Spartacus Picture Uploaded

I uploaded an after photo for the Spartacus Challenge tonight. I think my gut looks a little bit smaller in the after picture, but you would be hard pressed to say which was the before and which was the after with a quick glance at each picture. Regardless of the actual result, I signed up for the challenge as a motivator to get me going on working out again (and gave myself the resolution to make sure that I actually did it). As the end of the contest got closer, I started thinking about how a little extra effort would have made a big difference. I still have my waist size resolution to work on. I'm going to give my workouts everything I can Monday-Thursday. I have to get a minor medical thing done on Friday that will have me out for a week or so. Resuming my workouts after that hiatus might be a good time to put a little more into my workouts.

12Jan - Shrinking the mid-section

I read in a magazine that the ideal waist size is half of your height. I'm 6'2" so my waist should be 37 inches. My waist (as measured at my belly button) is a little over 40 inches. I have no idea what my weight will be if I manage to get rid of my spare tire, so I thought it would be better to focus on what I want to achieve rather than picking some arbitrary number to lose (like 20 pounds) or reach a magic weight (190? I have no idea). I'm about 220 (at least on our new digital scale, I was a little over 210 on our old analog one) now. We'll see how my weight changes as I lose fat.

I've been using the Spartacus workout published in Men's Health as my weight lose exercise. That workout lead to my resolution to send in my "after" picture for the Spartacus challenge. I signed up for the motivational aspect of the challenge. I submitted a before picture. I didn't want to not submit an after picture or have an after picture that could pass for a before photo. The first time I tried the workout I could barely make it through one cycle. I've been doing it for a few weeks and I managed to do two cycles last night with a little more rest than recommended in the instructions. Cardio has never been my thing so I like the approach of using intense weight training as a fat burning workout.

After I finish the workout, I walk on our treadmill for 15 minutes or so to take advantage of my heightened metabolic activity. I usually watch a DVD, but I'm between Netflix deliveries (The Hangover will be delivered tomorrow). I read while I was walking. It was a decent arrangement. If I get behind on my quest to read 16 books, I'll start using that treadmill time to get a few more pages read in whatever book is the easiest for me to read while walking.