sweet FA

Well lets be honest Sweet FA! has happend on the fitness front for just over 1 week push ups are failing big time and sit ups havent seen the time of day for 2 weeks.

tried the push ups for the day but they were not happening so i have decided to start the apps again and then i took the test for the Sit-ups app and made 31.

that I am happy with i did take some more phots a few daya ago and these are them.

The belly has reduced a little but progress is far from over!

I have had some relaxed days (of which I am not proud) but I am getting back on it again.

Push-ups Failed

Today I have tried for the 3rd time to do week 3 day of the 100 push-ups app and failed.
So I have decided to go back and do the easier version that way I should be able to finish each day and move on with the program.

My weight has started to drop and at the end of the month I will report back as to my weight and take some more body shots.

Zone BPMs

As I have said earlier I will use the Karvonen method for determining heart rate zones.
Using my current stats of HR_rest of 70 bpm and HR_max of 187 bpm.

I have calculated my heart rate intensities at 10% intervals from 0% (HR_rest) to 100% (HR_max)as below.

Intensity

0% - 70.0 bpm (HR_rest)
10% - 81.7 bpm
20% - 93.4 bpm
30% - 105.1 bpm
40% - 116.8 bpm
50% - 128.5 bpm
60% - 140.2 bpm
70% - 151.9 bpm
80% - 163.6 bpm
90% - 175.3 bpm
100% -187.0 bpm

from the previous post we can see that aerobic development and therefore the best zones in which to improve aerobic fitness are the 60 - 80% of HR_max zones. For weight loss any excersise is good as it all adds up to calories burnt - although aerobic excersise is better for reasons I shall discuss later.

For my own purposes I should be excersising in the 140 - 167 bpm range, as my fitness is not particularly good at the moment I will probably try to do most of my excersise between 140 and 152 bpm (but to monitor this I will need a heart rate monitor first).

On a side note I attempted week 3 day of the 100 Push-ups today and failed at set 3 I also failed a set 2 of the 100 Sit-ups. I will therefore have another rest day and try again on Tuesday but go back to the start of the previous week for both apps.

Heart Rate Zones

The below target heart rates are a generally accepted rule for different benefits to health and fitness.

Intensity

50% - 60% General Warm-up (easy)
60% - 70% Aerobic Development (medium)
70% - 80% Aerobic Development (Hard)
80% - 90% Anaerobic Endurance (Very Hard)
90% - 100% Speed/Power (Extremely Hard)

when looking to lose weight working out in the zones below 80% are essential, as the body require oxygen to metabolise fat.

There is no fat burning zone as high lighted below!

The implication from all this research (Anderson 2002) is that if you wish to burn maximum amounts of fat then you should train in the 68 to 79% MHR window. The reality is that if you train at higher intensities you can burn just as much fat.

If you cycled along at 50% VO2max, fat would provide about 50% of the energy you needed to keep going. If you cycle along at 75% VO2max, fat would provide 33% of the required calories. Thus, the slower workout sounds better from the fat breakdown perspective - or does it?

A moderately fit athlete exercising at 50% VO2max generally consumes about 220 Calories during a 30 minute workout. If the same athlete works out at 75% VO2max, 330 Calories are burned during the same period. Of course, 50% of 220 Calories and 33% of 330 Calories yield an identical number of calories coming from fat - 110 Calories.

The above is shamelessly ctrl-c / ctrl-v from www.brianmac.co.uk but it does say exactly what I want to without the typing!

VO2 is something I have not covered yet and I do not fully understand but when I do there will be a post.

Tomorrow I shall do the calculations for the heart rate zones for myself and lok at they can help me, whether I post or not is dependant on stuff!

Push-Up Test 2

Just done the 2nd 100 Push-ups test and managed to do 30 push-ups in one hit I thought that I might do about 23-24 but the extra few and I am pretty chuffed with myself. I will do my sit-ups a little later and when it comes to the next test on these I will add an update.

Heart Rate Zones

Target heart rate zones I have found vary from source to source, but all of them seem to have a 10% spread above 50% HR_max there are also two different methods that I found for determining your target heart rate.

The Zoldaz Method
THR = HR_max - Adjuster +/- 5 bpm

where the adjuster determines the heart rate target zone as below.

Zone 1 = 50 bpm
Zone 2 = 40 bpm
Zone 3 = 30 bpm
Zone 4 = 20 bpm
Zone 5 = 10 bpm

this obviously is not a very good method of determining target zones, as it does not count for general fitness or age etc.

The Karvonen Method

this method takes into account a persons resting heart rate and has a % intensity multiplier (a much better method of calculating zone)

THR = ((HR_max - HR_rest) x % intensity) + HR_rest

This is the method that I shall use and later I will calculate my heart rates based on this method.

Heart Rate Continued

From all the equations that I posted yesterday I have HR_max in the range of 184.6 to 199.

199
184.6
186.1
191.5
184.8
187

Obviously discounting 199 from the Fox Haskell formula as it is obviously too high and taking an average of the other scores I get a HR_max of 186.8 bpm, as this is close to the Lund equation which supposably the best estimate it is good enough for me.

I know that heart rates vary from person to person and the best why to actually know your HR_max is to do a clinical trial this is slightly out of my range and having an average HR_rest of approx 70 bpm myself I think that I will be pretty safe using this data.

For easier values I will use HR_max 187 bpm and HR_rest 70 bpm.

Heart Rate Reserve: HRR = HR_max - HR_rest.


Using these two values above this gives me a heart rate reserve of 117 bpm.

Next update will be for target zone and there benefits.

Getting Better!

Today I got home from work and with the absence of a girlfriend in the house I took the opportunity to go back out for a run. Today was day 1 of week 2 and as such was a little harder, as it has been a while since I last went for I run I thought that I would struggle more than I did, must back back into the habit doing this more recently.

I have been looking into heart rate and the effect that it has on excersice and weight loss. I was of the belief that any exercise would help weight loss and increase cardiovascular capacity. It would appear that this is not quite true, there are different rates at which the body uses fat, carbohydrates and proteins, also there are diffent rates and which anerobic and aerobic exercise take place.

I am about to shamelessly quote wikipedia here as after much research I have found that most of the info you need on heart rate is on the wikipedia page for heart rate, as such I have snagged the Fox Haskell formula HR_max = 220 - age and the below chart from there.

This is definately not hard and fast and is not recognised by fitness professionals but gives an Idea of the effect of the heart rate.

Using the Fox Haskell formula my maximum heart rate is 199, lets use this later for comparison.
From the 2002 study the least objectionable formula was HR_max = 205.8 - (0.685 x age) having a standard deviation of 6.4 bpm, using this formula my HR_max is 184.6, as we can see thus far there is a difference of 14.4 bpm.


Going on the 2007 study the linear equation is HR_max = 206.9 − (0.67 × age) having a standard deviation 5-8 bpm, giving me a HR_max of 186.1 bpm this is closer to the previous equation, lets look at the non-linear equation HR_max = 191.5 − (0.007 × age²) having a tighter deviation of 2 - 5 bpm. Using the non-linear equation my HR_max is 184.8 bpm.

The final equation for men is the equation devised in Lund, Sweden. HR_max = 203.7 / (1 + e(0.033 x (age - 104.3))) using this equation I have a HR_max of 187 bpm.

I will now look into the different target heart rates and their respective benifits, in particular where my best weight lost is going to come from.

Losing Weight

I am losing weight and I am now below 80kg, my push-ups and sit-ups are getting better my next task is to try the squats and pul-ups apps to see if I can improve at these too!

I have not been out for a run recently as I have been busy and it is very cold at the moment, but I know that this is not a good enough excuse and need to get back out there.

So far:

Push-ups - 22 reps
Sit-ups - 15 reps

I have been watching my calorie intake and re-calculating every week as I lose weight so that I can keep the weight loss on going.

Too many days off!

Not done a lot for a couple of days now so just hit the 100 push ups app to see if I can still do it! Boy did I struggle although I did manage 19 reps in the final round.

I also did the start test for the 200 Sit-ups app and got an initial score of 18 reps, which I do not think is too bad.

I have been weighing myself since I started this progress to see if I lose any weigh and if I do to try and keep track of progess, I will give you an update after a couple of weeks to see what the situation is. My gilfriend took a look at my weights to date as was pleased to see that I a having some positive results, but it is too early to say anything really.

The next 2 days I have early starts and I am working away in Birmingham so I don't think I will have any time for excersie, so I will just watch the calories and see what happens.

Not much to report!

Not a lot to add really been to Exeter for the weekend where we did quite a lot of walking but not had much chance to do any fitness.

Today and tomorrow is 2 nights out with meals so diet will be not so good for 2 days then its the NEC for 2 days Thursday and Friday, not sure when I am going to get any excersise done might have to start getting up early!

Calories Continued

No excersise today Yet! but the day is not over!

I found the modifiers for the daily calorie requirement and they are as follows;

using the RMR as the base

x 1.2 - Sedentary - Little or nor excersise and desk job.
x 1.375 - Lightly Active - Light excersise or sports 1-2 days a week.
x 1.55 - Moderately Active - Moderate excersise or sports 3-5 days a week.
x 1.725 - Very Active - Hard excersise or sports 6-7 days a week.
x 1.9 - Extremely Active - Hard daily excersise or sports and a physical job.

For myself I would reckon that I am somewhere the Lightly Active range, walking up and down a factory and yard all day, climbing stairs and starting to excersise.

With my RMR estimated at 1713.5 My daily calorie in take should be approximately 2356.

According to many of the sources that I have read that a daily calorie deficit of between 500-1000 calories will result in a weekly loss of weight of between 0.5 - 1.0 kg (approx 1 stone every 6 weeks).

For any weight loss program a weight goal and time frame are almost esential so thay you can keep track or your progress, myself I have set a goal of 70kg (Eventually) which will bring me back into the BMI healthy range. In the meantime I have set myself a weight goal of 77kg (12 stone). Accounting for the worst case scenario that a calorie deficit of 1000 calories and a weekly weight loss of 0.5 kg, being approximately 83 kg it will take me 12 weeks to reach my goal.

12 weeks is okay with me as stated before this is not a sprint but a steady program of weight loss and fitness.

Sit ups done

Sit ups day 2 complete 13 reps at the end.

I had also took the challenge of the cardio work out from Ten Minute Trainer. With the 2 minute warm and 2 minute cool down it was probably the most I have sweat in 14 minutes for years. First time is always tricky trying to get to grips with the moves, and my living room is not really big enough, but still got through it ok and looking forward to the next workout.

Not much going on!

Not a great deal to report so far today, apart from doing day 3 of the coach to 5K, my knee started to hurt a little by the end, but this is probably due to not doing and kind of running for a good 7 or so years.

I will do my push-ups later today and report tomorrow hopefully with some more diet and calorie info.

Day 3 - Metabolic Rates

Nothing to report today it is my rest day from the walk/jog yesterday and the push-ups.

So today lets look at calorie intake in the diet and more to the point what my daily calorie intake should be. Along with this I will start to look at the best rate at which to lose weight and see how best I can do this.

First I need to calculate the amount of calories I need; so a quick use of Google and I have come accross two different equations for metabolic rate.

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) - which are often confused with each other.

With a little more research I have choosen not to use the BMR for the purposes of this, as further reading has shown that there are better and more acurate equations for the RMR.

I have however come across several equations for calculating RMR, but what seems to be the most universally accepted is the Mifflin Equation:

For Men:
RMR =  (10 x w) + (6.25 x h) - (5 x a) + 5

where:
w = weight in kg
h = height in cm
a = age in years

so for me:
RMR = (10 x 82.6) + (6.25 x 166) - (5 x 31) + 5
RMR = 1713.5

So my daily calorie intake for doing nothing but lying in bed is 1713.5 now I have to apply modifiers for the amount of my daily activity.

This I have not looked into enough to make the adjustment but I will and it will be a later post!

Push Ups

Just completed day 1 of the 100 push-ups program, I forgot that 2 days ago I completed the initial test where I managed 13. At the end of the program today I managed 12.

Tomorrow I will try the initial test for the 200 Sit-ups program.

I have promissed myself that if I fail a day in the program I will either restart the week or restart the previous week, this also applies to the couch to 5K program.

My goal is not to get fit incredibly quickly but at a steady managable pace!

Day 2

Today I embarked on the 2nd instalment of the couch to 5K plan, still aching from the 1st go I thought that this would be harder than I found it today, a little bit proud of myself to tell the truth!

Back to the Science!

currently my BMI is 30.0 according to the World Health Organisation that makes me Obese, although only just according to the British Heart Foundation I am over weight but at the top end of the scale.

So the goal is to reduce my BMI back to an acceptable level here according to the BHF and the WHO is a BMI of 25 or below.

There are 2 options that I can see as how to reduce my BMI

1. Grow
2. Diet and Excersise

Since I think that growing is not an option, I have opted for 2. Diet and Excersise.

We will have to see what tomorrow brings a friend of mine Mr P. has also decided that he wants to lose weight too and we are going to help each other workout as best we can!

Gotta Start Somewhere!

So here it is day one on the blog! Only writing this so that I can keep track of my goal to get fit again. at 20 I had a 30 inch waist and weighed 10 1/2 Stone, 11 years on I have a 37 inch waist and weigh almost exactly 13 Stone.

I do not have the goal to become 20 again or even get back to being that thin but I do want to lose some weight and at least get fit.

This is not day 1 I started about 1 week ago with some push ups and yesterday I went for a jog, I have choosen to follow couch to 5K program, I think that is a good starting point so yesterday it was out for day 1 of the program, today I ache!

Starting photos is the goal to lose some of the belly and reduce the love handles.

I have borrowed the measurement tracker for the ten minute trainer work outs, which at some point I will start, as I think that the ease of the program will fit around my current life style. I know that the program is aimed more at the ladies but it is at least a good starting point. I have added a few extra measurements to the body tracker, and I aim to update this once a week.

I bought myself a OMRON BF511 scales and body composition monitor, which is where the weight and fat percentages come from in the above. I hope to buy a heart rate monitor soon so that I can take a slighlty more scientific approach to what I am trying to do and help me acheive the results more effectively.