Today, I ran 15 minutes in the morning and spent a long day at work. Upon arriving back to SJ, I went to the gym and spent 1 hour on the exercise bike. That one hour burns approximately 700 calories. I proceeded to complete an arm workout today. During the workout, I came to the realization that I should create an exercise manual, with pics. It would be essentially the everyman's manual. What do you think?

Well Christmas is here! Unfortunately my wife is away in Michigan while I am here by myself. At least my family is around the area. This week has been hectic. Workouts have been sparse since I worked 11 days straight (lots of teeth to fill come the end of the year). Well, I dusted off the old Schwinn Airdyne and did a 1 hours workout. Broke a solid sweat while watching a movie. This directly contradicts what I say about working out and entertainment.... they should be mutually exclusive in my opinion. Oh well, I did not want to get bored while biking for an hour.

The thing about these Airdyne bikes is that they have not undergone any massive changes in the 30 plus years that they have been in production. They look like something out of an H.G. Wells novel, and boy do they kick your ass. The air resistance actually makes the workout harder the harder you push/kick. You will see these in many MMA gyms around the country. Athletes use them for interval training and short duration workouts due to their effectiveness and their rock solid construction allows for a maintenance free ownership experience. They retail for around $600 new, but you can find them on craigslist repeatedly for less than $100 used.

Workouts are coming along

I have been busy at it when time has permitted. My typical week is as follows: Up at 5:30, gym and or a quick cardio workout. My gym is Gold's in Campbell. I hop on the StarTac exercise bike for abut 20-45 minutes, depending on my time constraints. Once finished, I will hit the weights, and do 2-3 sets of moderately heavy weight till failure, and immediatey move on to another muscle group. For example, if it is a Monday and I am doing chest, I will complete a flat bench set and move on to a standard arm curl exercise, or shoulders, or whatever I feel like doing that day. Yes, I know, workouts SHOULD be completed with complimentary exercises that target similar muscle groups (eg: chest and tri's), but to be honest with you, I listen to what my body wants and go with what feels good. The difference is marginal. Now, if I were a bodybuilder looking to maximize gains and mass, sure, I might abide by the complimentary logic, but I treat my workouts more like a military style regimen than a strict "3 sets of 10, followed by 45 seconds rest..." routine. Anyways' here, are a few picks of some shots I took over the past week. The trail is a typical running trail I run in Los Gatos, CA. The other shots are from within Gold's.

Thanksgiving

Well, the workouts have been coming in nice and strong. My runs have been consistent and my goal is to get approximately 4 miles a day in, or incorporating 20-45 minutes of the stationary bike with my workouts. My lifts have been strong as well. I have been working chest out 2x a week, shoulders 2x, arms 1x and legs 1x... all heavy and with fierce intensity.

I recently has a discussion with an old friend of mine regarding taking this blog to the next level and integrating discussions, equipment, and workouts, with videos and examples of our workouts. We starting doing hardcore Crossfit type workouts before Crossfit existed. We are excited to get started soon.

Yesterday I ran 7.5 miles and lifted weights for approximately 1 hour. The run took me 1 hour and 15 minutes in 43 degree weather. Today I lifted for about 46 minutes and hopped on the bike for 20 minutes and completed a Tababta 4 minutes workout on the Concept 2 Rower at my gym. it was grueling.

Up at 5:15am, strapped my GPS watch on and hit the road. The rain was light, I ran approximately 3 miles, jumped in the shower and was out the door quickly. After a 13 hour day. I arrived home at around 7pm. My original intention was to go to Gold's gym and get a workout in, but I was way too exhausted. Tomorrow I plan on getting up at 5:30, running 6 miles and completing some calisthenics before work.

A change in the direction of the blog

Okay, when I first started this blog, I had the full intention of devoting the content to Versaclimber related topics. In retrospect, I realize that this would have given me about 1 month full of content until there would be absolutely nothing left to be said about the machine. Being that I currently do not own a Versaclimber anymore, the shift of this thread will be to fitness related topics in general. I will focus on my workouts, training, and goals, and I will take feedback from viewers in general. I will use this forum as a medium to transcribe my daily fitness routines and keep record of the progress. Any thoughts?... Anyone?

Today, I awoke at 5 am to a light pitter-patter of rain. I snoozed the alarm for another 15 minutes and threw the blanket back over my head (I always sleep with a blanket over my head). At 5.:20 am I arose and threw my Nike Free's on and headed out into the big cold world. I trekked around 4.3 miles and arrived back at my place shortly after 6am and rushed to get out of the door by 6:45am to head to Manteca, CA.

Workouts in the morning seem horrible. You are up before anyone else, you are sweating when you should be sleeping, and you generally feel cranky.... until you start breaking those first few drops of sweat. Suddenly, the 48 degree climate does not bother you and your adrenaline kicks in and by the time the workout is over, you congratulate yourself for not dragging ass and getting a workout in. It is a great way to start the day.

It has been a long time. Many things have changed since June. Let's see... the biggest news is that I will be a dad come April. We are very excited about the new edition (it will be a boy) and we cannot be happier; however, we did get rid of my last Versaclimber partly to make room in the spare bedroom for the baby, and partly because I wanted to use the money for other things. I am keeping my eyes open for a commercial VC to purchase. In other news, I have been working as a dentist in the San Joaquin Valley for 3 months now. The commute from San Jose to Manteca, CA is a pain, but I am making it happen. I have been very active with the cardio since I finished dental school this past June. I try to do an hour of cardio on my workout days and my lifting has been strong. I am alternating between an exercise bike and running outdoors and I have really been enjoying that. I feel better than I have in years since I am getting my heart the workouts it used to get many years ago when I used to wrestle and run track. It feels good just to get out there and lift something heavy and run around some. I have been using a heart rate monitor watch for almost a year and it is fantastic. It is a Garmin 305 GPS and heart rate monitor. I use it on most days that I run. It keeps track of my progress, average heart rate, distance ran, pace per mile, calories, and a bunch of other stuff that I never looked into. For anyone that has not used one, these watches are really great because you can set up a race against yourself to keep you on pace. For example,: let's say that you run a routine route several times, each time you record the route with your watch, it is saved in the watch's memory and the next time you run that same route, you have the option of pacing yourself against the best time that you have ran/biked in the past on that same route. It essentially works as a virtual trainer and it is really cool.

Where have I been?

Okay, as stated on my most recent post, I was just finishing up school. I sort of took a hiatus from intense workouts, but that has now changed with dental school being over... finally. Anyways, over the last week I started to get back into hardcore cardiovascular training and intense weightlifting. I am doing Tabata style 4 minute sprint workouts http://tabataworkout.com/ on a C2 Rower (I have to get one of these... my wife will hate it though) w. 20 seconds all out, 100% sprint rows, and 10 sec. of rest continued for 4 minutes (8 repetitions). I complete this typically after a 45 minute weight lifting session. I have been following this with a 2 mile run either in Los Gatos mountain trails, or at a local park trail, timing it on my Garmin 305 watch and attempting to beat each previous time. The Versaclimber has been on standstill because the weather has been so damn nice. I will got back to it for a Tabata session next week. I will also incorporate the Schwinn Airdyne into the Tabata protocol this week as well, just to change it up. Goal is to just get in really great shape. Diet has been pretty good, I have been drinking lots of water of the past week (about 150 ox. a day). Noticed while in school, the only fluid I would get was from several cups of coffee and diet sodas, so I have been attempting to change this up. Well, it is now time to start looking for a job!

Have not been around... but have been training

With school coming to a close, I have not had time to document my training schedule, although it has been intense. I have been working out at around 6am, recently rejoining my old gym (Gold's), and doing lots of cario around various areas in the south bay. Will start posting next week.

Been slacking

To all my readers... all two of you, yes, I have been slacking with the blog. To be completely honest, I have not been working out on the VC this month at all. I just started my last quarter of school, and have been too focused on getting stuff done to graduate to put the time into the gym. That being said, I have been going, but not as consistently as I would have hoped. That will change tomorrow. I will make it a point to get up early and go to the gym to log some sprints on the Versa Climber. My VC at home needs to be de-greased, and relubed, so I will wait until I have time one of these weekends to do that. Until next time, be healthy.

Back at it

I have been pretty sick for the past 2 weeks, hence, no time to put into the VC. Yesterday I logged 30 minutes on the thing at the gym, and did a chest workout afterwards. I did not have time for the hour long session, in fact, it does get boring, but oh well, March is almost over. Next month: sprints on the VC.

Busy week

As I am nearing the last week of this quarter, I have not had the time to work out as planned. My wife and I worked out at our new gym in Los Gatos this past Friday. I spent 1 hour on the VC, felt pretty decent and lifted weights for about .5 hours. Yesterday (Saturday), I did cardio for about 30 minutes on a Precor type machine at a 24 hour fitness near our home and did a chest workout afterwards. This morning, I did a quick 45 minute workout, did not do any cardio, and started studying for finals. Depending on how I feel later today, I might spend an hour on the VC this evening. I sold my 9ft VC yesterday for $700, less than I expected, but glad to see it go to a goood home. She will be missed (kidding.... really). People ask me all the time "why do you like the VC's so much?" . I answer by saying, it makes me feel like I had a really good workout. The ellipticals and bikes in the gym don't even come close. Anyways, till next time... be healthy.

Did not want to workout today

I was really tired today being that I had to drive from san Jose to SF, see pt.'s, do lab work after school, go grocery shopping, and then go to the gym. I did it though. 1 hour. Then I hit the weights for 25 minutes. I feel tired.

Sunday workout

Yesterday, I did not post, but I did workout for 2 hours at the gym. I did about 25 minutes of cardio (not on the VC) and lifted wieghts for a while. I intended on doing my 1 hour VC workout, but I ended up eating way too much and as too tired to do it. Today, I hopped on the versaclimber ( have 1 in a spare bedroom), and did it at a moderte paced for 1 hour. I approximate in burns about 450-750 calories an hours. This estimate varies because my computer is messed up on it and is not very accurate. Regardless, it is a solid workout; however I feel the Tabata style workouts I will do after this month is up will be superior in terms of cardiovasular conditioning.

On a different but related note, I have an old VC in my garage that I picked up for dirt cheap, painted, and spruced up a bit. I recently sold it on ebay. The person will be coming by next week to pick it up. I actually, would prefer to keep that one because it is the club version, but being that it is so tall, it will not fit in our home. I keep encouraging my wife to start up on the versaclimber, but she finds it too boring.

Dedication

I had a really long day at school today. I was not able to get up at my usual time of 5:30am to hit the 24 hour Fitness on the Warf in SF, so I just went about my business as usual. I arrived home at about 8pm, and said "fuck it", got to get my hour in. I did! I feel really dedicated by doing this. In addition to the one hour a day, I will be hitting the weights as usual as well during this month. I really don't have the time to be doing all of this, but since my school days are coming to a close, and I have more and more requirements being completed, I feel justified in doing this... to attempt to get in the best shape of my life. If all goes as planned, I will finish up the month of March strong and lean. Next month, I will stop putting in this ridiculous amount of time on the VC in. I will instead return to my original routine of 20-25 minutes a day, but with Tabata sprints incorporated into it.

Blog, day 2

So, today I decided to attempt to workout 1 hour per day for the rest of March, with some rest days in between. I primarily want to do this to see how fit I can get in one month. I am fairly lean, about 13% bodyfat, could stand to lose 10 pounds or so to get ripped, so I will see where it goes. I started at 6:45am, went at it for an hour and was looking at my stats, when the electronic display on my home unit went out. It has done this in the past when I start moving too fast... oh well. To fix it is ridiculously expensive, I will just use my heart rate watch to measure my time from now on. Unfortuantley I cannot measure distance with it, but I can live with that.

The first Post!

Why am I starting a blog soley dedicated to the Versaclimber? Because I am obsessed with using it. I have owned one since 2008 (purchased used), and started out only doing about 5 minutes per workout, it would kick my ass. Slowly over the years, I have increased the time spent on it, and I have varied my workouts, sprinting at times, and going longer periods from time to time. My goal with this blog is to create and environt where my experiences on the Versaclimber can be documented, partly as a method of documenting my workouts, and also as a method to promote one of the best pieces of cardio equipment money can buy.