Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

Food Intake:
5 Eggs ( 1 yoke)
2 cups Stir fry veg
1/2 cup of oatmeal
1 cup skimmed milk
Green Tea

Chilli with Black & Kidney Beans
1 cup of rice

Chilli with Black & Kidney Beans
1 cup of rice

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

GTG Pull Ups with jungle gym
GTG BW Squats

Food Intake:
4 Eggs ( 1 yoke)
Stir fry veg
1/2 can Green lentils
Green Tea

Chilli with Black & Kidney Beans
1/2 cup of rice

Chilli with Black & Kidney Beans
1/2 cup of rice

1/2 soda farl with marmalade


HKC is a no go for June - I tested bw pull ups and can't quite manage even one. It seems silly to me going even if I did just manage to scrape through for a pass - I'd be on the backfoot trying to be able to pass RKC in under a year. I'm so far out of shape it isn't funny and I need to get myself in order before I consider thinking about teaching anyone else. My focus is on fat burning, I have approx 50lbs of it to torch. I outlined this to mc and she agreed with my decision.

So - I've been off to a flyer with my diet of the last 3 weeks - 11lbs lost and about 1.5lbs of that muscle. If I'm losing muscle then my diet is too aggressive ie I need to be taking on more calories. I can't afford to lose any from my carcass.

So after a fair bit of research over the last few days I've come up with a strategy along with meal plans which goes something like this:

Intermitent Fasting (IF) - 8 hr feeding 16 hr fast daily
Eat 3 times per day (nothing new so far)
Eat 1800kcals (calculated to provide 20% calorie deficit - increase of around 500kcals)
Macro Split: 50 Carbs / 30 Protein / 20 Fat (big increase in carbs!!)
Drink 6 pints+ of water per day
Twice per week bring calories up to maintenance level (zig-zag method)
1 hr Walk before breakfast when possible
KB prog to be arranged

Adhere to it, check results, and adjust as necessary. Simples....but not easy I think the biggest problem might be eating enough calories at each meal - high volume of food when its "clean". I'll weigh in weekly but ain't expecting too much this week of transition.

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

At work all day

Food Intake:

Bacon Bap with onions (token veg!)

Egg and onion sandwich
Brown bread 2 rounds

Chilli with Black & Kidney Beans

Still working on the details of new eating routine.

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

GTG BW squats to above parallel Arms out in front
GTG Chins with jungle gym
Aim for 100+ reps each
TGUs - 5 reps each side

Food Intake:

4 Eggs (2 yokes)
1 Cup Stir Fry Veg

Snickers Ice Cream

Chilli with Black & Kidney Beans

Chilli with Black & Kidney Beans

Fruit Log
8 choc chip cookies
1/2 Pint of milk

"This is the last splurge day I intend having" - I wrote that about 10 hours ago LOL. I'm in a little bit of a transition and I've got caught napping. It's all good, I forgive myself. Not too much damage done and I'll be back in the saddle tomorrow.

Diet is going to get a bit of a shake up this week, probably won't look too much different from what I've been writing down up to now. There will be more calories though and the macro split is going to change - depending on the amount of it, I may eat 4 times a day. Details when I iron them out.

Sunday

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

GTG BW squats to above parallel Arms out in front
GTG Chins with jungle gym
Aim for 100+ reps each
TGUs - 5 reps each side

Food Intake:

Toasted Farl of Soda bread
Marmalade
3 rashers of bacon

Snickers Ice Cream

Sunday roast dinner
Mint Cheesecake with ice cream

More mint cheesecake and ice cream

Pancake and marmalade
8 choc chip cookies
Pint of milk

This is the last splurge day I intend having - I really don't enjoy them at all. I felt sick a lot of yesterday and writing this on Monday morning I don't feel tip top either. Surely I could simply work a few treats in through the week rather than pump myself full of sugar in one hit.

That said I've done pretty well on this diet. I've lost just over 11lbs in 3 weeks - but the concern I have is that over 1lb of that has been muscle - I really don't want to be losing any. I haven't got much to be losing! I intend looking a little bit longer term and losing the weight slowly so as to protect muscle. I'm also aware that I'm not exactly doing any heavy weight training at present which is an aid to preserving muscle mass.

I'm researching a less aggressive approach where I'm looking to lose a steady 1-2lbs per week with no muscle loss (and possibly some newbie muscle increase fingers crossed).

Saturday

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

GTG BW squats to above parallel Arms out in front
GTG Chins with jungle gym
Aim for 100+ reps each
TGUs - 5 reps each side

Food Intake:
4 Eggs (2 yokes)
1.5 cup frozen stirfry veg
Green Tea

Chicken & Lentil Curry

Chicken & Lentil Curry

Friday

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

Food Intake:
Egg and Bacon Sandwich

Tuna Sandwich

Chicken & Lentil Curry

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

GTG BW squats to above parallel Arms out in front
GTG Chins with jungle gym
Aim for 100+ reps each
TGUs - 5 reps each side

Food Intake:
3 Eggs (2 yokes)
1.5 cup frozen stirfry veg
Green Tea

Chicken & Lentil Curry

1 can tuna with a little salad cream

Chicken & Lentil Curry

Came very close to eating a snickers ice cream today - in the end I opted for the tuna after I told myself the following a few times - this feeling of discomfort is only temporary, and I can handle it. Been feeling very, very hungry this week and I hope that its reflected on the scales come sunday.

On the go all day today so I had to just get a few things in when I could. At work tomorrow so I'll have to hammer the TGUs at the weekend.

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

GTG BW squats to above parallel Arms out in front
GTG Chins with jungle gym
Aim for 100+ reps each

Food Intake:
3 Eggs (2 yokes)
1.5 cup frozen stirfry veg
Green Tea

Chicken & Lentil Curry

Chicken & Lentil Curry

Watched a series of videos on youtube by Dr Cobb before my z health practice this morning. I've been coasting through them latlely so today I was very deliberate and concentrted on opening up the joints - wow, I felt fantastic after and my joints felt very free and smooth moving.

I also had a go at a few TGUs Kalos Sthenos style. Even doing them "naked" I found that I was pretty gassed after only a few each side. That aside I thought my form wasn't too bad and mc tells me it is time to add them in. I'll be alternating them with squats and building up to 10 mins daily from now on.

Tuesday 20th April

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

GTG BW squats to above parallel Arms out in front
GTG Chins with jungle gym
At work yesterday so only got a few of each of these

Food Intake:
1/2 Turkey, Ham & salad roll

1/2 Turkey, Ham & salad roll

Chicken & Lentil Curry

Monday 19th April

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

GTG BW squats to above parallel Arms out in front
GTG Chins with jungle gym
Aim for 100+ reps each

Food Intake:
3 Eggs (2 yokes)
1.5 cup frozen stirfry veg
Green Tea

Chicken & Lentil Curry

Chicken & Lentil Curry

Everything going well. Need a bit of a kick up the arse in doing squats now as they seem to have stalled at just below parallel. Got a bit bored of the food I was eating so I found a few recipes that conform 100% to the plan I'm on. Lovin' this curry....so far!

Something that I haven't been putting down is the amount of water I've been drinking. On a regular day at a minimum is 6 pints or 3 litres. When I'm at work however it's at least 4 litres and probably more - especially now when the sun is shining. I've read a lot of times in the past about mistaking hunger for thirst and I've definitely found that a pint of water can take my "hunger" away. It also helps me keep the numbers of pull ups climbing as I do them everytime I go past the bathroom!

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

GTG BW squats to above parallel Arms out in front - 50+ reps
GTG Chins with Jungle Gym - 50+ reps

Food Intake:
6 x Lemon and raisin pancakes
3 x Bacon slices
1 tsp honey

Prawn cocktail
Turkey and ham dinner with ALL the trimmings
Vanilla Cheesecake

5 x Snickers Flapjacks
2 x Snickers Ice Cream

2 x Lemon and raisin pancakes with jam
2 Fingered KitKat
4 x Digestive biscuit
1/2 pint of milk

.....feel a bit sick now. A few of the posters on the Tim Ferris thread pointed out that they got very good results hammering the cheat day, so that's what I've done. Let's see what happens then.

Weighed in at 207.5lbs @ 33.5% this morning - just over 10lbs in a fortnight isn't bad.

Rigged up the jungle gym and have been able to get closer to the volume that I'd like.

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

GTG BW squats to above parallel Arms out in front
GTG Chins with 2 x #1, #2 & #3 powerbands

Food Intake:
4 Eggs (2 yokes)
1.5 cup frozen stirfry veg

Southern Chicken
1/2 tin refried beans
1 cup frozen veg
1 tsp salsa
1 tsp guacamole

Southern Chicken
2 slices ham & a little cheese
Green Tea

Wasn't especially hungry from lunch time onwards. I have been eating more beans/lentils this week than the first week, along with a bit more carbs from my work days. Think I can kill two birds with one stone this coming week by changing up my standard meals to a chicken and lentil curry recipe I found. I can cut back on the lentils that go into it and take some curry with me on the lorry when I'm working.

Tomorrow is my go wild day and I fully intend doing just that. I've had a full packet of snickers flap jacks in my bedroom since last sunday - I'm happy to report that I didn't come close to eating any of them this week.

I'm finding it more difficult to do as many chin ups per day as I would like - this is because my chin up bar is down 2 flights and out the back of the house. I'm going to rig up my jungle gym somewhere handy and use both of them to up the daily numbers closer to 100.

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

GTG BW squats to above parallel Arms out in front

Food Intake:
2 rounds bread
Bacon & Cheese

2 rounds bread
Bacon & Cheese

5 Eggs (2 yokes)
1 cup frozen stirfry veg

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

GTG BW squats to above parallel Arms out in front

Food Intake:
3 Eggs (2 yokes)
1/3 tin lentils
1 cup frozen stirfry veg
1 tsp salsa

Southern Chicken
1/2 tin refried beans
1 cup frozen veg
1 tsp salsa
1 tsp guacamole

Southern Chicken
1/2 tin refried beans
1 cup frozen veg
1 tsp salsa
1 tsp guacamole

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

GTG BW squats to above parallel Arms out in front - 50+ reps
GTG assisted pull ups using 2 x #2 & #3 powerbands - 50+ reps

Food Intake:
3 Eggs (2 yokes)
1/3 tin lentils
1 cup frozen stirfry veg
1 tsp salsa

Chargrill Chicken (Reggae Reggae)
1/3 tin lentils
1 cup frozen veg
1 tsp salsa
1 tsp guacamole

Chargrill Chicken (Reggae Reggae)
1/3 tin lentils
1 cup frozen veg
1 tsp salsa
1 tsp guacamole

Very chuffed with the progress I'm making with my squats - getting deeper and deeper all the time. Easy to do these anywhere so I tend to be doing more of them than pull ups; really need to make more of an effort in that respect.

With the pull ups I have been doing a little experimenting with head and eye position. I always titled my head back to look up to the bar in the past, but I have found a real difference in keeping it neutral and my eyes looking straight forward. I've been cuing myself to focus on driving my elbows into my sides and they are already feeling easier.

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

BW squats to above parallel Arms out in front - around 30 reps today

Food Intake:
Half a roast beef and salad roll as I forgot to take my lunch

Other half of roast beef and salad roll

Chicken and salad baguette I forgot to take with me

At work today all day so gtg pull ups were out. If anyone is interested work at the minute is pulling on a hose as thick as a coke can for 3-4 hours on a 30 secs on 45 secs off fashion. I do this while wearing overalls and waterproofs, so on a day like today were the sun was out it gets a touch warm in there.

Its physical stuff for sure, but good for aiding a lot of the stuff I want to do with a KB (or should that be the other way around?). mc showed me how I could alter my position slightly to take most of the work off my back and onto my hamstrings which has helped immensely.

I'm only out a couple of days a week and I'm treating it as a day when it's ok to put a few extra carbs in my body - they easily get burned off.

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

BW squats to above parallel Arms out in front - 50+ reps
GTG assisted pull ups using 2 x #2 & #3 powerbands

Food Intake:
3 Eggs (2 yokes)
1/2 tin black beans
1 cup frozen stirfry veg
1 tsp salsa

2 Turkey Burgers
1/2 tin black beans
1 cup frozen veg
1 tsp salsa
1 tsp guacamole

2 Turkey Burgers
1/2 tin black beans
1 cup frozen veg
1 tsp salsa
1 tsp guacamole

I'm going to give it a shot for the HKC in June. I only intend going for it if I can pass it and offset the cost of the RKC which intially means being capable of doing 5 pull ups. Currently I can't do one.

mc has formed a plan for me though. The early registration ends on May 15 - the plan is to hammer gtg pull ups and squats until then. I test and see how I'm doing. I have another session in the bank with her so we can take a look at my swing and TGU then.

I'm skeptical but I'll give it my best. If it doesn't work out, I lose nothing but I'm still better off than I am now...win/win.

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Rag Dolls / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

Little niggles in the lower back at times today - probably reintroduced the rag dolls too soon, they seem to be no good for me at present.

BW squats to above parallel Arms out in front - 50+ reps

Weigh in: 210lbs @ 34.9% lost 8 lbs

Food Intake:
French Toast and Bacon x 3

Chicken "sunday" dinner
Apple Tart and ice cream

A packet of mini chocolate caramel brownies
A packet of snickers flapjacks

I felt like I could have eaten more! Though having a quick read through the Tim Ferris blog comments I may have undereaten today compared to some of the ones on there......still 20 minutes of today left though ;)

Today:

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

Pain free today. I'll add in the rag dolls again tomorrow to see how they go. Shoulder felt really good too.

BW squats to above parallel Arms out in front - 50+ reps

Food Intake:
3 Eggs (2 yokes)
1/3 tin lentils
1 cup frozen stirfry veg
1 tsp salsa

2 Burgers
1/3 tin lentils
1 cup frozen veg
1 tsp salsa

Sirlion Steak
1/3 tin lentils
1 cup frozen veg
1 tsp salsa

Today:

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

Had an issue with my lower back on the right hand side. Was advised by mc to ditch the Rag Dolls and add in more thoracic and hip work until pain subsides. On a positive note the nerve glide used before doing my shoulder work on the right side is working to eradicate the pain I had there.

BW squats to above parallel Arms out in front - 50+ reps per day
Already beginning to see improvement here - although I'm not doing them near a mirror I'd say that I am at least at parallel before the curve in my spine starts to go.

Food Intake:
3 Eggs (2 yokes)
1/2 tin black beans
1 cup frozen stirfry veg

2 Burgers
1/2 tin refried beans
1 cup frozen veg
1 tsp salsa

2 Burgers
1/2 tin black beans
1 cup frozen veg
1 tsp salsa

Getting a little bored with beans now but I have lost a shed load of weight this week. Water, fat whatever, it has been motivating to say the least and people have commented already!

I'm better mentaly prepared for it this time though - I expect it to be tough. The discomfort is only temporary and I can stand it. Not long to the big feeding frenzy.

Thursday

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

3 PERFECT movements each side (use a mirror to check alignment)

BW squats to above parallel Arms out in front - 50+ reps per day
Did a few sets using a "post" to aid with depth. These are now in instead of wall squats with KB.


Food Intake:
2 Eggs (2 yokes)
1/2 Chick & Bacon Baguette with salad

1/2 Chick & Bacon Baguette with salad

3 Eggs (2 yokes)
1 cup frozen stirfry veg

Back Again!!

OK - lets give this another shot. No longer at the Olympic Weight lifting due to all sorts of factors. I have fallen in love with KBs again...but I'm not allowed to touch them just yet.

About 5 weeks ago I woke up and tried to get out of bed. It was staggering how shot my body felt. I had pains in my knees, back and shoulder and felt stiff all over. It's like I was closer to 96 than 36. I have a choice wether or not to go through life like this or not....I chose not.

I contacted MC who is an FMS/Z Health/KB guru and she has been steering me on the right path. Currently I am working on correcting movement with z health drills which has worked to remove most if not all the pain I was feeling. I also wanted her to help me out with my Goblet Squat, TGU and Swing with the goal of doing a HKC later in the year.

The last session we had I mentioned how I was looking forward to getting started into some "real" exercise. You know - heart thumping, sweat inducing, man sized exercise to carve the fat off me. She had one word for me - diet!! 20 mins HIIT or drop a couple peices of toast out of what you eat. So at present here is the plan, session details to follow.

Tim Ferris' Diet Plan
MCs Advice

Today:

Z-Health
Ankle Tilts / Ankle Pulls / Hip-Leg Circles / Rag Dolls(Lumbar Circles) / Thoracic Glides / Neck - Turns, tilts, glides / Shoulder Circles - top, bottom, front across, side back (Nerve Glide for shoulder pain throughout day)/ Elbow Circles / Wrist Circles

3 PERFECT movements each side (use a mirror to check alignment)

BW squats to above parallel Arms out in front - 50+ reps per day

Every other day: Wall work with KB - Squat down and lever (curl), put it down and stand up

Food Intake:
3 Eggs (2 yokes)
1/3 tin black beans
1 cup frozen stirfry veg
1 tsp salsa

1 Burger
1/3 tin black beans
1 cup frozen veg
1 tsp salsa

1 Chicken Kiev
1/3 tin black beans
1 cup frozen veg
1 tsp salsa