Friday Update

Measured last night after my salt & fat dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings.  Measured at approximately 7:30pm, after a few beers.  Also had a big glass of the hibiscus tea right before dinner.  Positive results...

Test Date		Time Measured		SYS		DIA		Change from Day Prior - Systolic		Change from Day Prior - Diastolic		Overall Change - Systoic		Overall Change - Diastolic
5/28/12		7:35 PM		153		87		-		-		-		-
5/29/12		7:50pm		139		85		-9%		-2%		-9%		-2%
5/30/12		5:30pm		151		88		9%		4%		-1%		1%
5/31/12		7:30 PM		147		81		-3%		-8%		-4%		-7%

As for the readings the day prior, I attribute that bump to the rather hurried manner in which I took the readings.  I was hustling to get home, get dressed and get off to the Timbers match.  So my BP was probably a little naturally elevated.  That might be one to ignore.

Interestingly, the diastolic has been decreasing at a decent clip, and the hibiscus tea was touted mostly to address the systolic number.  But, whatever works, right?

Blood Pressure - Day Two.

Okay, so I've been 24 hours now, a full day's worth of hibiscus tea.

I took my blood pressure again tonight, after dinner (and 1.5 cocktails), which is substantially similar to last night.

Today I did my micro-workouts all day, and swam for about 40 minutes.

Tonight's readings (average of three successive BP measurements) are:

Test Date		Time Measured		SYS		DIA		Change from Day Prior - Systolic		Change from Day Prior - Diastolic		Overall Change - Systoic		Overall Change - Diastolic
5/28/12		7:35 PM		153		87		-		-		-		-
5/29/12		7:50pm		139		85		-9%		-2%		-9%		-2%

So that's a 9% drop in the systolic and a 2% drop in the diastolic.  Obviously I don't expect these types of changes on a long-term basis (because in 10 days I'd be dead), but the initial response is positive.

I'll brew another batch of tea for tomorrow and work on a few glasses during the day again.

Again, best idea ever...www.withings.com.  Go buy one and check your measurements.

First Dose of Hibiscus

Made a tea out of hibiscus and grapefruit juice tonight.

I'm not sure how quickly I can expect results, but I'll monitor tomorrow morning and report in.
I'll try and administer the dose at night, although I'm already wondering if the a.m. dose isn't the best choice so that the BP is lower during the course of the day.

Blood Pressure.

So I haven't seen a whole lot of movement in my blood pressure.
I'm never sure what to focus on.  I get a decent amount of exercise, but I also load pretty hard with espresso (and, of course, I love scotch).

So I ran my BP tonight and over three readings (each lower than the last), the average was 153/87.

I'm going to try and roll out some hibiscus tea and see what kind of impact I have.

I'll test a.m. and in the evening with tea twice daily.

More posts soon...

Micro-Workout Progress

So I started the micro-workout experiment on Monday.

On Monday I stopped working every twenty minutes to do some kind of physical activity.  The basic routines were:

Sit-ups;
Push-ups;
Lunges;
Squats;
Shoulder raises;
Leg lifts.

I did some combination of those things for about two minutes approximately every 20 minutes.

None of them were particularly exhausting, just enough to feel the burn.

By the end of the day I was (1) very hungry, and (2) feeling like I had done a full, regular workout.

I find that very encouraging.

I started this at 170, which likely won't mean much because I'll probably just add muscle to offset any fat loss.

I'll keep you posted.

Oh, and one rule.  If I'm out walking or standing, then I don't stop for exercise.  Part of this initiative is to counteract the impact of being sedentary (sitting).

New Project.

Okay, so I'm starting a new project.

I've been reading tons of content lately about being sedentary.  The bottom line is that your by-the-book workout at LA Fitness for an hour a day does NOTHING if you spend the next (or the previous) 9 hours sitting down in your office.

So what conclusion can be drawn from this?  The only one I can figure out is that we were designed to be active throughout the day.  Pretty sure early man wasn't sitting in a chair for 10 hours all day long.

Now, I doubt that means that we were supposed to be exerting at 80% all day, but more than likely we were inclined to go 60-80% 7-8 times per day for very short bursts.

So here's my plan:

For one month, during the workdays, take a break every 20 minutes to perform some type of high-exertion exercise.  Burn out the abs, do some squats, go out to the street to do some sprints, bicep curls, KB's, etc.  You get the picture.

I'm going to set the timer and knock these out all day, every day, for a month (during the workweek).  Weekend, I'll revert to regular exercise, like running, etc.  Or perhaps none at all.

Of course, this may not be realistic for those who don't work at home like I do.  But this is more of an experiment than anything else.  I'm very curious about this, because it really seem to address a fundamental weakness in the workout process.

How many chubbies do you know who workout regularly/semi-regularly with little to no gains?    Lots, right?  There is way more to this human machine than we know, and I'm pretty sure that sitting still all day long isn't part of the recipe.

More to follow...

10 Days Until Reckoning.

168.5 this a.m., which is high coming off a moderate binge weekend.

But confidence is high.  Plan of attack for the next 10 days:

1.  Alcohol is out.  Don't drink your calories;
2.  Keep water up;
3.  Cinnamon (got a container of saigon sticks on sale for $6, not bad given the price is nearly $10 regularly);
4.  Avoid fatty meats.  Keep it lean and high in protein.  Fish, chicken and lean cuts of red meat for the next 10 days;
5.  Remember to have the high-fat blast before bed (dish of ice cream, etc.).  Strange, but that really seems to work for me.

And there you go!