1,2,3 Go!

Down to 202 lbs. Just deadlifted a PR of 150KG (330 lbs).


Nowhere close to doing the workouts of the day as prescribed by Crossfit -- but making great progress. Sitting pulse is now 58-60. Was 66-68 when I started.

From Kettlebells to Crossfit

Three weeks ago I started Crossfit training at Fourth Power Fitness in Carmichael, CA. Actually - they do SST (Sports Specific Training) & Crossfit there, so I guess I'm doing both SST & Crossfit.

The kettlebell workouts are great and all, but you can only get so far with them plus I needed some human interaction. There's only so much time you can spend in an apartment before it starts to feel like a cell. Maybe Dostoevsky's Underground Man digs it, but not me.

Anyhoo -- The workouts there just blow the doors off of anything I've ever done. Sure, there were similar sessions in Warrant Officer Candidate School at Fort Rucker, but even those workouts were more limited in scope.

As for the results, since I started I dropped four pounds and cut my body fat by five percent while on a Zone-ish, South Beach-ish diet where the food intake is basically 40% protein, 40% fat and 20% carbs with a concentration on low glycemic index carbs.

I'm watching my portion sizes but not going hungry -- just being sensible.

Weight update & some MMA talk

Current Weight: 213

I dropped eight pounds in the past 10 days. I also cut my body fat percentage by 4%. It would seem sticking to the RKC Challenge and doing phase 1 of the South Beach diet is helping. One more week to go on phase 1 from here and then on to phase 2 and more food choices until I hit my goal of 175 as walk around weight.

By walk around weight, I mean a weight that's pretty easy to maintain with decent training. If I were an MMA guy like Rory Markham, who is a king of cutting weight, I would be able to cut 20 lbs in a day and weigh in at 155 lbs and fight as a lightweight in the IFL. That means I'd be able to take on Chris Horodecki, Savant Young or Erik Ownings.

Correction, that means I'd be able to step into the ring and get my ass beat at 155, which is not really 155 btw. Those guys start sucking down sports drinks and pedialyte like its going out of style right after the weigh in. It's not the healthiest of things to do and definitely not for normal people who aren't in the condition these guys are. The question I always have is, how weak does it leave you?

I know right now that my heaviest kettlebell, the 70 pounder is way heavier now that I've restricted my calories. I'm not quite as strong as I was. In contrast to me, who is trying to burn fat, these guys are generally just losing body fluids, which can be replenished quickly. How weak it leaves you, I'm not sure. None of the guys we interviewed on the R.O.N. Show have talked about making them weaker. Maybe it doesn't or maybe we just forgot to ask the question.

If the MMA stuff interests you at all, you can check out The Ron Show or go right to the podcast page on talkshoe.

Or just listen to the show. There's more to life than just talking about losing weight after all...

Get stronger and lose weight with kettlebells

Progress is being made. I've gone from 229 to 221 in a little less than a month. At the beginning of that same period I bought two 50lb kettlebells and a copy of Pavel's "Enter the Kettlebell". . Sure, the book said I should probably get 34 pounders, but my ego got in the way. Shocking.

At first I could hardly do anything with the 50 pounders. Presses were impossible, Turkish Get Ups were really impossible and swings were doable but smoked me fast, especially one handed. I kept at it though and went through the RKC Minimum program exercises 5 days a week and ordered a 35 pounder to use for the Turkish Get Ups.

The work's paid off. I've dropped 8 lbs and just got a 70 lb kettlebell because the 50's were getting a bit too comfortable for larger volumes of swings and presses. Next stop is the 88 lb one and I think that should be it for my lifetime kettlebell purchases. I'll let you know when I get there.

With a bit more progress I think I'll be ready to either BJJ train again or start in with the Crossfit WOD at Fourth Power Fitness in Sacramento . I was going to join earlier -- but I was just waaaay to out of shape. I would have gotten hurt in BJJ and probably put myself in traction with an SST / Crossfit workout. Soon though. Almost ready for the next level.

Diet wise I'm trying to keep around 1800 - 2200 calories a day with a gradual adoption of the Zone Diet as I learn more about it.

Anyone out there training with kettlebells? Doing Crossfit? Doing the Zone Diet? Buelher?

Sleep Walking? How about sleep eating?

Any one out there sleep walk? How about eating in your sleep?

Late night eating has always been a thing with me. I've done it as long as I can remember. As a kid, I loved to polish off a bowl of cereal in the middle of the night. Usually it was a bowl of Rice Krispies with about 3 teaspoons of sugar on it. I'd let the cereal get all soggy and pound it down and go back to bed. Most of the time I was vaguely aware of my surroundings - but still almost asleep. And I HATED being interrupted while I was chowing down. Every now and then my father would get up at the same time or maybe I woke him up and he'd come downstairs into the kitchen and there I'd be eating my bowl of cereal and I'd have the most visceral angry reaction to it. Boiling over anger. All I wanted was to be left alone with my bowel of cereal in the middle of the night and here comes this intruder. I don't recall acting on it or saying anything during those times but it might be fair to say a "Go Away" or "Leave Me Alone" might have come out of my mouth.

I know, it's completely weird. Some sort of sleep walking snack fest.

Diet-wise, back then, it was no big deal. My metabolism was in high gear and I was super active with sports and just being a kid. We still played outside for the day back then. Remember that?

Anyhow, this late night eating / sleep walking chow fest is still around. It's not something that I do all the time, but is something that occurs when I am trying to restrict calories or am feeling a bit stressed out. I've woken up in the morning to find the strangest evidence of the late night raid that happened. It might be a cracked egg in a pot with a piece of cheese. It might be a cereal box with the bag ripped open and flakes all over the counter and Splenda scattered all over the place.

On the diet side, the progress I made during the day gets shot to hell when this happens.

On the life side I keep wondering if I'm ever going to try to start the oven or stove top and really cause some havoc.

On the psychological side of things it's disturbing because CK has caught me now and then during one of these raids and she says it's not me. Of course it's me, I'm right there, but it's not the me she knows. This guy is angry and even scares her a bit. It's the same deal as when I was a kid. Same anger, same inability to stop it while it's happening. I'll tell you what, it scares me too. I've managed to do this sleep-eating thing under sedation. The pull / trigger for the behavior is that powerful.

The thing is, I lost a ton of weight during WOCS and never took a sleep walking stroll to the vending machines. And that was a very stressful environment with a ton of activity and a calorie restricted diet. I also never did it during college.

It doesn't take Freud to figure out that this is stress related though. Here I am in the middle of a big life change and who knows how it's going to work out. Numerous life stressor calculators show I'm at serious risk to illness due to stress here with everything that's gone on / is going on. That of course, brings my ulcerative colitis into play. Is it due to stress? The short answer from my gastroenterologist, is "No.". Is it exacerbated by it? Sure.

So what's the plan? Well, I'm not so sure at this point. Some of the stressors will take care of themselves over time. We'll have jobs. I'll be taking classes towards my B.S. in Geomatics and things won't be so up in the air. In the meantime I'm going to concentrate on having fun and using this time off to my best advantage with a mix of activities, watch what I eat and remind myself to chill out.

Gusmao comes on RON Show - Wins IFL Championship for Pitbulls

The New York Pitbulls completed an unbeaten season, topping the two-time defending champion Quad Cities Silverbacks, 3-2, to claim their first International Fight League World Championship, before 3,470 at Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Fla.

AND THE RON SHOW WAS THERE THE WHOLE WAY FOR YOU!

Andre Gusmao (Rio de Janeiro) knocked out Mike Ciesnolevicz (Williamstown, Pa.) in the first round of the fifth and deciding match of the IFL World Championship in Hollywood Florida to give the title to the Renzo Gracie coached New York Pitbulls. Gusmao, btw was a recent guest on The RON SHOW.

Gusmao came in as the alternate light heavyweight in a team shuffle that started with Bryan Vetell injuring his hand and Jamal Patterson stepping aside and taking one for the team. The move paid off as Gusmao took out Mike C for the second time.

And nicely, there's going to be no long wait to see this great action for FREE:

The IFL World Championship can be seen on Fox Sports Net (Sunday, 5 p.m. in most markets, check local listings) and on MyNetworkTV (Monday, 8 p.m. ET/PT; 7 p.m. CT/MT).

Anyhoo - here's how the fights worked out:

No. 2 Pitbulls def. No. 4 Silverbacks, 3-2

• 170 lb.: Delson Heleno, Pitbulls, def. Jake Ellenberger, Silverbacks, via submission (armbar) 3:45, 2nd
• 155 lb.: Deividas Taurosevicius, Pitbulls, def. Bart Palaszewski, Silverbacks, via submission (armbar), 1:30, 2nd
• 265 lb.: Ben Rothwell, Silverbacks, def. Ricco Rodriguez, Pitbulls, via decision (unanimous), after three rounds
• 185 lb.: Ryan McGivern, Silverbacks, def. Fabio Leopoldo, Pitbulls, via TKO, 1:35, 2nd
• 205 lb: Andre Gusmao, Pitbulls, def. Mike Ciesnolevicz, Silverbacks, via knockout, 0:53, 1st

Preliminary Bouts

• 205 lbs: Jamal Patterson (Hoboken, N.J.) def. Chris Baten (Tampa, Fla.) via submission (choke), 0:56, 1st
• 265 lb.: Rolles Gracie (New York) vs. Sam Holloway via submission (rear naked choke), 1:49, 1st
• 170 lb.: Travis Cox (Naples, Fla.) no contest vs. Brad Blackburn (Olympia, Wash.) (unintentional knee to head of downed opponent), 2:32, 1st
• 155 lb.: Ryan Schultz (North Platte, Neb.) def. Aaron Riley (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) via decision (unanimous), after 3 round

Icky sweat

A lot of people don't like to work out. They find sweating icky. They get wiped out. They want to lie down and take a nap afterwards. Worse, they feel like collapsing. They don't get the endorphin rush. They don't get a sense of well being afterward. They feel they are different from everyone else and they aren't getting what they should out of working out.

Well, when you're out of shape working out is going to be unpleasant and it's not going to take too much to get there. Simply put, you're fighting inertia -- your body is not used to the activity and your brain is not used to dealing with the discomfort. So, in the beginning you are going to suffer if you push yourself at all, but if you keep a consistent effort you'll never suffer so much as at the beginning. Keep at it and the rewards will come, and quickly in the beginning. You're not different. You will feel better. Now, if you smoke yourself, you won't, but a consistent moderate effort will generate that sense of well being afterward. Combine the workout with a decent diet that controls your insulin levels like The Zone Diet and you'll find yourself feeling much more even keeled than you have. And as you progress you will learn to listen to your body and know the difference between a hard effort and one that will crush you for the next few days. At the outset, it's going to be sooo easy to crush yourself, which in turn will probably turn you off to working out. As for the sweat - it's not icky! It means you're working! Good for you!

My problem has always been trying to reign in my workouts. I tend to go all gung ho and burn myself out. Not so much physically, but mentally I tend to quit after a few months because I was giving it so much focus and my mind goes "Ugh, that again?".

So, for me the trick is trying to make workouts it just part of the everyday routine rather than training for an MMA match. In other words, dial down the effort, dial up the consistency.

So here's what I'm trying to do:

Weekly:
Bike an hour
Swim an hour
Run an hour

Five days a week:
Kettlebell swings, presses, get ups, clean and jerks for about 30 minutes with varying intensity. Stopping when I feel I'm done. Only one really hard day.

Future workouts:
Crossfit training

VJ is back.

Vanishing James was originally supposed to be a blog about what a pain in the ass it is for me to lose weight and share my successes, failures and joys and frustrations.

It didn't really work out that way. Well, I'm trying to reclaim that focus in the hopes of focusing myself on losing weight / getting in shape more and entertaining you all.

On the surface, weight loss is such an easy thing. The basic equation to solve the problem boils down to: Eat Less. Exercise More.

But there's a lot more to it than that though, eh? Well, starting tomorrow VJ is back with a focus on the weight loss struggle(s).