Mission 1. Day 13

Greetings Troopers

Not much to say about saturday the 12th as it was my day off. I really enjoyed the time too, managed to do a little work for my UK client. I'm a self employed graphic designer, I design for web and print but sadly the job keeps me sat for hours in front of a computer. For the moment I am working at home so I use that advantage to boost my healthy living by using my simple home gym for 5 or 10 mins each hour.

Sometimes I forget and a couple of hours will fly past but for the most part I am winning that battle. I like to do press-ups and crouches to get the blood moving about my legs and ass. It’s easy to ignore that numb feeling from sitting 7 hours in a day. My God! How bad is that???

I think I am going to set my pooter to let me know when each hour passes, then I will force myself up and do some exercise for 5 or 10 mins. If any techies out there know how to set an alarm to go off every hour using Windows Vista, I would sure like to know :-)

My workout today rocked. Great upper body torture and an abs assault that left me on fire. Getting to know the guys who workout there too, they are helping me spot and pushing me further. Very happy.

Regards

Mark
"Shredding is for life, not just for Christmas!"

Mission 1. Day 11.

Hi All

Went in search for a medicine ball today, been looking all over Jakarta for one but dammed if I can find one. No one knows what the hell I am talking about either so that doesn’t help. Guess I will have to try eBay. I did manage to buy a bar so I can do bench presses at home. Below is a pic, taken today, of me sat on my little home gym thing. Well, its better than nothing.

























Had a good upper body session today and some cardio too, things are starting to get easier so I need to ramp it up a little, I am already lifting more than I could handle in the first few days to week and that’s most encouraging.

In about two weeks time my little Son will pop out of his mums tummy and enter the world so I am going to miss a few days while I stay at the hospital with my wife so I will be working extra hard between then and D-Day to make sure I can shred as much as possible before those 3 or 4 days off.

Up bright and early tomorrow for my regular morning cardio session. So I will bid you all a good night.

Cheers

Mark
"Shredding is for life, not just for Christmas!"

Mission 1.Day 10

Evening Shredromorphs

Ah, the joy of reaching double figures. It’s a wonderful feeling, almost as wonderful as the big fat sugary, jammy doughnut I laid my eyes on today. Don’t worry, I was strong, didn’t even blink. I knew it would taste good but so what? I already know how it tastes so why do I need to try it again? Day 85 I will but not before then.

Gym closes early on a Thursday so I had to do another run at 4pm. Had a conference call to get through for work so I had to get back for that but the hour cardio was excellent again, I was drenched by the end of it, I am sure the natives wonder who the hell is this sweaty Bule (White Guy)?

The Indonesians who share the gym don’t seem to sweat at all, obviously not working hard enough, can't wait to reveal my six pack on day 85 and blow all their minds, seeing how their own bodies haven’t changed in all that time. I know what they do, they work out in the gym and then go home and eat tons of rice and fatty meat. I've never met people like the Indonesians for eating fat for the love of it, and sugar too, we have one of the highest levels of diabetes here.

Bring it on, day 11, let’s see what you got for me!

Regards

Mark
"Shredding is for life, not just for Christmas!"

Mission 1. Day 9.

What a day I have had yesterday! I managed to get my cardio work in first thing but had no chance to get my weights work out in for the evening. What with family visits and Jakarta traffic, they all conspired against me and prevented me from reaching the gym before it closed, at least I managed to stick to my nutrition routine. I did bash out sets of press-ups throughout the day when I was able to so the day wasn’t a total loss.

Today however I got back home with an hour to spare before the gym shut for the night, I had my first real mental battle, the ride back from the family’s home was extremely long due to the rush hour traffic, it was hot in and out of the car, the kind of heat that makes you want to sleep and do nothing else.

When we eventually reached home, I was ready to hit the sack, I felt drained physically and mentally, it was a real struggle but I won out in the end and had a great cardio work out, mixing some light weight work in with my running. The lethargy vanished during my stroll down and I kept thinking to myself how easy it is to give in.

I am working at home tomorrow, no excuses!

Regards Mark
"Shredding is for life, not just for Christmas!"

Mission 1. Day 7.

Hello Shreddermites

Sorry this has to be a quick post tonight but I will come back later, probably tomorrow and finish it off. For now here is another scary photo. OK! No comments about my tight undies! Do you know how hard it is to find a pair of loose fitting kaks in a country were everyone is the size of a match-stick?

























Start of a new week and I had a good Upper Body work out. Tell you about it later.

Regards

Mark
"Shredding is for life, not just for Christmas"

Mission 1. Day 6.

Apa Kabar

Day six is now drawing to a close, I got to the gym for my hour of cardio at 7pm, the wife Julie joined me and while I ran she swam. After my run I executed one round of "Minute Madness".

I don’t think you will find that in any exercise book although I am sure it exists in one form or another, quite simply, "Minute Madness" involves going from one apparatus to another, on each item you pump out the exercise at a weight that you can handle and as fast as you can do it, for one whole minute.

You are allowed to stop if you need to, during a particular set but only enough to let the pain fade. The aim is to pump out as many reps in a minute as you can.

I weighed myself today too, on day 1 I was 100kg, today and still in my gym gear - trainers, long jogging pants and T-Shirt, I weighed in at 97kg.

Feeling good! Tomorrow is my rest day but I will get up early and do an hour cardy, later in the evening I have to go to a wedding.

Cheers all.

Mark
"Shredding is for life, not just for Christmas!"

Mission 1. Day 5.

Hello everyone

Well day five is done and dusted and I feel like toast that’s been buttered and put back into the toaster for another round, cut into soldiers and dipped in a soft boiled egg.

























I love it! By the way, do you guys take your photos before you hit the gym or after when you’re still reasonably pumped?

In the morning at around 10am I hit the gym for my morning cardio workout, lots of running and then some light weight work that involved multiple muscle groups, done at speed to really get the blood flowing, the heart pumping and my furnace burring.

I have eaten well today and I don’t mean quantity, I bought lots of great and varied veggies to make a wicked tasting soup, some lean chicken, tuna, salmon and fruit. My cupboards are full and I am ready for more.

I revisited the gym at 6pm to do my upper body workout, I am going to stick to the same sets for this week and build up some strength before change it around a bit next week.

Chest
Bench Press: x12 - 22kg x10 - 30kg x8 - 50kg x6 - 70
Dumbell Flys: x12 - 16kg x10 - 18 x8 - 20 x6 - 25kg

Back
Pull Downs: x12 - 70kg x10 - 80 x8 - 100 x6 - 110kg
Dumbbell Rows: x12 - 12kg x10 - 16 x8 - 18 x6 - 20kg

Shoulders:
Seated Dumbbell Press: x12 - 10kg x10 - 15 x8 - 20 x6 - 25kg
Lateral Raises: x12 - 6kg x10 - 8 x8 - 10 x6 - 12kg

Biceps
Alt Dumbbell Curls: x12 - 8kg x10 - 10 x8 - 12 x6 - 15kg
Barbell Curls: x12 - 10kg x10 - 15 x8 - 20 x6 - 23kg

Triceps
Lying Triceps Presses: x12 - 8kg x10 - 10 x8 - 12 x6 - 15kg
Triceps Kickbacks: x12 - 6kg x10 - 8 x8 - 10 x6 - 12kg

Tomorrow up early for the start of day six, after I have posted this I am going to play a few games of FIFA Soccer on my PS3 then watch a DVD with my wife.

Again thanks for all your comments, I know I have not visited your own blogs much at the moment, I try to not stay online too long as I am preparing for the birth of my first child in about 3 weeks from now but I will get to it ASAP.

Cheers Peeps

Mark
"Shredding is for life, not just for Christmas!"

Mission 1. Day 4.

Greetings Shredomites

Woke up late today, 9am. Had another night of no sleep, its odd as this is the first time I have not been able to sleep but then again my lifestyle was such that I frequently sat up late into the early hours, I guess I am still in that mode but I am forcing myself to bed before midnight no matter what.

Arrived at the gym at 10am and started with a 30 min interval run, followed by 3 sets of mountain climbers, finishing with a 15 minute bike bash.

I am not going to the gym again this evening but instead will work out on my home gym, its not perfect but I can work with it. My entire body hurts, specially when I sit on the toilet!

Regards

Mark
"Shredding is for life, not just for Christmas!"

Mission 1. Day 3

Greetings Earthlings! Ermm, I mean Shredlings.

Last night I went with my wife to her Mothers, right across town. Woke up this morning at 6am but with no gym to go to until we got back home this afternoon around 4pm. I made myself a small bowl of porridge and then chilled out before heading to the gym for 6pm. When I got there the place was full of people, some I knew, most I didn't. I was going to be working on my legs this session so I found myself a little corner and got right to it.

Lower Body Workout:

Quadriceps
Barbell Squats: x12 - 15kg x10 - 30kg x8 - 40kg x6 - 45
Leg Presses: x12 - 100kg x10 - 130 x8 - 140 x6 - 150kg

Hamstrings
Dumbbell Lunges: x12 - 12kg x10 - 20 x8 - 20 x6 - 20kg
Straight-Leg Dead lifts: x12 - 12kg x10 - 16 x8 - 18 x6 - 20kg

Calves
Seated Calf Raises: x12 - 10kg x10 - 15 x8 - 20 x6 - 25kg
Standing Heel Raises: x12 - 10kg x10 - 12 x8 - 15 x6 - 18kg

Abs
Floor Crunches: x12 - x15 - x20 - x25
Decline Crunches: x12 - x15 - x20 - x25

I have surprised myself in that my conditioning has improved very quickly, even though I have increased the pace, I have not felt as sick as I did that very first day. This first week has been an excellent way for me to gage weights and limits, I'm halfway through the week and already I have my bench marks set, ready to be broken and improved on next week.

Tomorrow morning I plan to be up at 6am again, then hit the gym for my cardio workout at 7am and then back in again at 6pm for upper body workout.

I have decided to take my progress photograph every week rather than every day, I think I will notice more of a change in my shape that way.

Well that’s all for now folks

Regards

Mark

"Shredding is for life, not just for Christmas"

Mission 1. Day 2

Hi Friends

I woke up at 6am on the dot, allowed myself a 15 minute lay in before getting up and making some porridge and a cup of green tea. At 7.15 I set off to the gym. When I opened the front door I discovered a team of road workers tarmacing the road surface, I love that smell. The gym was quite busy for that time in the morning but I guess it’s the only time for people to get some exercise in before they go off to work, the traffic is so bad in Jakarta that a 3 mile journey can take a hour or longer sometimes.

At 7.30 the tread mill became available and I began my 20 minute run. I still could not manage the full 20 mines without 3 walking breaks, by next week I hope to be able to make it. After the run I banged out 3 sets of 30 mountain climbers followed by a light abs workout. I warmed down by walking home at an easy pace.

I've already noticed my metabolism is starting to kick into a higher gear because after a cold shower I start to drip sweat again, that normally didn't happen when I wasn't exercising. At 10am I had a fist sized portion of my soup and chunks of Ayam (chicken). I am going to be out and about with the family for the rest of the day so I have made enough to feed me throughout the day, I can't eat the food the family eats, it’s like sucking on a volcano!

My body hurts from the weight session yesterday but I am so looking forward to the leg session tomorrow.

Thanks so much again for your comments, it really means a lot to me as I find training alone quite hard, especially when it comes to pushing myself that extra mile. Knowing you guys are there, keeping an eye on me is like having a gang of invisible training partners.

Bye for now

Mark

"Shredding is for life, not just for Christmas!"

Mission 1. Day 1

Greetings Friends.

Thanks so much to Renaat, Lil, Larry, Lynda and Buffedstuff for the kind words of support. You guys are the first to leave comments on my Blog. As soon as I get a moment I will pop by your own blogs and say hi.

My weight: 100kg
My BMI: 32%

Well as you may have read, I planned to get up early and crack on with my first gym session at 7am, I failed! I went to bed at 12.15am and then could not sleep for the life of me. At around 2am I got up and read a book for an hour in the hope I would get tired, normally when I read late at night it’s a sure way to fall to sleep but even that didn’t work. I forced myself back to bed at around 3am and I think I finally drifted off at around 5am. My wife woke me up at 8am, I got up immediately and grabbed something to eat.

Breakfast: 1 small bowl of porridge (fist size serving) 1 mug of green tea.

That was perfect to set me up for the coming session, I waited about an hour before heading off to the gym which takes about 5 minutes walking briskly. By 9.30am it was already baking hot so I got a great warm up on the way to the gym.





















It’s amazing just how quickly your fitness levels decline if you stop exercising, I used to be able to run for an hour non-stop but this morning I had to break up my 20 minute run with walking. Another thing I was acutely aware of is the heat, even with air-con it’s a way different environment to workout in here in Indonesia than in the UK. I felt like I was going to throw up soon into my cardio work out so this first week is going to be more about conditioning myself and getting used to the heat and thin air but this extra challenge is not going to put me off.





















After my run I had to sit for about 15 minutes as I was not feeling great, I know for sure it was a mixture of lacking stamina and the heat factor. Before I left for home, I managed to churn out 2 sets of 30 mountain climbers, something similar to squat thrusts and as fast as my legs would let me. They certainly got my heart pumping again and the walk home which is up hill finished me off, my legs were jelly.

After my shower I ate my second of the six planned meals.
Home-made vegetable soup, two small ladles. 1 can of tuna, 185g.




















I have the feeling that my fitness levels will return quite quickly, had I been a complete stranger to regular exercise it will be a different story. I am lucky, I suppose, that my body type is slim, my arms and legs, shoulders and chest are reasonably lean, my gut on the other hand is a disaster area also my lower back falls into this category. I am sure once I get my metabolism turned up, I am going to see results very soon. It’s my mind, my determination to continue that I need to fix and to not give in to all those sweet things to eat.

In my personal shredding plan I am going to visit the gym twice a day, in the morning I will hit the cardio and in the evenings I will train with weights. This is a system that worked well for me during my first attempt at getting a six pack, only managed a 4 pack; however, I do need to watch myself after such a long time out (8 months) so I will only do weight training every other day for the first week and I will not hard work the same muscle groups on following days.

So at 5pm this evening, and thankfully a much cooler time of day, I nipped off back down to the gym and hit the weights. The following is what I achieved, setting myself a benchmark for the first week.

Upper Body Workout:

Chest
Bench Press: x12 - 22kg x10 - 30kg x8 - 40kg x6 - 50
Dumbell Flys: x12 - 16kg x10 - 18 x8 - 20 x6 - 25kg

Back
Pull Downs: x12 - 70kg x10 - 80 x8 - 100 x6 - 110kg
Dumbbell Rows: x12 - 12kg x10 - 16 x8 - 18 x6 - 20kg

Shoulders:
Seated Dumbbell Press: x12 - 10kg x10 - 15 x8 - 20 x6 - 25kg
Lateral Raises: x12 - 6kg x10 - 8 x8 - 10 x6 - 12kg

Biceps
Alt Dumbbell Curls: x12 - 8kg x10 - 10 x8 - 12 x6 - 15kg
Barbell Curls: x12 - 10kg x10 - 15 x8 - 20 x6 - 23kg

Triceps
Lying Triceps Presses: x12 - 8kg x10 - 10 x8 - 12 x6 - 15kg
Triceps Kickbacks: x12 - 6kg x10 - 8 x8 - 10 x6 - 12kg

Tomorrow morning I will attempt to rise at 7am and complete another cardio session but I wont be returning in the evening for weight trainning, I will rest one day before hitting them again.

The time now for me here in Jakarta is 9pm so I will sign off but I will pat myself on the back, I am pleased with how the day turned out. One down, 84 to go.

By for now

Mark

"Shredding is for life, not just for Christmas"

The day before D-Day

Apart from my main goal of "unwrapping" (I like to call it unwrapping as it will be the best Birthday and Christmas present I can give myself) and developing my well hidden Abs I am also aiming to tone and strengthen my entire body in the process, I think I will look a total freakoid if the only thing chiselled out is a six pack while the rest of me looks like Captain Love Grabs.

I could attempt the entire weight training part of mission 1 at home using anything to hand as a form of exercise apparatus but I prefer the gym environment so the first thing I must do is look for a local gym. I happen to know that within the complex grounds where I live, Pesona Khayangan in Depok, there is a Health Club so I will go there today and scope the joint out, join the gym and be ready for an early start at 7am for my first session of mission one.

The other thing I can do is take my before photographs and in the style of any good cooking show, “Here’s some I prepared earlier!” One thing I am NOT going to try changing is the tone of my skin, I am white and pasty and that’s that! I have tried in the past to get a tan but all I go is lobster pink or I get sun burn. I don’t want skin cancer like my old man developed, bless his cotton socks and rest in peace, Pops. There are those who tan and those who are ginger, I am happy to stay errmmm, white and interesting?





















In preparation for mission 1 I have stopped drinking alcohol completely, I am toying with the idea of stopping my intake of milk and other dairy products, which in truth is extremely light as it is, after I have read more on the subject of NUTRITION, I will then make my final decision before wednesday of week 1 of mission 1.

Of course all fast food is now off the menu, but having said that I am not going to go totally clean for the whole 12 weeks because I don't believe you have to. When I made it to my four pack during my first attempt, I kept myself sane by having a treat at the weekend, by Monday I was still shredding fat.

The reason I have gained so much now is because over night I stopped all forms of excersise for about 10 months. Considering my day job keeps me sat in front of a computer all day, well I am not at all suprised that I shot back up to my orginal weight and shape before I started my first attempt to get a six pack, way back at Christmas 2006.

Another thing that I abuse on a nightly basis is not getting to bed before midnight. I would often still be working or wasting time until 3 or 4 am in the morning. This has got to stop! I would lose count of the times my Mother would tell me "Every hour before midnight is golden any hour after is lead." I actually believe this is true so I will be getting up at 6am and getting to bed before 12pm on week days. I think some research on this matter is required, I will let you know what I find out in my next post.

Oh! One more thing before I close. Think posture..Think positive posture. As you can see from my photos I need to work on that, I call it the curse of sitting down for hours on end. I will be addressing that issue too.

Until next time

"Shredding is for Life, not just for Christmas!"

Regards

Mark

Introduction

The Shredder Project is a personal health plan that I have decided to undertake. I am hoping that I can sustain this plan for the rest of my life and at 43 years of age I feel that living a healthy lifestyle will at least give me a fighting chance to be able to walk to my grave rather than be carried to it, of course there are no guarantees.

In around 4 weeks time I will become a Dad for the first time, a massive life changing experience so staying fit and healthy for my Son is another driving factor.

They say that starting is the hardest part and I know this to be true; however, sustaining the plan is equally hard. I am not new to living healthily, the day after Christmas 2006 I set myself on a similar journey in search of my six pack, after a year I had unwrapped 4 of the blighters. Sadly they have submerged themselves again, under layers of fat.

On the 25th of October 2007 I moved to Jakarta, Indonesia which effectively ended my training regime, I fell off the wagon so to speak and began stuffing junk food like there was no tomorrow. I can now admit that my year of solid training and eating healthily was a great failure.

I have decided to keep a blog of my next attempt as a way of staying accountable, I am also setting myself a tough goal, the first mission; Mission One, will be to unwrap my six pack in 12 weeks, I will shred my body fat index down from 30% to under 10% so on Tuesday the 6th of October, a total of 85 days, I will have a six pack at 43.

This new attempt, after so many failures, has been inspired by Adam Waters whose own blog, “Adam Waters Real Time Physique Transformation” had a lot to do with getting back on the wagon. Thanks Adam and keep on Shredding.