For those following our 12 week experiment in fitness, nutrition, and lifestyle modification, David and I hope our quest has encouraged you to seek out your own fitness and lifestyle goals. We sincerely hope our masochistic endeavors have prompted our patients and readers to re-evaluate their own ideas about health and vitality.
We all have different strengths and weaknesses. We start at different points of ability, fitness, and motivation.
David and I had slightly divergent experiences during week 5.
Check out our latest installment…..
Week 5: David Francis
–Dental Student, Nutritionist, Sherpa-Ant, Olympus Project Guinea Pig ExtraordinaireThis is also the first week that we got in all of the workouts. Overall , I feel good. I don’t feel the gnawing hunger anymore that I was feeling earlier which I attribute to both my body adjusting to this new program and a conscious effort to eat more quality protein in the form of eggs, beans, lentils and meat.
As I approach the half way point, my goals to complete a marathon and run a sub 5 minute mile are still a relative figment of my imagination. While they stay in the back of my mind I find I am more focused working out for the sake of working out rather than preparing for these major events. 7 weeks out still feels like a long time…”
Week #5: William G. Curtis, MD
–Physician, Olympus Project Guinea Pig #2
Finally improving from the cold which plagued week 3-4, my personal woes continue .
I actually thought “LOL” when my left calf muscle pulled/cramped on the 8th 200 m interval of 10.
“GREAT—It’s only Monday….!”
Coming off the turn, cruising along and POW! Valiantly (Other descriptions did come to mind), I limped along through my last 2 intervals and went on to the gym. The squat routine (front and back) didn’t really affected the calf that much so crisis averted.
Personally I found week 5 workouts very demanding. I modified Tuesday’s workout slightly by decreasing 5 sets of 25 burpee’s to 5 x 15. Clearly, after skipping rope 300 times, then moving on to the burpee’s, I’d still be laying on the gym floor today if I didn’t trim the reps from 25 to 15.
This represents a great example of the minor adjustments sometimes necessary to complete this 12 week program due to my sub-optimal baseline fitness. Even though I decreased reps a bit, I now have a starting point. Next time burpees come along I’ll have a realistic baseline to work from. (Rationalization=Live to fight another day)
Nutritionally speaking I focused on maintaining a very low carbohydrate plan. My wife made several home cooked dinners this week that were both NRG DIET sound and really delicious too. She’s an incredible cook and a huge advantage for me during this 12 week experiment. Having a steady “wing man/woman” at home really helps when starting new habits or goals.
On the bright side, I don’t crave sugar much. Periodically, especially during the intense portions of my week 4 drama, I did have some intense carbohydrate cravings.
In those instances I usually elected for nuts with dried fruit or fresh fruit. My bio-metric stats from week 4 suggested I’m effectively losing body fat based on my waist line measurements. Other than my sinus issues, I generally feel stronger. (Despite the pathetic calf-blow-out Monday). Fortunately I survived and completed the remainder of the week 5 workouts without much…..very much….trouble.
I’m looking forward to the next week. We look forward to your feed back. Share our stories with those you know or love seeking motivation for their own fitness, lifestyle, nutrition goals.
Make sure to look to next week. We’re going to focus on nutrition a bit more, helping readers understand the other major aspect of our experiment….whole food nutrition.