Gym Diary: August 2012

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Friday, August 31, 2012

7:15: Woke up, took a leak, stepped on the scale... 71.3

After I enjoyed breakfast and reading some news articles, I looked out my bedroom window and saw a beautiful looking morning. I opened the window to allow the breeze to flow in. After I stepped on the scale again, it said 72.4.

Last weekend, I visited a supermarket that had fruits on sale and shredded wheat cereal. So I bought breakfast supplies for the week.

Incline chest press 30 x 15
Seated dumbbell curls 14 x 8
Incline chest press 35 x 10
Seated dumbbell curls 14 x 8
Incline chest press 40 x 8
Seated dumbbell curls 14 x 8
Incline chest press 40 x 6
Seated dumbbell curls 14 x 6
Shoulder machine 7 x 15
Preacher curl machine 10 x 10
Shoulder machine 9 x 15
Preacher curl machine 10 x 9
Shoulder machine 11 x 15
Preacher curl machine 10 x 8
Shoulder machine 12 x 8
Preacher curl machine 10 x 6
Flat chest press 60 x 8
Dumbbell Hammer curl 14 x 7
Flat chest press 60 x 6
Dumbbell Hammer curl 14 x 6

Weight after lunch: 72.7

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Weight before going to be last night: 72.5

Weight before breakfast: 71.5

Weight at the gym, before workout: 73

Weight after work out, before lunch: 72.4

Body Fat % at the gym: 8%

It was raining today, but I wanted to go to the gym, so I chose to hail a taxi. No problem! The cost for getting there was 2600 W and for returning home 2200 W. It's not like I have to dish out that much money everyday, and I enjoyed my workout, so it was worth the cost.

After arriving and changing into my workout clothes, I asked the manager if I could step on that little machine and hold those handles to have my body analyzed. I'm not sure about the credibility of those machines, but it was free, so why not! Anyway, it told us that my body fat was 8%. Ok, I hope that's true. It confirmed that my upper body responds quickly to exercise, but my legs are more stubborn (Ok, I already knew that.). Anyway, for a man my age, that machine believes I'm in pretty good shape.

Breakfast and Lunch, just like yesterday.

Breakfast -- bowl of plain shredded wheat mixed with wheat flakes, sliced nectarine, dried blueberries, dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, almonds, and whole milk. Black coffee.

Lunch -- Plain 2-egg omlet, some left over chicken nuggets coated in spicey sweet and sour sauce, a couple of ddaks (the white rice cake thing) and a few prunes. .Coffee.

While at work, I'll probably snack a little bit.

For dinner, I'll have roasted beef on the bone simmered to make a soup with cabbage and wheat noodles added. Maybe, I'll have a half peanut butter sandwich for a night cap.

The green plates are 10 kg each.

The yellow ones are 15 kg each.

The blue ones are 20 kg each.

The small green one is 10 kg.

The small orange one is 5 kg.

Pictured above is the set up for my first circuit: Dead lifts, shoulder shrugs, and rotary hip/ab machine (behind the rack holding the barbell and pictured below).

1. Dead lifts 30 x 10

2. Rotary 6 x 15

3. Shrugs 20 kg (each arm) x 8

4. Dead lifts 30 x 15

5. Rotary 6 x 15

6. Shrugs 20 x 10

7. Dead lifts 50 x 10

8. Rotary 6 x 12

9. Shrugs 20 x 13

10. Dead lifts 50 x 7

11. Rotary 6 x 12

12. Shrugs 20 x 12

13. Squats 30 x 12

14. Incline sit ups 17

15. Straight arm pull down (cable machine) 8 x 8

16. Squats 30 x 10

17 Incline sit ups 17

18. Straight arm pull down 10 x 11

19. Squats 30 x 10

20. Incline sit ups

21. Straight arm pull downs 10 x 12

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Weight before breakfast: 71.5
Weight after lunch: 72.3

Breakfast:

Lunch:

Every time I've gone to this gym there have been more women than men there. I can't recall ever having seen more than three other men (besides the desk clerk - I guess he's the manager, and maybe even the owner.) there.

I'm not complaining. After all, I never have to wait to use a piece of equipment. Usually, I'm the only one in the shower room, not that I care, so I can sing off key if I want.

Maybe, just out of curiosity, I'll go at a different time (perhaps in the evening after work) a few times.

Today, I was the only man there (not counting the manager).

In the picture above, you can see my arrangement of equipment for the first circuit: Incline press, seated dumbbell curls, and leg raises. Here's what I did.

1. Incline press 15 (each plate) x 10

2. Dumbbell curls 14 (each arm) x 8

3. Leg raises 14

4. Incline press 15 x 10

5. Dumbbell curls 14 x 8

6. Leg raises 14

7. Incline press 15 x 10

8. Dumbbell curls 14 x 8

9. Leg raises 15

I carried the dumbbells to the bench pictured above. I made a circuit of Flat bench press, leg raises and crunches, and dumbbell curls. For the flat bench, I started with only the orange plates, which are 20 kgs each. I added the green plates (10 kgs each) for the remaining sets. I used the same 14 kg dumbbells. I did two sets of dumbbell curls, then three sets of preacher machine curls. I did two sets of leg raises, then three sets of crunches with my feet propped up on the barbell bar.

10. flat bench 20 x 15
11. leg raises 14
12. dumbbell curls 14 x 7

13. leg raises 14
15. dumbbell curls 14 x 6

16. flat bench 30 x 8
17. crunches 30 + short rest + 20
18. preacher machine curls 10 x 8

19. flat bench 30 x 8
20 crunches 30 + short rest + 20
21 preacher machine curls 10 x 10

22. flat bench 30 x 8
23. crunches 30 + short rest + 20
24. preacher machine curls 10 x 8

No superstar here. Just an ordinary guy enjoying his own life in his own world.

On tomorrow, I'll work on my legs, back, and hips.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Weight before breakfast: 71.9
Weight after breakfast: 72.9

As I was writing this, a typhoon was heading up the sea that's between Korea and China. Forecasts had said something like "all of South Korea will be wet by Tuesday." I looked out the window after getting out of bed. Yea, things were wet, but no rain was falling. I couldn't hear any wind, so I wondered, "has it arrived?"

I was living in Georgia the year "Katrina" hit. During my sleep, I could hear the wind and rain outside. Where I lived was hundreds of miles from the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. So, I guess I was expecting to hear wind and rain just like that. Gumi is kinda in the middle of South Korea. But, this typhoon was rated at cat 3.

Within an hour, rain started coming down off and on, off and on. I decided (although against my wishes) to err on the side of safety, and stay home.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Monday, August 27, 2012

Weight before breakfast was 71.9 kg
After breakfast, 72.7
After gym, before lunch, 72 kg
After lunch, 72.3

Usually, I drink about a a half liter of water every thirty minutes while working out. Sometimes, a little less. Sometimes, a little more.

See that rack behind me. I've come to think of it as one of the most useful equipment piece in the whole gym. In fact, if I were to set up a home gym, it would be what I would buy first along with a barbell bar, a couple of dumbbell bars, and a couple of adjustable benches: one that would incline and support heavy weight, one that would decline and support heavy weight. To go with all that I'd buy weight plates as I needed them.

Today, I used that rack to do these.

Dead lifts
Squats
Good Mornings
Left and Right Lunges

Scroll down to see my routine listed.

1. Dead lifts 40 kg x 6
2. Hip rotary 4 x 10 (Scroll down to see the picture)
3. Dead lifts 40 x 8
4. Hip rotary 4 x 10
5. Dead lifts 40 x 9
6. Hip rotary 4 x 10
7. Dead lifts 40 x 9

8. Squats 30 kg x 10

9. Back extension (on the cable machine pictured below) 4 x 10

10. Squats 30 x 10

11. Back extensions 8 x 10

12. Squats 30 x 10

13. Back extensions 8 x 10

14. Back extension 8 x 10

15. Left lunges (using the barbell rack) 15 x 8

16. Right lunges 15 x 8

17. L 15 x 8

18. R 15 x 8

19. L 15 x 8

20. R 15 x 8 .......... I was huffing and puffing through these. I had to rest a little between L and R.

21. Incline sit ups 15

22. Seated Rows (Machine pictured below) 11 x 11

23. Incline Sit ups 12

24. Seated Rows 11 x 9

25. Incline Sit ups 13

26. Seated Rows 11 x 8

Below, is pictured a rotary hip machine. I used it to hit the side abs and hips.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

I broke my tradition today. Usually, I workout only on Monday through Friday. Well, I woke up at about 7:30 a.m. and decided, since I missed (because of rain) working out on Thursday and Friday, I would go today. Besides, I didn't have anything special planned to do, and it was a beautiful morning outside. Also, instead of limiting my workout to an hour or so, I filled over two hours or so with working out. Hmmm!

I might be on to something here. While I was working out, I thought, "Well, I could rest on Wednesday's or Thursday's, and workout on Saturday's instead. Or, I could workout six days a week instead of five."

Last night, my boss treated us all out to dinner. Good boss!

Some might dispute how this is pronounced. In Korean letters it is
삼겹살. By syllable it's pronounced something like sahm-gyup-sahl. Translated, it means belly as in "pig belly" which is what Americans call "bacon." At this restaurant, they sliced it all against the grain after it had already been sliced into thin strips. After that, they sprinkled some green stuff on it.

I've never learned the name of this drink in the bowl. It's made from rice. I would say it has only a light alcoholic taste (and effect). I've enjoyed it now and then.

I've not learned the name of this either. I mean, I know it when I see it on restaurant signs, but I can never remember it when I want to talk about it. Anyway, it's cooked noodles served in ice water. This bowl had kimchi, cucumber (julienne) and a bit of boiled egg. I've enjoyed it now and then. I ate this bowl full at the end of the meal.

I ate enough to tip the scale a bit, but I forgot to write down what my weight was, and I forgot again this morning. After lunch, my weight was 72.9 kg.