility or my sleep, but I have felt better for my energy levels and overall fitness. I can even feel a difference from the last two weeks that the BowFlex exercises are flowing a bit more easily. I haven’t had that “high” from a few years ago (I remember a fall day stepping out into the garage and feeling like I was in the best health I had been in for some time, and my weight wasn’t even down then, but I just felt GREAT for about an hour), but that’s the feeling I want to find again.

H. Psychological

So. This one is harder to quantify. I put in indicators for my overall sense of health, which goes beyond simply fitness. It kind of combines the two “body sense” ones together, I suppose. Social flexibility (willingness to try new things), social confidence (doing physical things in front of other people), and lifestyle confidence (willingness to be more physically “out there”) aren’t really moving the needle, not that I expected them to yet. I would say I’m experiencing a bit of a bump in mood and overall mental health from the exercising, although COVID stuff on the news and in feeds is bringing down my MH a smidge over my mood moving it up.

I. Commitment

I’m showing 8 milestones in the commitment list, although some of them were already mentioned when I launched. I committed to the journey, announced my goal, created the dashboard, set up my workout routine, and set up apps to track. And then did the first workout with the BowFlex plus had my first week with 3 WOs in it and my first week with 3 stretching routines in it. I didn’t count the stretching routine as fully set up yet as I’m still tweaking it.

J. Measurement

I have 6 milestones tracked, but they are very similar to the above elements — set up tracking and photos and did my first weigh-in / measurements / photos. But I also lost my first “new” pound too.

K. Workout changes

I had a whole bunch of initial tweaks this month, but I didn’t really count any of them as actual changes or modifications, they were still just adjustments to drafts. The only REAL milestone I counted was the new list of new maximum weights that I calculated today. We’ll see where that leaves me in a month.

L. Differences

Nada, nil, rien, zilch. I have more energy, sure. I feel a bit of a bump in mood, sure. But actual “visible differences”? Not yet. I didn’t expect to and some of them are not going to show up for quite some time.

M. Conclusion

Noise, planning progress, down a pound, and a bump in mood. I’ll take the small win.

Changing my body – Stretching, workouts and walking

September 19 2021

So I went a bit overboard today on my planning function for my workouts. For Stretching, I took the 16 low-difficulty exercises, figured out which order to do them in that makes sense, and prepared a simple 4×4 table in Word that shows the pretty pics and names of the exercises. And then I used it today for the first time. It worked perfectly.

I wasn’t surprised I liked the layout, I had pretty much already done the same thing for the Bowflex routine (9 exercises in the 20 minute full body workout).

I used it for the second time today, and it also worked well. I have both sets of exercises on my phone so I can log the activities in my exercise app.

Annnnnnd then I went down a rabbithole for figuring out how far I’m going to start walking. When I went to the MapMyWalk website, I found out that I have apparently used MapMyWalk on three prior occasions.

First, back in 2008, I did some initial routes around my old house. I set up three or four routes, did a couple of them, but mostly I was laying them out as potential routes to see how far they were.

Second, I did a bunch in 2014, and that time I think I was expecting to be a bit more ambitious, as I set up some really long ones.

Finally, in 2016, I did a couple of ones around the neighbourhood that I had walked, and then mapped them afterwards to see how far I had gone. I can’t believe I ever did them, as the thought of doing them now fills me with dread. They are SO much farther than I am capable of right now, by a factor of ten at least.

So, it’s 2021, and I thought I would clean up some of the old routes and plot some new ones. Start small, keep some of the old ones for future inspiration. Ditch the ones where I was just trying to figure out how far it was, such as walking all the way to or from work, as I would never plan to actually do that route. It was just for info.

But I went to my profile settings and nada. It wouldn’t load that part. Umm, okay. So I went to the past routes, there they all are, great. Scroll down to one I don’t want, over to the right is an option for COPY / EDIT / DELETE. So I try deleting it, it asks me if I want to delete it on a pop-up, I say yes, and then it just sits and whirs at me endlessly. It doesn’t delete it and it doesn’t “end”. Eventually, I have to reload the page. I tried clearing caches, resetting passwords, logging out completely, etc. And no dice. The app on my phone shows me the same data, but you can’t actually delete from the phone, just the website, so that doesn’t help. I have a sneaking suspicion that my account is somehow dormant or something, or it’s confused with some old ones I had, but in the end, I had to email Under Armour and hope they’ll reset my account next week. If they want to erase the account and start over, I’m okay with that.

Mostly what I was surprised about was how many times I’ve done the same thing before. Started a new “habit”, set up some routes with the same tool, and then when life intervened, stopped using the app. Ultimately, I have no interest in the app for tracking, as I already KNOW the routes in advance. I have a separate workout logger where I’ll put in the distances for example, and then when I do the route, I just do the route. I don’t need a phone or FitBit to tell me my progress or distance, the pre-programmed route is already “known”.

When MapMyWalk crapped out, I went looking for a replacement app, and I found one (which also uses a website), but it is a lot more basic. If Under Armour can get me going this week, that’s probably the easiest option.

What is different about this round is that I know what I’m planning to do. For each of those previous occasions, it was more like I was trying the app out then actually tying it into my workout plans. This time, I already have some ideas of how I can set progressively longer walking goals too. And some of the old ones reminded me of some possible routes that would be really good to work up to over the next year. So far, my immediate routes are pretty embarrassing for distance. It doesn’t take much for my left hip / lower back to start screaming at me, regardless of the stretching in advance. I could put BioFreeze on it, and go further, but for now, I’ll stick to the short distances.

In the meantime, I at least have stretching and weights figured out; walking routes are pending; and then it will be on to the exercise bike setup!

Changing my body – Stretching and cardio

September 17 2021

I have my home gym in place, and I know what I’m doing for the exercises. I chatted with my brother-in-law last night who does a bunch of stuff with weights and works out regularly. He knows way more about this stuff than I do, and I got some good tips for how I set up my routine for the future in terms of weight levels for the BowFlex and number of reps.

But as I look farther forward to my “new” normal for working regularly and changing my body, there are several things still in my “to be determined” category. Two of those are stretching and cardio.

Stretching

I need to do more stretching for two primary reasons. First and foremost, so that I don’t injure myself while working out. The whole “warm-up / cool-down” thing that everyone understands easily.

However, I have a second reason which is just plain flexibility. If I am sitting in a chair, and I want to tie a shoe by crossing my right leg over my left leg, I can’t do it. As I pull my right leg up, I can get my ankle to just below my left knee, but then my right hip starts to object. Sure, I can reach down and PULL it into position, and I do regularly, but it’s not the same as just lifting it. If I do my left leg, I can ALMOST get it up, but then my left hip REALLY hates me. Or my left adductor. Depends on the movement and how fast I try to do it. If I try to lean forward simply, without adjusting my legs outward, my belly gets compressed and one of the muscles or several of the fascia in my upper stomach area says, “Nuh-huh, you ain’t doing that today, bitch.”

Losing weight will help with a lot of the resistance areas, but I need to be doing a comprehensive stretching routine. My view, generally speaking, is that there are three levels:

Structured stretching
Yoga poses
Tai chi

I may be the only one on the planet that thinks of those that way, but I do. Stretching is more technical in my mind…put this arm here, put this leg here, lean this way, good.

Yoga seems to me to be a step above that. It is more about overall body poses and flexibility. It includes stretching, sure, but it also gets you closer to movement and energy flow. I am not ready for serious yoga by any stretch of the imagination (or of my body! hah!), but Andrea has referred me to the Yoga by Adriene series on YouTube which is quite popular and has options for different levels of participant.

And then I see tai chi as a step even further along that spectrum. Less about stretching and flexibility, and more about the movement of your body. I feel like tai chi is something I could get to eventually, but I am SO not ready for it yet. I need to start with my “technical” exercises.

Let’s start with my “best” source, so to speak. If you think back to social media about 5 years ago, June 2016 or so, you may remember that a number of people were sending around some really good illustrations of how to do some exercises. The source was always unclear, and if you search for them online now, you’ll likely end up at various sites whose links no longer work. However, with a bit more luck, you can find them at the place I saw them originally, which is the LifeHack site and the post is still there (https://www.lifehack.org/345771/36-pictures-see-which-muscle-youre-stretching). Ignore the fact that there says there are 36 when there are only 34.

The pictures were realistic simulations of people doing the stretch, but where the muscles were being stretched, it showed almost an anatomical representation. The muscles were lit up in red showing you where IN and ON your body the muscles were that were being targeted. For example, there was one called the “wide forward fold” and the illustration shows a woman doing the splits with her adductors coloured in red.

In the collection, there are 34 possible exercises to do, of varying levels of difficulty (by my rating), with the text explaining how to actually do them.

Exercises	Muscles Targeted	Difficulty
Camel Pose (01)	Rectus Abdominus External Obliques	High
Wide Forward Fold (02)	Adductors	Medium
Frog Pose (03)	Adductors	Low-Medium
Wide Side Lunge Pose (04)	Adductors	High
Butterfly Stretch (05)	Adductors	Low
Forearm Extensor Stretch 1 (06)	Forearm Extensor	Low
Lateral Side Flexion of the Neck (07)	Sternocleidomastoid (SCM)	Low
Neck Rotation Stretch (08)	Sternocleidomastoid (SCM)	Low
Neck Extension Stretch (09)	Sternocleidomastoid (SCM)	Low
Lateral Side Flexion of the Neck with Hand Assistance (10)	Sternocleidomastoid (SCM) Upper Trapezius	Low
Half-kneeling Quad / Hip Flexor Stretch (11)	Psoas Quadraceps	Medium-High
Forearm Extensor Stretch 2 (12)	Forearm Extensor	Low
Lateral Shoulder Stretch (13)	Side Deltoid	Low
Standing Assisted Neck Flexion Stretch (14)	Trapezius	Low
Lat Stretch with Spinal Traction (15)	Latissimus Dorsi	Medium-High
Lat Stretch at the Wall (16)	Latissimus Dorsi	Low-Medium
Child’s Pose (17)	Latissimus Dorsi	Low-Medium
Standing Calf Stretch (18)	Soleus Gastrocnemius	Low
Front Split (19)	Psoas and Hamstring	High
Seated Forward Fold / Seated Toe Touch (20)	Hamstrings Calves	Medium
Single Leg Forward Bend (21)	Hamstrings	Low
Deep Squat (22)	Glutes	High
Seated Half King Pigeon Pose (23)	Glutes	High
Standing Calf Stretch at the Wall (24)	Soleaus Gastrocnemius	Low
Lateral Flexion at the Wall (25)	External Obliques	Low
Supine Twist (26)	Glutes External Obliques	Low
Lateral Flexion with a Dowel (27)	External Obliques Latissimus Dorsi	Medium
Triangle Pose (28)	External Obliques	Medium-High
Chest Stretch at the Wall (29)	Pectorals	Low
Assisted Chest Stretch (30)	Chest Latissimus Dorsi	Medium
Seated Half Pigeon Variation (31)	Anterior Tibialis	High
Supine Shoulder External Rotation Stretch (32)	Subscapularis	Low
Downward Dog Variation at the Wall (33)	Pectorals Latissimus Dorsi	Medium
Assisted Chest Stretch Variation (34)	Pectorals	Medium

Of the 34 exercises, I rated 16 of them as low difficulty. Which is my simple way of saying I can do them now. Maybe not perfectly, but I can do them. Three more are ones that I rated Low-Medium difficulty which are ones that look easy but require a bit more flexibility and a bit less girth than I have now. Six more are ones that I think I could get to in the next year or so, maybe a bit more, but foreseeable at least. The three that I rate Medium-High and six that I rate High are almost pipedreams for me.

On the positive side, this gives me a short-term goal — working up to a daily routine based on the 16 “low difficulty” exercises I flagged above. There are two others that I do now, one being just stretching arms over the head to the left and right (a side arch) and a reverse arch with two hands straight up and back, that I may work in there, although they would replicate similar exercises above. I have one more from my chiropractor and RMT that is more of a bent upright row, but that will get picked up by the weight workout with the BowFlex.

Cardio

As a friend pointed out in regards to a previous post, I have made a good start on physical and mental metrics, and I have the weights and now stretching figured out, but I don’t really have a good idea of what I’m going to do for Cardio.

I guess my plan comes down to three things, although I’m not sure it rises to the level of a “plan” so much as it is simply the options I see.

First and foremost, I need to do more walking. My friend was sharing with me his experience with walking, and I agree with all of his points. Starting small, tracking the steps, getting moving generally to get going. I have a FitBit and I have my phone for things like MapMyWalk. And I’m also interested in those online sites that do “distance” challenges. It’s a bit simplistic of a description, but it’s like you sign up to walk the height of Mount Everest, or the Appalachian Trail, or the Great Wall of China, something big, and then as you knock off a 2000-step day, it adds that to your total so far. Some sites also send you summaries to say, “Hey, great, you went 500 feet. In this 500 feet, you would have seen blah ablah blah, the site where runner James Smith had a massive heart attack and died, and heard birds chirping from the nearby bird sanctuary. Here are some photos!”.

I might be more tempted to “create” my own equivalent list in something like Google Maps rather than pay for a site, but hey, it’s an idea. At least through the other sites you get yourself a little medal or medallion to commemorate your steps (of course, you have to pay for it, but it’s gamification like Boy Scouts collecting badges).

Secondly, we have an exercise bike. Or at least we have the body of one, it still needs tweaking to be fully re-assembled and functional. Like with walking, I want to do distance things to track progress, although there are other settings too that track heart rates, intensity, etc. I doubt I’ll measure that, but they’re there.

Third, I have a scooter. It is an adult scooter designed for full-size woolly mammoths, and can handle me too. I tried using it shortly after I got it and it didn’t take many outings to realize I am just not in good enough shape for anything other than the basics. Way too much cardio for my current level of fitness to do much more than a block or two. So I’ll get there, but likely not before next spring/summer.

I have other dreams, I admit. I’d like to ride my regular bike too, although there are challenges for comfort with so much weight on so small a seat. I really would love to be able to go cross-country skiing when I retire, but again, I’m not there yet. A friend has a Finnish kick-sled, and if I ever get sub-250 lbs, I’d love to maybe give it a try (not sure how low I need to go, but somewhere around there). I really want to do kayaking, but I am neither flexible enough or agile enough for doing that. I doubt I’ll ever have the balance for stand-up paddle boarding, but I can dream I suppose. And since I’m already in technicolor world, I’d like to try Jacob’s trampoline when I get sub-230 lbs or so. A very very long way away for a bunch of those. Oooh, and maybe a rope course sometime. Wait, did I say that last one out loud? Hmm.

Conclusion

So in the short-term, I’m focusing on my BowFlex and weight routines. I’ll use the 16 low-difficulty exercises to get myself going for stretching and hopefully walking + exercise bike for some basic cardio.

Changing my body – Thoughts about physical body metrics

September 15 2021

I posted earlier about keeping track of my body metrics (Changing my body – Baseline 21-001), and I feel somewhat, umm, undecided about them. Some seem obvious, like weight. BMI has some well-known issues, and I don’t really care about it, but it’s auto-calculated on every app, so I don’t care if it’s there. But beyond that? I’m not sure what I actually care about.

I have three separate apps that track measurements, and I’ve set them all up for now so that I can see what it looks like when I do my October and November updates. Essentially, I want to see what they show me for ongoing tracking, so for now, I’m tracking “everything” that each one does. Here’s what the three apps do collectively.

Area of the body	MY WEIGHT app	REMEASURE app	Body Tracker app
	Yes	Yes	Yes
Height	Yes	Yes	—
BMI	Calculated	Calculated	—
Body fat %	Calculated	Calculated	—
Neck	Yes	Yes	—
Shoulders	Yes	—	—
Bust	—	Yes	Yes
Lower-chest	Yes	Yes	Yes
Stomach above belly button	—	—	—
Stomach at belly button	—	Yes	—
Waist	Yes	Yes	Yes
Hips	Yes	Yes	—
Buttocks	—	Yes (but not used)	Yes
Biceps (Relaxed)	Right / Left	Right / Left	Average
Biceps (Flexed)	—	—	—
Forearm	Right / Left	Right / Left	—
	Right / Left	Right / Left	Average
Knee	—	Right / Left	—
Calf	Right / Left	Right / Left
Ankles	—	Right / Left (but not used)	—
Feet girth	—	Right / Left (but not used)	—

What do the measurements tell me?

So, I really like the My Weight app for the simplicity of entering weight measurements regularly. I like the screen it shows me, nothing too fancy, just simple everyday progress (or more accurately, whenever I choose to enter it, which isn’t daily, more weekly). The Body Tracker app has a very simplified interface too, and simplified measurements, but the big “advantage” of the app is that it lets me take front / side / back photos and has some basic features built in to let me do side-by-side comparisons at check-in. To “see” my actual change in body, which hopefully will eventually be visible. I don’t however have to use all the features of any app, just seeing what works.

But when I think about my body, I think some things stand out more than others as areas I care about. Weight is a complex beast compared to health overall as a better goal, but on the other hand, I’ve been experiencing some negative parts purely from weight (breaking furniture, for example). I’m more conscious of it of late and it’s bothering me, separate from the health concerns. While my weight hasn’t shifted much during COVID, I’ve lost heavier muscle tone and gained lighter fat in increased girth. And while I will obviously include Weight as an ongoing measurement, it’s really the girth that bothers me the most at present.

However, on weight, my earlier musings to achieve my target goal of 185 lbs in a little over 4 years were apparently way too ambitious. Based on medical research, the best advice is 5-10% change per year. At 5% reduction per year, it will take me 12 years to reach my goal. At 10% reduction per year, it’s a little closer to 6 years. I was thinking in terms of linear totals (i.e., the same amount each year), not the percentage per year, so that changes my timeline. I’ll have to alter the plan to make it where I want to be by age 62, or about 4-5y after retirement, and 8-9 years from now. That is a hard blow to take, to see that long a delay in achieving my goal, but it’s more realistic. At least I’ll see benefits all along the way at earlier milestones.

The apps can calculate fat % or BMI, not active tools I’ll be using, but they’re there. Maybe they’ll give me info, maybe they won’t. We’ll see.

For the neck, it’s a bit misleading. I don’t in theory care about my neck measurement, at least not directly. What I do care about is having multiple chins. I have a light beard right now, so it’s not as obvious (I’m not doing it to hide it, it’s just WFH laziness on my part). But if I shave, and I tuck my chin into my neck to “force” the worst possible look, it’s bad. “Fat-shaming role in a movie” bad. I know it’s there, and I’ve had it for a long time. One of my least favourite memories from my mother happened a bit after Jacob was born. She wasn’t being deliberately mean, more merely thoughtless, but she suggested out of the blue that I needed to start doing neck exercises to get rid of my extra chins. As much as I disliked the comment, she wasn’t wrong. In fact, when I got married, it was something I discussed with the photographer — how could we do some photos that wouldn’t show how fat my face was? There’s a reason why the best photo of the bunch has me leaning forward and looking up a bit.

So I’ll measure neck as I don’t quite know how to measure “chin” decrease…from 4 to 3 to 2 to 1? I confess I also have concerns that as I lose weight, the skin won’t retract with it for tone and I’ll be left with hanging flesh in places, including my neck or arms. I try not to dwell as that is an almost-envious problem to have because it would mean I had lost enough weight to see the difference.

Shoulders? I really don’t think I care. Maybe if I was trying to be a linebacker, this could be relevant? I’m not trying to increase or decrease it, so why track it? Only one of the apps asks for it, while another has a slot for it. But it is also one that requires someone else to measure as your arms have to be down at your sides, and that alone is enough for me to likely veto it. I’m trying to do most of the stuff on my own without burdening Jacob or Andrea too much in my tracking. It’s my obsession and problem, not theirs, and while they’re willing to help, I also don’t want to impose too heavily on their goodwill.

There are two measurements, bust and just below the bust (i.e., lower chest), and I’m rather bewildered about these ones. I am carrying a lot of fat to the sides of my breasts, and it’s visible in the pictures. I hate it, sure. And I definitely want to find ways to get rid of it. But if I go by measuring the bust area, in theory it will go down and then back up? Down as I lose the fat, back up as I put some muscle into pecs and lats. So I’ll keep measuring it, at least one of them anyway (likely bust), but I’m not sure how to interpret the numbers as to whether a dropping number or an increasing number is good/bad.

The next five measurements are all very inter-related, and some of the descriptions from app-to-app are conflicting about which is which for upper stomach, stomach, waist, hips and buttocks. Some of the waist definitions point to the belly-button, others go to the waist band of underwear, some call that the hips. Generally, the top one (above my belly-button) and the bottom one (around the butt) are really clearly different, but the other three get intermingled. For me? I care about three things. I want to get rid of my giant stomach. It’s in the way when I’m bending over, I can’t see my toes, blah blah blah. So at least one measurement that is around my stomach at the belly-button level has to stay. The next measurement is waist. Part of the challenge, tied to pant measurements for example, is that if you are thin and tall, you tend to wear your waistband higher than you do if you’re fat like me. My stomach wants to “push” the beltline lower, which is why you often see TV and movie characters “cinching” their belt under their beer belly. In the end, I don’t care what it is now, I only care what it is when I get closer to my ultimate goal in several years. I want to wear 30″ pants someday, and not because I’m so old that I’ve lost every ounce of tone or weight. And thirdly, just to close out, I want to get rid of my extra girth in the pelvic and butt areas. So a measurement around the butt area is probably a decent one to keep.

For the arms and legs, I get confused a bit again. Take biceps, for instance. I have a lot of flab in my arms right now, and so they seem “bigger” than they actually are. Ergo, I want that number to go down, right? Except, I wouldn’t mind if I could develop some decently noticeable biceps. I don’t want to be a body-builder or anything, but I would get some mental boost from seeing actual definition. So, the measurement should go “down” and then back “up”? But to what? Like I said, I want functional strength and some definition, not competition-style biceps. I confess I also have no idea what thick forearms would translate to in actual numbers or definition. As with other areas, do I want it to go down? Up slightly? I have no idea. On thighs, they definitely need to go down and then gain some definition, which a measurement won’t really capture. Similarly to forearms, what does a measurement around the knee tell me? Should it go down? Up? And finally my calves. With my diabetic numbers, I moved into wearing compression socks, and with that compression, the girth has gone down, as has the more marbled appearance I used to deal with from time to time. At times, I liked it, as my calves looked like tree trunks. But now that I’m wearing the compression socks, does the size matter? Should it go up? Or down? Or is it simply about definition again? I think it should go down for awhile, but I’m not sure what a “good” size would be.

Where does that leave me?

If I’m brutally honest then, and utterly ruthless, I need:

A weight measurement, to tell me how I’m doing more regularly than the monthly baseline review;
A neck measurement, as the only useful proxy for how many chins I still have;
A bust measurement, for context;
A stomach measurement, as the only one focused on the most significant area of girth;
A waist measurement, for context in the short-term;
A buttocks measurement, for eliminating some flabbiness on the front and back;
A thigh measurement, for flabbiness and simple sitting agility/pressure;
A calf measurement, for future compression sock conversations; and,
A bicep measurement, as a bit of an ego thing.

Since I want the first app for the great tracking related to weight, and I’m using the third app for the photos, the real question is whether or I keep the second app long-term. I’ve certainly shown there’s no need to include any measurements in the third app, as it is just not robust enough. I’ll keep it for photos, and weight, but likely not the body measurements. But if I compare app #2 against app #1, my problem with only using #1 is that there’s no option for a good stomach AND waist measurement, and while I could repurpose hips, there’s also no pure buttocks measurement area. If I go instead with only app #2, I can do all the measurements, but the weight aspects are not as visually appealing.

Overall, it seems like I’m likely to keep:

My Weight for the purposes of weight tracking;
ReMeasure for a smaller grouping of physical body measurements; and,
Body Tracker still for the photos.

As I said at the beginning, I’ll enter the measurements for now in all three, and re-evaluate once I get to November or December. Mostly what I’ll be looking for is how it shows me graphs and trends in an easy to use format.

I’m not convinced I know what all the measurements will tell me individually, but it’s a start.

Workout attempt #21-002 Pre-stretch, setup, and pre-set routines

September 15 2021

After my workout on Sunday, Monday was my “off day” and so today, Tuesday, was my day to work out again. The BowFlex comes with a number of suggested workout routines, and I started with the 20-minute Better Body workout. It has nine exercises, and they recommend doing it 3x a week.

Initial stretching. As I mentioned previously, I don’t have a good stretching routine set up yet and today was the clear evidence of that…I did some hip and quad stuff, some arm and neck, and a bit of back arching, but I’m hoping to get it down to a “known” set of exercises that I’ll do as opposed to having to think “which ones” at the time. That’s on my schedule to figure out for next week. I did manage to test out the work-out mat I got at IKEA awhile ago, and it was great. Extra padding so my knees weren’t screaming, but still took a bit more work than I would like getting down on the mat and back up again afterwards. Sigh. Baby steps.

Exercises. There are nine exercises suggested in the BowFlex manual. I started with the Bench Press (#01) that helps with the chest, and did 1 set of 10 reps @ 60 lbs. I really wanted to up it to 100 lbs, but I’m trying to keep the various exercises at the same weight throughout the routine so I don’t have to make many changes. My intent, for now, is that on exercises where 60 lbs isn’t enough, I’ll try more reps and focus on controlled movements.

The next one on the list is the Narrow Pulldowns with Handgrips (#11). It’s aimed at the back muscles, and is also seated, but it requires turning around to face the machine AND switching to the top bar to be able to pull down on the grips. I ordered an extra set of grips (the machine came with two sets but there are 3 pulleys), and the new ones worked well enough. I actually like the grip a bit better (harder, knurled instead of foam). Same approach for weight – 1 set of 10 reps @ 60 lbs. Like the bench press, this one will likely need more weight or more reps pretty soon.

The third one is called Crossover High Rear Deltoid Rows (#04), and I confess I really like this one. You do it while standing facing the machine and using the top grips, so compared to the previous exercise, the only adjustment was to stand up. But the cross-over means that you grip the two handles and pull them across your body, almost like you’re grabbing something and ripping it open. I did my 1 set of 10 reps @ 60 lbs, and I feel that is about right for this one. The exercise targets the shoulders.

04 ST TB Shoulders - Crossover High Rear Deltoid Rows

The routine then moves into arms with the Seated Biceps Curl (#16). The weight was fine i.e. 1 set of 10 reps @ 60 lbs, but the change from the last one is that I go back to sitting facing out, and I switch to the pulleys at the bottom (aka the squat ones). I found this one hard for form, and while I love the idea of increasing the weight and having an actual “real” bicep instead of the flab I have now that hides it, I won’t be increasing this one anytime soon.

The exercise doubles up on arm exercises (as it does with legs and trunk to follow) and moves into a Triceps Pushdown (#14). Again, standing up, switching back to the top bar, which are two changes that don’t allow for a rhythm. I’m not entirely sure I’m keeping good form on this one, but I also won’t be increasing weight or reps either (1 set of 10 reps @ 60 lbs).

There are two leg exercises next, and I reordered one to the end and did the second one here. It’s called the Standing Hip Extension (#22). As you can see from the diagram, you’re supposed to put the grip in the arch of your foot and push it backwards while keeping the leg straight. You do one leg at a time, so it is 2 sets of 10 reps @ 30 lbs. And that is a solid amount of weight to start with, but the real challenge for me was my feet. I’m not very flexible, so to get my foot down there, lined up properly, standing back up, getting ready to go? Not really happening. With my shoes on, I couldn’t feel where it was on my foot; with just my socks on, I couldn’t get into position with the foot pulling back with my arch. But not to fear, there is a simple solution. You can put your whole foot through the loop so the grip is on the back of your ankle and do it from there. Again, as I said, I left it at 30, and I may have to reduce to 6 or 8 reps. Good for the butt, apparently, but only if your butt can take it. 🙂

22 ST SQ Legs - Standing Hip Extension Left and Right

Next up were the trunk exercises and I started with Trunk Rotation (#19). On Sunday, I made the mistake of leaving it at 30 lbs each side, even though it clearly says NOT to do that i.e., start low. I thought 30 lbs WAS low, but not low enough. I struggled doing it with control, so today, I dropped to 15 lbs each side. Much better volume. I feel like this is likely a good exercise for me, similar to what a lot of people do with a medicine ball while sitting, where they basically move it from left to right and the person behind them picks it up and does the same. Then they reverse direction. It isolates it to your side abdominal muscles which are pretty weak for me. I don’t know that I will ever LOVE the exercise, but I’m fine to do it, at least safely.

19 ST CB Abdominal - Trunk Rotation Left and Right

The last abdominal exercise is the Seated Abdominal Crunch (#18). I love the idea of crunches because they so perfectly target the abdominals. But when you’re as fat as I am, crunches aren’t a lot of fun. And while it is good that people are no longer doing full situps, I’ve never felt I was very good at my form for crunches. This is almost foolproof, which is great. I did my set of 10 reps @ 60 lbs and that seems about right for now. It’s about all my stomach can handle. Interestingly, this exercise and the bench press are the two that I feel will define my sense of success. If I am progressing on these two, I’ll feel like I’m getting somewhere, even if the rest are crap; if I’m not progressing on these two, I’ll feel loathe to picture anything as progress. I think it is a holdover of years of bad sports experiences — real athletes can do bench presses and crunches, and I can’t.

18 SE CB Abdominal - Seated Resisted Abdominal Crunch

Last, but not least, is the Leg Extension (#20). While this one uses the squat pulleys too, it also requires putting the attachment on. It was pre-installed by the assembly guy, so I’ve never put it on before, and it was a pain in the patootie. I ended up having to get down on the floor and almost underneath it to see how it went in. I upped the weight to 100 lbs and did my set of 10 reps. But I didn’t feel like my form was very good to be honest. It felt more like a Macgyver-ed solution than that I had everything set up exactly correctly. It worked, but I wouldn’t say I was thrilled by it. And I think part of that is simple disappointment that I have to reconfigure for it at all, AND that it is the only exercise that uses that piece. So it will always either be the first or the last exercise.

How did I do?

My form was a little better, I need to figure out my stretching exercises a little more coherently, but overall, it “worked”. I did it, I felt like I got a workout. It took me longer than 20m to figure it all out as I went, but I was able to do it well enough. I even managed to remember to hydrate! I should have done more for my cooldown, but I just ran out of time.

However, it was also relatively clear pretty fast that the order of the exercises has a lot of unnecessary movement and resetting. The order can be improved for efficiency, as long as I remember to rest in between exercises like I’m supposed to do. I think a good order would be:

19 ST CB Abdominal – Trunk Rotation (15, 15)
04 ST TB Shoulders – Crossover High Rear Deltoid Rows (30+30)
14 ST TB Arms – Triceps Pushdown (30+30)
11 SE TB Back – Narrow Pulldown (30+30)
01 SE CB Chest – Bench Press (30+30)
18 SE CB Abdominal – Seated Abdominal Crunch (30+30)
16 SE SQ Arms – Seated Biceps Curl (30+30)
22 ST SQ Legs – Standing Hip Extension (30, 30)
20 SE SQ Legs – Leg Extension (50+50 lbs)

In theory, it means having to adjust the weight only twice (after the first exercise and at the end) while also using the same grips in order — top bar, centre bar, and then the squats bar, before using the Leg Extension. If the leg extension is already in place, I can reverse the order and go bottom to top.

It wasn’t bad for my second workout. Onward!

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