Saturday 28 February 2015

Weight Loss Journey- After Insanity

Welcome to 5.14 fitness,

Today I will be continuing with my weight loss journey.  I went from a BMI of 27 to 19.8 in two years. I have gone from being very overweight to below a normal weight and I am sharing my journey on how I did it. If you haven't read my introduction to this, then please do so- as it might really help you. Just go back a few posts and the introduction will be there.

So anyway, I had just finished Insanity and I still felt a little overweight. Don't get me wrong, Insanity was great and it made me close so much weight and get a lot fitter. Despite this, at the time when I finished I still felt fat. Looking back now, I am not sure if I was- I may have just felt overweight because I was still getting some stick from my mates. ( Fat jokes etc.. ). 
Because of this, I did something for about two months which I do not recommend for somebody in their teenage years. As I said at the beginning of these posts, I am not sure what really made me lose so much weight - Insanity or what I did afterwards. Maybe it was a mixture of both. I don't know! 
What I did was starve myself a little- I went on a mini 5/2 diet.

My parents do not let me go on diets- they say I am growing and I need food. They are right, but at the time I was feeling like I needed to lose weight and the easiest way to do it was to cut down on food: go hungry a bit. After Insanity, I had become so much more fit and healthy but I wasn't seeing that. All I could see was that fat boy before. 
So, I started to have no lunch. I gave it away to other people so nobody in my family would find out. My Dinners were unchanged of course, yet I was skipping a meal of the day and over time, this made me lose weight. I was incredibly hungry throughout the day, yet I went through the hunger for the benefits. 
However, I didn't do anything drastic like make myself be sick or eat absolutely nothing. I just eat a lot less than I should have been eating as a 14 year old boy. 

It did work, I lost weight. However, I strongly disagree with what I did and I do not advice it if you are still a child or teenager. When you are growing up, you need a balanced meal full of different foods so that you can be healthy. You need to eat enough so that you have energy for school and for growth. Eat more healthy- don't cut out on food. 
I did not know this then, and even though it probably made me lose a bit weight, it would have not been good for my body. We need a balanced and healthy lifestyle- 6 meals a day is Ideal.

So, to recap, for about two months I cut out on lunch and snacks and therefore ate a lot less then I was meant to have ate. I lost quite a bit of weight because of this , yet It was the wrong thing to do. Growing, I needed food and a balanced lifestyle - which I didn't get when going on that diet. 

Next up- the ending and conclusion to My Weight Loss Journey    

Thank for reading, please follow and like (we will like and follow back) . Thanks again and peace! 

Tuesday 24 February 2015

Daily Diaries: Mid Season Wobble

Welcome to 5.14 Fitness,






This is another post tracking my progress throughout the weeks and months of the year to monitor the changes that happen to my body. Quick update: I have now found the gym and with any luck my membership will begin Saturday; we are aiming for at least two posts a week one from me on Tuesday and will on Wednesday. Moving on to today then...


 My goals for the month


 So what I decided to take the form (technique ) of my exercises and really work on improving this so that even if it means dropping reps I can get the best results for what I do and that I work everything in the correct way which also decreases the risk of injury. Legs went up in the pecking order so aiming to work them every day - every other day. As for eating I intended to eat more fruit and dairy rather than binge out on all the wrong stuff.


What actually happened


Well I know we are only half way through the month, but I am already starting to feel a lack of motivation and desire as a result I have cut workouts shorts and not performed them with maximum intensity. However I believe every cloud has a silver lining, so with that in mind: my technique for the exercises was a lot better and as a result I tried quicker leading do a drop in reps. As for legs, I kept to pretty much what I had in mind performing squats daily other than the odd rest day, which is how I foresaw this area of the routine to shape. The diet has not been too bad being brutally honest, other than a lack of dairy on a regular basis perhaps

Results

Well as you might expect I am currently a little out of shape and I cant actually see it yet but I reckon I have gained a bit of weight around the stomache area. For once I am actually seeing noticeable improvements as I am able to jump much further and higher so it is clear to me that the technique of lower slowly and rising upwards fast is the way to get the most out of the squats. For my diet I cant say I have noticed too much of an impact but I know I am short of energy a lot of the time so perhaps more carbohydrates are in order.


Next Time


I am going to be more active and proactive in order to get in to a shredded shape for the summer, I'm going to try to get myself motivated and rearing to go, to make sure I can get back to my peak and then push further. Hopefully the gym will be the kicks tart I am looking for.


Morals


You have to keep working as you loose your shape a lot easier than what you gain it. Stay committed and learn from my mistakes.


Hope this helps, I know that this is a popular series so please tell me what else I could include of change to make it even better. Please read again, check out other posts, some comments plus ones etc., would be nice and any following is returned (you can also follow the blog that would be awesome)- work hard and peace!


Jason

Thursday 19 February 2015

Insanity Restart- My Goals

Welcome to 5.14 fitness,

Today I will be posting about my goals for this month and what I am going to do in order to achieve them.

I have been mainly doing a lot of weight-training mixed with cardio and abdominal workouts lately. Although I am fairly sure that my abs have become more developed, I feel that they are not showing as much as they could do because of my body-fat percentage. I don't know what percentage I am at, but I am pretty sure that If I lessen it my body will become more shaped and my abs will start to show. 

In order to do this, I needed to include more cardio in my workout schedule. I do a stationary bike workout 3 times a week but that is pretty much it. I play football regularly and other sport but I do not get too much of a workout doing them ( they don't involve a lot of running and cardio). Because of all this, I feel like I need to be doing longer cardio that is more beneficial and will make me lose fat. This also has to comply with my free time and the space I have available. Therefore, I have decided that I will go for something I know is effective and will make me sweat! This is Insanity.

I have talked about Insanity a lot in previous posts- all of which have been about my weight loss transformation. Insanity was a key reason why I lost all my weight, as it is a high intensity workout that pushes you to your limits- resulting in high success. Having done it before, I know that it will be a successful method in shredding fat off my body. To learn more about it, please check out my weight loss journey posts. 

Introducing Insanity into my workout schedule means that I will have to make some sacrifices. I am going to try to do Insanity 3 times a week, followed by 20 minutes of weight training. On the other 3 days, I will perform an abdominal workout and either weight-lifting or cycling. I will try to do Insanity on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Hopefully, it will provide results and make me feel better also.

So, my goals for this month are as follows:

  • Start Insanity again and keep at it for 3 days a week.
  • Burn off fat to lower my body-fat percentage , in order for visibility in the abdominals region
  • Eat less junk food and refrain from eating too much
  • Strengthen my triceps and biceps
So, there are my goals for this month. I will keep updating on how Insanity is going. 
Thank for reading, please subscribe and like (we will like and subscribe back) . Thanks again and peace! 
   

Monday 16 February 2015

Bone Structure Basics

Welcome to 5.14 Fitness,




So this is another post in the Back to Basics series ( the first of the year ) and it has been brought to my attention that a lot of people- in particular those new to exercise- seem to have a lack of the standard knowledge of their bodies. So what I am aiming to do with this post is to provide a basic understanding of the major bone structure inside the body.


There are 3 functions given to the skeletal system:
  1. Movement: bones have large surface areas to allow muscles to attach, the muscle joins the bone via a tendon, allowing muscles to pull the bone creating a movement.
  2. Protection: some of the organs such as heart and lungs are highly fragile and delicate, therefore require protection from damage
  3. Support: your skeleton acts as your body's frame work, it gives support to allow you to stand upright, bones are held together with ligaments
Each bone has one of these functions which I shall indicate in the description.


Bones


  • Cranium- the main, thick, round bone in the head its role is to protect the brain
  • Sternum- the bone at the centre of the rib cage, supports the chest and upper body
  • Clavicle (collar bone )- the thin bone coming out from the sternum at the bottom of the neck, one of the 3 bones (clavicle, scapular and humours) that allow movement in the shoulder
  • Scapular ( shoulder blade)- the large flat bone based at the shoulder joint, allows movement at the shoulder of the arm
  • Humours- the bone at the top of the arm starting at the shoulder and going down to the elbow, role is for movement of the shoulder and therefore arm
  • Ribs- the set of thin curving bones coming out from the sternum (the bone you eat off when you have barbeque ribs funnily enough ), they protect the vital organs in the chest
  • Vertebrae (spine) - the jagged edged bones that form a long chain down your back, they support your entire body and are what keep you standing if these get damaged you run the risk of immobilising yourself
  • Radius- one of the two larger bones in the forearm, it is inline with your thumb and runs all the way from wrist to elbow, its job is to support and keep the wrist ridged
  • Ulna- the other of the two larger bones in the forearm, running parallel to the radius , its role is also to support and keep the wrist ridged
  • Carpals- the small bones in your wrist, allowing movement of the wrist and therefore hand
  • Metacarpals- the long thin bones in the hand leading from wrist to knuckles, they support the hand to keep it in the correct shape
  • Phalanges (*hand*)- the bones in your fingers, they are what allow us the movement in this area of body and are what we wiggle and move at the ends of our hands
  • Pelvis (hip)- the large bone in the hip area curves round and you can feel the rounded edges if you move you hands round inline with the centre of your buttocks (or just put hands on hips)
  • Femur- the long bone starting at pelvis and ending at the knee, supports the leg and keeps in firm and in place
  • Patella (knee)- the bone at the front of the knee, helps with the movement in the joint
  • Tibia- one of the 2 bones in the lower leg and the larger one, supports lower leg
  • Fibula- the smaller bone in the lower leg (knee to ankle), supports lower leg
  • Tarsals- a similar role to the carpals in the hand but only in the foot, the bones at the top of the foot, helps provide movement
  • Metatarsals- the same role as metacarpals in hand, they keep the foot in support and shape
  • Phalanges (*feet*) the other set of phalanges, are in the hand the role is the same movement at the ends in the case the feet and toes
These are not all the bones but the most commonly used ones in sport


Thanks for reading please make sure you keep checking out the blog and older posts etc, follow the blog and me, plus one everything is returned as well so please comment ideas for the blog also - work hard and peace!


Jason

Tuesday 10 February 2015

3000 views + !!! (advanced core workout)

Welcome to 5.14 Fitness,


I am going to start this post by sending a massive thank you out there to everyone who has been viewing and looking at some of the stuff we have written and shared. I think it is absolutely insane to see just how much the blog has grown and developed over the last 6 and a bit months, from going from starting up the blog with no experience, simply on the spur of the moment to now having over 3000 views.


My Google plus profile has a total of over 131,000 views which is also incredible; I am fully aware I post lots of comments on communities and that I talk to a lot of people via hangouts, but it is all to get better advise so that I can improve my content and become a better blogger in the long run of things. On top of this I have know accumulated a whopping following of 119 to date which was initially at 0 as I made a new account in order to dedicate entirely to the blog. In addition, I have to say hearing from readers/other bloggers and meeting new people across the world has been a great experience and it is always warming to hear that people are listening to what you have to say and doing some of the things that I do. So to everyone who has read, commented on, subscribed to, followed my self or any thing I have written I would like to say thank you! I love hearing from you guys so please continue with this and if you haven't subscribed to the blog already please do so there is a button showing where towards the bottom of the page.




Just a bit of house keeping: I have now found myself a new gym and will be aiming to join there over the next week. Post wise I shall post every Monday and Will shall do Thursdays and there will be an extra one at another day once a week as well. Series wise we shall get started on Back to Basics again, My weight loss journey, reviews, top sources and 101 Workouts shall all be coming up on top of Daily Diaries




Advanced Core Workout


So a lot of you have had a look at the General Core Workout and the Standard Sit-ups page (if you haven't I suggest you go have a look now before hand then come back to this post). The General Core Workout is a routine that I have created by simply finding exercises and adding them one after another. The idea of this being a single set of high reps and lots of activities to be performed at your maximum and given 100% intensity and effort so that you work really hard on every area one time at your absolute maximum. This will help improve your abdominals in general and an all round core workout, rather than more specific one tailored to an individual goal, this one is designed for some one who wants to work everything in that muscle area.


The advanced workout adds more reps, more exercises and an even more all round experience, it also opens up opportunity to apply sets to work into more depth. This being a step up from the General as the extra activities provide a higher level of difficulty and are for those already in a decent physical shape and have progressed from lower tier workouts ( when you find them getting easy). This is designed for those working at an intermediate or experienced level.


* number of reps given equate from intermediate/experienced/body-builder in order
  • Standard sit ups 25/30/40
  • Side sit ups (right) 25/30/40
  • Side sit ups (left)25/30/40
  • Reversed bicycle crunches 25/30/40
  • Russian Twists 25/30/40
  • Jacknives 25/30/40
  • Leg raises 25/30/40
  • Stationary leg raise help for 1/1.5/3mins
Sets can then be added once you find the workout easy but work up by staying at intermediate sets just moving on to experienced sets and then body-builder sets before changing to experienced reps but back to intermediate sets.


An extra tip for this workout would be to vary each side of the side sit ups each time you do the workout or else one side would end up becoming more developed than the other.


This is a much improved workout than the General as it really works on developing all 8 of the abdominal muscles rather than just the normal top 6 it helps bring the last 2 to show as well and toning the others further in the process.


Thanks for 3000 views next landmark being 5000 so make sure you keep checking out the blog and older posts etc, follow the blog and me, plus one everything and please comment ideas as well- work hard and peace!


Jason

















Wednesday 4 February 2015

My exercise bike workout

Welcome to 5.14 fitness, 

Today I will be posting about the cardio workout I do every other day ( 3-4 times a week). I do not have time or access to the gym, so cardio machines are limited for me. Going outside to run is a big no-no for me because of the cold and weather. The only option I have is an exercise bike- which ,to be fair, is often considered as one of the worst machines for cardio. A treadmill is great as it is just like a running, and a rowing machine strengthens your body as well burning your fat. An exercise bike on the other hand does not get your heart pumping as much as the others, and its calorie loss is low. Your legs are often put under more stress then your heart, causing less sweat and more aches in the legs. 

With this the only option, I searched the web for the best workout that will burn the most calories and make me sweat the most. After a while, I found an interval-training workout that looked very good and claimed to be effective. I wanted something that made me sweat and was not pointless, and after a week or two of doing the workout my wish was fulfilled.
So, here it is-


The workout is done in half an hour , and involves times where you work at very high intensity.

0-2 mins-

Warm-up gently at an RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) of 4/10. Switch to a sports channel on the gym TV if you need motivation. Just don't try to keep up if they're showing the Olympic cycling qualifiers.

2-6 mins

4x20 second high-intensity sprints (RPE 9/10) with a pedal speed of 100rpm to elevate your heart rate as quickly as possible. Follow each effort with 40 seconds recovery (RPE 4/10), seated throughout. 

6-18 mins

4x60 second high-intensity efforts (RPE 9/10) with a speed of 90rpm, standing for the first 30 seconds to work more muscle and raise your heart rate to 160-170bpm. After each, a 2 minute seated recovery (RPE 5/10).

18-30 mins

4x60 high-intensity (RPE 9/10) standing hill-climbs (crank up the resistance until your speed is around 60rpm) followed by 2 minute recoveries (RPE 5-6/10), again out of the saddle. 

So there you go: a decent exercise bike workout that will get your heart pumping!

Thank for reading, please subscribe and like (we will like and subscribe back) . Thanks again and peace! 

Monday 2 February 2015

End Of January Analysis

Welcome to 5.14 Fitness,




Once again I find myself apologising for the lack of posts in recent weeks, it has taken me a little while to adjust to the new year and there have also been a few things in my personal life that have occupied my attention. However, my focus is now back on blogger and I am going to start posting more frequently and on more regular subjects rather than jumping about all the time. But back to January here is an End Of Month Analysis...


My goals for the month


So this one is pretty straight forward: literally just try to lose some of the extra fat gained over the Christmas period and the previous month. I was just trying to regain some of the form that I had managed to build before the winter struck. The primary goal was to really work on the core, to allow the abs to come back through and for them to become more visible. I intended to do more weight orientated exercises for arms and upper body simply to build size. Where as for legs I have planned for occasional work to ensure gradual progression


What actually happened


I did manage to be reasonably consistent and stuck to the plan pretty much as intended, I shall not exaggerate: it was hardly a month of pure graft and hard work. It consisted mostly of low sets high reps and it was mostly performed quite late at night - sit ups this is. I did not the most challenging workouts either they were just ones that I knew worked and that would get me to where I wanted to be and back into the swing of things. As for upper body I managed to attend my fair share of gym sessions I reckon I averaged around 3 a week I was lifting pretty heavy and low rep low set. I might have thrown myself in the deep end a bit with this one, despite this I seemed to be able to handle it as the weeks progressed. Diet wise, I did not really take too much notice of what I was eating to be 100% honest, some days I was healthy others I binged out, but there was never a full out fatty foods week.


Results


Well as I managed to stick top the plan, I have actually gained the results I was looking for. I have more definition in the core, as well as a bigger upper body in particular arms and chest, but also a toned back which I did not anticipate. Legs I am not really seeing much of a change but this a was a s expected as they were not being worked as hard or as frequently and with the cold conditions they were not even used that much.


February


So next month or should I say this month, I have decided to take the form (technique ) of my exercises and really work on improving this so that even if it means dropping reps I can get the best results for what I do and that I work everything in the correct way which also decreases the risk of injury. Legs are also going up in the pecking order so I will aim to work them every day - every other day. I have also left my gym as I am now too old for previous membership tariff and I am looking around for a new one. That isn't all bad though as a rest from weight training could do me some good and allow my body a chance to grow and develop naturally. Of course I will continue to workout weight free but I this will result in slower improvements. Diet wise I feel like an increase in dairy intake is in order but not much else to worry about.


What I Have Learnt


I have learnt that technique is more important than reps and that reps and sets should vary upon your goals. For example Endurance= low weights high reps high sets Strength = heavy weights low reps low sets Power= medium/ heavy weights done quickly




Hope this helps, had a really useful month full of lessons and information. Please read again, check out other posts, some comments plus ones etc., would be nice and any following is returned (you can also follow the blog that would be awesome)- work hard and peace!