Working It Out

A few notes about my current state of health/exercising.

• I awoke early Saturday morning at 6:30AM and proceeded to hunt down a mobile body fat testing station. I located it in the Banner Bank parking lot and proceeded to strip down in front of a middle age man so he could weigh me underwater. I had never gotten a real reading before, having used hand held electric impedance devices or scales that claim to also be able to give you your body fat percentage. These have given me readings from 12.7-23%. On Saturday, I was able to use hydrostatic testing (the most accurate test available) to finally determine my surprisingly low body fat percentage of 8.7%. Normal for males is considered in the 9-15% range (14-21% for females) up to 30 years old.
• Has anyone ever seen a healthy looking individual inside a Super Supplements store? I made a trip today because I had run out of Emergen-C, and wanted to make sure my immune system was in high drive to combat the upcoming swine flu (as well as stave off scurvy). The other patrons in the store included a lady with skin seemingly close to falling off, and an elderly overweight couple. The registers were manned by a hippie, a suspiciously lanky teenager, a rotund woman, and a second older hippie. 
• I learned the hard way today to not eat a large tub of fruit before working out; leaving enough time to allow for digestion is crucial. I vomited small apple chunks into my mouth after a tough set, having to swallow it again as I was nowhere near close to a spitting receptacle. This happened twice. It made for a bittersweet workout.

I mentioned a few posts ago about an "October Fitness Challenge." My plan was to begin October with the following:

• Keep track of everything I eat. This will allow me to make sure I am getting enough calories to be able to gain weight, as well as make sure I'm intaking a good balance of nutrients and macronutrients. 
• Work out four days a week -- two days mainly upper body, two days mainly lower body. Supplement with approximately twenty minutes of cardiovascular activity where possible.

This was derailed by a series of unfortunate events, but all is not lost -- I'm simply going to bump the start day to this weekend, October 18th and have it run though to the end of November before I take a break. I was thinking of what goals I want to accomplish by the end of this period, with ideas of having a squat weight goal or improving my 40-yard dash time. But in the end, I figured because this was the first time I'm attempting such an ambitious project, I would go with something easily attainable -- show positive progress from week to week. Every week I should be able to lift more than the last, my food choices should be improved, and I should feel a lot better when all is said and done.

Actually, having the last few weeks to experiment with what works and what doesn't actually may have worked out in my favor. I've been able to work out a few times a week getting my body ready for an increased workload, and got the food tracker thing just about figured out. So be prepared for a flurry of updates to this in the upcoming month and a half, and follow along as I attempt to see how much the work I put in changes my body.

Damn, I wish I had a picture of either the mobile body fat testing truck or the shady people at Super Supplements, but I got nothing. Sorry!