I finally... FINALLY got back to the gym. WOOT! At 6:30am, I parked myself on a rowing machine for about half an hour listening to the Body Sculpting Bible.

Concept2 vs Waterrower
I LOVE rowing... especially on those air-resistance Concept2 rowing machines. This was the type of rowing machine I used in college. When I first decided to get back into shape, I bought this beautiful wooden water rower a few years ago. It looked and sounded fantastic, but the narrow grip caused me to bend my wrists in an unnatural way... so I sold it to a friend of mine.

Rowing... Cardio or Weight Training?
The rowing machine is a bit unusual in that it is more like weight training than cardio. Rather than sustained, fluid, persistent muscular use like you find with running, elliptical, swimming or cycling, rowing involves "explosive motion" followed by a rest and more explosive motion. Rowing -almost- combines squats with T-Bar rows.

Seriously? A Bouncer?
I'll never forget what happened right after we bought the rower. My diet was still packed with calorie dense sugar and I was eating more than I was burning. After 8 weeks of almost daily rowing my wife told me that I was "starting to look like a bodyguard or a bouncer or something". My arms, neck, back and legs were growing like gangbusters... (Unfortunately, I was still at 28% bodyfat, so the new muscle didn't really look all that "good".)

The real proof was in my clothes. I wear a tie every day at work... After four weeks, I had to buy new shirts because the neck was too tight. After 8 weeks, I had to buy new shirts AGAIN because my neck was too tight AND my sleeves too short (which happens when you gain mass in your back). In two months I gained an inch and a half in my neck and two inches on my back. I was starting to look a bit like a "bull" without doing balancing work on my shoulders and chest, so I backed off. I really wasn't interested in gaining muscle mass anyway - I wanted to lose weight! But, at least I found a really good mass-building tool when the time comes

Fasting
I had a bit of an accidental fast yesterday. After my workout, I had to rush out the door so I could drop my son off at school in time to make an early teleconference. I missed breakfast, but ate an orange and some cottage cheese (my 10:30am snack) when I got to work around 9am... and that was it... I was hit with so many emergency problems that I didn't slow down until I left for the day around 5:30pm.

Soosh
On the road I phoned up my wife and said - "How do you feel about all-you-can-eat sushi?" It wasn't a hard sell.

So, we met at Sushi Huku and chowed down with our spazzy 3 year old running all over the place. I ate 10 individual pieces of tuna and salmon... and mowed down the equivalent of 3 1/2 maybe 4 full rolls.

Oink.

I was SO full. Still... I'm not sure how the calories panned out for the day. Sheeewww I just plugged the numbers in... I ate probably 2200 calories in that meal *laugh* The funny thing is I landed at 2500 for the day, which is what I'm aiming for. The rowing from that morning burned 350 calories... so net was about 2150. Not bad... but uh... heh.. not quite what we're aiming for in ONE MEAL

Today is a bit more normal... I had my usual flax PB this morning, but washed it down with a bowl of sugary cereal... hm. No workout today, but I have to get to it tomorrow!

All for now!