2010, a few days early.

Back in June of 2009, one of the regulars on bladeforums started a contest. Quoting his post:



"I feel that maintaining a healthy active lifestyle, and staying in shape, close to your ideal body weight, is one of the most important survival skills. I see far too many folks on my ambulance that are trainwrecks and younger then me. (28)

I am by no means a picture of the perfect level of fitness, but im getting where I want to be. Its an uphill battle. I lift 7 days a week, jog, hike, and am an avid mountain biker. My diet is also 95% flawless. I work really hard to keep it that way, constantly adjusting things, reading books on nutrition, etc.... Well, I know some guys here want to get there too. Its sad when statisticly 95% of american adults havent lifted weights in the past month. Heres what I propose. A 6 month physical challenge. Post your starting weight and pics, (please no nude shots, I dont think I can handle that ), and make a commitment to change your diet and lifestyle."

Well, I signed myself right on up and starting hitting the ...internet. Looking for something to do that would work. I stumbled onto Kettlebells and took off.

Here's what I looked like in July of 2009: (It's pretty bad)




I weighed in at a max for the year of 238 pounds, with a 46 inch gut.



My body fat percentage was 34% according to the circumference method.

34%!


Doing even a half pullup was impossible, and forget about running until I'm under 200 pounds!




6 months later, after thousands of swings, snatches, getups, some running, and some diet control, here I am, at 20% body fat. I can do pullups. Plural. And I'm running nearly every day.



I met all my goals for the contest early, and I found myself in good enough shape in December to focus on my 2010 goals.

Adding to that, a new bodyweight conditioning book came out, and it's a serious winner. It's title is Convict Conditioning and despite the hard core title and marketing, it has everything from beginning physical therapy to world class feats of strength. All packaged in a nicely readable, simple, information dense form. For once, a real workout program that is truly do anywhere, anytime- and the most expensive thing is the book- no add ons or hidden marketing!

The exercises are divided into the "Big Six" moves- all graduated from very simple (like wall pushups) to the master class extremes:

1: one-arm pushups
2: one-legged squats (pistols)
3: one arm pullups
4: hanging straight leg raises
5: stand to stand bridges
6: one arm handstand pushups


So here's my goal set for 2010:

I intend to achieve the one armed pushups, pistols, and straight leg raises. I will get as far in bridging as I safely can, but I'm still exploring the movements and can't set a firm year goal for it. Number 6 is the big kicker, you can't find but a few people out there who can even approach doing this. My goal for 2010 is to get to doing regular handstand pushups.

I have a few other goals, because I want to get my running improved and finish changing my body composition:

I want to get to 14% body fat or better. I'm at 20% now - and after losing 40 pounds I think I can stand another 20 or so before I start getting that six pack definition.

I want to get my 1.5 mile run time to under 12 minutes, and my 2 mile run time under 16. Easy enough goals if I stick to running several times a week.

I started Convict Conditioning just before Christmas, I'll post some catching up on my logs and thoughts in the near future