Month: May 2020

Rip 60 – LIIFT4, Week 1, Day 5

Hello hello hello!! Greetings from workout land!

Tonight’s butt-kicking was LIIFT4 Legs 50/50, which is a lovely bunch of killer leg burners, followed by a HIIT component, followed by some Ab destruction!! It was a thrasher, for sure!! I had back surgery a few years ago, to repair a blown disc. By the time of the surgery, a certain level of nerve damage was already done. I am SUPER thankful that the surgery was successful, but since that time, my legs have never been quite as strong as before. So leg work is necessary, but brutal!!

Leg moves included front loaded squats, dumbbell dead lifts, sumo squats, step-back lunges, bridges, and calf-raises. The HIIT involved high knee runs, these little triple bear jumps (brutal), and squat jacks.

Followed up the workout with the standard four mile walk. Nutrition is still a work in progress, but I’m doing fairly well.

That’s it for LIIFT4 for the week – will still be exercising on the weekend though!

Peace and blessings, workout warriors! Jim B.

Rip 60 – LIIFT4, Week 1, Day 4

Hey Hey Hey!!

Last night was a scheduled Off Day from LIIFT4. Jog/walked four miles, followed by a 300 yard swim.

Tonight’s workout was Shoulders/Intervals, which involved a lot of shoulder work, mixed with a HIIT component, and ending with the usual Core work. I usually very much enjoy shoulder work, but even so, some of the moves were a beating, especially towards the end!! Visual evidence below!!

Followed up the workout with my usual four mile walk. Nutrition is still in need of some tweaking, but I will get there soon.

Peace and blessings all. Jim B.

Rip 60 – LIIFT4 Week 1, Day 2

Howdy all!!

Tonight’s workout was LIIFT4 Back/Biceps circuit. It was hard, but I tend to enjoy back work and bicep work MUCH more than the chestal regions or triceps. Of course, that strongly suggests that I need to work on those areas and change my attitude!

Followed up the workout with the standard four mile walk. Nutrition was fine!

That’s it for today! Peace and blessings to you all. Jim B.

Rip 60 – LIIFT4, Day 1

Howdy peoples!

Started Phase 2 tonight with LIIFT4, Chest/Triceps 50/50. I used light-ish weights and made some modest modifications, but good work was done. I’m glad I already built a base, because starting this right out of the gate would have been even harder!

Followed up the workout with a four mile walk. Nutrition was good.

Here’s my half-baked attempt at “soccer run”. This will be a lot easier in a few weeks, LOL!

Okay, that’s it for today! Good start – looking forward to some big results in this eight weeks of Phase 2!!

Peace and blessings folks! Jim B.

Rip 60, Phase 1 Summary

Howdy peoples!

Well, the first four weeks kinda flew by for me – hard to believe that “Phase 1” is already over. I think that although I “could have” accomplished more, I actually did meet my primary goals: 1) build a fitness base upon which to start REAL workouts!!; 2) work on eliminating the simple sugar (Pepsi and lattes); 3) get in the habit of drinking enough water; and 4) improve nutrition by adding more veggies and fruit every day.

So it was mostly a success. Total weight loss was only five pounds, but body fat percentage went down a bit and my clothes started fitting more loosely here and there. I did 27 days of “some exercise”, with the minimum being a 4-mile walk, and including bodyweight exercises, cardio routines (P90 Sweat), weight routines (P90X, The 300, KB Squat presses, Total Gym), and yoga/stretching. Overall, it was a really good start.

I thought about it quite a bit – what to do next – and I decided on a 60-day Beachbody Program called LIIFT4. It’s four days a week, which I find very workable, even with the daily 4-mile walk and with lap-swimming season starting up.

So onwards and upwards – Rip 60, Phase 2, here we come!! Peace and blessings to you all! Coach Jimbo

RIP 60, Week 4, Day 2

Hey hey hey!

Well, the weigh-in yesterday showed another two pound drop and a small decrease in body fat percentage.

Tonight’s workout was a repeat of a previous workout. 12 Kettlebell squat presses and 6 pull-ups, six rounds. Still modifying most of the pull-ups – I’m a long way from my personal best of 17 straight, but hope to recapture that by the end of the year. Here’s a snippet of today’s workout.

Nutrition continues to be fine, and although my weight isn’t changing much, I’m feeling the old familiar “loose pants” feeling, so there IS progress!

That’s it for today! Peace and blessings to you all. Coach Jimbo

Rip 60, Week 3, Day 5

Howdy gang!

Today, for a change-up, I went to Youtube and grabbed a fun workout video (see below!). I modified it and did it in rounds, and only did four rounds, so instead of The 300, it was The 240!! But still, it was solid and gassed me pretty good, so I’m happy with it! Followed up with another 4-mile walk, as usual.

Nutrition has been under decent control. As I’ve mentioned, for this first month, I’m being fairly lenient with things like potato chips, other snacky foods, etc., with ditching sugar being the main goal for now (and drinking enough water). It’s a trade-off, because you can’t out-train (most people) a bad diet, but cold-turkey quitting everything at once tends to be a losing proposition.

That’s it for today peoples! Peace and blessings to you all! Coach Jimbo

Rip 60, Week 3, Day 1

Gooooooooood Evening workout world!

Okay, today’s weigh-in was not as happy as it could have been. I expected to drop a couple more pounds, but instead gained two back! What the???? Oh well, I’ve been around long enough to 1) not be a slave or at the mercy of the scale, and 2) know that fluctuations like this happen all the time. It’s not necessarily something to worry about, but it does prompt me to look at my eating habits, to make sure I’m not getting off track somewhere.

Tonight’s workout was 12 Squat presses with a 30-lb Kettlebell, followed by 6 pull-ups. Did six sets of those, still modifying pull-ups and building up my strength in that area.

Nutrition has been okay, but need to gradually tighten things up. Still staying away from sugar (mostly), but still too much in the way of “bad carbs” and processed foods. I’m allowing a lot of this during the first month, but will get cleaner and cleaner in my eating after that.

That’s it for today. Rip 60, Week 3, underway! Peace and blessings all. Jim B.

Rip 60 Week 2, Day 6

Greetings, workout people!!

Today’s workout was a classic from the Beachbody Vault, and one of my 2-3 favorite BB workouts: P90X Shoulders and Arms! I just love this thing – the moves, the pace, everything about it. Here’s a little clip:

Nutrition continues to be good within the Week 2 parameters.

Other workouts this week included mainly yoga and walking, along with some body-weight work. Just working on consistently doing work, day in and day out, to build a base, a habit, and momentum.

That’s all for today! Peace and blessings folks! Jimbo

Rip 60, Week 2, Day 1

Hi everybody! Starting out Week 2 with good results from Week 1 – five pounds lost and body fat percentage went down. The bigger success was booting Pepsi to the curb, and that alone probably accounted for the 5 lbs!

For this week, I’m maintaining ZERO Pepsi (or any other soft drink), plenty of water, but adding in at least one piece of fruit per day, a health shake for a snack or a meal, and reducing coffee. I’ll also gradually up the quality of the workouts, though it may be slow, since I’m just coming off a broken ankle, and even walking still makes that a little bit sore. Don’t want to go backwards.

Tonight’s workout was a 400-yard swim and a 4 mile walk with a 20 lb weight vest. It’s amazing what a mere 20 lbs can do to make just walking more difficult! The swim was awesome – the water had just hit 80 degrees, which sounds great, but in reality is still “take your breath away” chilly!! One the laps started though, it was actually very refreshing.

Okay, that’s it from here. Peace and blessings, readers! Jim Blue