Week commencing 21/5/12 – lack of conditioning costing me matches
A few tough tennis defeats this week. Lost 3 matches on final set tie breaks. What was worse all three were matches against people I have beaten before. Oh well!
I have also eaten badly in past few weeks having fallen off the wagon once more. I am now back with a vengeance.
A huge factor influencing this is my lack of conditioning. Indeed, past opponents have even commented on it. I tend to win the forst set then run out of steam. Reading an article from Andy Murray he says that being physically ft heklps his mental game so I need to take this on board and get as fit as I can from now as I don’t want to have many more defeats like this in 2012!
This week I am focusing on getting my eating back on track. Breakfast started well:
Breakfast – x2 weetabix, muller yoghurt
Coffee
Lunch – scrambled eggs, half bagel
mullerrice
Supper – Tomato pasta with olives
x3 mini bags of jelly babies
Tin of tuna
Portion (large of popcorn)
Coffee x2
Training wc 21/5/12
MON – Andy Murray Track Session
Workout summer session 1
Murray track session
1. Run 1 mile done
10.35 mins
170 cals
7.1kph speed
2. Lunges done
4×10
10 x8 kg done
10 x8 done
10 x8 done
10 x8 done
3.400m x4 done
1/4 400m
2.29 mins
43 cals
Speed 10kph
2/4 400m
2.27
43 cals
Speed 10kph
3/4 400m
2.28
42 cals
Speed 10kph
4/4 400m
2.27
42 cals
Speed 10kph
4. 10x400m
1/10 400m done
2.27
42
Speed 10.1
2/10
2.27
43
Speed 10.2
3/10
2.27
42
Speed 10.3
4/10
2.24
42
Speed 10.4
5/10
2.23
42
Speed 10.5
6/10
2.21
42
Speed 10.6
7/10
2.24
43
speed 10.7
8/10
2.21
42
Speed 10.8
9/10
2.21
42
Speed 10.9
10/10
2.21
42
Speed 11
5. 1 mile cool down done
10.34
170 cals
Speed 7.5
Schedule wc 30/4/12
Rain continued over weekend so completed a one hour weight session Saturday and a game of tennis for one hour Sunday. Is still very early days but am already moving around the court better.
This week should see me playing some of my doubles league matches so my goal workouts are as follows:
Monday – weights session (DONE AT LUNCH |TIME)
Tuesday – Tennis doubles match x3
Wednesday – weights session
Thursday – Tennis doubles match x2
Friday – Rest
Saturday – Running session
Sunday – Running session
NUTRITION
B – Bagel with peanut butter and jam
MMS – X2 bannanas
L – Chicken slices
S – Healthy Sunday Dinner (Veg and chicken)
Houmous bagel
Being flexible…..
Tennis match was cancelled last night due to rain. Rather than just sitting on the sofa channel hopping through Sky Channels I did a weights session at the gym. The key thing here for me was being flexible rather than using the rain as an excuse to skip a workout.
This is a summary of the workout I completed plus my diet for yesterday:
Thursday 27/4/12
Training (weights session)
(1) 5 min warm up on exercise bike L13
(2) 100 crunches
(3) x3 supermans (15 seconds each)
(4) 3×12 bicep curls
(5) 3×12 shoulder press
(6) 3×12 front raises
(7) 3×12 dips
(8) 3×12 lunges
(9) 3×12 leg extensions
(10) 3×12 dumbell row
(11) 3×12 bench press
(12) 3×12 lateral raises
I tried wherever possible to alternate upper and lower reps so that it was more like circuit training.
This workout takes me about an hour if the gym is quiet.
Nutrition
B – x2 toast and marmalade
x3 ccoffees
Pomegranate juice
Benecol drink
L -x2 houmous wraps
snack a jacks
Mullerrice
Bannana
Nutri grain bar
Mas – Low cal crisps
Bran bar
Coffee
S -Coffee x2
Butternut squash bake
3 pieces of garlic bread
Yoghurt drink
x2 freeze pops
How Marcos Baghdatis reached 10% body fat and 181 pounds in weight
At 6ft tall Marcos Baghdatis is the same height as me and is actually at my goal weight so I thought it would be worth looking at the types of workouts and diets he completes to stay stay at this weight.
Back in November 2010 Baghdatis was a “heavy” 189 pounds and is now down to 181.4 pounds. He also (according to the bleacher report) is now down to 10% body fat which for a tennis player is a good number. So what are the things I learnt about Marcos’ training regimen which are relevant to me and potentially any readers out there?
(1) Focus on body fat percentages as well as just the scales. Marcos started his weight loss programme at 14.8% body fat and dropped it to 10%. Rather than fixating on the scales look at your body fat number instead as is a much better guage of your health. Indeed, some people can be low on the scales but have a high body fat percentage. In a recent Men’s Health article they are described as thin on inside fat on outsode (TIFO).
(2) Swap fatty food and fried foods for grilled food.
(3) Introduce weight training in to your programme. This is something I have done and already feel better for it. Indeed, according to this months men’s health (May 2012) you can burn 477 calories in a 30 minute weight training session.
(4) Consider playing other sports beyond your core sport. Bagdhatis played football, swam and mountain biked to achieve all round fitness.
(5) Monitor your numbers. Bagdhatis’ coach measured all of his charges perofmances e.g. 10 m sprint times, weight, food diary, body fat %. It is by monitoring these closely he was able to lower his weight and raise his perfomances on court.
Useful links:
http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Form-And-Fitness/2010/Baghdatis-Training-Block.aspx (Good article about Marcos training regimen)
Day 8 – start of tennis season
Weight 102.3kg (16st 1 pound)
Weight is still coming off slowly but surely. Am now 3 stonnes from my goal weight. The diet has still been pretty good but I think the main driver this week has been my exercise which this week has been as follows:
Monday – x10 400 m sprints on treadmill (as per Andy Murray training article in Men’s Health)
Tuesday – Doubles tennis 2 hours
Wednesday – Weights session 1 hour
Today, sees the start of the 2012 tennis season and I am playing my first match this evening. Again, this will help me shift a few pounds. I plan to play in both the Halifax and Huddersfield doubles league this year and this will represent my cardio for the next 3 months. I just hope the weather will pick up soon…..
Will drop back in later and let you know what I had eaten today.
Day 5 – lightest I have been in 2012!
WEIGHTS 102.6kg (16 2) – 3 stonnes 2 pounds to go……
Weighed myself this morning on my own bathroom scales and I am pleased to say I was down to 102.6kg (16st 2) which is a great result annd is lightest weight I have been all year. Drivers of this result have been my lower food consumption primarily as I didn’t get much sport in on the weekend, only 40 minutes tennis Saturday and Sunday nothing as my opponent had to stop after one game as he tore his achilles….
I have decided to play in my clubs tennis doubles league this season which will not do my weight loss efforts any harm. My first math (weather permitting) is this Thursday. I think for anyone to really get their weight loss on track they must find a sport/hobby that works up sweat but that they enjoy. It’s no good just running on a treadmill if you get bored with it. Find something you enjoy and go for that…
NUTRITION
B – Bagel with marmalade
x2 coffees
MMS – x2 nutri grain bars
L – omlette with pepper
Mullerrice
Nutri grain bar
x 2 coffees
S – Salmon and vegetables
What 48 pounds in weight looks like…
Today is my second day of eating sensibly. I have done well so far (See summary below) and have managed to eat well between meals. I last night worked out that if I lose 2 pounds a week between now and my birthday I will be at my goal weight of 13 stonnes. What a present that would be!
The picture above which I found on Google Images gives you an idea of how much weight I need to shift. Each pound of fat represents 3,500 calories so I have 168,000 calories I need to burn or 48 of thiose fat balls yuck!
As the saying goes, what can be measured can be measured so I have set the following goals between now and 29th September 2012:
SMART Goals all by 29/09/12 (my 38th birthday)
- I will achieve my body recompsition goal of 182 pounds by 29/9/12
- Waist 34 inches
- Get my cholesterol down to <5 points
- I will get in to my dark blue jeans (photo to be uploaded later)
- I will get in to my lacoste top (photo to be uploaded later)
- I will document my progress on my blog daily
- I will track weight loss weekly and plot here
A key tip is for today is to state clearly what you are trying to achieve this is much better than a vague idea that you want to lose weight. Having a goal crystalises it in your mind. I would also say write your goals down on a piece of paper and look at them twice a day which is something I plan to do from today onwards.
You should also write down WHY you want to achieve your weight loss goal which can be something you refer back to when you feel hungry or demotivated which I expect will happen. My list of whys are documented on my notepad now and are personal to me. I will post them here at a later date.
FRIDAY 20/4/12
NUTRITION
B – x1 bagel with marmalade and activa
Benecol drink
Coffee x2
L – Bagel with peppers and houmous
Salt and vinegar snack a jacks
Nutri grain bar
S -Mexican (veg fajitas)
TRAINING
Weights work out 1 hour
Weigh in day #1 Thursday 19/4/12
Today I am nipping to Boots to have a weigh in which I am not looking forward to. The first step to getting my weight loss journey off the ground is knowing my start point. As the saying goes, every journey of a 1,000 miles starts with a single step. I have a hunch I will be comfortably above 16 stonnes (eugh) but I think it wil be a better to know where I stand rather than speculating….
The scales I will use is quite good as it measures your height, weight, BMI, body fat and ideal weight. As the title of my blog is Mission 182 as you can imagine I am keen to reach 182 pounds/13 stonnes which was my weight 10 years ago when I completed the London Marathon and was a weight I felt great at. It is also the sort of weight that according to the ATP website all the top tennis players e.g. Fedreer, Nadal, Tipsarevic who are a similair height to me are so if it’s good enough for them….
Weigh in #1 – Boots Huddersfield, Thursday 19/4/12,12.23pm
Height:6ft (183cm)
Weight:16st6
BMI:31.3
Distance from target weight:48 pounds
As you can see i am over 3 stonnes off my goal weight so there is a lot to do in the spring and summer months. I have decided to go for 13 stonnes 0 pounds and see how I feel at that weight.
Another issue beyond the weight is that my cholesterol is high at 6.7 so I have been advised to get my weight down which will impact positively on my cholesterol….
The plan from today is to have one weigh in on the same machine per week and to then plot this graphically. By doing this, I will be able to monitor my progress.
On a positive note my diet has been very good today having eaten the following. The thing I am most proud of is getting a cardio training session completed and not eating between meals. If I can keep this up I will be at my goal weight by my birthday I reckon…
A – NUTRTTION
B – Weetabix x2 with skimmed milk
Coffeee x2
Bencol drink
L – bacon roll (small), popcorn pack, coffee
MAS – Nutri grain bar, mini oatcakes x1 bag
S – x 2 salmon steaks, new potatoes and activia,
Coffee x2
B- TRAINING
Tennis 1 hour vs Rob M indoors
Pounds to lose = 48
Wagon falling – but back with a vengance this week
Current weight 103.1kg
Had a bad weekend from an eating point of view. Pizza, plus Ben and Jerrys paid a vist as did some fantastic Lindt chocolates. Back on track with a vengeance today though. The key tip/learning is to NOT get too discouraged if you slip up. I have been known to fall down a slippery slope when eaten some bad stuff but am not doing that this week.Ona positive note I had a great mothers day out at Chester Zoo with my lovely other half and children…
TRAINING MON 19/3/12
Tennis 1 hr
and here is what I ate:
NUTRITION MON 19/3/12
B – Porridge, honey, skimmed milk and chopped bannana
x4 coffees
L – sausage sandwich with ketchup (x3 sausages)
Mullerrice
Snack a jacks
S-2 nut cutlets
potato wedges with low cal mayo
Mixed vegetables
3 beers
apple crumble and ice cream
portion of pumpkin seeds
Here is my training schedule for this week:
MON – Tennis (PM)
TUE - Wolverine training session from Dec 11 MH (PM)
WED – Cardio interval training (AM)
THU – Tennis (PM)
FRI – Wolverine training session (AM)
SAT – Rest day
SUN – Tennis (PM)
Finally, well done to Roger Federer for winning the Indian Wells tournament. A record 19th Masters title which is impressive to say the least…
Whilst he is not my favorite player I admire his will to win and his ability to keep up with the young guns of Novak, Murray and Nadal….I played tennis this weekend (Saturday) and was again reminded of my lack of fitness which is a real challenge of mine at the moment. I scraped through my first match and had to pull out of my second match (whilst level at one set all) due to it being so late and needing to get home. Both matches were ones I should have won in half the time but my lack of mobility is costing me points. Carrying 40 odd pounds too many has that effect….I have a lot to do between now and the start of the 2012 season which really starts at end of April….I am absolutely convinced getting down to the low 180s in pounds will help me win more matches…..
