Andrew is getting fit

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Thankfully this is not from my gym…

Stolen from here.

Tags: Uncategorized by AndrewE
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I mentioned previously that I had booked in for a fitness assessment. Well, today was the fateful day.

It started off fairly innocuously as the instructor was late. So the first ten minutes of my test were spent sitting down. Average heartrate 54 bpm.

Once he arrived, we then had to climb 4 flights of stairs up to the testing room. Average heartrate 100 bpm. Much to my disappointment that was not part of the test.

We then sat down and he explained what he was going to measure and asked for a bit of my history etc. He was absolutely floored when I told him I had already lost 81 pounds. He said he’d seen me in the gym before and never would have guessed I’d lost that much weight.

The first thing that he tested was my blood pressure. This came in as 120/80 which is in the high end of the normal range apparently.

The next test was the one I was dreading. The body fat test. He started off by telling me that over 25% was obese and that he’d never had anyone go that high before. I immediately thought oh shit I’m going to be the first. He asked me if I had any idea of what my rating was and I told him by scale says about 22-24 depending on which way the wind is blowing. He measured me up and the rating came in at 18.9% which I was sure was a mistake so he did it again and got the same. Friggin hell that’s in the normal range for men! Now I still think he’s off by a hell of a lot a bit but hey, he’s the expert not me.

I also got my waist to hip ratio done and that was in the normal range as well. The dreaded BMI was computed and as expected it came in as overweight.

The next test was for estimated VO2 max and it involved cycling while he took some measurements of my heart rate and adjusted knobs and buttons to make it harder. My estimated VO2 max is 50 which he said was ok.

I then had to do the strength tests. The first of these was to do as many pushups in a row as I could. I did 25 as I knew I could do 25 then piked out. I should have done a few more but oh well. Once more he said that my effort was in the fair to good range for my age group. The next test was the sit up test. For this one I had to do as many sit ups as I could in 1 minute. I got to 40 which rates as good but I’m going to do a voluntary downgrade to fair as I’m fairly sure that the last few weren’t quite up to form.

I also had to do some flexibility tests which I aced. There were 3 sets, a touching the hands behind the back, one arm from above, one from below. I surprised myself when I did that one I’ll tell you. Then there was a hamstring test which was fine. And last but not least the old touch the toes test. I’ve been able to touch my toes ever since I started doing squats. Squats are great for improving your flexibility I reckon. Everyone should do them.

I must admit I was quite surprised by my results. I appear to be a lot fitter than I thought I was. The trainer said I should work more on my strength as my cardio fitness is good. I won’t quite change the name of my blog to Andrew is fit yet however. I still have a significant amount of weight to lose from around my stomach area. But it does appear that I am no longer unfit which is something to celebrate.

I think the next test that I will do will be the beep test. I’ve never done one of these and I’m told they are quite tough.

Tags: Interesting, fitness by AndrewE
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There is a great article here about “How to stop making excuses and start making changes.”

From the article:

Do any of these sound familiar?

“I can’t eat a healthier diet because …”

* I’m too busy to faff around preparing complicated meals
* I don’t like fruits/vegetables/”healthy” food
* I’m on a tight budget and can’t afford to buy diet foods

“I can’t lose weight because …”

* I’ve been fat all my life. How can I expect that to change now?
* I’ll have to buy new clothes
* I’ll be hungry all the time

“I can’t exercise because …”

* I’m too fat and unfit
* I don’t have any time
* I hate exercise and always have done.

This article shows you how to break through the mindset behind each of those excuses, giving practical tips on storming ahead with your new, healthier, lifestyle.

I thought it was rather interesting so maybe you will too. Go and check it out.

Tags: Interesting, Life by AndrewE
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As promised here is a photo of me with the butter equivalent of the weight I’ve lost.

That’s 64 500 gram blocks of butter in that trolley. Here’s a closeup:

Tags: Interesting by AndrewE
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