Awake at 4:30am, oatmeal at 5:00, gym by 6am for weight training and cardio! WOOHOO! We're back on track!

Burn Investigation
Having hernia surgery a few months ago forced me to ease back into the gym. The urologist said "no "impact" cardio (like running) and no weights for at least 3 months". I was really disappointed at the time, but I have noticed something now that I have started weight training again. There is a difference between the burn of cardio and the burn of weight training.

Cardio Only
When I was training on the elliptical only, I would go to the gym on an empty stomach. After 45 or 50 minutes, I'm drenched with sweat and ready for my morning meal. After the morning meal, I feel reasonably satisfied.

Cardio + WT
Now that I'm weight training, I fuel up with 150-200 calories of complex carbs before I go to the gym. I use free weights for 30-40 minutes, and follow up with 20 minutes of cardio (because that's about all the energy/time I have left!). The amount of gym time is the same, but my shirt isn't sopping wet, and I'm absolutely starving by the time I'm done! My usual breakfast doesn't begin to satisfy my hunger at all. I usually start tearing into my morning snack (fruit and cottage cheese) an hour early because I'm thinking about nothing but food!

For me, this confirms the addage that weight training is critical for weight loss

Polar
So, weight training is throwing another curve at my calorie tracking. According to my watch, I burned 500 calories today at the gym, but I am twice as worn out, and twice as hungry as I usually am!

This may come as a shock to those of you who have been following my number-crunching blog, but I am starting to rely less on the numbers and more on how I feel. For now, I'll continue tracking calories in and calories out as a reference point.

The Workout Today
I started a new 3 day cycle with upper body work today. I found out that I screwed up a little bit last week. I was supposed to choose weight that would allow me to do 15-20 reps instead of 12-15. Oh well... It was close enough!

Here is the weight training plan for the next week or so:

Modified Compound Supersets:

Day 1: Chest/Back, Biceps/Triceps
Day 2: Quads/Hams, Calves/Shoulders
Day 3: Abs

(This will be in addition to 20+ minutes of cardio per day.)
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Here is what I did today:

Day 1 Upper Body Break-In Routine

Warm Up
Rowing - 5 minutes

Superset 1
One Arm Rows: 2 sets, 15-20 reps, 90 secs (rest)
Push Ups: 2 sets, 15-20 reps, 90 secs

Superset 2
Two Arm Rows (T-Bar): 2 sets, 15-20 reps, 90 secs
Dumbbell Flys: 2 sets, 15-20 reps, 90 secs

Superset 3
Dumbbell Curls: 2 sets, 15-20 reps, 90 secs
Tricep Extensions: 2 sets, 15-20 reps, 90 secs

Superset 4
Hammer Curls: 2 sets, 15-20 reps, 90 secs
Overhead Tricep Ext: 2 sets, 15-20 reps, 90 secs

Cardio
Rowing - 20 minutes
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Welcome Back
It was pretty rough going this morning. I had to drop to my knees on the second set of pushups to get them done! Form was reasonably good, but in spite of using really light weight, I reached muscle failure long before I was anywhere near getting a pump! (The pump will come as my muscles get used to the work again. I may try contracting at the top of the rep to see if that will get the blood moving.)

Lactic Acid Blues
Remember the leg workout a few days ago? The one I did without any weight. Well... I have been hobbling around like an old man ever since. Holy cow. If I could either sit in one place and not move, or get up and keep moving, I'd be fine. But I'm sitting and standing all day. Muscle pain is always worst (for me) on day 2 of a new routine. This is day 3 and the pain is almost gone.

All for now!