100pu - Doug - w3d1 (do-over)

They wanted 64, I managed 60. Today was also my non-walking day. Typically I eat out Fridays with my work friends. We did it mid-week. I thought it was going to rain. It didn't. But whatever. Its done. Now I need to find ways to get my walky on come Thursday and Friday.

Also working on my submission to Mur's video. How's bout U ? Feeling... heroic ?

GutCheckCast Ep 14 - License to Eat

Hello, and welcome to another GutCheck.

Here's the quick and dirty.

We're both up. Doug by 1.0, Zach by 0.2.

We blame chocolate.

RockYourDay gives us the classic "Better Off Dead Advice"
1. Try something. Anything.
2. See how it does.
3. Adjust accordingly.

Matt gives us an excuse to eat chocolate (like we really needed one), a post at Ririan Project on cycling, and a tool to show how beneficial your walk/run trail is - map it for yourself at www.mapmyrun.com.

We both commit to do better this week. Let us know how you're doing by dropping us a line
GutCheckCast *at* gmail *dot* com
Or at the K7 line... 206-666-4196

Enjoy!

Download GutCheck14.mp3

100pu - Doug - w3d3

I thought I had one more in me. My arms... disagreed. 79 pushups today. Just one more than required. I will be repeating week 3.

100pu - Doug - w3d2

74 pushups. Required +3, though did have 1 unplanned 120 sec break.

100pu - Doug - w3d1

64 required. 64 completed. Nuff said.

GutCheckCast Ep 13 - That Magical Smell of Maple Syrup

Tonight, we discuss...

Our general slackerness in doing pushups.

Doug is up 0.2 pounds, and Zach is down 1.6.

Oatmeal. And using it to drive your co-workers insane. (I'm switching to Quaker Oats Weight Control Banana Bread and Cinnamon flavors this week).

Doug's Anniversary.

And from our Silent Partner, Matt Edenfield,

The Swole Project has a list of foods you THINK are healthy, but are really killing you. (Let's hear it for melodrama. And Cherry Coke Zero)

The Ririan Project talks about the need to warm up before working out, and how it makes your workouts more effective.

And finally, the Martha Beck Blog discusses fighting late night snacking.

And that's it. Get out there, pound some pavement, and check your gut.

Download GutCheckCast13.mp3

A weird week, and I'm a slacker.

First, the slackiness. I may have expressed something of a... distaste... for push-ups. In fact, I dislike them so much that... I put off a new test until late last night (after a little lower body weight training). 25. And originally, I wasn't going to do it any more.
But I remembered a short chat my wife and I had at the beginning of the week, and she says that she saw a real difference once I started doing push-ups.

So, I guess I'm going forward with the pushups. Man, I don't like pushups. But my form has gotten a lot better, my legs aren't hitting the ground first any more, and I'm pretty darn happy about that.

Now for the weird. People have begun stopping me in the halls at work, and asking if I've been losing weight. Just... out of nowhere. Then they immediately want to know what I've been doing (eat less and exercise).

I've been eating oatmeal for lunch this week. And after getting comments from the people who sit around me in the work area (for some reason they find the smell of maple syrup distracting), I started eating it in the break room.

And every time I do (twice yesterday), people come walking through, and stop, and smell, and start going "Do you smell maple syrup? What is that?" It usually takes me a minute to get their attention (due to my reflexive ninja-like stealth), and point out that I happen to be eating Quaker Instant Oatmeal - (weight control) Maple and Brown Sugar. I think it's driving the people around me insane. And inciting a craving for waffles. Preliminary numbers for this week are looking good, and we'll see how it goes with the official weigh-in tomorrow. Here's hoping Doug and Matt are doing well also.

One last thought... (yes, this is long. Welcome to the reason I don't blog a lot any more). I now weigh less than Doug did when this little experiment started. If this were Mario Kart, I think I've caught up to "Ghost Doug". I don't think I'll catch "Actual Doug", but it's a very good feeling for me.

100 Pushups - Doug - pre-w3d1

Exhaustion Test tonight. 19 Pushups. Puts me in column 1 to start week 3. More to come...

GutCheckCast Ep 12 - The Greatest Burger Ever, and Good Cheap Food

Hello, and welcome to week 12 of GutCheckCast. This week's show is one day late, because I forgot to edit and post the ep last night. Nobody's fault but mine.

But this week we talk
Numbers - Doug is up a little, I am down. On the flip side, the pushup challenge continues, and Doug is rockin' the push ups. (day 3 I got the recommended number in plus two. Rapson beats me again!)

The Greatest Burger Ever, IMHO.

Matt Edenfield (at foodandexerciselog.wordpress.com, sends his weekly list o' sites.
Divine Caroline has good cheap food.
The Bargainist has good cheap exercise.
And although we didn't mention it in the show - the Ririan Project reminds us (me especially, because I'm bad at doing it) that you need to stretch. Regularly.

We let Matt know about the Couch to 5k podcasts... available on iTunes, or here.
And that's it. Let's all get out there and pound some pavement this week!

Download GutCheckCast12.mp3

100pu - Doug - w2d3

A bit of a rebound today. Up to 72. That was the required, plus three. I am happy about this.

100pu - Doug - w2d2

Came up short today. The day was calling for 66 pushups. I started out ok, but fell short on the last two sets. Total for today was 57. Will have to go back to the site and see what happens when you pull up short on a given day.

100pu - Doug - w2d1

Ok... so I was wondering how things would change with week 2. We go back to the 60 second wait intervals for Day 1, but we've increased the number of pushups in each set. I managed to eek out 51 today. That's all of the required, and 1 more for good measure at the end. Again, doing my best to maintain form, but I can't say as I'm ready for those Olympic trials at this point in the game.

GutCheckCast 11 - Nutty, Fishy Wonkiness

Hello and welcome to another episode of the GutCheckCast. This week -

Zach's scale is probably possessed.
Doug sees a small gain, but not exactly the kind he wanted.

Matt sends his regards, and three new websites...
BeginnerTriathlete.com, for the aspiring Iron Man in all of us (I hear Hawaii is lovely, especially this time of year).
WorkoutLog.com, for tracking your Iron Man progress, and
The New York Times has an article on the 11 best foods you aren't eating. Like beets. And sardines. Doug and I discuss.

Also, we talk about how we keep track of each other's progress - our Google Calendar, as well as other sites used by people we know, such as tribefit.ning.com.

Enjoy!

Download GutCheckCast11.mp3

100pu - Doug - w1d3

Ok. So the end of week 1. Today, I finished with 66. Frankly, I'm surprised at how close to 100 I already am. That's not a brag. Frankly, I thought I was more out of shape than I might be. I'll be curious to see what the coming weeks bring(I have not looked ahead). I can say that my form could use some improvement. Hopefully that will come along with better numbers.

100pu - Doug - w1d2

I am starting to feel this through my gut. Not sure if its just the push ups, or maybe some combination with the active Wii playing that I'm involved in since returning drom WDW. Weird. Either way, today I am happy to report that I managed 56 push ups. That's two bonus push ups at the end of the required sets. Ye-ha.

100pu - Doug - w1d1

Ok... I managed to crank out the minimum 41. Much like my cohort in crime, I totally cop to questionable form on the last few. Its freakin' gym class all over again. But I did em. I was hoping to do more than the 'minimum 7' in the last round, butthe arms would have none of it. We'll see what the recommended day of rest does for me.

100 pushups Z-man, wk 1, day 1.

I believe I mentioned this in the podcast, but my initial run was 18? Something like that. 41 pushups this evening, 10 (60 second rest) 10 (60 second rest) 8 (60 sec) 6 (60 sec) 12. Don't know how good a form those last two were, but I went up and down, so that counts, right?

100 Pushups - Doug

Ok... so I said I would give this a go. Took the initial test. The magic number is - Twelve. Guess we'll see how things go.