Day 30 - Now That's CREEPY

Day 30 and one third of the way there... Exercises are starting to get challenging and really feeling the burn.  BRING IT Baby.. One thing that Patrick mentioned in an email was to focus on your inspirational person, which in my case is "Triathlon Guy"... However, I find it is better to focus on a different image for each exercise.  While doing "THE CREEP" I find one image particularly helpful ...

You don't want to know what image I think of during a pull up.

Day 26 - An Indulgence ... or Two

Never ever tell a compulsive man he can "Indulge". 

I knew exactly what I wanted as soon as I opened the email from Patrick ... I was born for this ... A "Deluxe Special" Burger at the Sportsman Bar  ... The problem was that there was no way I was going to stop there and after whoofing down the "Deluxe" I was compelled to wash it down with a Stella.  I ate that Deluxe so fast I didn't even taste it.  Absolutely Fantastic!!

Day - 25 Aaarrrrgghhhhh !!!!

What the F!  Those V-sits are a disaster!  I only managed to do one ... and I think I pretty much got the noise I made while doing it... 

Day 24 – Whatever it rakes …

Whatever it takes is the PCP motto here.  I have been struggling to find a place to do pull ups and I still haven’t ordered a pull up bar … so after an extensive search of Latissimus Dorsi muscle movements and muscle kinesiology I have come up with the my own version of the pull up … the “rake up” …. And holy crap this works.  After the exercises this morning [including the dreaded “rake up”] I could barely lift my arms up to wash my hair.  Even forgot to put gel in my hair this morning. 

For the first time since PCP I found the exercises really tough … really struggling to finishing them all and feeling the burn.  It’s 5.30pm in the afternoon and my arms still feel achy and jellyish .   Had a fitful sleep last night… had a clogged nose and ended up taking 2 Panadol and still woke up at 4.30am.  Feeling very tired and lethargic.  Struggled thru the exercises and had a head ache and blocked nose all through the day.  Eventually decided to leave work at around 3pm.  Is this PCP telling my body something??

Day 22 - Cha.. cha... cha... changes

I have been thinking about Patrick's recent email asking us to post about the changes we are experiencing.

1. Body shape.  This is the biggest change, by far.  I have lost about 3 inches off my waist in the first 3 weeks of PCP.  About a 1 inch a week.  At this rate should have a 19 inch waist!! ... Kate Moss eat your heart out.  New pics are up but they really don't tell the whole story... I feel thinner than the pic suggest.

2. Clarity of thought.  I seem to be more focused and able to work on one thing longer, rather than jumping all over the place, that is except for blogging and jump rope.

3. No zits, no rashes! Thank god.

4. Sleep better but seem to need less sleep.   SCRATCH THAT!! Last night had an awful nights fitful sleep....

Diet is OK and don't feel hungry.  I am now on zero carbs for Dinner so we will see how that goes.  Exercises seem fine.  Although, I have a little confession to make.  I actually felt disappointed when I woke up reached and realised that we didn't have to do exercises only 1,000 jump rope.  That is really SICK.  I need help...  from David B.

Day 20 - Bye Bye Gym

Sorry guys and gals it has been a while since I blogged.   Went to the gym today to cancel (well at least to suspend for a couple months) my membership.  Egads! what am I going to do a lunchtimes?  I really need to find something to do to break up the day.

I also did a body composition analysis on one of those groovy machines that measures everything from toe nail length to the diameter of your hair follicles.  The good news is that I have gone from:

Weight 93.7kg to 87.7kg
Body Fat Mass 22kg to 17kg
Body Fat % 23.4% to 19.4%

Here is the proof:

11 May 2011

 

20 June 2011

Day 16 - The Incredible Shrinking Belt

Belt is down 2 notches but you wouldn't know it from the new weekly photos.  Jeez, I was large and still got a ways to go.   Can't seem to get off the 88kg mark. 

Day 15 - Short Kellogg

Just finished watching the videos that Patrick circulated answering our Week 2 questions.  It seems like P.R. actually does exist.  Not sure about this Chen bloke though... convinced he is a cardboard cut out.  Anyway, the video was great.  Very motivational.  Questions well answered (mostly) but I am going to have an issue with this breakfast cereal thing which I intend to take up with Patrick in a private "no holds barred" chat room.   Enjoying the new diet and exercises fine.  Need to do more stretching and finally buy that chin up bar.

Day 14 - You Numb Nut!

The numbness in my Quad muscle hasn't gone away yet but my shredded hip flexors seem to be slowing improving.  Strangely, the injuries have not affected my exercises which is good news. 

I think I may have worked out what caused the current numbness in my Quad.  Ice!  Yes Ice.  When I stained my hip flexor I put Ice on for about 15mins and I might have caused some nerve damage!  I think I'm falling apart... but not to worry .... it's onward and upwards with PCP - with shredded hip flexors and numb quads.  I can hardly wait to find out what breaks next.  

Day 12 - Squashed

After consistently seeing the 80s on the scales I was feeling pretty chuffed and went out on Sat night to our squash section pool party and had a few too many drinks.  Correction ... way too many drinks.  I didn't take my camera because pretty much everyone gets thrown in the the pool ... but stay tuned for some daft photos...  Woke up this morning with a nasty hangover and decided to do exercises Sunday afternoon ...  Even in the afternoon bouncing up and down on the spot was not good for my hangover headache  I have promised myself that will remain booze free for the rest of PCP. 

Managed to stick to the diet but found myself craving for a greasy breaky. I could have used some cooking lessons from this guy

My dual shredded hip flexors seem to be improving but I have this numbness in my right thigh ... which I don't think has anything to do with the self inflicted numbness from last night.  I hope it goes away.

Day 10 - The 80s Baby!

Remember when Phil Colins had hair and Michael Jackson was black.  Those days are back again and I am consistently seeing an 88 kg on the scales!  Oh Yeahhh.... This is down 4kg from 92 kg when I started PCP so pretty pleased and that is despite a double strain of both hip flexors...  no pain no gain is the motto here Baby!

The way I see it 4kg every 10days, so in the next 80 days I should be a little ball of muscle that weighs 56kg!  Bring IT!

So here it is ... Mullets, Tears for Fears, FYC, and even a little aussie action with INXS and Men at Work... the 80s..

I can't wait for the 70s ... and I'm gunning for it.

Day 9 - The King (of Lunges) Is Dead!

Damn it!  Started doing lunges slowly again and managed to strain my other hip flexor. &*%  pissed off.  Still able to exercises but in a lot of pain.

Day 8 - I'm Lov'in It

 Finally some real food and lots of it!  As the Mac jingle goes "I'm Lov'in It".  I am having no problem with all this fresh veg, fruit and fish.  Would you believe I am still hungry after eating almost 2kg of food today!

Exercises ok but feeling a bit tired.  Need more sleep?

Day 7 - The King of Lunges

I have worked out that ROUTINE is the secret of PCP.  You fall out of your routine and you fall out of PCP.  Having a holiday on Monday in HK didn't help.  After a nice dim sum lunch for Mrs. Ferrier's birthday (at the swanky new Ritz Carlton joint) we spent the day lounging around home where I was just a little too close to the fridge.  Half portions, I'm afraid, went out the window.  I did however, try to eat well, mainly fruits and vegetables but found myself constantly looking inside the fridge ... perhaps it was the cold air?  I also missed my Nuts (see previous post).  Anyway, things went a little off track wtih the half portions.   Today things are much better on the food front (now that I have my Routine ... and my Nuts).  

Dim Sum at the Ritz Carlton - Nice Dim Sum ... but better views.

I also worked out that my shredded quad is not actually my quad but my shredded my hip flexor.  Which is a pain because this is a large muscle and is difficult to fix once strained.  Straining that muscle is big surprise to me because I consider myself to be "King of Lunges".  Even my little blue man has me doing a perfect straight backed Lunge!  No one could out Lunge me ...  now a baby ferret could Lunge better than me.  The upper part of my inner thigh even has a nasty black and blue bruise about 6 inches long.

PS. I will spare you the pic. 

Day 5 - Food Glorious Food ...

Thankfully exercises this morning were Ok, even with a shredded quad.  I can't wait to do those lunges again. 

A thimble full of scrambled eggs and slither of turkey bacon for breakfast ain't gonna cut it. Even as I write this I am thinking of Hash Browns, a nice FAT pork sausage and fried eggs ... oooh yeah baby ... that's what I call a breakfast.

Small cheese snack at mid day and was already thinking about lunch.  Lunch was grilled seafood fajitas (I can't even say it let alone spell it) without the tortillas (that's the half I decided to skip).  Dinner was half a steak and a salad... But I'm still hungry. All this discussion about food is making me even more hungry ... I'm going to stop writing now.


Ps. It's Mrs Ferrier's birthday tomorrow and its off to the 103rd floor of the Ritz Carlton for dim sum.... god I am still thinking about food.. Think I'll got to bed now...  one last thought ...

Day 4 - Pop, Crackle and Snap!

Well it was more like a "Thwack" really.  I was finding the exercises pretty easy so starting pushing on the lunges by going deep and keeping my back straight yada, yada, yada and Thwack/Pop/Snap" bugger me if I didn't feel someone throw a cricket ball right into my groin! Aarrgh! Honestly, I had to look around to see if my 6 year old son had thrown something at me. 

I had strained the top part of my quad. I have had pulled muscles before but never, ever from doing fixed exercises. Its always been while playing active sports like squash or football. I feel kind of embarrassed really.  So it was an ice pack for 10 mins.  I soldiered on and managed to finish the sit ups followed by the ice pack again.  I should not have pushed hard so early in the program.  I am hobbling around a bit tonight.  I guess tomorrow morning I might start with some stretching before getting into the exercises.  Half diet was good - drinking lots of water.  And .. oh yeah I managed to find some resistance bands in causeway bay.

Day 3 - Nuts!

I have no regrets about "skipping" (yikes! ... its in my subconscious now!) out after only one martini last night.  Up bright and early at 6am and straight into the exercises.  The exercises don't seem to be a problem at the moment and I'm looking forward to cranking it up a bit (I know I will regret saying that!!). 

I have decided to take the half portions more seriously now and for breakfast had what seemed like a thimble of scrambled eggs and a slither of ham ... ouch ... this is going to be tough.  Fortunately, I thought about Patrick's email this morn' and having a strategy to "get your mouth busy" ... sounds positively obscene.  Anyway my strategy was ... well, Nuts!  I had a bag of almonds in the office and about 3-4 times during the day, when I felt a twinge of hunger, I grabbed 3-4 of them and washed them down with plenty of H2O.  It worked a treat.  15 almonds a day can't hurt, right? 

I am having some problems tracking down resistance bands and a pull up bar in Central, HK.  I think there must be some "PCP lurkers" out there that have cornered the "band and bar" market and I'm sure next week, just when we need them most, you will see "band and bar" price jump 300%.  You gotta love HK! 

Finally, I got a call from an old work colleague Jono N, who just completed the PCP.  I didn't even know he was doing it until yesterday. Small world and awesome job Jon.  Check out his blog.

http://thepeakconditionproject-jon.blogspot.com/

Day 2 - Martini Kimchi Meltdown

After reading about all the my fellow PCPers doing half decent job of half breakfasts, half lunches and half dinners I started to feel a half guilty and decided to take the half portion thing more seriously.  All went well until a group of friends hit the Korean BBQ dinner that I had planned prior to PCP.  About half a cow later ... someone suggested martini's at a cozy Japanese bar.. who was I to argue.  I am sure that normally I would have had a dozen so I was lucky to walk out of there after having one.  Job well done.
Exercises were fine... even the skipping and managed to squeeze in some squash.  Justin 3 : Mike 1. 

Day 1 - Finally Started

Well we are finally here.  Day 1 of PCP.  First task was a wander around Central (Hong Kong) to try and find a jump rope and push up bars.  I had no idea these things were so popular.  Probably all the PCPers out there.  All the sports shops in Central were sold out and I finally managed to find what I needed in Wing On Dept Store. HK$50. Bargain!

Got the toys ... so we are all set ...

I haven't skipped since I was 10 years old and was dreading it but the exercises were fine.  Even the skipping ... must be the new jump rope ... But be warned ... we have been told that we are in for some pain. 
Diet was a bit of problem.  Not sure if I really ate half my normal portions.  It was more like 75% and feeling ok for now.  Lets see how we go tomorrow.  Also, determined to blog every day around this time....  and add some pics.