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| Location: Blogs J.D. Hart |   | | Posted by: dhart | 8/21/2007 12:57 PM | The fight goes well. Thanks to the customized eating plan and the exercise program I have lost 15 pounds. I feel a lot better and the routine is becoming a habit. That is half the battle for me.
My last post mentioned that I would share with you my workout program and eating plan. So here we go.
The eating program was created by professors at AUM and it is a very simple plan that you can develop to fit your dietary needs. It is created with the help of the USDA’s new pyramid system called “My Pyramid.” All you have to do is go to www.mypyramid.com, put in your goals, and the site generates an eating plan that will get you to your goals. It even gives you tracking sheets so you can print out and track your daily progress, which to me is the key to any successful diet/exercise plan. It really is that simple. If you are wanting to make a positive change, there is a mountain of good information there. Use it to your advantage.
When my goals were entered, it gave me my specific system which includes an 1,800-calorie-a-day diet that consist of 6 ounces of grains (1 slice of whole wheat bread is equivalent to 1 ounce) 2 ½ cups of veggies, 1 ½ cups of fruit, 3 cups of fat free milk, 5 ounces of meats and or beans. The chart that the site gives you to print has spaces for you to list what you ate each day and helps you build your plan for the next day.
This has made food decisions and portion size a no brainer for me. No calorie counting (but I still do) and not a lot of wasted time measuring things because the plan gives you the equivalent items for each category.
This is a fine example of our tax-dollars at work. One of the few, mind you, but a good one none the less.
If you want to start a plan, and keep your hard earned money in your pocket, this is the plan for you. This has more scientific study behind it than any diet plan you see on late night TV or on any retail shelves. If the professors at AUM believe in it, then it is good enough for me.
Here is a marketing slogan for the USDA, and I am saying it to you as well. I HAVE MY PYRAMID, DO YOU HAVE YOURS? (They can send the check to me here at Buckmasters. Hee-Hee.)
Even if you are not planning or need to exercise, it is still a good idea to visit the USDA site and get a personalized pyramid. It will help you stay healthy, and keep you from looking like me.
Now, lets move on to the exercise plan.
My customized exercise plan was designed with a 4 prong strategy in mind.
1. Build muscle to speed up metabolism.
2. Build archery specific muscles to aid in the switch to left-handed shooting.
3. Build the opposing muscles to the archery specific muscles
4. Increase aerobic and anaerobic capacity
Numbers one, two and four are self explanatory. Number three is a different scenario.
The third goal comes straight out of the “Archery Instruction Manual,” co-written by Dr. Henry Williford at AUM. The main focus of building the opposing muscles for archery is to prevent injury. In the manual, it is estimated that 80 percent of all back problems stem from muscle imbalance.
When you think about it, archers are prime candidates for back injuries. During the shooting motion, the right side and the left side are doing two separate things. Most of us shoot a 60- to 70-pound bow. That is like working out each of those sides on a cable machine in the gym, set from 60 to 70 pounds.
Simply put, you are going to build muscle, and each side of your body will be different. That is muscle imbalance. To offset this, you need to work both sides the same, and that is what my plan was designed to do in conjunction with the other goals.
Here is the list of exercises that are my first routine. As we go along, the exercises will change. When they do, I’ll let you know. These exercises are preformed twice a week, on Monday and Thursday.
Ball Crunches - 2 sets of 15 reps
Incline Rows - 3 sets of 12 reps
Chest Press - 3 sets of 12 reps
Lateral Raises - Arms - 3 sets of 12 reps
Seated Quadriceps Curls - 3 sets of 12 reps
Bicep Curl - Incline Bench - 3 sets of 12 reps
Triceps Push-down - 3 sets of 12 reps
45 minutes of cardio training 6-7 days per week. The cardio can be broken up into two workouts (morning and evening) and can also be broken up on different machines within the same workout. (10 minutes bike, 25 minutes treadmill, 10 minutes stair-climber for example).
My peak heart rate to achieve is set at 150 beats per minute (BPM). It was recommended that I buy a heart monitor to make tracking my BPM easier.
I bought one from a major retailer for $34.95. I also have used it to track my heart rate when I practice shooting the bow. To my surprise, my heart rate got all the way up to 134 beats per minute. It takes me about 10 minutes to get to that heart rate on the treadmill, and about the same shooting the bow. To those who think that hunting and archery are not aerobic activities, think again.
Mike from AUM also recommended that I buy a pedometer to track the number of steps that I take during the day. He said that my goal should be 10,000 steps per day. No sweat I thought. Wrong! The first day I posted just 1,214 steps for the day ending at 5 p.m. I relayed this to Mike, and he told me that was about the average number of steps the average American takes in a day.
I guess that is just one of the factors that is leading to our country’s expanding waist line.
10, 000 steps a day was going to be a challenge. Every day, I try to get creative in adding steps to my day. It is almost fun. Scratch that. It is fun!
On trips to the restroom, I take the long way, and walk back to my desk the long way as well. I park in the spot that is the greatest distance away from the entrance. I also take 2 laps around the office here every hour on the hour.
At the end of the day, I usually walk 4,500 steps. Bummer.
10,000 steps is still a lofty goal I plan on reaching, but it may be the last goal I acheive. I am averaging 4,800 steps per day now. That is four times more that before, so that has got to count for something.
So that is it for the torture program. Feel free to use it if you have cleared it with your doctor.
Shooting with my left hand is progressing better than I had hoped. The only problem I have is to remember to close my dominate right eye instead of the left eye that I am used to closing when shooting. At 10 yards, that will cause you to miss a 2 foot by 2 foot target completely. I now know from experience.
As of yet, I do not have enough confidence in my left hand shooting abilities to go hunting with them, but that would be true for right hand as well at this point in my preparations. I am shooting everyday, and am confident that when that day comes, I’ll be ready to go.
Well, that is about it for this update. There have been some exciting happenings on the publicity front, and I’ll share those with you next time.
Until then, thanks for reading.
J.D. | | | Permalink | Trackback |
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