Well I have some good news for you about persistence and my progress but first for [...]]]> Do you sometimes have the walking blues? I mean do you put the walking shoes on and head out the door wondering why you are doing this? I mean the progress is slow and exercise is a lot of work!

Well I have some good news for you about persistence and my progress but first for those of you with the blues – here is a song by an artist called Roy Rogers (not the singing cowboy) entitled, “Walking Blues.”

I love the slide guitar! Exercise for weight loss and cardio-vascluar health work. I mean you have to keep up with it. It is easy to get into a plateau when losing weight – making you question your strategy.

What if you plan is not working? Assuming your plan was based on sound science and you are eating less calories than you body needs – you weight loss will still work.

Don’t worry about back sliding so much but when you have wet your whistle (satisfied your craving), jump back on the band wagon and do what you know works. Here is Dr. Oz talking about walking.

Great point about the Amish – a physical labor and no processed foods (my guess) makes for a healthy life style. Walking is a low-impact exercise. I’ve had to use it as one of my main exercises because my knees can only take so much impact while I am still obese.

I have been jogging, hiking up and down hills, walking, and bike riding for my exercise the last couple of week. As one exercise gets hard (or my knees need a break) I switch gears.

I was down to 219 pounds last month. I then gained seven pounds and lost four. A couple of weeks of less exercise and bad eating has been countered by proper diet and exercise. It is kind of funny but if my goal was to gain weight – I’d do that a lot faster!

So if you find your self with the walking blues, don’t indulge yourself too long and get right back on the horse partner!

I have started up my exercise schedule in the last couple of weeks from a few hours a week to about 10 hours [...]]]> I have always endorsed hill running as an easy way to lose weight. The thing I really like as a middle-aged man is I can run slower and get more of a workout!

I have started up my exercise schedule in the last couple of weeks from a few hours a week to about 10 hours a week. Part of this was the realization that I had lost some ground in my weight loss due to a lack or focus. I have since refocused again and I am now splitting up my exercise between mountain biking, bag work, hill running, jogging and some walking.

In this post I’ll talking out the run I love to do a few times a week (and I am about to do after I post this). I’ll intersperse a couple of music videos but first here is a hill running form video.

The route I take is about four miles. it takes about a mile and a half to get to the hill and about a mile back and down. The grade on the part I have been running is about 10% but I like to actually hike a 20% grade (when the grass dies off  so I don’t get too many stickers). Here is one related song my wife practices to (she is a singer).

Now that your blood is pumping (Bruce always does that for me) I’d like to speak of the merits of hill running. My knees are not what they used to be so I really try to run (jog really) slow. I do need the workout so I run hills slowly and get the same workout as if I ran on a flat surface fast. The difference is my knees do not get jarred about much.

Another plus for me is I don’t seem may people on the hilly trails. If I was running on the flat – walkers sometimes pass me

Even though I’m in my fifties – I still do not think of myself as getting older so to have a walker pass me is a blow akin to a vw bug passing me on a highway! Here is a version of a song – running up that hill.

I’m not one of these guys that can just diet and lose weight easily because I like to snack and drink a bit. All of which can add 300 – 400 calories a day. While I could maintain weight snacking and drinking without exercise (if I was fairly good about diet) – I cannot lose weight and snack without exercise.

So what I have been doing is kick up my exercise routine to to the point  that dieting and snacking can co-habitate. As much as I would like to say I love to exercise (and that is true), I actually need to exercise to keep my blood pressure low, weight under control and slowly increase my fitness level (I can can surpass my grandfathers longevity – he lived to be 97)!

So enough said – I have a long run to do before dark. Remember to run to the hills and run up that hill!

As I’m writing this post I’ve just gotten home from work (and Costco) and I’m blasting some Jimmi Hendrex on the PA. I was thinking [...]]]> This has been a tough month and a half; we are house hunting, the dog died, a little depressed but we are coming out of it. Today is a great day!

As I’m writing this post I’ve just gotten home from work (and Costco) and I’m blasting some Jimmi Hendrex on the PA. I was thinking about being bad tonight as my wife’s sister is having a b-day dinner in old town and my wife is away!

Well you know what they say – watch this video.

Funny huh? Well I ended up buying trout I’m going to BBQ tonight! I’ll cook them up after I got done with a bag workout and have them with a few beers!

I had the oppertunity but not the will to be too bad! Hang in there all – just keep it up even if you end up treading water for a while! TGIF!!!

My workouts and over all fitness plan is going well! I’ve [...]]]> One of the tools in the boxing/kick-boxing gym is the speed bag. Fighters have used the speed bag but other watching it on the Rocky movies, many people might not understand what it is and why one would want to use it (the speed bag).

My workouts and over all fitness plan is going well! I’ve achieved a new low weight I’ve not seen in a while (226) and I am keeping up with the dumbbell workouts as well as the katas, heavy bag and running. I feel when I start back to my next big push (January 1st), I will be in a good position to make some new gains!

In  this post I’ll go over the basics and why the speed bag will help you achieve your fitness goals (assuming some form of pugilism is one of your favorite workouts). Here is a qick video of a gal trying some new speed bag moves.

So you might have noticed that she had to keep her hands up while hitting the speed bag. That is a universal concept in close fighting that one should keep his/her hands up and the bag work here helps reinforce this principle.

Here is a short video of a guy showing off a bit and throwing in some dirty boxing (using the elbows) but perfectly legal in Muay Thai or MMA.

Ok you still might be wondering how the speed bag fits into fighting training. Boxers and other fighters train on a wide variety of equipment and use various methods. The goal is for the fighter to have a wide variety of experience. So for the boxer he/she can work on timing and seemingly speed.

There are anceleary fitness benefits for non-fighters too such as timing, speed and coordination help in any fitness endeavor and keep workouts fun and interesting. A good fitness trainer tries to keep interest up by incorporating a wide variety of workouts and activites. Here is a mom that has just learned the speed bag.

Are you wondering about timing vs speed I had alluded to earlier? Well everyone is about as fast as each other. If you timed how fast one could extend the arm to hit the bag with a radar gun, they would all be about the same. But who can hit another fighter without being noticed? That is timing and some stealth – not speed. Learning timing in fighting is everything so any exercise that gets the body used to a rhythm is good. When you get good at it is will seem like you are faster too!

So now that I have piqued your interest, here is a video that goes over the basics!

So if you have access to a speed bag, now you know what you are trying to do! Don’t worry about not looking cool when you start out – we all looked the same at first. If anyone makes fun of you – ask him/her for some pointers to get them on your side.

Now I don’t now if you are aware but as of this writing it is still a few days before Christmas. Have you ever wondered how Santa Clause stays in shape in the off months? Where here is a look at the Santa you never knew about.

Well all I can say is Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas! I hope this season finds you healthy, wealthy, and wise. I hope your workout is still fun, if not think about including a speed bag into your New Year’s workout!

I am doing about half body-weight and half dumbbells. In this post I’ll talk about the exercises that are working [...]]]> I’ve had to be more creative as the garage is full and I cannot get to my weight bench (that has been collecting dust for years). Part of what I’ve been doing this week has been strength training.

I am doing about half body-weight and half dumbbells. In this post I’ll talk about the exercises that are working as well as the cardio and diet. Here is a cool video I found of how to incorporate body weight and dumbbells into a workout.

I’ve been running for 30 minutes or doing 30 minutes of bag work for the cardio portion of my workouts about half of the time. Other days I just run for an hour if my muscles are still too sore. I find if I do an every other day approach it does not seem too bad. I can literally run slow for hours so that part of the workout seems easy to me.

I have been doing incline pushups, some standing rows (pulling my self up from a post on each arm), sit ups, squat thrusts, and various dumbbell exercises to work the upperbody. Again I’ve decided to do this about every other day.

I am still interposing bag workouts for running and boy let me tell you how fun it is! I have to light so I don’t end up injuring myself as I am generally overambitious but it is a nice change of pace. I can work feet, hands, boxing, kick-boxing, and point karate as well as self-defense moves.

The diet is back on until Christmas dinner and not a moment too soon. I somehow made it through all of the candy of Halloween and then got the flu. Thanksgiving was easier after the flu because I had gotten used to not eating for appetite! Eating for hunger is the easy way to hold an even keel.

So not that the thanksgiving leftovers are over and I am not tempted (I only went to town on the third day of temptation after thanksgiving), I am having a way easier time of it.

My guess is I will have a net loss for the holiday season this year which is fine by me! It will make buckling down in January so much easier because I won’t have to make up lost ground this year.

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods and let me know how your diet is going over the holidays.