Beginner's Bodybuilding Routine

Lately I have been extremely busy, that I have not had time to do the weight workouts that I have wanted to do. To get back in track, I usually go through my bruce lee books, and choose one of his past workouts.

Bruce Lee sought out the opinion of two trusted individuals who were not only his students, but more importantly, his friends: James Yimm Lee and Allen Joe. Both of whom were experienced bodybuilders who had developed imposing physiques as a result of their commitment to "pumping iron".

Bruce realized two things:
"The athlete who is building muscles through weight training should be very sure to work adequately on speed and flexibility at the same time."
and
"My muscles are developed mainly from practicing martial art, which is different from training purely for big, bodybuilder-type muscles."

As a runner, I believe that one must build up muscles in order to store more glycogen, for energy, not necessarily big muscles. You always hear about muscles slowing a runner down, and that the ideal body for a runner is the Olive Oil body. I think its a bunch of bull shit.

Here is Bruce's Bodybuilding routine done 3 times a week along with the amount of weight he lifted. Its a challenging workout, which will also work your endurance.
1. Squat: 3 sets of 10 reps (weight: 95 lbs.)
2. French Press: 4 sets of 6 reps (weight: 64 lbs.)
3. Incline Curl: 4 sets of 6 reps (weight: 35 lbs.)
4. Concentration Curl: 4 sets of 6 reps (weight: 35 lbs)
5. Push-Ups: 3 sets of 10 reps (weight: 70-80 lbs. placed on upper back)
6. Two-handed (barbell) Curl: 3 sets of 8 reps (weight: 70-80 lbs.)
7. Triceps Stretch: 3 sets of 6-8 reps (weight: 3 lbs.)
8. Dumbbell Circle: 4 sets of as many reps as possible (weight: 16 lbs.)
9. Reverse Curl (barbell): 4-6 reps (weight: 64 lbs.)
10. Wrist Curl (seated): 4 sets as many reps possible (weight: 64 lbs.)
11. Reverse Wrist Curl (seated): 4 sets as many reps possible (weight: 10lbs)
12. Sit-up: 5 sets of 12 reps (body weight only)
13. Calf Raise: 5 sets of 20 reps (body weight only)

Long run # 5 TUMAMOC!!

We ran Tumamoc Hill, today. Tumamoc Hill is considered a hike to many, but I like running up this hill. Hills make you stronger, this hill is 3.1 miles round trip, with an elevation gain of 730ft. It was a nice morning, I chose this run instead of doing a ten mile run for my training. Next week I will pick it up.

Week # 4 Summary 07/19 - 07/25

Day 79 - Abs, 1.5 hr Spinning
Day 78 - Abs, 1 hr Spinning
Day 77 - Abs,
Day 76 - Abs, 15 mile run
Day 75 - Abs,
Day 74 - Abs
Day 73 - Abs

Badwater 2007

July 23-25 marked the 30th anniversary of the Badwater Ultramarathon. Badwater Ultramarathon is the legendary, epic, 135 mile running race which travels in the heat of Summer from Badwater in Death Valley (elev. 282 feet below sea level) to Whitney Portals on Mt. Whitney (elev. 8360 feet). Usually the temperature is about 130 degrees, this year they had overcast skies and relatively cool – if humid – temperatures around 112F. Its tough to run when its humid (read my long run # 2 blog for training in humid weather), but then again these runners are tough, some train in sauna's to withstand the heat. As a result of 112 degree weather the two year-old course record for the Kiehl’s Badwater Ultramarathon was smashed by the rookie runner Valmir Nunes, 43, of Brazil, who came back from third place to take a hard-earned race win after an eventful night. His finishing time of 22:51:29 was a long way inside the previous mark of 24:36:08, set by Scott Jurek in 2005. This year Scott did not run. 2004 Badwater winner Dean Karnazes who is possibly the best know ultrarunner and author of the national best seller "Ultra Marathon Man confessions of an all-night runner" finished the race in 10th place with a time of 31:31:34. Akos Konya finished in second place for the second year in a row. David Goggins who also ran the Zane Grey 50 miler in Payson finished in third place. Had I known who David Goggins was when I ran the Zane Grey 50, I would have liked to have met him, but all I was worried about was running in the race, that is considered the toughest 50 miler.

David Goggins, actually came to Badwater through a heartfelt impulse and a fortuitous web search. As a Navy S.E.A.L., Goggins lost several friends in Afghanistan and felt compelled to do something to help the families of his fallen compatriots.

"I'm not the kind of guy who's going to have a bake sale and sell cupcakes, though," he laughs. "I went online and looked for a way to raise some money for their families. I typed in a search for the '10 hardest things in the world' and Badwater came up." This year, once again, Goggins is running to raise money for the children of those who have been killed in service to their country through the Special Operations Warrior Foundation (http://www.specialops.org).

"I started to think about the race a lot and contacted Chris Kostman, the race director about participating. He told me I had to do some qualifying races, like a 100 miler. So I looked around and found that there was going to be a 24-hour track run in San Diego in November. I was a powerlifter, not a runner. I mean, I ran 20 minutes every other day to stay in shape, but I'd never done a marathon. I showed up at registration for the San Diego race looking more like a power lifter, too. I was 240 lbs. then, and the race director, John Metz, just shook his head. Well, I did 100 miles in a little over 18 hours, then stopped. I was done, but I had my qualifier."

Long Run # 4

Such a beautiful morning to be outside, its 5 am the skies are cloudy, the ground is still wet from the previous day's monsoon rain. I parked my truck at Reid Park in front of Hi Corbett field, where the Colorado Rockies have their spring training. I thought I was early on a Sunday morning, but there was already another 4 cars. The best time to run in Arizona during the summer is early in the morning. I begin my first 3 mile loop, today's goal is to run about 20 miles. I start thinking of strategies, knowing I need to run at a slower pace, so I begin with running for 5 minutes and speed walking for 2 minutes. I tend to walk really slow, so I know I need to practice my speed walk. I finish my first loop and I continued on with the second one, the second loop was non-stop, because I felt warmed up. I knew I would be finished by 6:00 am when my running group begins to arrive. Once everyone arrived we began another loop (my third) I have noticed some improvements in some of the runners, they are getting to the point where running 3 miles looks easy, its all about taking it slow, and running to the Rhythm of your Soul. Once we finished the loop, I kept running up until 7:30 when it was still cloudy, but it was getting hotter, it felt like the temperature was in the mid 80's. I finished my morning run at 15 miles. Looking at my original plan, it looks like I am one week behind schedule, and that's alright. I am taking the time to listen to my body, and working on speeding up my recovery time.

34 years ago this day....

Bruce Lee passed away in Hong Kong at the age of 32 (July 20, 1973). He is buried in lot 276 at Lakeview cementary in Seattle Washington, I have been to his gravesite everytime I have been in Seattle. His workouts have always seemed to amaze me, you can find them in the book "Bruce Lee: The Art of Expressing the Human Body" by John Little.

Bruce's devotion to fitness gave him a body that was admired by many of the top names in bodybuilding community. Joe Weider, the founder of Mr. Olympia, described Bruce's physique as "the most defined body I've ever seen!" Many top body building competitors have indicated Bruce as a major influence on their bodybuilding careers including Flex Wheeler, Shawn Ray, Rachel McClish, Lou Ferrigno, Lee Haney, Lenda Murray and 6 time Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates

Lee was known to have collected over 140 books in his lifetime on bodybuilding, weight training, physiology and kinesiology. In order to better train specific muscle groups, he also created several original designs of his own training equipment and had his friend George Lee build them to his specifications

Week # 3 Workout Summary 07/12 - 07/18

Day 86 - Abs, 1.5 hr Spinning
Day 85 - Abs, 1 hr Spinning
Day 84 - Abs,
Day 83 - Abs, 4.5 mile run
Day 82 - Abs,
Day 81 - Abs
Day 80 - Abs

This week I was busy, that I would sometimes forget to eat, had a headache for 3 straight days, was stressed out, low in energy. things need to change.

Long Run # 3

This week the plan was to drop down in mileage down to 12 miles, but Saturday morning I woke up with a headache. Since I dont like taking medication, pain killers, even vitamins, I have yet to take anything to help get rid of the headache. I believe the only reasons you get headaches is if your out in the sun too long, haven't slept well, or haven't been eating well. This morning I was only able to run 4.5 miles, we started running at 6:00 am when the temperature here in Tucson was 79 degrees. By 7:30am it feels like its in the 90's plus with this humidity it feels hotter. I actually ran a little more than 4.5 miles, because Sundays I usually visit my nephew/godson, and today I ran while he rode his bike, and the two year old can pedal fast!!! I may have to sign him up again to do El Tour De Tucson 1/4 mile kids ride, last year he was the youngest at 20 months, and he finished last. He too is working his way up.

Week # 2 Workout Summary 07/05 - 07/11

Day 93 - Abs
Day 92 - Abs, 1 hr Spinning
Day 91 - Abs, 1 hr Spinning, 1 hr Rep weight workout
Day 90 - Abs, 15 mile run
Day 89 - Abs, 1 hr Spinning
Day 88 - Abs
Day 87 - Abs

I really didn't do any free weight workouts, will have to pick it up in the weeks to come.

Long Run # 2

Sunday morning it was long run # 2, I had planned to have covered 18 miles. Here in Tucson we are getting ready for Monsoon Season, its almost here. Saturday night we got some rain, so as you can imagine Sunday was humid. I was only able to cover 9 miles before 7:00 am, then it got hot. So I drove to the gym and ran 3 more miles on the treadmill. I'am not a big fan of treadmills, I can't cover more than 3 miles at a time on a treadmill. After lunch I ended up heading back and covering another 3 miles, bringing my total to 15 miles for the day. I may have to distribute my mileage throughout the day especially with the weather being hot and humid.

Sweating is one of the most effective means of regulating internal body temperature, exercising in hot, humid conditions is especially stressful to the unacclimated person. For sweat to dissipate heat, it must evaporate. When the humidity is high, sweat does not evaporate. Even if you are sweating profusely , there is a risk of severe heat problems. The main concern of exercising in the heat and humidity are replenishment of water and allowing the maximum amount of sweat to evaporate. To replenish fluids, drink at least 7-10 ounces every 10-20 minutes during exercise. The cooler the water the better, because cooler water empties more rapidly than warm water from the stomach into the intestines where it can be absorbed.

Competitive Eating Cannot be a Sport

I was only able to see the last minute of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest. That was the nastiest shit I have ever seen. Kobayashi eating his vomit, and Chestnut being able to eat 66 hot dogs. As I was watching this I was wondering how many calories they were taking in, and if they puke it all out after the competition. If they do, do they puke for like 5 minutes straight, 66 is alot of hot dogs.

I was able to find how many calories a Nathan hot dog has. The breakdown is 308 calories per hot dog times 66 hot dogs gives you 20,328 calories. Dammmmn!! most people eat that much in 7-10 days, Nicole Richie would eat that in a month, sometimes two. OF those 20,328 calories, 13% comes from protein (2,640 kcal) 28.6% comes from Carbohydrates (5,808 kcal) and 58.4% comes from fat (11,880 kcal). 11,880 calories of fat is almost like eating 6.5 cups of lard. Why don't we just start a lard eating competition.

Week # 1 Workout Summary 06/28 - 07/04

Day 100 - Abs
Day 99 - Abs, 1 hr Spinning
Day 98 - Abs, 1 hr Spinning, 1 hr Rep weight workout
Day 97 - Abs, 8 mile run
Day 96 - Abs, 1 hr Spinning
Day 95 - Abs
Day 94 - Abs, Upper body Weights

Upper body Weight workout consist of Repetitions of 10, 8, & 6. Weight Increases as Repetitions Decrease.
Workout Results for day 94:
Dumbbell Chest Press - 45lbs, 50lbs, 55lbs
Barbell Bicep Curl - 40lbs, 50lbs, 60lbs
Hammer Strength Back machine - 130lbs, 160lbs, 190lbs. *need to drop weight
Wide Grip Pull Down - 90lbs, 100lbs, 110lbs

I plan on keeping this weight workout another 2 weeks.

Saul's Ab Workout

If I were asked what my weakness is, I would answer my abs. Like most people, I rarely work my abs out. Here I put together a simple workout, with the intention of being able to do this everyday. It takes about 15 minutes to do, it consist of 5 ab exercises, and you only do 2 sets of 10 repetitions per exercise, with a 30 sec recovery between sets. Dont rush it, do the movement along with your breathing. For example on a basic crunch, as you roll up you want to inhale and tighten your abs, as you roll back down you exhale sucking your stomach in. There is two different workouts, one that can be done at home and the other at the gym using equipment.

HOME WORKOUT

Oblique Exercises (Sides - Love Handles):
Bicycle Crunch, alternate legs, keeping feet off ground

Oblique crunches, 2 sets on each leg, ankle over knee


Middle & Upper Abdominal Exercises:
Basic Crunch


Lower Abdominal Exercises:
Reverse Crunch, I extend legs out keeping them 2-3 inches off of ground

Medicine ball raises


The Gym Workout is the same with the exception of doing the basic crunch on an exercise ball, instead of the floor, and replacing the Medicine ball raises with Hanging leg raises, try not to swing your legs and bring knees close to chest.


You always end your workout with the Plank, try doing 2 minutes or 2 sets 1 min each with 30 sec recovery in between.

The next big thing

Since in my last post I talked about television, obesity, and child obesity, and I guess you can say that video games play part when it comes to child obesity, well that all may change. Keep your eyes open for this product, my brother along with about 6 other people have been working on this, and they recieved great reviews at the Game Developers Conference in March. It is a vest, originally designed for medical applications, this vest packs a serious punch. There are 8 pneumatic air pouches – 4 on the front, 4 on the back – that pack 256 analog levels of impact with up to 10 pounds of pressure each. Unlike traditional force feedback devices that rumble or buzz, the ForceWear Vest gives you precise impact where it happens, as it happens. Get pounded with body slams, crushed with G-forces, and blasted with bullet fire. That's right it may kick your a$$ into shape. For more info visit their website, www.tngames.com. If you are like me, who is not into video games please pass it along to those who are and mark my words, this will be the next big thing for video games. Check out the mini commercial of the vest.

Television

I really don't watch much television, but I have to watch Shaq's Big Challenge, I am interested in seeing if he can get these kids to shape up. After two shows I see there are a few things I would have done differently. I would have been on these kids since day one, they wasted the first month because they trusted these kids would do the workouts. The other thing I would have done differently is get the parents involved too, they need to set an example. How can you let someone you love become morbid obese? You dont get like that over-night. Here are some interesting facts I read on the sunday paper:
- In 1957, the average fast food burger weighed 1 ounce. In 1997, the average burger weighed in at 6 ounces. Now it's not uncommon for a fast food burger to weigh 8 ounces.
- Women take in an average of 335 more calories per day than they did 30 years ago and men take in an average of 168 more calories per day.
- A child with overweight parents is 40 percent more likely to be an overweight adult, than a child with parents who are not overweight.
- More women are obese than men. 34% women / 28% men
- Women with higher amounts of belly fat have higher rates of diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.
- Americans spend about $30 billion each year on weight loss products and services
- Eighty percent of women have tried a popular diet, and 64 percent considered the diet to be a failure.
- According to the National Institute of Health, the key to successful weight loss is making a lifestyle change, not dieting.
- For every pound of muscle you build, your body burns an extra 35-50 calories a day.

So there you go make it a lifestyle, be patient think 100 days.

Long Run # 1

I've got a running group running every Sunday morning, all levels are welcomed, whether you want to train for a 5k or a 50 miler. If you are interested in running drop me an email at training@moja2run.com. Today was my first long run, and here in Tucson, Az the weather is in the 110's so in order to run it has to be really early or really late. I was out running at 5:15 am, the temperature was about 75 degrees, at 6:00 am a few runners began to arrive, so we ran 3 miles, everyone did great. It makes a huge difference when you run with someone, even if they are ahead or behind you, they help you get through it. After the 3 mile group run was complete, I continued running, I covered about 8 miles today. As I got home I went straight to the refriderator for my favorite recovery drink, chocolate milk.

A good rule for recovery after a hard workout is to divide your weight in pounds by 2, and that is how many carbs you should take within 2-3 hours after your workout to refuel your muscles. Why I like chocolate milk? I need 77 grams of carbs and 2 cups of 1% chocolate milk contains 52 grams of carbs, 16 grams of protein, and 5 grams of fat. Its low in fat, you really don't need much protein, and the carbs are stored in the muscles or liver as glycogen, plus it does a body good. Its important for me to be able to recover quickly because I got a spinning class to teach on Mondays.