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Time is a key aspect of most fitness routines. While my ergormeter and our elliptical both have built-in timers, when I’m doing other things (such as the 100 pushups routine) I have to keep time on my own. Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done…

Over the years I’ve grown dependent on my cell phone and computer clocks. That means I don’t typically wear a watch, and I’m away from “real” clocks more often than not. Unfortunately, neither my cell phone nor my computer has a second hand, so it’s hard to time things with any level of precision.

So… What do I do?

For starters, my cell phone is a Palm Centro, so I have the entire universe of Palm-compatible applications at my disposal. After a bit of digging, I managed to find an excellent little freeware application called “Stopwatch.” As the name suggests, it’s a very simple little electronic stopwatch that’s just perfect for timing breaks between sets, etc.

Second, for those times when I’m working out near a computer (like when I’m doing pushups at work) but don’t have my cell phone handy, I rely the web-based Online Stopwatch. Here again, this is a very simple (and free) electronic stopwatch that’s perfect for timing various aspects of my workouts.

Of course, both of these options have their limitations (e.g., not everyone brings their cell phone when they go running, and pretty much nobody hauls along a computer). Nonetheless, they can be quite handy under the right set of circumstances.

A few weeks back, I wrote about my personal workout rules. Rule #1 was to never skip more than one day in a row without doing some sort of exercise (typically rowing or elliptical), whereas Rule #2 was to always finish what I start (barring injury). Unfortunately, life sometimes gets in the way and I’m not always able to abide by Rule #1. What with four kids, a full time job, and a side business, sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day get everything done.

As much as it bothers me, I occasionally have to throw up my hands and skip my exercise routine on consecutive days. The good news is that I’ve found a workaround of sorts that allows me to do this without getting too down on myself. Whenever I slack off more than I should, I try to double up soon thereafter. This typically means hitting the elliptical in the morning and then adding in a rowing session in the evening.

Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not a fitness-obsessed lunatic. It’s just that exercising makes me feel good, and not giving myself an out helps keep me on track. So… If I know in the back of my mind that I’ll be making up for any missed workouts, I’m less likely to slack off in the first place. And by making up for lost time, I also keep myself (mentally and physically) on a roll.

Here’s a quick look at my fitness exploits this past week:

Weight

As usual, I started out the week by weighing in. For the second straight week, I weighed 236.4 pounds. I’ll be interested in seeing what tomorrow brings. I suspect it might be up a bit, as lived it up all last weekend and early in the week with friends from out of town. On top of that, I slacked off a bit on the workouts (more below).

Hundred pushups

I survived all three “Week 4” workouts this week, though Day 3 was a bit rough. For the week, I did 217 pushups. Once again, I stuck to the prescribed 60/90/120 second breaks. The nitty-gritty details can be found on my hundred pushups log page.

Given that I’ve been languishing way back in Column 1 since the last exhaustion, and that I barely made it through the week, I decided to skip the exhaustion test this week and repeat Weeks 3 and 4. There’s no real reason for this beyond a gut feeling that I need to build up a stronger based before moving forward. In the interest of continuing to push myself along, I’ll be bumping myself up into Column 2.

Food and drink

Not much to report here. I packed my lunch a couple of times this week and hit the cafeteria for fish (albeit fried) on Friday. Dietary changes haven’t figured very prominently into my plans thus far. Time will tell if that changes.

Other exercise

I got off to a slow start this week cardio-wise, as we had friends in town and I missed both Sunday and Monday. I got back on track Tuesday with a 1 km warmup row and 30 minutes on the elliptical. I then worked in a 7 km of rowing on Wednesday plus some free weights afterward (plus my pushups earlier in the day). I skipped Thursday and then really hit it on Friday with a 30 minute elliptical session before work, my pushups around mid-day, and then 7 km of rowing plus free weights at night. No formal exercise Saturday, though we spent a few hours at the pool.

Oh, I almost forgot… Saturday night I spent some time playing Wii Sports — I’m still undefeated against the computer in boxing (not really a huge accomplishment) and have now worked myself up to “Professional” level (1000+ points).

Well, it’s official… According to a recent report from the CDC, the obesity rate (i.e., the fraction of population with a BMI of 30 or more) in the United States has increased to 25.6%. This report makes the nationwide push to reduce obesity rates to less than 15% by 2010 almost laughable.

Overall, 45 states saw an increase over two years ago. This fittest state in the country is currently Colorado, though even their 19% obesity rate represents an increase since the previous survey. Three southern states (Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee) led the way with adult obesity rates in excess of 30%.

For the record, I currently fall into the “overweight” category, though I’m well on my way back into the normal range, and don’t have too much further to go.

[Source: newsday.com]

The other day I ran across the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT), which is a test that all soldiers in the Army, Army Reserve, and Army National Guard have to pass twice a year. The APFT is made up of three components (pushups, situps, and running) and performance standards vary by sex, age, and enlistment status (new recruits vs. active duty).

Here’s how it works:

The test sequence is the push-up, sit-up, and 2-mile run (or alternate, aerobic event). The order of events cannot be changed. There are no exceptions to this sequence. Soldiers are allowed no less than 10 minutes, but ideally no more than 20 minutes, to recover between each event. Under no circumstances is the APFT valid if a soldier cannot begin and end all three events in two hours or less.

Performance on pushups and situps are both based on the maximum number of reps that you can pump out in two minutes, whereas the 2 mile run is simply a timed event. Your performance in each area then gets converted into a score, with a minimum score of 50 on each event required to graduate basic training, and a minimum score of 60 per event required for active duty personnel.

Standards for a guy like me

Here’s what a 37 year old guy like me would have to pass the test…

Pushups: 24 for basic training, 34 for active duty (chart)

Situps: 29 for basic training, 38 for active duty (chart)

2 Mile Run: 19:30 for basic training, 18:18 for active duty (chart)

Hmmm… Looks like I’d be able to serve. These aren’t exactly high standards.

Height and weight requirements for new recruits

In addition to the above fitness requirements, they also have weight restrictions based on your height, as well as percentage body fat requirements for all new recruits. In this case, the requirements differ slightly for those that have or have not previously served in the armed forces.

In my case (6′5″ with no prior service) I’m limited a max of 236 pounds, which is right about where I am. As far as % body fat goes, my limit is 28%. Again, not exactly high standards.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve started doing my pushups at work. The benefits are twofold. First, doing this provides me with a nice break during the day to clear my mind and get my heart pumping. Second, it allows me to squeeze in my pushups earlier in the day such that I have more time for the balance of my exercise regimen during the evening — this typically involves rowing (or elliptical) and/or dumbbell work.

While I realize that I’m fortunate in that I don’t have to dress up for work, and I have an office door that I can close when I need privacy, I’m sure that I’m not the only one that squeezes in a bit of exercise at work. What about you? Do you plop down for some pushups (or situps) in the middle of the day? Or do you sneak out and go for a run at lunch time? Any other tips for squeezing in some exercise will on the job?

Busy week, busy weekend. I’ve been meaning to get this update written, but just haven’t found the time.

Hundred pushups

First and foremost, I successfully completed Week 3 of the hundred pushup challenge. I previously posted my Day 1 results. On Wednesday, I successfully completed Day 2 with the following numbers:

Required: 16-14-14-12-Max (at least 15)

Actual: 16-14-14-12-16

And then on Friday, I completed Day 3 with the following numbers:

Required: 20-15-15-12-Max (at least 16)

Actual: 20-15-15-12-18

Best of all, I did this while sticking to the prescribed breaks (60 seconds on Monday, 90 seconds on Wednesday, and 120 second on Friday). It was tough, but doable. That’s the good news. The bad news is that I’m still languishing back in Column 1, which means that I’ll probably end up repeating some weeks before I actually “do the hundred.” Nonetheless, things are moving along nicely.

Food and drink

While I’m not willing to tackle an entire month of drinking only water, I managed to make it through a couple of days this past week drinking nothing but water. Not a huge deal, but it cut out a good bit in the way of calories on those days. I also packed a lunch twice, which two more times than normal (pathetic, I know). Going forward, I’ll probably experiment with more “water only” days and will also work to decrease the frequency of eating out — as I noted previously, this is probably my biggest health and fitness vice.

While I made some progress with Vice #1 this week, I succumbed to Vice #2 (tequila) this weekend, as we had a few margaritas on both Saturday and Sunday evening. It’ll be interesting to see what my weight looks like at my weekly weigh-in tomorrow morning.

Other exercise

In other news, I rowed Friday night for the first time (other than some short warmup sessions earlier in the week) since I tweaked my back. I did a 1 km warmup, did some stretching, and then did a fairly easy 6 km. I can tell I’ve fallen out of the rowing groove (due to vacation and my back injury) as my heart rate was up throughout the workout, and I was a bit sore the next. Regardless, it felt good to get back on the horse.

I’ve also been using our Life Fitness X5 elliptical for some cardio work while trying to rest my back. In fact, I managed to squeeze in three or four 30 minute sessions in the past week. It gets the heart pumping, but doesn’t do much for the upper body, so I coupled it with some dumbbell work on Monday/Wedesday evening (after my pushups).

Oh, and we’ve had friends in town this weekend (which partly explains the tequila), so I spent a good bit of time playing Wii Sports today. Mostly boxing and tennis. Fun was had by all, and pretty much everyone worked up a sweat.

That’s a bit of an odd title, I know, but I’m not sure how else to word it. Given the recent fascination with pushups, I got to wondering about how much weight you’re actually moving when you do a pushup.

Asked another way:

What’s the bench press equivalent of a pushup?

Of course, these are rather different exercises, and the weight distribution changes as you move through the pushup motion, so it’s not possible to directly compare the two in a particularly meaningful way. Nonetheless, I’m curious about how much weight you’re moving up and down when you do a pushup.

Armed with nothing more than my curiosity and a scale, I set out to answer this question.

The data

I started by weight myself — 236.6 pounds. I then dropped into a fully-extended pushup position with my hands on the scale (albeit with my hands closer together than normal). The reading on the scale? 154 pounds. I then moved to the ‘bottom’ position of the pushup (again, with my hands close enough together to get them on the scale) and took another reading — 178 pounds.

The bottom line

Based on the numbers above, it appears that you’re moving approximately 65% of your body weight at full extension, whereas this number goes up to roughly 75% when you drop to the bottom position.

Of course, these numbers depend on a variety of factors — for example, arm placement, how far you drop during the pushup motion, and the distribution of weight over your body (if you’re “top heavy,” you’ll be pushing proportionally more weight). Nonetheless, it appears that you are moving roughly 70% of your body weight when doing pushups.

What about knee pushups?

A common way for people to start out when doing pushups is to do “knee pushups.” How much easier are these than regular pushups? I explored that, too, though only for the fully extended position. In this case, I was at roughly 116 pounds in the fully extended position, which is roughly 50% of my body weight or 75% of the “regular” pushup load.

So there you have it… When doing “normal” pushups, you’re moving somewhere in the ballpark of 70% of your body weight, whereas this decreases to just over 50% of your body weight with knee pushups.

A week after failing miserably on the first day of Week 3 of the 100 pushup challenge, I’m pleased to report that made through W3D1 this afternoon (while at work, no less!). After failing last Monday, I fell back to Week 2 and focused on obeying the time limits for the rest periods and really pushing myself on the max rounds. I ended up finishing the week strong (aside from a minor back injury sustained while rowing) and was ready to tackle Week 3.

So… How did I do?

Required: 15-12-12-10-Max (at least 15)

Actual: 15-12-12-10-16

While my arms were getting a bit shaky by the end, I ultimately managed to complete all five rounds. I also managed to keep my breaks to a tight 60 seconds, so I think that I’m officially back on track.

As a side note, I’ve also created a log page to keep track of my progress as work through the challenge.

Over the weekend, I got to thinking about what my biggest vices are when it comes to staying healthy. All in all, I’d have to say that my number one weakness is eating out at lunch time. For whatever reason, I really enjoy escaping the office and grabbing some lunch. Unfortunately, this often translates into less healthy meals than if I simply packed my lunch (not to mention the additional cost). On top of this, we tend to eat out as a family once or twice on weekends.

My other vice (at least in terms of calorie consumption) is that I enjoy high-end (100% agave) tequila, and I actually drink it relatively frequently. While tequila is purported to have a number of health benefits, it’s also packed with calories. And if you mix it? Even more calories.

What about you? What are your vices?

In the interest of generating some participation, I’m going to turn this into a meme. Here are the rules:

1. If tagged, write up a short article detailing your biggest health/fitness vice(s).
2. Link back to whoever tagged you from somewhere within your article.
3. Tag 4-6 more people by linking to them at the end of your article (and be sure to let them know that they’ve been tagged).

That’s it. As for me, I’m tagging the following people:

JD (or Mac) @ Get Fit Slowly
Andrew @ Andrew is Getting Fit
Jim @ Journal of Healthy Living
Israel @ Fat Man Unleashed
Lazy Man @ Lazy Man and Health
NCN @ No Calories Needed
MBH @ Deflabbify

(If you want to play along and didn’t get tagged, feel free to tag yourself.)