The Weekend Warrior Returns

Yesterday's Weigh In: 286.4
Yesterday's Calories: I haven't counted them yet but similar to past few days

Just a few quick notes, going to be out late tonight again so I wanted to get something in. My first week was pretty good - I was at 291 at the beginning of the week and now on Friday, I'm 286.4. That brings me to the weekend. We all know what happens, so I have to continue this momenteum into next week.

I was reading through the Men's Health website and came across this article. Not only is there good information, but for a few of us FAT Coalition folks, a few popular phrases rang out.

"Weekend Warriors"
"Just Do Something"

Here's a link to the article, but if you guys are as lazy about these things as I am, here's the text of the article as well. It's not ground breaking - in fact, it's oversimplified, but it gets the point across and addresses one of my biggest weaknesses - the weekend.

Be strong this weekend, folks.

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Abs Diet: Weekend Workout Program

Weekend Warrior Training Plan

How to get the most out of your weekend, workout-wise

The Friday Workout
The workday ends. The whistle blows, you slide down the dinosaur's tail and into your car, and the weekend has begun. Now squeeze in a workout before joining in the festivities.

Here's the plan:

6:00 p.m. Stretch.

6:05 Sweat. Do something aerobic for 20 minutes. Your options: Take a fast-paced walk; do some light jogging; go swimming; hop on a stationary bike, rower or stairclimber; jump rope. Or do any 20-minute combination of these. "It's not so much what you do," says Warren Anderson, M.S., C.S.C.S., owner of Rehab Plus in Phoenix, "it's that you do. Just do something."

6:25 Cool down. Walk around for a few minutes to bring down your heart rate.

6:30 Pump. It's time to move some iron. For your resistance workout, don't feel like you need a separate exercise for every tiny muscle in your body. By targeting the major muscle groups, the following program will hit almost every muscle to one degree or another. For each exercise, do two sets of 10 to 15 repetitions.

• bench presses
• leg presses or squats
• lat pulldowns
• dumbbell curls
• back extensions or seated pulley rows
• two sets of 15 crunches to work your abdominals

A word about weights: "If you haven't done any weight training during the week, you should stick to moderate weights on Friday and then go hard on Sunday," says Gary Hunter, Ph.D., director of the exercise physiology department at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. "On Friday, aim for about 80 percent of what you could lift if you went all out. In other words, if you know you can bench-press 100 pounds for two sets of 10, do both sets with 80 pounds on Friday and 100 pounds on Sunday." Why not go hard both days? "You don't want to stress totally unprepared muscles," says Wayne Campbell, Ph.D., exercise physiologist at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Which brings us to this public-service message:

6:55 Stretch.

7:00 You're off. If you're feeling social, shower first.

Saturday

If you want to do aerobics, rake some leaves, wash your car or wallpaper your wife. Lay off the weights.

Sunday

Similar to Friday's workout, with two exceptions: First, try to do a different activity for your 20-minute aerobic workout. "I recommend doing different stuff both days so you don't overstress any one muscle group," says Campbell. "Then, there's no problem at all doing aerobics multiple times in the same weekend. The idea is to get a good workout without crippling yourself for Monday." Second, do the same strength routine, but use a little extra weight. Campbell recommends lifting as much as you can handle for two sets of 10 to 15 repetitions.