More planning

As I have been laid up for the last week with a torn quad muscle I have been planning how to move forwards with my training program.

I have decided that I need to ramp up my aerobic training to drop the kgs. I also need to stop drinking coca-cola urgently as my coke consumption has steadily increased again for the last 3 weeks which probably helped me to tear my quad with the excess weight!!!

Another thing I need to do is start recording my weight in order to be able to measure the success or failure of my training as well as see if I am slipping again.

I think that it will be 3-4 weeks until I can go back to playing basketball and volleyball so I am going to use this time to concentrate on weight loss and core strength for 4 weeks before starting back to the gym and pilates.

Next week I am going to use the arm bike that is getting rusty in my office and do the following Monday through Friday next week.

Arm Bike - 30 minutes
Press-ups - 3x20
Dips - 3x20
Weighted shoulder sequence - 2 x 20 (each exercise)
Bicep curls - 3x20
Crunches - 3x30
Back Extensions - 3x30
Pull ups - 3xMAX (currently 3)
Arm Bike - 30 minutes

Monday I am going to buy some scales to weigh myself and I am going to start to record my weight daily when I wake up and post daily blogs to keep a record of my progress.

I am hoping that after next week my leg will be good enough to start cycling on the exercise bike on a low level. I plan to do this for 1 week instead of the Arm Bike and then return to the gym Monday, Wednesday and Friday Mornings. Tuesdays and Thursday mornings I plan to cycle on the exercise bike for 1 hour from 5:45 to 6:45 before doing Pilates from 7:00 until 8:00.

I am going to also record my daily training and also my daily Coca-cola intake in this blog. I am planning to drink one can of coke a day at lunch time next week and then stop drinking coke altogether after that.

Once my leg is strong enough I plan to go back to playing basketball but before I start playing Volleyball again I plan do do at least 1 month of Plyomentric Jump training to ready my legs for the stress of jumping again.

Once my legs are ready I plan to take one morning over the weekends to do at least a 3 hour mountain bike ride to help with the weight loss. The last time I did this I found that the weight dropped off really quickly and I also found that my legs got even stronger which helped with my basketball and volleyball.

More setbacks

Played volleyball tonight and while doing spiking practice I took off and straied my left quad!!!!

I have ices the quad for 30 minutes and as well as my quad my left knee is also hurting!!! off to see the doctor again in the morning.

Hopefully it is not too bad as I stopped as soon as I hurt leg instead of trying to carry on like I normally do! I am not too confident though as it is really painful.

Looking on the net it looks like I will be out of action for 6-12 weeks! Once I have seen the doctor I will find out the best way of keeping up training while not stressing my injured leg.

Week all done

This week has been a bit mixed I only did 2 of my 3 pilates sessions (monday and friday), didn´t manage to get to the gym at all. Also played volleyball for 2 hours which went well and basketball for half an hour.

Just finished 30 minutes on the exercise bike did 15.62km and burnt 355 cals.

Had some bad news, my pilates teacher is leaving at the end of the month so only have 1 week of pilates left.

I am going to go back to the gym 4 times a week (mondays, tuesdays, thursdays and fridays) and going to start jump training on mondays, wednesdays and fridays.

Week going well

This week I have done 2 sessions o Pilates, 1 gym session and played basketball for 2 hours.

I was supposed to play volleyball for 2 hours as well but I was unable to leave work in time to play. Next week I plan to do the 2 hours of volleyball before the 2 hours of basketball.

I am feeling good and I am noticeably thinner after the basketball last night. I plan to also go for a 30 km bike ride on Sunday morning early to further the fat loss. I have noticed this week in Pilates that I am not struggling with any of the exercises any more even though I have moved to more advanced exercises. I have also noticed that my core is much stronger and I can do 20 crunches without it burning any more where as 2 months ago I couldn´t do 20 crunches without stopping.

I felt much better playing basketball last night and I am definitely feeling the benefits of the Pilates and gym.

I am a little worried as I have some pain coming back in my left knee and my ankle is also really painful but I am going to keep on training and see if the pain goes away.

I have one more gym session tomorrow morning and one more Pilates session friday morning. If I complete these sessions it will be the first week that I have manged to do 3 sessions of Pilates and 2 gym sessions.

Starting Stage 3

I have been doing stage 2 for a month now and I am feeling much better. My core is much stronger and I am much more flexable than before.

I am now moving to stage 3 of my training which is basically adding cycling to the pilates and gym.

I am also cutting out coca cola. I managed all week last week although Friday night and Saturday I drank coke. Sunday I stopped again and have had only one small glass of coke since then (last night).

For stage 3 I am going to do 1 hour on the exercise bike 3 times a week (Mondays, Wednesday and Friday nights).

I have started to see the difference in my arms and legs from the pilates and gym but my middle is still the same and my stomach is sticking out more due to the fact that the Pilates is developing my abs. This is why I am introducing cycling to burn off the fat.

I am also going to go back to playing basketball again on tuesday nights to burn off some more caleries.

After 4 weeks of Stage 3 I plan to move to Stage 4 which will add court sprints and shooting training on saturday mornings to increase my basketball fitness so that I can get back to playing basketball at a higher level again.

Phase 2 Starting

I have been doing Pilates for over a month now and have ramped it up to 3 times a week.

I am feeling much better with hardly any aches and pains now and no back pain.

I have however got real problems with my right ankle when I play basketball which is due to the fact that I am now running on my toes and also running much faster due to my increased range o motion and flexability.

I have decided that I am going to start back at the gym twice a week to try and drop my weight to try and stop the ankle problems. I have spoken the my trainer and we are going to focus on leg strength and weight loss as Plyometrics is working well to tone my upper body and abs so I don´t feel I need any more upper body weight training for now.

I will start this coming week with plyometrics Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday mornings with the Gym Tuesdays and Thursdays. I am going to take a few weeks off from basketball to reduce injury while I start the strength training.

I am also going to do a big bike ride for 2-3 hours on saturday mornings to try and help with the weight loss.

Bad week

 I didnt do pilates on monday morning as I was with a stomach bug and tuesday night I straigned my calf playing basketball!!!! I also didnt do pilates on wednesday due to the calf and work issues.

I noticed a real difference without the pilates and my sore back is coming back!

Will start again tomorrow morning and this time I am not taking any days off.

I am also going to try motocross at the weekend and if I like it I am going to start training hard for a race in 2 months. I am hoping that the added assentive of the race will help with my motivation.